salmon poetry

This is a guest post by Rena Priest.

Greetings Poets! Happy National Poetry Month!

As the month winds down and I head into my second year as Washington State Poet Laureate, I’m delighted to have this opportunity to share a few words with you. It has been a fantastic year full of new faces and reconnecting with old friends in the poetry community. I’ve shared poetry with many organizations, libraries, schools, and institutions, and I’ve written several new poems for special occasions. I have even collected a new manuscript!

Now I want to read your poems, specifically your salmon poems. Over the summer and early fall, I will be offering a traveling workshop called How to Catch a Salmon Poem. In this workshop, we’ll respond to a series of prompts to cultivate poems for a salmon-themed anthology. By the end of our time together, attendees will have a fresh catch of ideas to help them reel in new poems.

Why salmon? Salmon are the unsung heroes of our region. Adventurous and brave, they swim from their natal rivers out into the perils of the open ocean, where their bodies soak up the rich nutrients of the sea. Persistent, resilient, and strong, they swim upstream against swift currents for hundreds of miles to return home to spawn and complete the cycle of life. A keystone species, after spawning, they die and transfer all the marine-derived nutrients carried in their bodies to the animals, insects, soil, and plants in and around their natal stream.

Salmon are sacred to my tribe, the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. We celebrate them in ceremony and song, and they have long been central to our Sche’le’ngen, our way of life. By celebrating salmon through poetry in every corner of the state, I hope to raise goodwill and a feeling of reverence for the salmon, a feeling that my people have felt since time immemorial.

Seattle-based writer Timothy Egan writes, “The Pacific Northwest is simply this: wherever the salmon can get to.” Before dams were installed, salmon inhabited streams throughout Washington state, even as far inland as Spokane, the Tri-Cities, and beyond. They have been a massive part of our regional identity, and with many species struggling, it’s time to love them enough to save them.

Saving salmon and acknowledging our shared humanity through poetry is at the heart of my motivation to create an anthology celebrating our state’s salmon runs as well as our poets. I hope you will join us in one of these generative workshop offerings and be inspired to submit a poem or two about our iconic wild salmon of Washington state. I will be sharing workshop dates as they are set.

In the meantime, if you happen to have salmon poems in your repertoire, you can submit 1-3 poems via email to poet [AT] humanities.org. The open call deadline is June 1, 2022.

In your email, please affirm that

• you currently live in Washington State
• your poems are previously unpublished, or
• your poems are published, but you retain the right to republish

If your poem is previously published

• give the places and dates of all previous publications
• affirm that you retain all rights to the work, and
• include links to websites where available

If you’d like to have me offer a workshop in your community, you can send a message through my website (www.renapriest.com) and we can talk about scheduling a date. Stay tuned for more info! I look forward to reading your poems!!

Yours,
Rena Priest
Washington State Poet Laureate (2021-2023)

. . . . .

Rena Priest is a poet and an enrolled member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She has been appointed to serve as the Washington State Poet Laureate from April 2021 to 2023. She is the 2022 Maxine Cushing Gray Distinguished Writing Fellow, an Indigenous Nations Poets Fellow, a Jack Straw Writer (2019), and a Vadon Foundation Fellow. She is also the recipient of an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award. Her debut collection, Patriarchy Blues, received an American Book Award, and her second collection, Sublime Subliminal, was published as the finalist for the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award. Priest holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.

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author photo by Savanna Estey
salmon photo from Salmon Need Water

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Throughout the U.S. and Canada, today, Friday, April 29, is Poem in Your Pocket Day. You may always have a poem in your pocket, ready to share, but in case not, the Academy of American Poets and The League of Canadian Poets have put together a 60-page Poem in Your Pocket Day PDF of poems and other resources, including instructions on how to create a folded swan (as a means of sharing a poem).

tomorrow evening in Anacortes

Oh, how we’ve missed these live, in-person gatherings and oh, how happy we are to see them emerging once again.

Tomorrow, Friday, April 29, 2022, at 7:00pm, Empty Bowl presents a reading by Jessica Gigot and Gary Thompson with musical accompaniment by Erik Christensen at Pelican Bay Books in Anacortes.

on poetry

“Aviation is poetry … It’s the finest kind of moving around, you know, just as poetry is the finest way of using words.”
Jessie Redmon Fauset
(April 27, 1882 – April 30, 1961)

. . . . .
photo

Jack Straw Writers read

Mark your calendar for the first three Fridays in May, 7:00pm Pacific, when the 2022 Jack Straw Writers present their words in person at the Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle, or streaming live via Jack Straw on Facebook or YouTube.

Program Curator Michael Schmeltzer hosts:

• Friday, May 6, 7pm: Ally Ang, Katharine Strange, Jory Mickelson, and Danielle Hayden.
• Friday, May 13, 7pm: Julie Feng, Helen Anderson, Jessica Gigot, and Emily Parzybok
• Friday, May 20, 7pm: Vincent Rendoni, Erin Langner, Carrie Beyer, and Ruth Schemmel

Email jsp [AT] jackstraw.org to register for in-person attendance. $10 suggested donation.

poetry (etc.) walk

Market to MOHAI is a “safe, engaging pedestrian corridor stretching from Pike Place Market to the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI)” at South Lake Union. The route, which connects four parks, is marked by 75 sidewalk tiles with themes of cities and urban environments (No. 4, by Colleen J. McElroy, above) and 46 interpretive history blades that highlight a moment in Seattle’s history. Learn more in this week’s article by Gregory Scruggs in The Seattle Times.

The Shy Poet’s Guide to the Contemporary Poetry World: 7 Quick and Simple Tips

This is a guest post by Susan Rich

I’ve recently returned to the joyous quiet of my home after attending the Associated Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Philadelphia. Once again, I was made acutely aware of my discomfort at sojourning with 7,000 of my peers. And I would bet I am not alone in this uneasiness. Those of us who enjoy a well-lit stanza or the swagger of an em dash may not be equally at ease at a cocktail party or karaoke bar. However, over time, I’ve adopted several strategies for managing my shyness because honestly, I do want to connect with other poets. I hope you find some of these ideas helpful.

1. Write notes of appreciation to poets you admire. Don’t be afraid to be a fan girl. Poets are not like John Legend or Taylor Swift; they do not sell out stadiums (okay, Edna St. Vincent Millay did). I believe even a “big” name poet wants to hear how their words were important to you. Anytime I’ve written to a “famous” poet, I’ve always received a generous reply.
2. Invite a poet to lunch! Perhaps this is pushing you out of your comfort zone but it might also be the best way to get to know someone whose work you admire. Twenty years ago I wrote a “brave” email to Kelli Russell Agodon asking her out to lunch to talk about publishing in this new way — on the internet. I’m so glad I did. Kelli is now one of my closest friends.
3. Thank poets who approach you: someone who comes up to you after a reading or an elementary school student who needs to write a report due tomorrow or a poet who saw your work on-line. They are reaching out to you, why not reach right back?
4. Post poems you admire on social media or on a blog. This is a very easy way to make friends! It’s a great surprise and an honor. This can be done in whatever way that you would enjoy; match a poem with a photograph or a color. Make it fun!
5. Find a couple of close poet friends that you can share work with, and laughter. These are the people that will keep you going: attending readings together, sharing favorite poems and lots of laughter. Keep them close. One of my closest poetry friends is Geraldine Mills whom I met in Ireland when our first books had just come out.
6. Be generous. Push yourself to approach a poet at AWP (the writing conference comes to Seattle next year). This year, I went to a couple of different poets’ book signings as I know how awkward it feels to sit at a table and watch people walk right by.
7. Know other poets are probably as shy as you are. Broadly speaking, we poets are not extroverts. And yet, we want our poems to touch the lives of other people. We want to connect.

. . . . .

Susan Rich is the author of five books of poetry; most recently GALLERY OF POSTCARDS AND MAPS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (Salmon Poetry, 2022). Until it launches more widely in July, you can find her new book at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Company. Visit Susan at http://poetsusanrich.com.

Author photo by Kristie McLean.

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NOTE: Raven Talk, Raven’s online podcast, will present Harold Taw in conversation with Susan Rich this Wednesday, April 27, 2022, at 7:00pm, discussing Susan’s new book, Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected Poems. Details and registration link here.

Open open!

Great news! Open Books: A Poem Emporium has completed their move is now open for browsing, Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5:00pm, at the corner of First and Cherry in Seattle’s Pioneer Square.

In addition to a superb collection of over 10,000 poetry titles, classes, and swag, the store now offers monthly membership in The Parlor for those who seek “a clean, beautiful workspace in Seattle, away from the clutter and distractions of home, for writing, reading, thinking, or co-working.”

Friday evening poetry

You are invited to join Harbour Publishing, Lorna Crozier, and friends for a reading of the final poetry collection of Patrick Lane, this evening, Friday, April 22, 2022, at 5:00pm Pacific.

Publisher Howard White will host readings from Patrick Lane’s posthumous collection, The Quiet in Me, compiled and edited by Lorna Crozier. Joining Lorna in reading are Esi Edugyan, Rhonda Ganz, Michael Lane, Richard Lane, and Steven Price.

The online event is free. Register here.

more to read

It’s still National Poetry Month and the new titles and recommendations are blooming:

• American Booksellers Association – Celebrate National Poetry Month with These Titles
  https://www.bookweb.org/news/celebrate-national-poetry-month-these-titles-1627828
• Book Riot – 20 Must-Read Queer Poetry Collections
• My Edmonds News – Edmonds Booktalk: Collections to enjoy during Poetry Month 2022
• The New York Times – Newly Published Poetry, From Gaza to Zoom Rooms and More
• Paste – Celebrate National Poetry Month (and the Oral Tradition) with These 6 Audiobooks
• Shondaland – The New and Forthcoming Collections to Read for National Poetry Month