books and a bonus

Here’s another batch of poetry book recommendations for your summer enjoyment:

• Book Riot – 15 Poetry Books for the Upcoming Sealey Challenge
• Brit & Co – The Best Poetry Books To Read If You’re New To The Genre
• The New York Times – Chance, Design and Inevitability in Three New Poetry Books
• The Times – Notable new poetry books of 2022: Ocean Vuong, Caroline Bird and more
• Washington Independent Review of Books – On Poetry: July 2022
• Words Without Borders – 8 Poetry Collections in Translation to Read in 2022

And a bonus:

• Podcast Review – The 9 Best Podcasts for Poetry Lovers

Saturday evening outdoors

The ever-popular Kevin Murphy will perform on the Garden Stage at the Firehouse Arts and Events Center in Fairhaven (Bellingham) tomorrow, Saturday, July 30, 2022, at 5:30pm. Kevin Murphy is the author of A Beautiful Chaos Demands Energy and has released two poetry CDs, Between Onions and Oxygen and The Bird of Pure Midnight. He is the “poet-in-residence” of the Chuckanut Radio Hour, and was the winner of a Bellingham Mayor’s Art Award in 2017. Kevin has been performing his comical, surrealistic, dramatic work, often accompanying himself on guitar or percussion, for over 40 years. Join him in this convivial outdoor setting, and afterwards, stroll on down to the Village Green where there will be live music by Free Harmony from 7:45-8:45pm followed by an outdoor screening of “Dirty Dancing” at dusk.

virtual series

To Emily Dickinson, phosphorescence was a divine spark and the illuminating light behind learning — it was volatile, but transformative in nature. Produced by the Emily Dickinson Museum, the Phosphorescence Poetry Reading Series celebrates contemporary creativity that echoes Dickinson’s own revolutionary poetic voice. The Series features established and emerging poets whose work and backgrounds represent the diversity of the flourishing contemporary poetry scene.

The series is free and presented online on the last Thursday of each month through December 2022.

on poetry

“There’s no posterity to write for. I’m writing now for mutated arthropods.”
Peter Reading
(July 27, 1946 – November 17, 2011)

. . . . .
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planning ahead

As you’re doing your best to stay cool on these scorching summer days, why not look ahead to the cooler months? The 2022 Fall Catalog of Hugo House classes and workshops is now available to explore online or to download as a PDF. Class lengths vary from three-hour generative writing sessions to yearlong manuscript critiques in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and mixed genre. Fall quarter at Hugo House will be a mixture of in-person and virtual classes.

choosing your audience

In case you are struggling to find the right audience for your work, or to address your work to the right audience, consider Richard A Carter, whose book Signals was published this year by Guillemot Press.

Signals is Richard Carter’s speculative attempt at generating poetry using the mathematical language of Lincos, a system designed by Hans Freudenthal in 1960 as a method of communicating with extra-terrestrials. Accompanying each visual poem is a visual rendering of data from the Kepler telescope as it searched for habitable planets and alien life.

Carter’s work also appeared in Volume 4 of the Electronic Literature Collection, which we mentioned just a month ago, to say nothing of scores of academic and non-academic journals, books, and programs.

Find out more in “How to Write Poetry to Communicate With Aliens” or follow Richard A Carter on Twitter @RichardACarter2 or on Instagram at richardacarter2.

Sunday in La Conner

Roll on down to La Conner today, Sunday, July 24, 2022, and join friends at the Skagit River Poetry Foundation’s Make Me Wanna Holler Music & Poetry picnic. Starting at 2:00pm with a musical set by Heron & Crow, the afternoon and early evening (til 7:00pm) will alternate between music and poetry, with featured poets and community open mic (sign up on the spot). It all happens at Pioneer Park, at the southwest corner of La Conner, on the Swinomish Channel right under the iconic Rainbow Bridge. It’s free, with food and bev available for purchase. Bring the family, bring camp chairs, and come share some summertime festivity.

For further details, listen to Margaret Bikman’s interview with Steven Dolmatz and Judy Kleinberg on KMRE.FM.

LiTFUSE 2022 live and in person

LiTFUSE UNiTE 2022 Poetry Workshop is back and will be live and in person September 23-25. ​Enjoy the artistic and scenic surroundings of Tieton, Washington, as poets take over the little town for readings, workshops, craft talks, and master classes. Registration is open and master classes, this year with Kim Addonizio and Brook Matson, fill up fast.

July 20 online

Today, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at 3:00pm Pacific, the Library of America is presenting “a starry tribute to Beat legend, Buddhist monk, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet laureate of deep ecology Gary Snyder, to celebrate publication of his Collected Poems in the Library of America series. Join Governor Jerry Brown, actor Peter Coyote, novelist Kim Stanley Robinson, poets Wang Ping and Robert Hass, other friends of Gary, and special guests for an hour of poetry and personal anecdotes, plus a special appearance by Gary Snyder.” Register to attend.

on poetry

“Blue. My God! I’m so blue that if I were a dog, I’d sit on my haunches and howl and howl and howl …”
Alice Dunbar Nelson
(July 19, 1875 – September 18, 1935)

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