Sunday salmon

Please mark your calendar and join Rena Priest, Empty Bowl Press, and contributing poets in a celebration of the newly published collection, I Sing the Salmon Home: Poems from Washington State. The event will be held on Sunday, June 18, 2023, at the Squalicum Boathouse in Zuanich Point Park, in Bellingham. Doors open at 5:30pm and the reading starts at 6:00pm. Copies of the anthology will be available for sale and signing.

did your poem get bounced?

If you submitted a poem to the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest, this year or any previous year, and it was rejected, now you have a chance to show it off to the world!

Boynton Bouncers returns to the mic at Greene’s Corner in Bellingham on Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 6:00pm. Here are the guidelines:

• Rejected-by-Boynton poems from any contest year, 2006-2023, are eligible.
• Poets must read their own poems; if their work has been turned away in multiple years, they may read up to two poems.
• Poets can just show up and read, or, to assure a spot in the lineup, send an email with your name, phone, and poem title(s) to boyntonbouncers@gmail.com.
• The event is free and the public is invited.

Celebrate rejection with some of Whatcom County’s finest poets!

Awards Ceremony!

Next Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at 7:00pm, the Bellingham Cruise Terminal (355 Harris Avenue in Fairhaven) will again come to life with the sound of poetry. The Awards Ceremony for the 2023 Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest is free and open to the public. The evening will be hosted by everyone’s favorite emcee, Kevin Murphy, with comments from the judges, Caitlin Scarano and Leslie Wharton, and the year’s award-winning poems read by their poets. Please come celebrate community poetry at this heartwarming event.

Sunday in Bellingham

This Sunday, April 23, 2023, at 4:00pm, Village Books will welcome Dayna Patterson and Bruce Beasley for a reading from their most recent books, O Lady, Speak Again and Prayershreds, respectively. See you there.

tonight in Bellingham!

Tonight, Friday, February 24, 2023, at 8:00pm Pacific, come on down to Honey Moon Mead & Cider in Bellingham and join Jory Mickelson, Caitlin Scarano, and Jessica Gigot for a poetry reading, with music by Louis Ledford.

Honey Moon has a busy calendar. Have a look.

something new in Bellingham

There’s a new event in town: PROMPT: An Evening for Poets, Friday, January 13, 2023, 6:00-9:00pm, at the FireHouse Arts & Events Center in Fairhaven. The event is organized by writer, performer and creative coach Tere Harrison, who describes it as “an evening of curiosity and fun with words spoken out loud.”

John S. Green will host an exquisite corpse table to gather one-line contributions to a collective poem for the evening.

To sign up to read, play music, sing, dance, contact Tere Harrison (address at event link above). Spots are 5 minutes. Space is limited.

Spring in Bellingham*

2022 Walk Award
By Margaux Barber

A soft wind blows as I
trudge through the field
of Sunnyland Elementary
School. The first
flowers bloom like a
dragon taking flight,
their colors pushing through
the gray. I can feel the
breeze on my cheek like
a million butterflies taking flight.
This is spring in Bellingham.

*Copyright 2022 by Margaux Barber. Broadside illustrated by Megan Carroll.

Poet’s bio:
Margaux is in 3rd grade at Sunnyland Elementary. She’s obsessed with artichokes.

poetry music

The first Poet Laureate of Washington State, as voted by the Washington State Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1931, Ella Rhoads Higginson was a prolific poet, novelist, and short story writer. She settled in Bellingham, Washington, in her 20s and remained there for the rest of her life, writing and actively promoting education, women’s rights, and the arts.

On Friday, December 2, and Saturday, December 3, 2022, Vox Pacifica and Choir of the Salish Sea will perform music set to Ella Higginson’s sonnet, “The Opal Sea” (among other works). Choral conductor and composer Duncan Tuomi composed the music for “The Opal Sea” as his “musical love letter to this gorgeous region.”

The performances will be at the First Congregational Church in Bellingham. You can find ticket information here and more on Ella Higginson here.

back to in-person

Here’s some good news: Village Books, in Bellingham, has announced, “Beginning November, 2022, we will begin bringing VB Writes Writing Groups back to In-Person Meetings at Village Books in the Writers Corner.”

VB Writes offers free, drop-in, twice-monthly writing groups on fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, and prompts, as well as two 4th-Monday Open Mic Nights — one in Spanish and one in English.

Watch for these and other events on the Village Books calendar.

Live in Bellingham

While it’s nice to be able to attend poetry readings from afar, it’s very exciting to have the calendar filling up with local, in-person events. This week, in Bellingham, Washington, Village Books is presenting two worthwhile poetry readings among their many goings-on:

On Sunday, September 25, 2022, at 5:00pm, Sati Mookherjee will present her debut collection, Eye (Ravenna Press), in a reading at the Whatcom Museum’s Lightcatcher courtyard. The outdoor event is free, but seating is limited and pre-registration is highly recommended.

Later in the week, on Thursday, September 29, 2022, at 7:00pm, Village Books will present celebrated poet and author Michael Daley reading from his brand-new poetry collection, Reinhabited (DOS Madres Press), as well as his new novel, Telémachus (Pleasure Boat Studio). The event, in the Village Books Readings Gallery in Fairhaven, is also free, with advance reservations suggested.

Visit the Calendar for more events throughout Cascadia.