…your gifts many

With gratitude and best wishes.
May your heart be full © j.i. kleinberg 2021

good news

Sometimes we just have to share some good news. The kind of restores-your-faith-in-humanity news we’d like to see more often, even when it’s not right in our neighborhood. The Kennedy Foundation, Inc., has pledged $1 million to the University of Chattanooga Foundation for the benefit of students studying poetry at UTC. The money will be used to fund scholarships as well as endow a professorship to teach poetry. A million bucks for poetry. Yes!

Read all about it.

the gift of poetry

The Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest has numerous reasons to be grateful to George F. Drake. Here are two:

• In 1976, as a member of the Bellingham City Council, George organized a ceremony to honor those who served in elective office. A highlight of the event, held at Western Washington University, was the presence of Sue C. Boynton, then 95. George escorted her to the podium where she read a poem of her own followed by a message sent for the occasion by President Gerald Ford. In 2005, George approached Sue Boynton’s daughter, Ethel Boynton Crook, to propose naming a community poetry contest to honor Sue C. Boynton. She agreed, and the first Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest and Poetry Walk was held in 2006 with the enthusiastic support of the extended Boynton family.
• A stalwart champion of the Contest through the intervening years, George Drake took the podium at the May 16, 2019, awards ceremony, where he presented the above photo of himself with Sue C. Boynton taken by Tore Ofteness at that 1976 event. He then presented the contest committee with an exceedingly generous surprise: a check for $10,000 to express his belief in the importance of this community poetry contest and to assure its continuation in the years to come.

Beyond the evening’s raucous and prolonged applause, the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest and all the past, present, and future poets of Whatcom County, and their fans, owe George Drake a huge THANK YOU.

last minute

The Qwerkywriter Bluetooth Keyboard at GadgetFlow

Buddy Wakefield Poem Pens

The Poet Tarot and Guidebook from Two Sylvias Press

All manner of homemade poetry swag on Etsy including Emily Dickinson tights

Noisy Water: Poetry from Whatcom County, Washington – available at Village Books

The Emily Dickinson Tarot Deck from Factory Hollow Press

How to gift a poem…

• Tweet it a line at a time.
• Post it on Facebook.
• Hand-write or print it and put it in a frame.
• Stamp it into a paver.
• Stitch it like an old-fashioned sampler.
• Transfer it onto a t-shirt, mug, bowl, etc.
• Make a collage out of it.
• Make a chapbook out of it.
• Put it in an envelope and mail it.
• Tuck each line behind a little window, like an Advent calendar.
• Seal it in a bottle and toss it in the sea with a forwarding address.
• Laminate it and hang it as a holiday ornament.
• Write it in lipstick on the mirror
  or chalk on the sidewalk.
• Blog it.
• YouTube it.
• Record it and MP3 it.
• Geo-cache it.
• Origami it.
• Roll it like a scroll and put it in a Christmas stocking, basket, candy box, saucepan, pillowcase, jacket pocket.
• Inscribe it in something weatherproof and stake it in the garden.
• Write it in sand and take a picture from above.
• Memorize it and say it aloud.
• Etc.

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image

give words!

Whether you’re shopping for a poet, a poetry lover or someone who doesn’t think about poetry very much, there are plenty of wonderfully poetic ways to give gifts this holiday season. So if you plan to shop, put your money where your heart is.

Here are a few ideas to get you started…

• Visit the websites of individual poets and use the links they provide to buy their books.
• There is a lot of wonderful poetry swag on Etsy stores, including cards and art from Egress Studio and Emily Dickinson tights.
• Of course, visit the poetry section in your local independent bookstore.
• Give a gift subscription to a poetry journal (see links in sidebar for ideas or browse the list at Poets & Writers).
• Buy a ticket or a season pass to a poetry event, such as Seattle Arts & Lectures.
• Make a donation in a friend’s name to a poetry project on Kickstarter (for example, Save The Capilano Review), Indiegogo or other crowdfunding sites.
• Make a donation in a friend’s name to a poetry nonprofit, such as the University of Arizona Poetry Center, Poets House, Hugo House, Skagit River Poetry Foundation or Kahini.
• Give a player preloaded with poems or audio books from poets.org, Open Culture or PennSound.
• Give an hour or two of your time (babysitting, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc.) to allow your poet-friend to write undisturbed. (Make a gift certificate… or print one, free.)
• Gift wrap The Poet Tarot Deck and Guidebook from Two Sylvias Press.
• Give a 2015 poetry calendar. For example, Argos Poetry Calendar, Dylan Thomas 2015 calendar, Hafiz 2015 calendar, Haiku: Japanese Art and Poetry 2015 Wall Calendar, Poetry Of Rumi wall calendar, Texas Poetry Calendar or Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar. (Or make your own!)
• Give a gift of a poetry conference, workshop or retreat (see Shaw Guides, for a start).
• Select from the broadsides, books, apparel and audio recordings offered by the Poetry Center of Chicago.
• Everybody loves Magnetic Poetry Kits, Haikubes and Love Haikubes.
• Restock the cupboard with poetry mugs.
• Give your poet a manual typewriter (check your local computer/office machine repair shop; they might have a bunch of them hanging around).
• For something really special, have the artists at Comma Workshop turn your poem into a quilt.
• For something really, really special, wrap up a poem of your own.

We aren’t suggesting you should a) shop or b) spend a bunch of money. But if you DO give holiday (or other) gifts, we hope this little list might launch your creativity. (We’d love to hear your other ideas. Leave a comment!)
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Banned Book Socks

on poetry…

“Remember that the poem is a gift. You’re not writing it for yourself; you’re writing it so you can give it to someone else. So what are you going to give them, a handful of wadded up tissues from your trash can or a bright, shiny jewel box you’ve spent weeks making?” David Kirby

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David Kirby photo