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.

live poetry!

Pelican Bay Books in Anacortes has some treats in store for the second half of National Poetry Month.

This Saturday, April 15, 2023, the reading series will present Kathleen Flenniken, Claudia Castro Luna, and Susan Rich.

On Saturday, April 22, the featured readers will be Kevin Murphy and Randy Dills.

On Saturday, April 29, the store will host a reading by Michael Daley and Gary Copeland Lilley.

Treat yourself to some powerful voices and moving poetry. Spend a Saturday evening in April among poetry-loving friends in Anacortes. Readings are free (donations happily accepted) and begin at 7:00pm.

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.

awards!

The committee of the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest invites you to join the awards celebration for the 2022 contest winners. This year’s ceremony will be held online on Thursday, May 19, 2022, at 7:00pm Pacific.

You’ll hear a few words from the judges, Victor Ortiz and Dayna Patterson, snappy repartee from everyone’s favorite emcee, Kevin Murphy, and then you’ll hear the 10 Walk Award and 15 Merit Award winners read their poems.

Click to join the Awards Ceremony on Zoom, or here, if you need to join by phone.

Sunday in Fairhaven

Join poet Kevin Murphy and singer-songwriter Louis Ledford on Sunday, September 5, 2021, starting at 5:30pm, for poems and music in the lovely sycamore garden area outside the Firehouse Performing Arts Center, 1314 Harris Avenue, in Fairhaven (Bellingham). Donations accepted. The Firehouse Cafe closes at 5:30pm, but if you arrive a little early, you can grab a snack or beverage to enjoy during the performance.

SpeakEasy 27: the responses

SpeakEasy 27: A Spiritual Thread engaged five poets in what turned out to be a nine-month poetic conversation. The resulting series of linked poems was presented in five Zoom readings.

To complete SpeakEasy 27, audience members were invited to submit their own poems inspired by and directly linked to specific ideas or language in the 25-poem series. Round 6, on Sunday, March 28, 2021, at 7:00pm Pacific, will feature response poems by Sarah Brownsberger, Lauren Camp, Nancy Canyon, Bev Darnall, J.I. Kleinberg, Eric Kosarot, Rachel Mehl, Peter Messinger, Jory Mickelson, Don Mitchell, Kevin Murphy, Bethany Reid, Sheila Rosen, Paul Sarvasy, Betty Scott, Carla Shafer, Sheila Sondik, Allie Spikes, and Nik Warren.

Additional information and video of the previous readings is available on the Other Mind Press SpeakEasy 27 page. The reading is free on Zoom (Zoom link available from the participating poets or by sending an email to othermindpress AT gmail.com). Please join us!

summer Sundays

You’re invited to a first-Sunday-of-the-month
poetry reading
at 5:00pm
by the book box
at 1507 Larrabee,
in Bellingham.

Featured poets are
Kevin Murphy (June 2),
Carla Shafer (July 7),
Luther Allen (August 4),
and You (open mic, September 1, 2019, followed by a potluck).

Thanks to Jeni Cottrell for the idea and the venue!

2019 Boynton winners

The Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest committee has announced the winners of this year’s contest.

Winners will read their poems at a free public awards ceremony, 7:00pm, Thursday, May 16, 2019, at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal, 355 Harris Avenue, in Fairhaven. Poet Kevin Murphy will host the ceremony.

Now in its 14th year, the annual contest is open to Whatcom County residents of all ages and poetry experience. This year’s winners were chosen by judges Jessica Lohafer and Christopher Patton, both Bellingham-based poets.

Ten Walk Award winners will have their poems displayed for a year on plaques outside the downtown Bellingham Public Library. Those poems, and the 14 Merit Award winners, also will be displayed on artist-designed placards on WTA buses. (The winning poems and placards will be posted weekly on this site following the awards ceremony.)

Winners include Jaelyn Pitts, a Bellingham 3-year-old, the youngest in the contest’s history; and award-winning poet Luci Shaw of Bellingham, who, at age 90, is likely the contest’s oldest winner ever.

Youths who won the Walk Award are Maddie Patterson, 5th grade, Silver Beach Elementary; Gavin James Karney, 6th grade, Whatcom Middle; Bella Mendoza, 12th grade, Squalicum High; Margaux Barber, kindergarten, Sunnyland Elementary; and Jaelyn Pitts.

Adults who won the Walk Award are Barbara Bloom of Bellingham, Tor of Bellingham, Sandra F. Lucke of Lynden, Stephany Vogel of Bellingham, and Luci Shaw.

Youths won won the Merit Award are Quinn Moore, 4th grade, Natural Learning Center; Porter Chesbrough, 6th grade, Whatcom Middle; Gaia Garza, 6th grade, Whatcom Middle; Eliot Stockman, 6th grade, Whatcom Middle; Lucas Cunningham, 12th grade, Sehome High; Anishka Duggal, 11th grade, Sehome High; Karanjot Mann, 12th grade, Squalicum High; and Adam McCluskey, 11th grade, Squalicum High.

Six adults won a Merit Award: Sally Hewitt of Glacier, Phelps McIlvaine of Bellingham, Carlos Martinez of Ferndale, Tom Moore of Bellingham, Susan Cohen Raphael of Bellingham, and Cadillac Joe Wright of Bellingham.

A chapbook of the winning poems will be available for purchase at the awards ceremony.

Congratulations to the winners and heartfelt thanks to the hundreds of poets who submitted their work to this year’s contest.

tonight in Bellingham

Greene’s Corner, in Bellingham, will welcome poet Kevin Murphy this evening, Wednesday, August 22, 2018. The mic will be open for musicians in between sets of Kevin’s poetry. Signups begin 6:30, music at 7:00, with emcee JP Falcon Grady.

Kevin Murphy has been performing off-kilter poetry for approximately 39.5 years. A winner of a Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award in 2017, he likes to think his poetry offers many of the benefits of a round-the-world trip at a fraction of the cost. Come on down. No passport required.

Saturday in Bellingham!

SpeakEasy 21: Poets Talk Poetry is going to be an exceptional evening of insightful reflections and scintillating words from poets Bruce Beasley, Ramona Elke, Jory Mickelson, Kevin Murphy, Nancy Pagh, Dayna Patterson, and Rena Priest. Please join us on Saturday, April 21, 2018, at 7:00pm, in the Encore Room of the Mount Baker Theatre, Bellingham, Washington. The event is free and the poets’ books will be for sale.