for the romantics…
May 25, 2020
In case you missed the story in The Guardian, or on social media, A love in verse is a 25-year, love-poem-a-day gift from Peter Gordon to his wife, Alison, and now to readers everywhere.
February 14
February 14, 2020
found poem © j.i. kleinberg
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Love…tonight!
June 8, 2018
Tonight, Friday, June 8, 2018, at 7:00pm at The Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Paige Lewis & Kaveh Akbar celebrate their June 9th wedding with this celebratory, pre-nuptial group reading by an amazing array of poets come to witness and celebrate the occasion. Paige Lewis has a first chapbook, Reasons to Wake You (Tupelo), coming this year. Kaveh Akbar’s Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James Books) was one of the poetic books of 2017, never mind it also being a debut. Paige Lewis and Kaveh Akbar live in Tallahassee and make the excellent online poetry journal, Divedapper, happen. Thanks to them, they are also making this night happen.
Among those expected to read tonight: Hanif Abdurraqib, Kaveh Akbar, Eloisa Amezcua, Fatimah Asghar, Kelly Butler, Robert Olen Butler, Richard Cardillo, Sumita Chakraborty, Jos Charles, Cortney Lamar Charleston, Safia Elhillo, Kat Finch, Steve Henn, Zaya Henn, Sara Eliza Johnson, Paige Lewis, Zach Linge, Carly Joy Miller, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Jacquelyn Pope, Jayme Ringleb, Don Share, Danez Smith, Melissa Studdard, John Taylor, David J. Thompson, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, R.A. Villaneuva, and Jane Wong. Wow.
Admission is free but there is a suggested $5 donation, all proceeds going to Solid Ground Seattle.
Call for words!
January 17, 2017
Do you have a story, poem, prose or spoken word tribute to the earlier, more foolish you? If so, Rooted Emerging hopes you’ll submit it for Love’s Fool 2017: “On April Fool’s Day, we pay homage to the inner adolescent in us all, who felt so much, made mistakes, and lived to tell the tale.”
Sponsored by Village Books and emcee’d by Carolyn McCarthy, Love’s Fool will be held in the Mountain Room at at Boundary Bay Brewery in Bellingham on (of course) Saturday, April 1, 2017.
The Call for Stories requests original work from writers 18 and over. Performance is limited to 3 – 8 minutes (roughly 500 – 1000 words). Preference will be given to the funny, the heartfelt, the shamelessly honest, the romantic and the subtly sexual (suitable for audiences ages 12 & up). Stories set during ages 10 – 16 will be given priority. The submission deadline is Wednesday, February 15, 2017, and performers will be contacted by March 1. Find out more on the Rooted Emerging website, where you’ll also find a link to the complete guidelines.
reading up on love
January 22, 2016
You have just over three weeks to get your Valentine’s love poem written. So, by way of inspiration, we offer this article from The Guardian, which lists “the 50 greatest love poems of the last 50 years.”
post-Valentine’s love…
February 24, 2014
Valentine’s Day may be over, but there’s no season on love. Common Good Books (Garrison Keillor, prop.) invites you to submit an original and unpublished (anywhere!) love poem for their second annual “Love Letters” contest. There’s no fee, but poems must be submitted by U.S. mail (postmarked by April 15, 2014) and accompanied by a signed release form. Submission details and release forms can be found on the Common Good Books “How to Write a Love Poem” page.
show some love
January 28, 2014
The Bellingham Herald invites Whatcom County residents to show some love for the paper’s annual love poem feature in honor of Valentine’s Day.
Selected entries will run in the Monday, February 10 Herald, and all accepted entries will run online at TheBellinghamHerald.com.
Poems can be emailed to dean.kahn@bellinghamherald.com; mailed to ‘Valentine’s Day poems,’ c/o Dean Kahn, The Bellingham Herald, second floor, 1155 N. State St., Bellingham, WA 98225; or hand-delivered to the Herald customer service office.
Please include your name, age and town of residence. Also, include your phone number, in case questions arise. The deadline to submit a poem is Friday, January 31, 2014.
Raspberry Rhubarb Pie*
June 12, 2013
2013 Walk Award
By Mariah Brown-Pounds
Work done early
so I took the afternoon
to bake raspberry rhubarb pie.
Sunshine spilling
onto the granite kitchen
counter, Joni Mitchell on the stereo,
a full glass of chardonnay.
I wore my apron with the yellow
roses. Feeling like a fifties
housewife or a magician,
I worked slowly to get it just right.
My hands knew
what to do with fresh picked
rhubarb and last year’s raspberries.
I only had to watch: let the wine
and Joni’s voice take me away.
Evening sunlight, cooking pie smells,
good daydreams about you and me;
smiling to think of your surprise
to find pie and me waiting.
*Copyright 2013 by Mariah Brown-Pounds. Placard design by Egress Studio.
Collage*
May 26, 2013
2013 Merit Award
By Jim Milstead**
Vistas of blue bay. Leaden waters ruffled by wind.
Soft curtains. Drenched collectables. Torn remnants.
White-sailed relaxation. Raw taste of hunger.
Hand carved gluttonies. Vast white mountains
tinged with alpenglow. Yells. Curses. Gallery walks.
Banked slaloms. Bounced checks. Open mic
anticipations. Bone dry witticisms. Sermonized
imaginations. Wetland pollution. Official cadence
of restrained ambivalence. Tails wagging
furiously. Identity theft Neuroscience on tap.
Thimbleberry delights. Earthworm desiccations.
Hospice devotion. Fault lined inevitability.
Sandstone magnificence. Kaleidoscopic uncertainty.
Rag town of bleak streets, chilled conclusions.
The echo of your voice.
. . . . .
*Copyright 2013 by Jim Milstead. Placard design by Egress Studio.
**Happy Birthday, Jim!
immortalize your love…
January 9, 2013
Because love is eternal, The Bellingham Herald will once again run love poems written by Whatcom County residents in honor of Valentine’s Day (February 14, a Thursday this year).
Selected entries will run in the Monday, February 11 Herald and all accepted entries will run online at TheBellinghamHerald.com.
Poems can be emailed to dean.kahn@bellinghamherald.com
or mailed to
“Valentine’s Day poems”
The Bellingham Herald
1155 N. State Street, second floor
Bellingham, WA 98225
or hand-delivered to the Herald business office (same address).
Include your name, age and town of residence. Also, include your phone number, in case questions arise.
The deadline to submit a poem is Monday, February 4, 2013.
For details, call Dean Kahn, 360-715-2291.
Sweet!
The Poetry Department . . . aka The Boynton Blog 