SpeakEasy returns!

The Bellingham-based poetry series returns to in-person programming for the first time since 2019 with SpeakEasy 29: Waymaking.

This audience-friendly afternoon of poetry will feature Bill Yake, Empty Bowl Press, and a curated program of fine poets. The free, public event will be held at the Mount Baker Theatre Encore Room on Sunday, September 18, 2022, at 4:00pm. Masks and proof of vaccination are required.

Poet, naturalist, photographer, traveler, and occasional essayist Bill Yake has been published widely in books, magazines, and anthologies. His book Waymaking by Moonlight (Empty Bowl Press) and the title poem were inspiration for this SpeakEasy.

In addition to Bill Yake, Empty Bowl Press will be represented by newly announced co-owner Holly J. Hughes along with Marie Eaton, Kathryn P. Humes, and Lois Holub.

Reading their own poems in response to Bill Yake’s poem “Waymaking by Moonlight” will be Barbara Bloom, Nancy Canyon, Linda Conroy, Rick Hermann, David M. Laws, Charles Luckmann, Jerry Dale McDonnell, Victor Ortiz, Dayna Patterson, Raúl Sánchez, Leslie Wharton, and Richard Widerkehr.

SpeakEasy is an occasional poetry series that emphasizes themed, audience-friendly presentations of quality poetry by Cascadia-region writers. It is produced in Bellingham, Washington, by Luther Allen, author of The View from Lummi Island, and Judy Kleinberg. Please join us!

The Madrona Project #3

Mark your calendar for Friday, May 27, 2022, 7:00pm, when contributors to The Madrona Project #3: Human Communities in Wild Places will read live, in person, at Pelican Bay Books in Anacortes. The new volume from Empty Bowl is edited by Michael Daley and features the writing of 73 contributors. The evening’s readers will include Luther Allen, Michael Daley, Virginia Hietpas, Georgia Johnson, and Bob Rose, as well as 2021 and 2022 Washington State Poetry Out Loud champion and Student Poet Laureate Lucy Shainin reading her work.

plan ahead for publishing

If you’re planning a holiday print run of your current or future poetry collection, the Publishing Team at Village Books in Bellingham urges you to get started now. In an email to publishing and print-on-demand clients this week, they said (in part)

As many of you are already aware, the book industry has not escaped the effects of the pandemic and many of our partners are struggling with supply chain issues. Wood shortages create paper shortages, which drives up book-printing costs, and worker shortages due to COVID-19 leads to delays in packing/shipping/transporting books. We are anticipating delayed printing times of 3-4 weeks for any order of paperback books, and 4-6 weeks for hardcover books.

Here’s what this means for you: if you are needing to order a print run of your books before the holidays, we need to know by October 15th, 2021. This is the suggested cut-off date from our printers to hopefully ensure your books arrive on time. We cannot guarantee that any orders placed after this date will arrive before the holidays.

The concern expressed by Village Books is confirmed by a Bloomberg article that appeared in Tuesday’s Seattle Times, Paper shortage hits American retailers when they need it most.

The bottom line: start planning now and contact your printer to make sure the materials you need will be available.

Thanks to Luther Allen for the heads up.

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Wednesday on PoetryBridge

PoetryBridge Association of West Seattle will round out a season of online readings with Luther Allen and Tamara Kaye Sellman this Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at 7:00pm.

PoetryBridge wrangler Leopoldo Seguel says, “It will be our 48th zoom session since the pandemic overtook us last spring featuring over 100 poets and storytellers from Canada to California, from New Hampshire to Missouri, from Pittsburgh to Peru. It has been a wonderful ride and I am ready for a summer pause. I plan on resuming live readings in person at C&P Coffee the second Wednesday of each month starting on September 8th from 7-9 PM (PT). I also plan to continue the zoom readings on a monthly basis in September on a date to still be determined.”

For Zoom access to Wednesday’s Allen-Sellman reading, join the PoetryBridge Facebook group or send Leopoldo an email at info@poetrybridge.net requesting the link.

unwinding more Spiritual Thread

The poets (Dayna Patterson, Jennifer Bullis, Bruce Beasley, Luther Allen, and Susan Alexander) will continue their poetic musings in Round 4 of SpeakEasy 27: A Spiritual Thread on Saturday, February 6, 2021, at 7:00pm Pacific.

By this point in the linked series, spirit and virus are inextricably entwined. The intimacy of breath and the magnitude of the imponderable are stitched together. The poems reach back not only to the immediately preceding poem, but also to the entire collection, now some six months in the making.

The reading is free on Zoom with a password, available by sending an email to othermindpress AT gmail.com. See the poets’ bios and links to videos of the previous three readings on the SpeakEasy 27 page.

SpeakEasy 27: A Spiritual Thread, round 3

Please tune in to SpeakEasy 27: A Spiritual Thread for the third round (of five) on Saturday, January 16, 2021, 7:00pm Pacific, as poets Susan Alexander, Luther Allen, Bruce Beasley, Jennifer Bullis, and Dayna Patterson read and comment on their poems from this linked series of writings on spirituality.

Series info, poet bios, videos of previous rounds, and sign-in information are available on the SpeakEasy 27 page and on Facebook. Free on Zoom with password.

The final two rounds of the series are scheduled for Saturday, February 6, and Saturday, February 27, 2021.

Round 2, this Saturday

After a warming response to Round 1, SpeakEasy 27: A Spiritual Thread will offer Round 2 of this linked-poem series on Saturday, December 12, 2020, at 7:00pm Pacific. As with Round 1, Susan Alexander, Luther Allen, Bruce Beasley, Jennifer Bullis, and Dayna Patterson will each read one poem linked to the previous poem (or poems), discuss the linkage, and whatever else is on their mind. At the end of the reading there will be further discussion and questions from listeners.

The poets’ bios and a video link to Round 1 are available on the SpeakEasy 27 page (video link is at the very bottom).

Request a Zoom link for Round 2 by sending a note to othermindpress@gmail.com.

SpeakEasy 27: A Spiritual Thread

In November 2019, Luther Allen invited four poets to join him in creating a series of linked poems on a spiritual theme for the next SpeakEasy. No one could have imagined either the scope of the project or the many challenges 2020 would set in the way.

The idea is quite simple: one person writes a poem; the second person writes a poem in response; the third person writes a poem in response to poem 2, etc. It had been a very successful approach in 2014, when SpeakEasy 14: String Theory presented un-themed linked poems by five poets.

In his invitation, Luther suggested that each poet would have about a week to respond to the poem they had received, and that SpeakEasy 27 would probably happen in April or May. All of the invited poets — Susan Alexander, Bruce Beasley, Jennifer Bullis, and Dayna Patterson — accepted the invitation and the writing commenced.

By the end of the first round of five poems, the word pandemic had surfaced. It soon became apparent that schedules could not be imposed on the shape, content, or duration of these poems. Nine months and 60 pages of poetry later, SpeakEasy 27: A Spiritual Thread stands as a poetic testament to a year quite unlike any other.

Over the coming months, the poets will read and comment on their poems in a series of free readings on Zoom. The first reading will be on Saturday, November 14, 2020, at 7:00pm Pacific. To participate, send an email to othermindpress@gmail.com. You will receive sign-in information by email.

Poetry in Anacortes

The monthly poetry series at Pelican Bay Books & Coffeehouse continues on Friday, February 28, 2020, 7:00pm, with an evening of poetry and music with young Skagit poet Piet Anna Pruitt, featured poets Luther Allen and J.I. Kleinberg, and a musical set by Anacortes’ own Pearl Tottenham.

Luther Allen writes poetry and designs buildings from Sumas Mountain, Washington. He facilitates SpeakEasy, a community poetry reading series in Bellingham, and is co-editor of Noisy Water, an anthology of local poets. His collection of poems, The View from Lummi Island, can be found at Other Mind Press. His work is included in the recent anthologies WA 129 (edited by Tod Marshall), Refugium: Poems for the Pacific (edited by Yvonne Blomer), Poets Unite! LitFUSE @10, Weaving the Terrain (Dos Gatos Press), and For Love of Orcas (edited by Jill McCabe Johnson and Andrew Shattuck McBride). His short story “The Stilled Ring” was finalist in the annual fiction contest at terrain.org. He views writing as his spiritual practice.

Twice nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net awards, J.I. (Judy) Kleinberg is co-editor of 56 Days of August (Five Oaks Press 2017) and Noisy Water: Poetry from Whatcom County, Washington (Other Mind Press 2015), and co-produces the Bellingham-based SpeakEasy poetry series. Her poetry has appeared in One, Pontoon, Pedestal Magazine, Psaltery & Lyre, December, and elsewhere, and more than 300 of her found-word collage poems have been published in print and online. She lives in Bellingham and posts frequently at chocolateisaverb.wordpress.com and thepoetrydepartment.wordpress.com and occasionally on Instagram @jikleinberg.

next Thursday in Vancouver, WA

On the second Thursday of every month, Angst Gallery in Vancouver, Washington, opens its doors to poetry. Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver, Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic offers an evening of featured readers, open mic, plus food and libations provided by Niche Wine Bar.

On Thursday, January 9, 2020, Luther Allen and J.I. (Judy) Kleinberg will share the Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic feature spot. Open mic signups: 6:30-7:00pm.

On the gallery walls: Ninth Annual Celebration of the Male Form.

Lots to enjoy. Hope to see you there.