Writers Resist, and other antidotes to despair

It’s been a long while and a wrenching turn of history’s wheel since my last post here. In the wee hours of election night, I channeled my grief into sharing poems by Lucille Clifton, Denise Levertov, Tim Seibles, Anna Akhmatova and others on Facebook. I need to feel connected to the larger human story in order not to despair, and poems help me do that. So, in that spirit, I offer you this list of recommended poetry events, and a little update on what I’m doing.

Jan. 15: The Writers Resist movement kicks off on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with more than 80 events around the world, from small towns to major urban hubs like Hong Kong and London, to defend the ideals of a free, just and compassionate democracy.

Here in Washington state, Writers Resist readings will take place on Jan. 15 in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Bellingham, Bainbridge Island, Ellensburg, Spokane, Port Townsend and Goldendale, to name a few.

At Seattle’s event at Town Hall, 14 writers will celebrate American ideals of freedom and equality by reading excerpts from their own work and the writings of other American thinkers concerned with freedom of speech.

Participating writers include:

Daniel James Brown (The Boys in the Boat)
G. Willow Wilson (The Butterfly Mosque)
Jess Walter (Beautiful Ruins)
Elissa Washuta (My Body is a Book of Rules)
Robert Lashley (The Homeboy Songs)
Jane Wong (Overpour)
Samuel Ligon (Wonderland)
Kristen Millares Young (prize-winning journalist and fiction writer)
Bruce Barcott (Weed The People)
Imani Sims (performance poet)
David Laskin (The Children’s Blizzard)
Claudia Castro Luna (This City, Seattle’s Civic Poet)
Tod Marshall (Bugle, Washington State Poet Laureate)
Angel Gardner (Seattle’s Youth Poet Laureate)

The ACLU of Washington will present a brief history of free speech and will be present to accept donations at the reception after the reading.

Feb. 7: Ross Gay at McCaw Hall for Seattle Arts and Lectures. Here’s one, must-read poem from Ross Gay: “A Small Needful Fact.”  Ticket info here.

This year I’m doing a few performances and workshops, but am mostly focused on writing new poems:

• Jan. 29 at 11a: Reading from Winnie-the-Pooh at Open Books. For kids of all ages. Free.

• Feb. 9 at 8a: Klavano Grand Rounds Lecture at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Writing Our Way Toward Wholeness and Awareness: Poetry and Guided Journaling for Patients and Providers. Co-presenting with Julie Arguez, MSW.

• Feb. 23 to 25: I’ll be reading contemporary love poetry (including a little of my own) following performances of When Love Speaks at Taproot’s Isaac Studio Theatre. (I performed in When Love Speaks way back in 1994, in my other life as an actor.)  The show runs Feb. 9 to 25; each performance will be followed by a short reading of contemporary love poems by local poets including Lena Khalaf Tuffaha and Peter Pereira.

Lots of workshops and classes to recommend:

• Winter quarter at Hugo Houseincludes classes with JW (John) Marshall, Jourdan Keith and Matt Smith’s amazing Improv for Writers workshop. Find the course catalog here.
• Generating New Work: Half Day Winter Retreat with Kelli Russell Agodon and Susan Rich, March 4 in South Lake Union, Seattle. Details here.
• Poets on the Coast: A Weekend Writing Retreat for Women, Sept. 8 to 10 in La Conner, WA with Kelli Russell Agodon, Elizabeth Austen, and Susan Rich. We will gather to write, read, and share our work inspired by the art, landscape, and creative energy around us. The retreat is designed for women writers of all levels, from beginning poets to well published. Sessions on creativity, generating work, publication, a Master Class workshop, and one-on-one mentoring are included as well as morning yoga. Limited number of spaces available, and the retreat is already more than half filled. Register while rates are still at pre-season prices. More information.

There’s even more happening at Open Books, Hugo House and Elliott Bay Books. Find weekly recommendations, writing prompts, and poems by Poet in Residence Elisa Chavez at The Seattle Review of Books.

Yours in poetry, yours in active hope—

Elizabeth

“Silence is part of the enterprise”

Thanks to reminders from a dear friend, I’ve recently started listening to Krista Tippet’s podcast, On Being. This morning I listened to her conversation with the Irish poet Michael Longley.

The conversation focuses often on Longley’s writing about “the troubles” in Northern Ireland, and feels remarkably timely. He speaks about love (in all its forms) as the center of poetry, as its central subject, and acknowledges that his work has “no agenda — I stagger around.” He reminds me that “self-importance engraves its own headstone” and that “silence is part of the enterprise.” About compliments, he quotes his wife as saying: “you accept them, but you don’t inhale.”

Image by Colin Davidson

And, he declares: “Good art, good poetry, makes people more human, more intelligent, more sensitive and emotionally pure than than they might otherwise be … poetry encourages you to think for yourself and disregard church and state.”

More about Michael Longley here.

 

 

 

November 8, 2016

One way or another, that date is going to be historic. Have your say. #Vote2016

 

Celebrating Open Books: A Poem Emporium

Friends, just a quick note that this is the week Seattle’s beloved Open Books: A Poem Emporium transitions to its new owner, Billie Swift. You’ll find “A Few Final Words from John and Christine” here.

As I just wrote to John and Christine, I am keenly aware that the poetry community I encountered when I turned to poetry some 20 years ago was shaped indelibly by Open Books — by the physical space, the intimate readings, the books of course!, but most of all by John and Christine’s always smart and unfailingly kind presence, and by their knowledge and insight regarding poetry. (And, truth be told, by the example of their own poems and way of being poets in the world.)

Now would be a good time to stop by or call the store – to buy that collection you’ve been hankering for or meaning to send to a friend. John and Christine have announced that they’ll be open two hours after normal closing time Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week, and invite us to “Come reminisce, socialize, and look towards Open Books’s bright future with other friends of the store.” (More info here.)

“The Music of Strangers”

Whatever else you are doing this week, please get yourself to a screening of “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble.” It offers a gorgeous, layered rebuttal to the dominant narrative of xenophobia, discord and violence. If you need to be reminded why art matters, this is the movie for you. Trailer here.

 

 

 

National Poetry Month

Though lately it’s felt more like July, it’s still National Poetry Month, with lots of poetry events left to enjoy (or perhaps you’re looking to take a class, or want to visit Open Books: A Poem Emporium?).

If you’re on or near Whidbey Island, I’d love to see you at one or both of these events this weekend:

Friday, April 22:  Reading with Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 7:30p. $15.

Saturday, April 23: Generative writing workshop at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 1 to 3p; $30. Registration information. Still a few spaces available

I also recommend:

April 22: Couth Buzzard Post-Explosion Rebuild Fundraiser, Couth Buzzard Books, 7:30p. Donations to support Couth Buzzard strongly encouraged. Features a community of “songsters, comedians and writers” to support the bookstore as it recovers from the Greenwood neighborhood gas explosion. 

April 23: Red Lineage Hackathon at Hugo House. 1 to 3p. Free class for teens to create web-based poems for Red Lineage, a global collaborative poetry project created by poet and conceptual artist Natasha Marin.

April 23: Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Seattle Public Library’s Central branch, 2p. Features Seattle Civic Poet Claudia Castro Luna, Seattle Youth Poet Laureate Leija Farr, Alan Lau, Anastacia Tolbert, Maya Chinen and Max Taylor.

April 24: Christianne Balk and Judith Skillman, Elliott Bay Books, 3p.

April 27: Jess Gigot, San Juan County Library, 7p.

April 28: Kevin Young on “Throwing Your Voice.” Hugo House, 7p.

April 29: “If You Ain’t No Place You Can’t Go Nowhere” Workshop with Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall. Noon to 2 p.m., Seattle Central Library, Level 4, Room 1. Seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

April 29: Celebrate National Poetry Month with readings by Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall, Heather McHugh and Lucia Perillo. Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum, 7:30p.

April 30: W. S. Merwin: To Plant a Tree on KCTS, 8pm.

And since May is just around the corner…

May 2: Poetry in Nature Reading. Group reading celebrating an installation of local poetry on nature trails Mount Vernon Public Library, 6 pm.

May 6, 13 and 20: Readings by the 2016 Jack Straw Writers.

May 19 – 22: the biennial Skagit River Poetry Festival includes Naomi Shihab Nye and more than 20 other poets. Tickets on sale now at Brown Paper Tickets.

May 20 – 22: Vortext Salon at the Whidbey Institute

May 23 and 24: Art with Heart’s Chill & Spill training will prepare adults to help teens facing the pain of trauma using Chill & Spill as their guide. Ryther Mental Health, Seattle. Contact Kathryn for more information: info@artwithheart.org

And of course, many readings at Elliott Bay Books…

Happy reading, writing and listening, friends.

So Many Poetry Readings & Workshops!

Ah, Spring! It’s nearly National Poetry Month, which means there are lots of things I want to tell you about.

Here’s where you’ll find me:

March 25 at 5p: reading at Darvill’s Bookstore on Orcas Island with Michelle Reed.

March 26 from 10 to 3p: Workshop at the Orcas Island Library: Demystifying the Line Break. Free.

April 14: Pacific Lutheran University Visiting Writers Series. Talk at 3:30, and reading at 7p. Details here.

April 22:  Reading with Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 7:30p. $15.

April 23: Workshop at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, 1 to 3p; $30. Registration information.

June 24 and 25: Chuckanut Writers Conference. Poetry faculty includes Roberto Ascalon, Elaina Ellis and Nancy Pagh. Early-bird registration through May 15. (I’m teaching a performance workshop.)

A highly subjective and necessarily incomplete list of events around Seattle:

March 28: Nguyen Phan Que Mai and Claudia Castro Luna, Elliott Bay Books, 7p.

March 31: Colleen J. McElroy at the Seattle Public Central Library, 7p.

April 6: Near and Far: Four Poets Read. Maged Zaher, Ryan Eckes, Hailey Higdon and Sherazade Siobhan, Hugo House, 7p.

April 9: Sibyl James and Judith Roche at Elliott Bay Books, 7p.

April 12: Writers Under the Influence: Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. Hugo House, 7p.

April 15: Hugo Literary Series with Andrew Sean Greer, Claire Vaye Watkins, Roberto Ascalon and Alex Osuch. Hugo House, 7:30p

April 21: Tess Gallagher and Lawrence Matsuda, Elliott Bay Books, 7p.

April 28: Kevin Young on “Throwing Your Voice.” Hugo House, 7p.

April 24: Christianne Balk and Judith Skillman, Elliott Bay Books, 3p.

April 29: “If You Ain’t No Place You Can’t Go Nowhere” Workshop with Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall. Noon to 2 p.m., Seattle Central Library, Level 4, Room 1. Seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

April 29: Celebrate National Poetry Month with readings by Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall and friends. Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum, 7:30p. Lucia Perillo and Heather McHugh are likely participants.

April 29: Workshop to Help Kids Cope With Grief and Loss
Draw It Out is a creative writing and drawing workshop for anyone who wants to learn how to help school-aged children cope with all types of grief and loss (e.g., loss of home, loved one, community, physical health, trauma, recent move, etc.). Art with Heart, a nonprofit that helps children who are experiencing significant life changes and events, will facilitate this training on Friday, April 29 at Seattle Children’s Hospital. No art or writing experience required. All materials provided. Registration is required.

Call for Submissions for Washington 129 from our state poet laureate, Tod Marshall: “I’m excited to announce Washington 129, an anthology of poems gathered from the people of Washington State.  The project will include work from experienced poets and newcomers to the art, young students and lifetime learners.  These poems will be published in two formats: many of the poems will be included in an online anthology that will utilize the format of an e-book; one hundred and twenty-nine of the poems (one for every year of statehood up until 2018) will be published in book form. Details (PDF).

More to look forward to:

May 19 – 22: the biennial Skagit River Poetry Festival includes Naomi Shihab Nye and more than 20 other poets. Tickets on sale now at Brown Paper Tickets.

May 20 – 22: Vortext Salon at the Whidbey Institute

June 9 – 12: Writing It Real Writers Conference with Sheila Bender