more poetry in public…
April 28, 2012
Eugene, Oregon, is the latest city to welcome poetry in public places. This week was the official unveiling of “Step into Poetry,” an installation of poems in the Oak and 10th Street Overpark Stairwell.
Initiated by the City of Eugene in cooperation with the Lane Literary Guild, Oregon Poetry Association, and the Young Writers Association, the project features year-long displays of poems by Gary Adams, Barbara Drake, Cecelia Hagen (photo, above), David Laing, Carter McKenzie, Nancy Carol Moody, Deborah Narin-Wells, Paulann Petersen (Oregon poet laureate) and John Witte.
Read more about Step into Poetry in The Register-Guard.
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photo Brian Davies The Register-Guard
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poetry in the news…
March 27, 2012
National Poetry Month begins on Sunday, April 1, and poetry with a local twist is already finding its way into the media. In yesterday’s Bellingham Herald, Barbara Lloyd McMichael offered recommendations for two new books in her article, Books that help you celebrate National Poetry Month. One is Plume by Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken; the other is Forms of Feeling: Poetry in Our Lives – Essays and Interviews by John Morgan. (Not mentioned in the article: John Morgan is the father of one of this year’s Sue Boynton Poetry Contest judges, poet Jeffrey Morgan!)
Last week, writer Craig Morgan Teicher discussed the efforts by Port Townsend-based poetry publisher, Copper Canyon Press, to adapt poetry for hand-held devices. In his Publishers Weekly article, Fitting Poetry to the Screen, Teicher describes the challenges of fitting long lines onto narrow screens with suitable line breaks while still honoring the poet’s intent. The story was also covered in Harriet, the blog of the Poetry Foundation.
show some love for community poetry…
March 19, 2012
- ‘Like’ this post (or any/every post!).
- Follow this blog by e-mail or RSS feed.
- Leave a Comment.
- ‘Like’ Sue Boynton Poetry Contest on Facebook, Like our posts, join in the conversation.
- Talk about the contest on your own website or blog and add links to this site and our Facebook page.
- Submit a poem (if you live in Whatcom County, WA) by March 31 and encourage your friends, family members and students to do the same.
- Print and post the contest guidelines on the bulletin board at your workplace, school, gym, grocery store, place of worship or favorite coffee shop. (See the 2012 Contest page for printable guidelines.)
- Reserve your place at the table now (while there still is one!) for our delicious fundraising dinner, Taste for Poetry, Tuesday, April 17, 2012.
- Make a tax-deductible donation. Make your check payable to Whatcom Poetry Series (note Boynton on the memo line) and mail it to Poetry Contest, P.O. Box 1192, Bellingham, WA 98227. Donations in any amount are appreciated. Donations of $100 or more will be acknowledged for a year on a plaque in front of the Bellingham Public Library.
- Buy a copy of Poetry Walk.
- Attend a poetry event, listen to poetry, read your own. (And leave a Comment if you have a Washington state poetry event to add to the calendar.)
- Visit the downtown Bellingham Public Library and read the poetry plaques on the Sue Boynton Poetry Walk. Grab a copy of the guidelines, inside at the reference desk, while you’re there.
- Attend the free public awards ceremony at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal on Thursday, May 10, 2012, at 7:00pm.
The Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest is a program of Whatcom Poetry Series, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Thank you for supporting poetry in our community!
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Photo by Katie Humes
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coming up: Cascadia Poetry Festival
March 12, 2012
Need a little warm-up for Poetry Month (April)?
The Cascadia Poetry Festival, March 24-25, might be just the ticket.
Organized by SPLAB (an intergenerational spokenword performance, resource and outreach center in Seattle), the Festival will include workshops, readings, discussions, panels and plenty of poetry-infused mingling.
Take a look at the schedule and faculty bios and learn more about SPLAB.
get away from it all…
February 13, 2012
What would you do with six months away from it all? If you’re self-reliant, resourceful, not averse to slightly rustic conditions, willing to put in an hour a day on property maintenance and think your writing would thrive in a remote homestead in Oregon’s Rogue River canyon, perhaps you should apply for the Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency for 2013 or 2014.
All the particulars are described on the website of John Daniels, chair of PEN Northwest and administrator of the residency program. There are additional photos here. You can also read Daniels’s Open Spaces Magazine article on the place and the experience here and an article by 2006 resident, Emma Brown, here. Gary J. Whitehead, 2005 resident, blogged about his experience at Fronting the Essentials and included many photos.
got events?
February 6, 2012
Is your poetry event listed on our site? If you have a confirmed public poetry event going on in Washington State any time during the next 12 months, send it along and we’ll add it to the NW Lit Events page. Please be sure to include a link where readers can go for more information. Send your event as a Comment on any post or e-mail it to BoyntonPoetryContest AT hotmail DOT com.
Click on NW Lit Events in the dark gray band at the top of this page to see what’s on for 2012…and beyond.
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a poem for the New Year…
January 3, 2012
The Rock Elements*
poem and photo of Nooksack Falls by Sandra F. Lucke
The rock elements are ancient,
they are found in the pathways
leading to higher ground,
mountain time, elevated,
difficult to reach, yet
available; stability and routine
built upon habits, traditions,
renewal and experiments
with self and nature.
What’s in front of you
and the thing you stand upon,
is a mountain of evidence.
Pastures where many seeds
have been planted and grown.
Situations were harvested,
molded, folded, caressed,
placed in the fire, dancing—
we come out alive and when
tired—rest; we are restored
and rejuvenated. Placing our
hands in water in the stream,
we catch a glimpse of energy
which connects our ocean. We
met a long time ago, touch my
palms, hold the good memories.
*copyright Sandra F. Lucke
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WinterStomp!
December 10, 2011
Just yesterday, we were musing about the white birds in the winter fields, and now here’s a chance to muse further…It’s the WinterStomp Farms and Food Poetry Contest, presented by the Skagit Valley Food Co-op and Skagit River Poetry Festival.
WinterStomp invites poets to submit original, unpublished work in one of two categories: Winter/Migration or Farms at Rest. Deadline January 17. Guidelines here. (Note to Whatcom County poets: sounds like a perfect warmup for the Sue Boynton Poetry Contest!)
WinterStomp will be held Saturday, February 4, 2012, and along with art, libations, music and other activities, winning poets will read their poems from the stage of the Lincoln Theatre.
More about WinterStomp here, or follow WinterStomp on Facebook.
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before you know it…
December 9, 2011
…summer will be here. Really. A crust of frost dusts roofs and trees. Chickadees and juncos forage for tidbits in the bare branches. White birds flock in the fields.
This might be an excellent time to start thinking about long, warm days and planning for the summer ahead. For example…
The Chuckanut Writers Conference is on the calendar for June 22-23. Registration is open for the 2012 Port Townsend Writers’ Conference, July 8-22. The Pacific Northwest Writers Conference will be held July 19-22. LiTFUSE 2012 will take place September 21-23.
Plans are unfolding every day. Keep track of it all by checking the NW Lit Events page (note: renamed from NW Lit Scene), which is updated almost daily and includes literary events happening throughout the state of Washington. Something missing? Leave a comment!
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2012 calendar
what is a poem?
November 19, 2011
What is a poem anyway? An exhibit at 23 Sandy Gallery, 623 NE 23rd Avenue in Portland, Oregon, offers inspiring visual interpretations by more than 30 “contemporary artist-poets and poet-artists: poems in three dimensions; interactive poems; found poems; sculptural and utilitarian poems; conceptual poems; poems that depart in myriad ways from the familiar form of the printed page.”
The show remains on view only through Saturday, November 26, 2011, and a catalog of artworks is now online at the 23 Sandy Gallery website. (Click on Next at the upper right of the photo to view each artist’s pieces, descriptions and artist bio.) Better yet, pop over to Portland and see the show in person.
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Image credits, left to right: © Nico Vassilakis, Harriet Bart, Michael Basinski
Thanks to Miriam Sagan for the tip.
