My book WON the Bisexual Book Award for Poetry!!!
June 15, 2018“truth be bold:” FOUR Human Relations Indie Book Awards!!
August 14, 2018
It’s a hot summer in Seattle. So many fires. Lava exploding in Hawaii. We have the drift of ash in our air. Seattle never used to be so hot in the summer. I’ve lived here since 1989. I used a down comforter through the summer, maybe a few nights in August I threw it off.
“Everything is Holy!” Allen Ginsberg
Poets In The Park on July 7th, was a delight. It was great to hear our Washington State poet laureate, Claudia Castro Luna, read back-to-back with Redmond poet laureate, Melanie Noel. I hosted the Ice Cream Anthology reading introducing Patty Kinney and Mary Ellen Talley. In the afternoon, I participated in three workshops:
- Patrick Dixon’s “Writing From Experience,”
- Rena Priest’s “The Center of All Beauty: Exploring the Poet’s Love Affair with Words and the World,” and
- Claudia Castro Luna’s “Harnessing the Power of Order: The List Poem.”
It was a full day of readings, writing, and networking. A big thank you to Michael Dylan Welch and to the Redmond Association of Spoken Word for making this event succeed since 1997.
August 1st brought four poems published in three journals!
The journal Voices On the Wind had a submission period for the theme Fire. They selected two of my poems, Father’s Day Hell Fire, 2018 and Milkweed, were published in their issue #74:
An exert from Father’s Day Hell Fire, 2018
“Our lava spills onto children
crushing their skulls and spines
with our hot fiery wall of death,
no hugs allowed to sooth trauma-induced
fear. We spew from miles above towering
and spitting a beautiful fire—from a
distance we are magnificent and
the children cannot run, trapped
in cages like small mice in the field
sacrificed. In this strange land surrounded
by a language they barely understand,
braced in terror. Afraid, for what must those
who captured you want from you and what
will they do with your precious body.”
Antinarrative Journal published my poem Move It. A poem I love and recently edited into a new form. I’m glad it’s finally found a home. It goes deep into relationships through a potent song that is a long time favorite, MacArthur Park. My poem is their selection for week 53.
Mad Swirl: A Creative Outlet published my poem Here We Are Again, a recent poem about our political landscape. Once they publish three of my poems my bio and picture will be inserted, they encourage submissions! I’m delighted to join this community of poets.
Coming soon, Anti-Heroin Chic has accepted another favorite poem, Rules on Life From a Green Witch! The first time they accepted my work, their editor James Diaz published three of my poems, see them here.
Thursday, August 9th, I will read prose at It’s About Time. Poet Penelope Scambly Schott from Portland, Katie Ellison, and Tim Newcomb on the Writer’s Craft will also be featured! I would love to see you there, there is a three minute open mike, the reading starts at 6 pm.
