Susan Rich's Blog, page 37

Lilly Wasserman's "Scarecrow" from Kathleen Flenniken's, The Far Field

Lilly Wasserman, poet extraordinaire
Each week, or sometimes every few days, Washington State Poet Laureate, Kathleen Flenniken, highlights the work of a talented Washington State poet. From every corner of the state, from every age group, gender, and racial background, Flenniken finds a poet worthy of a wider audience. She's been doing this for more than a year and the talent still keeps coming. This week is no exception.

Poet Lilly Wasserman is currently studying creative writing at Western Washington University. This poem, "Scarecrow," is part of a larger work of persona poems in which Wasserman reconsiders Dorothy and the Land of Oz. With images as powerful as "miscalculated blooms" and "porcupine fractures" it's hard not to admire this burgeoning poet. You heard it here first: I believe Lilly Wasserman is just getting started. May this be the beginning of a beautiful love affair with poetry.

Please enjoy!

Scarecrow

He had eyes like sewn seeds
anxious, I thought they might
come unstrung and sprout again
raining from white casks
over clawed hands
beetle-backed and tight
through slits to the moss below.

Flax shoots of hay
pierced his overcoat at each elbow
porcupine fractures of desert bone
wind-whipped and waterless,
forever pointing south.

He was a dizzying character
a flailing hand-packed half-man
tossing his stuffing
in miscalculated blooms
and chuckling curses
as they blew away.

(to continue reading "Scarecrow" please visit The Far Field)

Thanks Meghan! A Review of a Couple of My Poems...

Thanks, Meghan!

Woman Writer: Susan Rich

Some lovely poems by Susan Rich:

"Cloud Pharmacy," "The Invention of Everything Else" Susan Rich

What I most love about these poems is their complicated relationship with desire. Resistance and fascination tangle in these poems about female speakers and their desire for their male beloveds--and yet the discourse of romance isn't untroubled, easy, taken for granted. Instead there are complications, threats, perhaps even structural ones bigger than individuals: "an all-embracing/ ocean view" and "The pharmacist’s paper cone/ parsing out a quarter cup." Agency is complicated in these lyrics, and so, somehow, more accurate to the language of desire.

If it's May in Seattle it must be the Seattle International Film Festival

Today at 4:00 PM; SIFF Cinema
Critic, curator, journalist, scholar, and star big sister,  B. Ruby Rich, explores the phenomenal expansion of the queer cinema movement with a panel of next generation filmmakers - 20 years after first coining the phrase New Queer Cinema in the Village Voice. The influence of such mavericks as John Waters, Lizzie Borden and Derek Jarman along with the second wave of Rose Troche, Todd Haynes, Cheryl Dunye, Gus Van Sant and Greg Araki amoungst others will be explored with filmmakers from the festival.

What I Learned during National Poetry Month Celebrations (NPM)

Wow. I can't believe I blinked and over a dozen poetry events I participated in were over. From the local level of the National Poetry Month (NPM) celebrations at the college where I teach, to Seattle readings I participated in, to the Big Poetry Giveaway I curated, poetry was everywhere! And surely there are other programs I'm forgetting to mention -- such as World Book Night -- which just so happens to come in April. So what did I learn from this literary marathon?

1. Sharing poetry with others? So cool. Perhaps my favorite event of the month took place in the art gallery of the Highline Library. The student winners of the college poetry contest read their work. Along with garnering an audience for their work, they also received broadsides that included an image linked to their words. The regular "cool" students seemed visibly moved by this experience. It reminded me of the magic of  public acknowledgement. For many of the students, poetry was brand new. I can't help but think this event may inspire them to keep going.

2. Performance style matters. I sometimes forget how crucial the human body is to the presentation of words. Hosting the amazing Karen Finneyfrock and the radically honest Robert Ascalon at the college reminded me of this all over again.

3. I'm a Pacific Northwest poet --- and I love it. I was thrilled to participate in the group reading at Richard Hugo House for the Seattle anthology Alive at the Center, edited by Kathleen Flenniken, Cody Walker, and others, published by Ooligan Press, Portand, Oregon. This smart book comes in two different packages; one is the Seattle edition and the other, the Pacific Northwest edition including Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. How cool is that?

4. Unexpected Turns Sometimes Turn Out Best. My "big" event for NPM was a reading at Town Hall as a benefit for Hedgebrook (a stellar writing retreat in Washington State for women writers). The event was to honor the poet Carolyn Forche who I was asked to introduce. However, the night before the event, Carolyn Forche had a family emergency and couldn't participate. Audience members were told this as they came into the hall and given the choice of whether to stay or get their money back. The hall filled up and the rest of the performers and I: Elizabeth Austen, Karen Finneyfrock, Tara Hardy, and several others, all performed, paying tribute to a poet and a place that we love. It was a night to remember. Somehow the tragedy that befell Carolyn pulled us all together and reminded us (read me) of the importance of poetry in times of tragedy.

5. Poetry Giveaways, Broadsides, and World Book Day --- It was a month of giving.  From curating the Big Poetry Giveaway, to co-directing National Poetry Month at Highline, to handing out free copies of The Hand Maid's Tale to college secretaries and students for World Book Day (an international holiday) poetry was at the center of my life. May this continue all year round.

Back By Popular Demand

Join us Saturday June 15th


Generating New Poems

and Sending (Polished) Poems into the World

For poets who want to write new poems as well as submit their work to literary journals, this is the class for you.

Join Susan Rich & Kelli Russell Agodon in a 4 hour class on Saturday, June 15, 2013 to do writing exercises and spend the last hour discussing submitting your work and answering your questions.

Not only will you discuss submitting your work, but before this class, Kelli & Susan will have you send them 3-4 finished poems and they will prepare a submission for you-- including a cover letter, SASE, and a specifically chosen literary journal for you.

Oh yes, we will also provide the snacks. Location is the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle.


To sign up or learn more: click here and scroll down for more information on registering.

And the Top Three Winners Are ...

This year my three winners are:

Susan Gilbert

Michael "Stick Poet"

Midge Raymond

As soon as I receive mailing addresses, I will send off your prizes. Thank you so much to everyone who participated.

Did you know that May was short story month? Let's see if they're as generous and creative as the poets!

Two More Days: Why Not Play?

Two more days, two more days!
There are two more days for you to win free poetry books in the Big Poetry Giveaway. Over 50 bloggers from Canada to South Africa, New Zealand to the USA are waiting to share there favorite poetry books with you.

Here are some things you should know:

1. You do not have to leave your email to play; just leave your name and sign in as "anonymous." Then just check back to the blog during the first week of May to see if you've been chosen.

2. No one will put you on an email list or try to sell you a thing. The bloggers are acting out of generosity; wanting to share their love of poetry with you. Just look at the 110+ books on offer.

3. You can live anywhere in the world. Bloggers will post the winning book anywhere in the world at no cost to the winner. I'm excited to have an entry from Italy, for example.

4. The book selection is vast and wide. For example, Katherine Whitcomb is offering Nicky Finney's Head Off & Split, winner of the National Book Award right here along with her superb chapbook, Lamp of Letters.

5. In 99% of the cases, these are brand new! Need a present for your mom for Mother's Day? Is there a writer in your world that you would like to support? Here is your chance.

I'll be honest and say that it's been fun and frustrating running this giveaway. I thought there would be hundreds, if not thousands of people signing up for free books. Is it that no one believes you can actually get something wonderful for free? Actually, for the next two days, you can!

Check out the list to the left of this posting. You will find over a hundred poetry books to choose from. If you can't make Jeannine Hall Gailey's book launch today, you can win a copy of Unexplained Fevers right here.  These two birds are most interested in Peggy Shumaker's Tucan Nest: Poems of Costa Rica which is available from Erin Hallowell, author of Pause, Traveller available right here.

Tuesday is World Book Night: An International Holiday for You

Happy World Book Night eve! This is a holiday conceived of at the London Book Fair that is now celebrated in several different countries including Germany, Ireland, and the United States. 
As if the Big Poetry Giveaway is not enough!
I've volunteered to giveaway books tomorrow to people who are neither friends nor family. My plan is to bring books to the campus where I teach, to handout the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood to students interested in reading for pleasure, not as a course requirement. 
Will people be more open to receiving prose than poetry? The information I've received asks that the person receiving the book promise to read it; but who can say whether they will? 
The goal of this international holiday is to put books into the hands of adult readers --- adults who otherwise might not have a chance to read. 20 books were chosen as the 2013 World Book Night Books. I'm feeling both excited and a little shy in terms of my part in this grand experiment.
Wish me luck! And perhaps you will be volunteering next year?

Boston: My Hometown; Heavy Hearted Tonight

Boston Public Library Courtyard, March 2013
Boston is where I'm from. It's not only the geography of my first eighteen years on this planet, it's also shaped who I am. I owe Boston my direct, no b.s. approach to people and my sense of the world as inclusive of many different nations. Growing up, my neighborhood was a mixture of Chinese, Jewish, and Irish Americans --- all more or less getting along together. There were also African Americans who I babysat for and German Americans across the street. I was a kid, what did I know? I somehow knew I had a pretty good life.

Boston is a small town with a big town reputation. When I worked at the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) on Arlington Street (a couple of block's from today's bombing) I would walk through the Back Bay, through the Gardens and the Boston Commons. At Park Street Station I turned left to Government Center and then under the freeway via tunnel to the North End. I was never in a hurry as this was one of the best parts of the job: delivering course catalogues to the North End Community Center which doubled as a BCAE satellite campus on weeknights. In just forty-five minutes I could cover all of downtown. My town.

Last month I returned to Copley Square to participate in the Associated Writing Program Conference (AWP) along with 12,000 other writers. The weekend was also a celebration of my partner's birthday. On our last afternoon in Boston we strolled through the neighborhoods together under a perfect sky --- snow still fresh enough to look picturesque.

I could never have imagined that five weeks later downtown Boston would resemble Beirut.

Tonight no one knows who is behind the bombings targeting the Boston Marathon --- an event that is both local and global at once. My heart goes out to  to the city that has always seemed indestructible to me, to the people that are the toughest and kindest of any I've known, to the two people killed and 86 injured (these numbers are early estimates) at the Marathon today.

My heart is bruised.

However, I know Boston will not be defeated . One of the stories I heard tonight was from a doctor who was treating people brought in from the areas hit. He said there was a sense of everyone helping each other. Whether this meant dressing wounds for one another or helping people contact loved ones on borrowed cell phones, the doctor said it struck him that people were in this together.

All my love and prayers to you tonight.

Celebrating National Poetry Month at Highline Community College

Karen Finneyfrock with her poem "Ghosts" and meWhat a fantastic event! This year for the first time, Highline Community College is putting on a grand celebration for National Poetry Month. It's less than halfway through the month and we've already put on three events: we've had a reception for the "Words on the Wall: Broadside Exhibit," which features broadsides by Highline students, faculty, and friends of the college --- including Karen Finneyfrock, Rachel Kessler, and Roberto Ascalon.

On Tuesday, the campus was treated to a reading/lecture/visual art show and writing workshop by Rachel Kessler. Her theme was water which included hand-washing poems, water fountains, and a history of the toilet. The students were thrilled --- who knew 16th century wise men pontificated and defecated  together while sitting on wooden boards?  I know this sounds stranger than strange; a juxtaposition of poetry with the profane, but in Rachel's hands --- all was gold. And speaking of hands, here is a copy of one of her pubic health hand-washing poems.

Example of Rachel Kessler's hand-washing poems  Rachel's project of Public Health poems means that you can find her deceptively simple words in bathrooms all over campus. 20 seconds is how long a person should spend washing their hands and so Rachel wrote poems that take exactly that long to read. The bathroom at my house now boasts a few of Kessler's pieces.

On Thursday, Karen Finneyfrock performed to a standing room only crowd at the Student Union. Her balance of humor and pathos, darkness and light, poetry and prose was electric. Perhaps my favorite part of her presentation (but why would I choose just one?) was the question and answer session with my students. Karen let them know how many hours of practice are poured into acting "natural" and that she is vulnerable in front of them; that sharing one's poetry (or prose) is always going to make one vulnerable no matter how famous they are. Students told her and later, wrote about, how hearing Karen perform made them want to write their own poems.

Finally, it was the rush of students who surrounded Karen afterwards to have her sign their a copy of her book or to just tell her how much they'd loved her reading that made me  happiest. For most of my students this was the first time hearing a poet read her work aloud (unless they heard Rachel on Tuesday) and it is an experience that they deeply enjoyed.