Susan Rich's Blog, page 94

Winners from the Great Poetry Giveaway!

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Congratulations to the winners of the Poetry Book Giveaway 
Bridget Lossada wins a copy of Bellocqs' Ophelia by Natasha Tretheway
Eldrtich00 wins a copy of The Alchemist's Kitchen by Susan Rich - only Eldritch's email is not working...
Eldritch? If you are reading this, please email me so I can send you your book -- all the way to the Philippines ....
Happy Reading to All!
Susan

Poet in the World: Tonight at Village Books, Bellingham, WA

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I am reading tonight at Village Books in Bellingham, WA Are you in driving distance to this lovely bookshop? If yes, then come see me try to pull off something totally new -- a poetry reading by powerpoint. I was asked by the book savvy Nan Macey to supply the art work of Myra Albert Wiggins to accompany the poems I have written about her photography, paintings and life ... The thing is, this is only my third powerpoint -- and my first poetry reading with visuals. Wish me luck -- or better ye...

A Favorite Poem for Thursday

Mending

In and out, behind, across
The formal gesture binds the cloth.
The sitchery's a surgeon's rhyme,
a Chinese stamp, a pantomine

of print. Then spoor. Then trail of red.
Scabs rise, stigmata from the thread.
A cotton chronicle congealed.
A historgram of welts and weals.

The woman plies her ancient part.
Her needle sutures as it darts,
scoring, scripting, scarring, stitching
the invisible mending of the heart.

Ingrid de Kok

This Week's Poem: LineBreak

[image error] How to create the visual image of a line break? My blogging skills are such that I couldn't figure out how to capture the logo of the weekly journal LineBreak where my poem Letter to M is featured this week. Instead, I opted for the curve of a wave, the veins on a leaf, and a wing span across the sky --- and a microscope? To show the lines ever more clearly to the viewer.

I've had a crush on the on-line journal / email LineBreak for awhile --- for its simple idea, auditory addition, and clear ...

Writer in the World: Cultivate Poet Friends as in the Amazing Kelly Agodon

My dear friend, the stellar poet Kelli Russell Agodon (whose new book Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room won the White Pine Press Prize and will be out in October) took photographs of the lauch and the party so you can participate virtually in the day. Kelli also created a photo essay of the event over at her blog, Book of Kells - if you want to see more photos.


The top photo is my favorite one -- signing books in a sunny window. What could be better? The one with the quote from Charles Ol...

10 Things I Learned About Giving Poetry Readings ...

I am still flying high from yesterday's book launch. Thank you to everyone who came out and filled Open Books with laughter, excitement, and good will. I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful day. Although every moment felt other worldly and magical, I know that a great deal of planning went into each aspect of the afternoon. Here, in no particular order, is what I learned.

1. People like to laugh. I wanted my friends and family to have a good time. Since many of my poems deal with heartbre...

See you there ...

Ready or not ... I will be here @ 3:00 PM for the book launch of The Alchemist's Kitchen. I've chosen poems, read them out loud, written out notes, bought a cake ... now all that's missing is you. See you there!

The Writer in the World: Broadsided Post-a-Thon This Weekend

I love the folks at Broadsided: Elizabeth Bradfield and Sean Hill -- among others. This weekend is their first ever Broadsided Post-a-Thon. To encourage you to download a broadside (there are over 50 to choose from) they are offering prizes in a number of cool categories. My favorite is -- a photo of someone reading a broadside or maybe "Editor's Choice" for a photo that defies categorization. This photo above seems destined only for the postman - unless the vector (that's the name for a pers...

The Writer's Life: Counting Down to the Book Launch - 2 Days!

There is so much to do! Today I started to panic because I have yet to plan my reading. Note to self: plan your reading as soon as you wake up so that you can stop stressing about not having done it. However;  late this afternoon I did manage to figure out a cool "outside the box" "thing" to do at my reading. No dancing on tables, no baying like a lone wolf, but something a little out of the ordinary.

I asked the wonderful Christine and John, owners of Open Books for different ways other poets...

Requesting the Pleasure of Your Company - This Sunday @ 3:00 PM

Okay, it's no longer 1879 and I am not Mr. Cyrus Field of the cable company. However, I do want to invite you --- in a tasteful style -- to join me for the first reading of The Alchemist's Kitchen, this Sunday, 3:00 PM, at Open Books in Seattle. It's a long walk to publication - and I'm still in a little denial that the book is really here on the desk next to me, by my sofa in the living room, and available on the bedside table. It just doesn't seem real yet. I'm hoping that if you come celeb...