Kelli Russell Agodon's Blog, page 121

Some Favorite Poet Portraits from the 2010 Skagit River Poetry Festival

Here are some of my favorite (iPhone) portraits from the festival.  I included at least one book by each poet in case you were interested in what they've written.







Susan Rich, Author of The Alchemist's Kitchen & Ted Kooser, Author of The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets & Bag in the Wind

Terrance Hayes, Author of Lighthead  & Hip Logic

Allen Braden, Author of A Wreath of Down and Drops of Blood (The VQR Poetry Series)and Rachel Rose, Author Notes on...

People in Our Neighborhood Blog Links...

I have been trying to clean up my blog little by little and my next project is the "People in my Neighborhood" Links section (which is in the left column and down a bit).  I have a lot of out-of-date, non-working blog links, missing bloggers and whatnot, so I plan on cleaning that up in the next week or so.



Right now, it's very mishmash.  I realize a lot of the blogs I read regularly aren't even listed (sorry about that!) and there are blog links that lead to nothing (again, sorry).



If yo...

What TO DO When Giving a Poetry Reading--

So here's some notes I took at the Skagit Poetry Festival on what TO DO when giving a poetry reading--





What To Do When Giving a Poetry Reading





1)  Leave the audience wanting more!



(If someone comes up to you after the reading and says, "Oh, I wish you would have read 1 or 2 more poems" then congratulations! you were a success!)



2)  Read a variety of poems that you feel the audience would connect with.



3)  Allow for that space/quiet after reading your poem or while reading.  There is n...

Breaking News! Congrats January & Pat!

Foreward Poetry Book of the Year

Gold: I Wish I Had a Heart Like Yours, Walt Whitman by Jude Nutter
Silver: Then, Something by Patricia Fargnoli
Bronze: Underlife by January Gill O'Neil

What Not To Do When Giving A Reading--

Here is a list of things I wrote down to remind myself what not to do when giving a poetry reading.



(Tomorrow I'll post my What To Do at Poetry Readings list)





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What NOT to do at Poetry Readings--



1)  Don't read too much or go over your time.



2)  Don't laugh at your own jokes.



3)  Don't try to be too cute even if you are too cute.



4)  Don't assume this is your only chance to read and you'll never have an opportunity like this again as you will end up squeezing way too much into your ...

People in Our Neighborhood

Here are some interesting things happening in the blogworld--









Here are some notes from Midge Raymond's blog about Day 1 of the Richard Hugo House's first ever writer's conference called "Finding Your Readers."





It was a two day conference, I hear she will also be posting Day 2 as well.





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If you love quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah"), here is a recipe incredible Southwestern Quinoa Salad on Maya Made





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January O'Neil has some interesting visuals on how we read when we read on ...

Confession Tuesday - Sunrise Edition

Dear Reader, it's been one full week and many poets since my last confession.



My mind feels empty, but I'm sure there are things to confess.  Where to begin, where to begin?



To the confessional--





No matter what I'm doing, there's this heavy feel in my gut that says to me every day, "Millions of gallons of oil is being dumped into the sea and there is nothing you can do about it."



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Every day I try to find a bit of hope in the herons that line our shoreline knowing their safety, health...

Skagit Poetry Festival

What a weekend!



I'm back from the Skagit Poetry Festival in La Conner, Washington.



The town of La Conner is ridiculously idyllic with its waterfront, small town feel, antique shops, wild turkeys roaming the streets (no, not the poets, but actual wild turkeys).  You walk from one event to another, passing one poet and other.



If you've never gone to the festival, I can only describe it as magical.



From what I hear, it's not at all as big as the Dodge Festival in New Jersey, but I think i...

More Skagit Poetry Festival Highlights...

Check out this blog by Alexander Kramer for some insight to what one of the high school sessions (featuring Ted Kooser, Terrance Hayes, Matthew Dickman and Valzhyna Mort).





Some notes from his blog, but there are more on all the poets that read if you're interested--





Terrance Hayes:

He explained that lying is fun, especially in fiction like poetry. Even though most people think poems are autobiographical, he said poets just make stuff up. "If you're boring you gotta make stuff up."





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Skagit Poetry Festival - 5/22/10: Elizabeth Austen Interviews Robert Wrigley & Terrance Hayes...

Below are my notes from interview of poets Terrance Hayes & Robert Wrigley by Elizabeth Austen (author of The Girl Who Goes Alone ).  If something is in quotes, it is a direct quote from the poet or Elizabeth.  If you see anything in brackets [ :], it's just to help you know what something is in reference to and/or to complete the sentence so it's in context.



I think that is about all you need to know.



Here are the details--





I arrived at 9:20 am to the NW Museum of Art where Elizabeth...