Writing the Life Poetic

April 21: Figures of Speech Reading Series features Eileen Elliott and Henry Hughes

FIGURES OF SPEECH READING SERIES & OPEN MIC
Wednesday, April 21, 7:00 p.m.
100th monkey art studio at 110 S.E. 16th Ave., PDX

Come on out to enjoy the fine poetry of Eileen Davis Elliott and Henry Hughes. Plus, you are invited to participate in the open mic (two page max). 

Eileen Davis Elliott recently retired from her career in counseling and psychology after 42 years.  She grew up on a farm in the Midwest and knows milk does not come from a carton, having been on the business end of a cow more than once.  She has traveled and lived all over the world and plans to  continue to do so, learning, making art and writing about what she sees daily.  Her first book, Prodigal Cowgirl, was released last summer, and her new manuscript, Miles of Pies is in the works.

Henry Hughes grew up on Long Island, New York. After completing an MA in creative writing at Purdue University in 1990, he spent five years working in Japan and China. Hughes finished a Ph.D. in American literature at Purdue in 2002 and now teaches at Western Oregon University. His poems have appeared in Antioch Review, Carolina Quarterly, Malahat Review, Queen’s Quarterly, Southern Humanities Review, Seattle Review and Poetry Northwest, and are represented in several anthologies including Long Journey: Contemporary Northwest Poets published by Oregon State University Press. His first collection, Men Holding Eggs, received the 2004 Oregon Book Award. His second collection of poems, Moist Meridian, was published by Mammoth Books in July 2009.  Hughes’ commentary on new poetry appears regularly in Harvard  Review.

Learn more about the Figures of Speech Reading Series.

Join me this Wednesday, 7 p.m. at the Milwaukie Poetry Series

I'm thrilled and honored to invite you to join me for a very special evening of poetry this Wednesday.

As the featured reader for the Milwaukie Poetry Series, I'll be reading poetry for an hour, then answering questions for a half hour!

All attendees will receive a broadside of one of my favorite poems. It would be wonderful to see you there!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Milwaukie Poetry Series
Ledding Library Pond House
2215 SE Harrison –– across the pond from the library
Milwaukie, Oregon

March 17: Figures of Speech Reading Series (come one, come all!)

Once upon a time, I ran a monthly reading series at Barnes & Noble. Then my book and baby were born -- and leaving the house in the evening became a blurry, yester-year fantasy. Starting in 2010, the fabulous Steve Williams and M generously agreed to adopt the reading series. I suppose that makes me the birth mother with visiting privileges. Lucky me!

With new hosts, a new home and a new open mic woven in, the series still offers the same friendly, inspiring spirit of community and features poets you won't ever want to miss.

Join us on St. Patrick's Day at 7:00 for an evening of poetic paradise with John Morrison and Scot Siegel -- and a green surprise or two.

Figures of Speech Reading Series (Previously Poetry for the People Reading Series)
Wednesday, March 17
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
100th Monkey Studio
110 SE 16th Avenue
Portland, OR

Hosted by Steve Williams and M

JOHN MORRISON

John Morrison earned his MFA from the University of Alabama and received the 2003 C. Hamilton Bailey Poetry Fellowship from Literary Arts. His book, Heaven of the Moment, won the 2006 Rhea & Seymour Gorsline Poetry Competition and was a finalist for the 2008 Oregon Book Award in poetry. His poems have appeared in numerous national literary journals, including the Cimarron Review, Poetry East, Southern Poetry Review, and Poet Lore. He has taught poetry at the University of Alabama and Washington State University, Vancouver, and is a Writer-in-Residence for Literary Arts' Writers in the Schools program in Portland, Oregon.

SCOT SIEGEL

Scot Siegel, a native of Northern California, lives in Lake Oswego with his wife and two daughters. He works as an urban planning consultant and serves on the board of the Friends of William Stafford. Siegel is the author of three volumes of poetry, Some Weather (Plain View Press 2008), the chapbook Untitled Country (Pudding House Publications 2009), and a second chapbook, Skeleton Says, forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. He has received awards and commendations from Aesthetica Magazine (UK), Nimrod International (Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize, semi-finalist) and the Oregon State Poetry Association (OSPA). In celebration of Oregon's Sesquicentennial, Poetry Northwest and the Oregon State Library selected Some Weather as one of 150 Outstanding Oregon Poetry Books, one for each year of statehood. Siegel was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2009.

See you in March!

Move over, melancholy winter gray. The sun is coming out, and so am I. Won't you come on out for some poetry as the lion passes the baton to the lamb?

TUESDAY, MARCH 2 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., PST (and available by streaming any time after)
I will be joining Nyla Alisia to discuss writing the life poetic -- and I'll be leading a free, two-hour workshop! Pull up a chair, bring your notebook, and join us!
The Inkwell, a how-to radio program on blogtalkradio

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 7:00 p.m.
As the featured reader, I'll be reading poetry for an hour! I sure would love to see your smiling face at this one!
Milwaukie Poetry Series
Ledding Library Pond House
2215 SE Harrison –– across the pond from the library -- Milwaukie, Oregon

THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Sign up your middle-school writer for a week of writing & literary enrichment during Portland Public’s spring break! I'll be teaching a poetry session and would love to work with your young student!
The Attic: Spring Break Writing Camp for Middle Schoolers
Attic Writers' Workshop
4232 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97215 

SATURDAY, APRIL 17
Manzanita Writers' Series: Two workshops and a reading, all in one, poetry-packed day

Poetry ‘PlayShop’ for Kids: 10:30 am to noon // cost $15
Publishing Your Poetry (all ages): 1:00 pm to 2:30pm // cost  $25
Sage Cohen reading, followed by open mic: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Hoffman Center
594 Laneda Avenue, Manzanita, Oregon

Live in PDX? Vote on the Poetry in Motion poems on TriMet Busses!

Here's a little note from Literary Arts in Portland, OR:

ADDING NEW POEMS TO TRIMET BUSES. YOU PICK THE POEMS!

We have some exciting poetry news! Because of the incredible generosity of a host of supporters, we will add thousands of new poems to our Poetry in Motion program this April. But, we need your help in choosing the work. Please take the online survey and vote on which poems get chosen and installed on hundreds of TriMet buses and trains.

Vote on your favorite poems!

Celebrate the launch of VoiceCatcher 4 with two readings in November

VoiceCatcher 4, an anthology of Portland Women's writing, is here!

VoiceCatcher exists because a collective of women -- editors, authors, artists, poets and teachers -- who love to read and write wanted to collect the voices of local women and offer them to the community.

I am proud to have served on the editorial collective for this publication for the past two years -- this year as Poetry Editor. And I am thrilled to announce that VoiceCatcher 4, our latest edition, is now available in stores throughout the Portland area. 

Join us in celebrating VoiceCatcher 4 and hear a great line-up of this year's authors reading selections of their work at two events this month!

November 11, 7:00 PM
Barnes and Noble - Lloyd Center
(as part of the Poetry and Prose for the People series, which I host)
1317 Lloyd Center
Portland, OR 97232
503-249-0800

Featured readers:

• Favor Ellis
• Naomi Fast
• Heidi Schulman Greenwald
• Constance Hall (pen name: M)
• Christi Krug
• Toni Partington
• Wendy Willis

November 16th, 7:00 PM
Powell's on Hawthorne
3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 235-3802

Featured readers:

• Paulann Petersen
• Abby Mims
• Liz Prato
• Carolyn Moore
• Nancy Flynn
• Kaitlyn Burch
• Penelope Scambly Schott

Mark your calendars and come prepared to be thoroughly entertained.

Can't wait to see you there!

Come on out to the Writers' Dojo Day of Literary Celebration on March 28!

This Saturday, March 28, will be a very special day for the Portland literary community at one of our most auspicious gathering places. Join many fabulous local writers for a full day of workshops and discussion at the Writers' Dojo. I'll be teaching a workshop titled Turned Loose: Liberating Language into Poems with my hero, poet master Paulann Petersen. This free, two-hour workshop from 10 a.m. to noon will be devoted to generating new work. All levels of experience welcome!

EVENTS SNAPSHOT

Saturday, March 28th

Morning Poetry:
9:00–10:00—poetry performances with Casey Bush and Charles Sorgie
10:00–noon—workshop with Paulann Petersen and Sage Cohen

Midday Publishing Forum: 
2:00–3:30—with Whitney Otto, Karen Karbo, Rhonda Hughes, David Biespiel, Ken Arnold, and Paul Pearce

Afternoon Prose:
4:00-6:00—workshop with Joanna Rose

Get all the details and come on out to join us for a literary day to remember!