Poetry with Middle School Youth

We listened to one another.

We wrote to prompts.

We shared what we wrote.

The writing prompts helped each class of sixth graders to focus on questions:

What lesson do you recall learning, and who taught you this and why is it the lesson you remember? 

When have you been in a situation that was so different from your known context that you passed by without understanding? 

What is it that you only now understand because, earlier, when you were a child, you were only able to see things from your perspective?

How do you imagine your future and is college and service a part of your future? 

In the end, I returned home and sat down with a cup of tea to read their comments about what they liked during the workshop.  It was the opportunity to tell their own stories, meet a "real" poet (poem writer), ask questions....and not have to rhyme. 

poems accepted to RASP anthology,

Good news to know that two of my poems will fold into the proposed RASP anthology

of poets who've read at RASP over the years. 

The anthology, edited by Michael Dylan Welch, will launch with a celebratory reading

this summer, Friday, July 26th. 

More updates soon.

Cascadia Community College & UW Bothell partner to launch "Clamor" and "Yours Truly"

Today is a perfect ten!  We need more reasons to celebrate!  To bring people together for encounters with art  & music, poetry & song, games and food.  Great to share more than a fleeting moment with former Cascadia students, including Athena Mace, a 2013 graduate  of Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle, and the spark behind the six-month project to design a three-panel outdoor mural at Maywood Hills Elementary School.  To talk with community members who've supported Yours Truly over the years through sending submissions to the journal is gratifying--Sue, a former librarian and nature buff who folds scenes from her childhood and neighborhood walks into her poems.  Join the celebration--consider submitting your creative work in 2014 to Clamor, UW Bothell's literary arts journal....and, of course, Cascadia's Yours Truly.

Poetry workshops next week offered to youth at Cedar River Middle School

Poetry is necessary; it unites the disparate parts. 

I'm grateful for the opportunity to facilitate workshops and share poetry boxes with middle schoolers who attend Cedar River Middle School in Maple Valley, (Tahoma School District). 

Each classroom will receive a poetry box filled with writing ideas relevant to youth. 

"We need to be love-struck for humanity."--the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I heard referenced by Seattle area filmmaker Tracy Rector as she discussed her 2013 film, Reviens Moi, about two ten-year-olds who meet during the summer at Seattle Center.  Though they realize their friendship will be interrupted when they return to different locations, they promise to be there for each other. 

Poetry Workshop, May 26, 2013, at WHITE CENTER Library

The pleasure was mine--to facilitate a poetry workshop in White Center at the King County Library. 

Three questions triggered amazing written responses uniting a small group of writers on a Saturday afternoon. 

What lessons did you learn as a child that are still with you as you reflect to an earlier time?

Generated by last line in the poem, The School at San Gabriel Dam.

When have you found yourself in a cultural context you did not fully understand such that you knew there was much you did not know and passed by?  Generated by last line in, My Daughter, English Teacher in South Korea.

What is the thing that only now you can see?  Generated by last line in, Old Photo.

So thank you--sharing our writing requires vulnerability and courage.

GEOSPATIAL POETRY PROJECT, MONDAY, 5/20/13

Come learn more about the

GEOSPATIAL POETRY PROJECT

Monday, May 20th, 1:30

in MOBIUS HALL at

Cascadia Community College

http://www.asenseofplacewa.com/

Clamor & Yours Truly: Collaborative Launch Party - May 29, 11am to 3pm, Mobius Hall

Please attend the launch May 29, 11-3,

in Mobius Hall on the Cascadia Community College campus 

 

poetry          fiction           photograry        multimedia art         portraits        film   &   more 

This year UWB's Clamor and Cascadia's Yours Truly are joining forces to celebrate

the 2013 publication of both literary and art journals. 

 

The highlight of the party is an art gallery displaying student work from both journals. 

 

Come join us and see the musicians/authors perform their pieces live and meet the artists that have their work on display. 

 

 

Activities include open mic, mural painting, henna, face painting, a raffle, a poi performer and more. 

 

Food is provided! 

 

 

Take home your very own copy of both journals (limited copies available). 

 

This party is coordinated by UWB Clamor and Cascadia's Creative Arts Club.  Free admission. 

For more information, please visit:  facebook.com/uwbclamor

                                                                 http://clamor-journal.com/