Published: Poetry in Quill & Parchment

Here’s a nice start to the New Year! My poem, “I pray for you, even now” is in the January issue of Quill & Parchment. This poem was written when my sister was pregnant with her son, and when a family history of failed and difficult pregnancies was worrying me quite a lot. So much [...]

Poetry for Procrastinators: I will Not Write a Poem About My Mother

I realize it’s a few weeks late, but I’d like to share a Mother’s Day poem. It was read on Mother’s Day, to my Mom, and to about 25 other people. It’s “Poetry Month” at church, in a year of appreciation for the arts in worship. As one of the Artists in Residence for this [...]

Mouths & Mics: Poetry in the 253, Sat 4/24

Don’t forget your Poetry fix this weekend!  “Mouths & Mics > Poetry in the 253″ 7 poets bring poetry alive with music, art, and their unique voices. At the end of the evening, the new Poet Laureate of Tacoma will be honored Saturday 4/24, 7pm, $7 tickets   *   WA State History Museum Auditorium Featured artists include: 2009-2010 Poet [...]

POETRY: New Open Mic Venue TONIGHT! Friday 4/16

Cafe Messina (744 Market) hosts new monthly open mic tonight, 7pm! Think of it as a preview of the Mouths & Mics event next week or think of it as one more way to get your poetry fix. Either way, come on down to Cafe Messina for tonight and every third Friday of the month [...]

Out of the Nest and into the Frying Pan?

Well, I did it. After months of digging through old drafts, scribbling new ones, rewriting, trashing, editing, arranging, and re-arranging poems ad nauseum, I finally finished my first-attempt entry at a poetry chapbook contest. Hooray! I’m so grateful to have had my mom to help me through this process, first by offering a lot of [...]

Brighten Up!

This entry brought to you by the color Yellow and the color Blue. Because they make me smile. Yellow Glove by Naomi Shihab Nye What can a yellow glove mean in a world of motorcars and governments? I was small, like everyone. Life was a string of precautions: Don’t kiss the squirrel before you bury [...]

Poetry Tonight! Tacoma Poets Read @ Kings, Nov 5, 7 pm

Come join us tonight at King’s Books for the last scheduled reading from In Tahoma’s Shadow: Poems from the City of Destiny. In Tahoma’s Shadow is an anthology of more than 60 poets who make Tacoma their home, and was the first publication by Exquisite Disarray, the “newly formed non-profit organization intended to highlight the [...]

Postcard Poetry: Teaser & Relocation

In the interest of space, I’ve decided to move all the PostCard Poetry over onto the Words! page. Here’s one of many new ones you’ll find there, from a little book of Degas postcards. “Dance in the Country“ This fine man is smooth and dumb, doesn’t intimate one shuffle-step-lean that you have lit my smile. [...]

NW Playwright’s Fest: The Short List TONIGHT! 8/13

Come to Tacoma Little Theatre for a 7:30 curtain and see SIX NEW PLAYS in one night! The Best Short Plays of 2009 showcase the best Tequila, Shakespearean bears, the worst rehearsal, a crash course in love, men with axes, and poetry for life. Last night’s dress rehearsal was the first combined meeting of set [...]

Playwright’s Fest: A Story That Begins & Ends With a Dream

I’m sorry no one told you about this sooner–if they had, you might not have missed this beautiful play last weekend. And I know you missed it, because there were only 15 or so people in last Friday night’s audience for A Story That Begins and Ends with a Dream, one of the full-length new works [...]