I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book of poetry, The Pear Tree: elegy for a farm (MoonPath Press, Jan. 1, 2024), available now.
To read more about the amazing MoonPath, click on the link. For a list of events celebrating the launch, scroll down:
“Packed with a century of images and sensory, sensual detail of Southwest Washington logging, farming, and family, this book transported me across time, place, and generations. More than a collection of poems, The Pear Tree expands these people and this place into inspirational lament, lifting family and home to epic levels of life and struggle, love and wonder.” -Paul Marshall, author of Stealing Foundation Stones
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Pls note, I HAD THE TIME WRONG ON THIS–
On December 2, 2023, I’m presenting a writing workshop (again, with Priscilla Long) and reading at Book Tree in Kirkland, Washington, at 4:24 p.m. (Reading and open mic to follow, 6:30 p.m.)
On December 3 I will be reading on a special MoonPath zoom with poet Debra Elisa, 3 p.m. (Email me for the zoom link, or contact MoonPath.)
My official in-person launch will be at Edmonds Book Shop, January 4, 2024, 6 p.m., and will also celebrate the cover art by bookshop owner Michelle Bear.
My church, Maplewood Presbyterian in 196th in Edmonds, also plans to sponsor a reading, probably on a Sunday at 11:15 (after service), and ALL are welcome. (Music and food, too.) As soon as I have a date, I’ll let you know.
Bethany Reid is a poet, writer, editor, and writing coach. She has an MFA in poetry and a PhD in American Literature from the University of Washington. For almost thirty years, she taught composition, American literature, and Creative Nonfiction at Everett Community College and elsewhere in the greater Seattle region.
Bethany’s first book, The Coyotes and My Mom: Poems, was published by Bellowing Ark Press in 1990. Her other poetry books are Be Careful (a limited-edition chapbook from Chuckanut Sandstone, 2005); Sparrow, which won the 2012 Kenneth and Geraldine Gell Poetry Prize, selected by Dorianne Laux; and Body My House, published by Seattle’s Goldfish Press in 2018; her chapbook of poetic riffs, “The Thing with Feathers” (inspired by poems of Emily Dickinson), was published in 2020 as part of Triple No. 10 by Ravenna Press. Her parenting memoir, originally a creative nonfiction piece, You Are Very Upset, was published as a Kindle Short by DLG Publishing Partners, also in 2020.
In addition to the Gell Prize, Bethany’s poetry has won numerous awards, including Calyx’s Lois Cranston Memorial Prize, The MacGuffin’s 22nd annual Poet Hunt Contest, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye, and the Olympia Poetry Network’s Jeanne Lohman Prize.
Bethany has been blogging since 2009. Read more on this site, and at One Bad Poem.
“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.” –Octavia Butler (1947-2006)
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“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” –Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
Reviews
Sparrow —
“The whole book might be seen as … a parade of tenderness and grief, joy and longing, dreams stubbed out like cigarettes in ashtrays at a diner counter, hopes held like quarter tips in a waitress’s apron pocket on her long walk home….The sensory images are precise and gorgeous …, the whore’s dishabille … transformed into the bride’s wedding dress.”
–Kathleen Kirk, author of Spiritual Midwifery, and ABCs of Women’s Work
Body My House —
“…powerful stuff—crafted, courageous, poignant, resonant. I know that humming desk, those dull thumbs of crayons, those brambles along the path to the creek, that hitch in the knee. The crumpled coffee cups, cellophane wrappings. I know the string of angers chained in the muddy side yard, that sense of something ‘off,’ of things brewing below the surface. And those awkward hungers, those longings—their reverberations, their echoes. This work speaks to me.”
–Terry Martin, author of The Light You Find
Triple No. 10: The Thing with Feathers —
“We love the Triples, and this is another great one in the series. Comprising poetry by Jayne Marek and Bethany Reid plus artwork by George J. Farrah, there is substance, humor and heart throughout the pages.”
–Kathryn Rantala, editor, Ravenna Press
Events
To see a portion of my Edmonds Bookshop reading with the amazing poet Holly J. Hughes (October, 2020):
Video:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=363658788167525&ref=search
My feature on Abbey of the Arts (Nov. 2019): https://abbeyofthearts.com/blog/2019/11/20/featured-poet-bethany-reid/
I love working with individual poets and writers, and Zoom makes it possible to work with you no matter where you live. Whether you are writing poems, putting together a poetry book, or writing prose, my goal is to help you find and deepen your voice, and to support you as you become the writer who can conceptualize, write, and complete your project.
I charge a sliding fee of $40 to $80 per hour, depending on what you can afford. Please contact me at Bethany.alchemy@gmail.com if you want to talk. (Consultation is free.)