Guests

I’m going to use this page to link to guest poets and writers. Click on the name to go to that post. You can also use the “search” feature.

Blog

The Madrona Project, v. II / no. 1July 25, 2021 - 11:36 pm
“Keep a green bough in your heart, the singing bird will come” is a Chinese proverb that serves as epigraph to this new collection from Empty Bowl Press, selected and edited by Holly J. Hughes. In a time of drastic examples of climate change, in the face of predictions of “pornographic” damage to come (Mark Lynas, […]
River Mouth Review, Issue 7July 1, 2021 - 9:03 pm
It was lovely to follow a Tweet this morning and find my poem, “Catastrophe–,” in Issue 7 — the one year anniversary edition — of River Mouth Review. So much has happened this year that my head’s all aswim, and when I get an acceptance or rejection email I have to remind myself of the […]
What Poetry Books Are Made ofJune 16, 2021 - 4:08 am
I have finally decided on what my new poetry manuscript is—or, I’ve almost decided. Poems about my childhood on a farm, about the farm and about the trees on the farm, about the people and animals there, and (especially) about my parents up to and including their deaths. It’s been an exhausting though rewarding journey, […]
The amazing ADA LIMÓNJune 5, 2021 - 2:50 pm
For me, the fun part is just being at home and writing in my sweatpants. And then being like, “I wrote a poem and I like it.” There’s nothing that compares to that. Nothing. Not The New Yorker, not The New York Times. I feel like that’s something that sometimes gets lost in our culture, where everything’s about building […]
On BeingMay 16, 2021 - 6:49 am
Believe it or not, I am just about to go on “vacation.” Usually my vacations are writing retreats. This is decidedly not. The hubby has arranged for us to see the Grand Canyon — something I have wanted to do all my life (probably since reading Brighty of the Grand Canyon, by Marguerite Henry). I […]
Can I Use Dialogue in Poems?May 12, 2021 - 3:39 pm
I’ve been reading a friend’s poems, trying to be helpful, and one question that has come up is how to represent dialogue in poems. So I’ve been scouring my books for examples, and I’m a little surprised to see it done so infrequently. My advice: you can set the speech in italics, or you can […]
Priscilla Long: HOLY MAGICApril 30, 2021 - 5:41 pm
For our last book of my National Poetry Month jamboree, I reread Priscilla Long’s Holy Magic (MoonPath Press, 2020) and was once again astonished by its interplay of light and language, science and art, artists and song. If you don’t already have this book on your shelf, you should find a copy immediately. It’s a […]
Local Poets ReadApril 29, 2021 - 1:47 pm
For me, the fun part is just being at home and writing in my sweatpants. And then being like, “I wrote a poem and I like it.” There’s nothing that compares to that. Nothing. Not The New Yorker, not The New York Times. I feel like that’s something that sometimes gets lost in our culture, where everything’s about building […]
Ellen Bass: INDIGOApril 28, 2021 - 4:06 pm
Oh, my. I have been a fan of Ellen Bass for decades. And now this gorgeous, gob-smacking book. Ellen Bass’s Indigo (Copper Canyon, 2020), makes me want to take the mewling newborn sheaf of poems I’m calling a manuscript and dump them in the shredder. I’ll just start over. She has a poem for that feeling—in […]
Raúl Sánchez: ALL OUR BROWN-SKINNED ANGELSApril 27, 2021 - 4:55 pm
I first met Raúl Sánchez in 2017 at Book Tree in Kirkland, where I heard him read his poems. He is a gracious presence, the sort of person who makes you feel visible, as though he is graced by your presence, rather than the other way around. He is the poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, […]