I’ve been writing and creating across time and space between Maine and Washington for the last two decades. I live on Duwamish and Coast Salish land, and work at Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland.

I write poems. I perform them, often in public spaces. I write book reviews (usually found at Rain Taxi, North of Oxford, and, sometimes, at Poetry Northwest and Exacting Clam). I enjoy creating video works, including music videos for musicians I admire, and I occasionally craft GIF images. I practice photography regularly. I have several books scattered across the ether. Smaller works pop up here and there. Previously, I have been part of literary communities in Rhode Island, Philadelphia, and Phnom Penh. My work can be tracked at gregbem.com.

I’m a librarian and an artist, and balance the two as well as possible. I support the Washington Library Association’s Academic Library Division and am one of the founding members of the College Libraries Across Washington State (CLAWS). Since September, I have served as the interim president of the faculty union, American Federation of Teachers #3533, and run the anti-racism committee for the local. I am the current chair of the Library Leadership Council of Washington State’s State Board of Community and Technical Colleges.

I live in the Mt. Baker Ridge area of Seattle, where I volunteer to pick up garbage across thirty blocks. I contribute to the Bradner Street Gardens on Mt. Baker Ridge. I actively supported Black-owned businesses in the adjacent Central District. While I cannot afford to own land in Seattle, my roots are currently here. Still, my poetic longing has me regularly traveling. I am drawn to the desert. I am drawn to the mountains. I am drawn to water. You can find me in many places, here and there.