A recent business trip (Feb. 12-14) to Bend, Oregon, was a brief but utterly beautiful interjection to my soggy existence in Seattle.
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Pictures: Bend, Oregon
Rainier Valley Lit Crawl #3
Join for the third iteration of the Rainier Valley Lit Crawl, which focuses on bringing writers and listeners to Southeast Seattle locations for another night of literary engagement. This lit crawl will include the following venues: Spinnaker Bay Brewing → Big Chickie → The Collaboratory → Union Bar. It will feature the following diverse literary artists: Paul E. LaPier, Kathryn Burgomaster, EJ Koh, Erika Michael, Justine Chan, Philip Randolph, Faiza Sultan, Becca Hall, Claire Yazza, Thomas Schabarum, Jed Myers, and Mary Crane. Hosts and organizers include Jeanne Morel, Raanan David, and Greg Bem. The event is open to all. People of all literary interests and pursuits are invited to attend.
As I am one of the organizers, feel free to email me for any questions or comments, or to be involved in a future iteration of this series.
The first Rainier Valley Lit Crawl was in March of 2015, and the second in October of 2015. Both were tremendously successful in terms of audience and enjoyable in terms of literary merit. Please consider attending, and sharing the word on this event.
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A bunch of poets in a room together
Last night was the Live from the Angeline! private event, which featured one guitarist (Salt Mouth a.k.a. Chris Phillips) and a bunch of readers (Paul Nelson, Nadine Maestas, Raanan David, Sonya Vatomsky, Aaron Kokorowski, Faiza Sultan, Scherezade Siobhan, and myself). This group picture demonstrates the power of a diverse line-up, and the power of friendship. Videos of the event are, of course, available for viewing.
From left to right, standing: Raanan David, Aaron Kokorowski, Maria Winters, Jason Conger, Scherezade Siobhan, Greg Bem, Paul Nelson, Tanya Holtland, Justine Chan, Jeanne Morel, and Faiza Sultan. In the front is Matt.
The following videos were all shot at the Ghost Tokens: Inumbrating Pinnacle event series, which I’ve been posting about long enough on here for people to understand, I hope. The videos include all of the readers/performers: Tanya Holtland, Libby Hsu, Arlo Smith, Cooper Smith, Thomas Walton, Paul Nelson, Graham Isaac, Jeanne Morel, Jeremy Springsteed, and Libby Chan. The video quality is, of course, a bit messy, as my primary function was hosting the events (not recording them). I’m still happy with how it all turned out, and I was able to strip the audio quite easily as well, which benefits the overall archive.
The following pictures are of the Ghost Tokens: Inumbrating Pinnacle micro-series that occurred last week. Though I didn’t get a gazillion images of the event, because I was mostly using the camera to record video, I am happy with the shots that I did take. Video is on the way–I will have that available in the near future. Minimal editing was taken on the images below, and I have provided descriptive captions when images are not the Space Needle.
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Ebey’s Monster
Pictures from a visit with my friends Emiliana and Barnabus to Mt. Eerie and Ebey’s Landing yesterday, by Emiliana Chavez.
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New Review: The Inventors
A new review: Inventors and Other Poems
My new review of The Inventors and Other Poems by René Char (Seagull Books, 2015) is now at Queen Mob’s. Read it and let me know what your thoughts are. Oh, and you should totally buy that book.
My girlfriend, Scherezade Siobhan, has recently had her poetry book, Father, Husband, released via Salò Press. Buy it. Read it. Share it.
A newish chapbook from me to you: The Chocolate Death Carols and Other Poems
Late last year I released my latest chapbook of poetry, entitled The Chocolate Death Carols and Other Poems. The book includes a bunch of poetry I wrote during a gig working at a local chocolate company in Seattle. You can read the book for free, and it is still available to peruse here via Google Drive.
Also, this is the first release to my dearest Scherezade Siobhan.
From 1/17 to 1/23 there will be 7 literary events under the series name “Inumbrating Pinnacle.” There will be one Ghost Tokens event per night, each to occur at 9pm, all outdoors in the historic “heart of Seattle,” the Seattle Center, underneath the light and shadow of the Space Needle.
Confronting the triumphs and tragedies, the plateaus and recesses of the city elevated, these free micro-events are intended to respond to the fast, urban experience. Each artist will confront and present mindfulness toward “the city undergoing transformation” within a city’s frame of space and time. The events will not last more than 30 minutes.
Schedule
- Sunday 1/17: Tanya Holtland and Libby Hsu at Grass Blades
- Monday 1/18: Arlo Smith at the Artists at Play Playground
- Tuesday 1/19: Thomas Walton and Cooper Smith at the Glass Garden Wall
- Wednesday 1/20: Paul Nelson at Sonic Bloom
- Thursday 1/21: Graham Isaac at Black Lightning
- Friday 1/22: Jeremy Springsteed and Jeanne Morel at the Armory Monorail Station
- Saturday 1/23: Justine Chan at Olympic Illiad
Updates (1/16):
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A new website. A new look.
I’ve moved over to a new web host and in doing so, have kept the domain but not kept my old WordPress. One of the reasons for this reset is to define the new era of my life. In March, I begin to be in the world of the 30s. I don’t consider this move a shrugging off of the past, but rather, a foretelling of the future. The previous website has been archived, in its 30 gigabytes of glory, and now here we are. It will be a rocky start, but I look forward to pushing things forward with this new site. Please forgive the jumbled design at first. It will most certainly improve itself as we move forward.
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Poetry: Cambodia Bladed
What is Cambodia Bladed?
Cambodia Bladed was my series of prose poems written for and about my second and most recent time spent in Cambodia, from July to September, 2015. It was published between October and December, 2015. The series explores time, space, experience, mindfulness, among many other things. In many ways, and for many reasons, I wrote it as a direct response to the sort of heaviness I was feeling during and after this most recent time period.
For me, the experience writing Cambodia Bladed was also one of experimentation. I had been experimenting with photography and writing as a multidisciplinary form during my Washington series, Melmont piece, and Costa Rica/Panama piece. In a lot of ways, Cambodia Bladed was the high point for this form. I still use this form for my Beyond the Neon series, but I think I’ve exhausted my interest in the style associated with the form. I’m grateful for Queen Mob’s for letting me serialize this piece over the three months. You can read it at the links below: