Poet and Artist in Seattle
Excited to post my last performance of poetry alongside Jim O’Halloran and friends, at Kezira Cafe in Columbia City, Seattle. While the poem has nothing to do with its predecessor, Return to Rain, it is the spiritual successor. Note the details in the video’s description: The Fiend of Leschi, a poem performed by Greg Bem with the Jim O’Halloran Trio. Recorded at Kezira Restaurant in Columbia City, Seattle, on 11/19/21. Device used: Galaxy S21+. Edited
Excited to announce a new poetry project is up on this site. Memory Forms: Ruin was rejected from a recent Shanti Arts call for submissions, solidifying it as an even “further ruin” that paired well with a situational recording of rainfall and other ambient sounds at Friday Harbor, in Seattle, Washington. The poems were written after visits to Sequim, Washington, and Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado. You can find the poems and the soundtrack for reading
A couple nights ago I had the pleasure of reading a poem with the Jim O’Halloran Trio at Kezira Cafe in Columbia City, Seattle. The poem, “Return to Rain,” is linked below. Here’s the segment of the set with the reading: And some larger selections of the show. Sadly, the focus was set to auto and was doing some really weird stuff in the low-light room. The sound isn’t perfect either, but better than null!
Continue readingReturn to Rain: A Poetry Reading Set to Jazz
A palace among the dogwood and it trembles. Beyond the tiger lily an ancient rock. And its chiseled face bare. We are ruptured. We are dislodged. Memories captured, compressed in snow melt. Sun pushing inward, water pushed toward earth. Even on this day. Even in this breath. I can feel this return. I can feel this lingering emptiness. I feel as the long burn serves missive from the meadows. A typography of flame reaches out
Today I’m very grateful to ongoing collaborator Rob McLennan, who invited me (back in January) to respond to his question prompts, “12 or 20.” I don’t often share much about my creative process apart from a few close friends, and Rob’s questions allowed me to dive in. You can read the questions (and see a fun image of me from the Olympic Peninsula) here.
Excited to briefly announce that Of Spray and Mist is now available at Third Place Books in Seward Park and Ravenna. Hopefully soon in Lake Forest Park. It’s been strange to get the physical book into hands of anyone other than close friends during the pandemic. This slow distribution provides some joy and memories of pre-COVID life.
My second full-length, printed book has appeared. I am excited to announce the release of my next poetry publication Green Axes! Thanks to Red at Alien Buddha Press for agreeing to work with me on the poems and the overall structure of the book. As the title of this post suggests, these poems are derived from shadow and expanse. They are horrific and they are pastoral, sourced from a handful of local meditations and remote
Continue readingA poetry collection both horrific and pastoral: Green Axes is now available!
I’m very grateful for Joshua Lew McDermott’s Of Spray and Mist review for Line Rider Press. Joshua looped in my naturalism and librarianship in a way that elevates the book and pushes it further. Many thanks, Joshua!
Of Spray and Mist is here. After nearly two years of work on a single manuscript, Hand to Mouth Books in Walla Walla, Washington has published Of Spray and Mist. At 122 pages, this full-length book features several sequences of poetry, including work first written on San Juan Island’s Friday Harbor Lab’s Whiteley Center last December. You can read more below (or skip over to the Goodreads page).
July 17, 2020 Lake Vivienne’s smile is marked by ancient voyeurs, whose minds don’t reflect such chromaticism. Let us put our eyes to rest amidst wind scream and the hush of bush as it is clarified with memories of recent goat.
I never thought I’d post audio on Bandcamp, but it seems like a great way to share (for free) the audio projects I’ve been working on, and also get proceeds to donate to an organization of my choosing (in this case, the ACLU). For the last four months, under the banner of COVID-19, I’ve been working on an audio project that has finally come to fruition. While it is rough, while it is far from
Continue readingBandcamp, an Album, three Sequences, and a Single
Thanks to Paul Nelson, I participated in the August Poetry Postcard Festival (PoPo) last year, and ended up with a full sequence of poetry, “Bountiful Sound.” A selection of the poems was accepted by Ravenna Press. I’m indebted to Kathryn Rantala for thinking highly of my work, and including it in their Triples Series. #11 features this work by me, as well as Maureen Seaton & Samuel Ace, and Kat Meads. Support the press by
Amidst pepper-fainted plumes I felt the beating of drums emerge from chests. To be there, to be now. To be urgent through architecture outlined across rain and whispers. ~ position body ~ In asking to prove directly and to form a shield. I will always blink to a vision of light. Beating across skeletal relationships. Bottles of milk. Bottles of baking soda and water. The lines of scatter and spread reflect the lines of
Three issues of pandemic poetry are now online via North of Oxford. I have three poems in the first issue. One Two Three
Now available on YouTube: Oceanic Triptych (38:53 minutes) … Continue readingNew Video: Oceanic Triptych