Poet and Artist in Seattle
It’s been a while since I posted any new audio works. This is the first new exploration in sound since May 2021’s Dunn Gardens. roarbuzz uses found sound from a hostel in Banff, along with Paul’s Extreme Sound Stretch, and a bunch of EQing in Ableton. The result is the most ambient work I’ve ever created, and the first in a sequence of audio projects that are connected to a larger performance piece in development.
The latest SPREAD (Issue 80) contains my poem “I Dream the Licks,” which discusses the fire at Umtanum Creek from a couple years back. Copies can be ordered at spankstra@hotmail.com.
My poem “Figures” was just released in the second Pandemic of Violence anthology from North of Oxford. Read it here.
Another SPREAD, another poem.
I am happy to announce that another re drum poem, “ARREST,” is now live thanks to The Writing Disorder.
Last weekend, I had the pleasure to read with fellow Hand to Mouth poet Teri Zipf at Walla Walla’s Grandma’s Kitchen.
I decided to submit five videos I worked on at the pandemic to the Healing Arts Expo, a showcase of employee art at LWTech. The work is on view in the library, my very niche of employment, and since there are no restrictions on sharing the videos elsewhere, here is the playlist you would find were you to stumble into that library.
Since last August, I have had the pleasure of writing alongside (and publishing alongside) the re drum group Alex Bleecker, Jeremy Springsteed, and Willie James, as well as good friend Justine Chan. Our efforts on exploring the cadralore form have yielded some output, now available to view in Another New Calligraphy.
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).
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
Three issues of pandemic poetry are now online via North of Oxford. I have three poems in the first issue. One Two Three