Dear Writers,
Here’s a verse from “January, 1795” by the great poet Mary Robinson:
Taste and talents quite deserted;
All the laws of truth perverted;
Arrogance o’er merit soaring;
Merit silently deploring.
As relevant as her wonderful poem still seems today, I also have to say, sorry, Mary! Because Monday’s lineup of writers had no shortage of merit, grace, and talent.
Congratulations to Shannon Laws for publishing Madrona Grove: Poems Written Under the Canopy, a collection of Northwest-inspired poetry. Madrona Grove was printed on Village Books’s Espresso Machine and is available on shelf or online at Village Books. Shannon is an artist and created numerous different cover designs, so anyone who buys the book may have a different cover! Shannon shared poetry from her book as well as “No Morrow,” which is published in Volume 4 of Clover. She’s on fire!
Not to be outdone, Rae Ellen Lee read from her newly published book Cheating the Hog. A Sawmill. A Tragedy. A Few Gutsy Women. Points as well for the title, and congratulations to Rae Ellen for this newly launched title. She manages to make mill work, which we all can guess is exciting, hard, and dangerous, somehow also hilarious, and further, uses the tales from the mill as a jumping off place for other fearfully funny vignettes. Note that Cheating the Hog is a featured giveaway on GoodReads and the Kindle edition will be FREE on Feb 1, in honor of Groundhog’s day.
Monday night’s lineup also featured Deanna Hawkins, reading on her topic of “Where Can Rapture Be Found?” Deanna taught us about sins of the flesh, which in the modern world include Kobe beef. From this very humorous note, she took her essay in a beautiful direction to reflect on life and beauty. CJ Prince delighted us with “Before the Northwest” and other contemplative poems. She reports that she often reads her poetry aloud in her kitchen to try it out and then after reading at open mic finds additional inspiration to make some final revisions. CJ closed her set with “Packing for Boston,” discussing not only packing but packing ideas to carry. Continue reading
Dear Writers 