National Poetry Month at WordsWest was a true celebration of how reading and hearing poetry contributes to "Expanding Existence"---the theme of this event. Poets Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Susan Rich shared poems that felt like they stopped time and opened into moments that continue to change a person long after the moment has passed. Aimee read poems from Lucky Fish and from her new book Oceanic, just out from Copper Canyon Press. Susan bravely and beautifully shared poems from her manuscript in progress. Susan is usually behind the scenes or emceeing the WordsWest event, so it was a real treat for the audience (and co-curators Harold Taw and Katy Ellis) to get to hear Susan's work read on our beloved WordsWest stage!
After the intermission, we got to hear an installment of the West Seattle Favorite Poem Project, a memorized excerpt from the long poem"Alphabet" by Inger Christensen, recited by Abi Pollokoff, of Open Books: A Poem Emporium, She did an amazing job tying in the theme of expanding existence, declaring "apricots exist!" The crowd was amazed and delighted.
The evening ended with an inspiring Q&A session with Aimee and Susan. One takeaway being that even serious writers might not write every single day, that there are many ways one can be a writer and still have a full life outside of writing.
Sadly, technical glitches got in the way of the audio so there is no audio of the one-of-a-kind evening.
After the intermission, we got to hear an installment of the West Seattle Favorite Poem Project, a memorized excerpt from the long poem"Alphabet" by Inger Christensen, recited by Abi Pollokoff, of Open Books: A Poem Emporium, She did an amazing job tying in the theme of expanding existence, declaring "apricots exist!" The crowd was amazed and delighted.
The evening ended with an inspiring Q&A session with Aimee and Susan. One takeaway being that even serious writers might not write every single day, that there are many ways one can be a writer and still have a full life outside of writing.
Sadly, technical glitches got in the way of the audio so there is no audio of the one-of-a-kind evening.
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