Dear Friends,
The Editorial Board of PoetryBridge is planning an annual anthology of chosen works read at the C & P Coffee throughout the year and our first anthology is planned for early 2018. I am Koon Woon, a member of the Editorial Board and I have the honor of overseeing this project from editorial decisions to the publishing of the anthology as a printed book, which will be available for purchase to help our mission of presenting “home-grown” verse from nearby communities as well as cross-fertilization with more distant communities. Poetry, like Seattle rain, identifies us.
To qualify for selection for the anthology, poems and stories must have been read at PoetryBridge at C & P, but we do not worry about its publication history.
To qualify for selection for the anthology, poems and stories must have been read at PoetryBridge at C&P, but we do not worry about its publication history. A poem or a story can be published before or after its reading at the C & P, but its being read at the C & P is a must. So, this means that our selections from the anthology will come from the Featured Readers or from folks who read at Community Mic.
Not everything read at our PoetryBridge venues at the C& P is automatic inclusion in the anthology. This is for two reasons. The first is that some readers perform their work excellently and the energy and feelings they put into the performance move the audience. However, in print, the evocation and thrill may be absent and degenerate into platitudes. And conversely, some excellent poets and storytellers for some reason may have a poor delivery of their work, due to stage fright or some other reasons, but in print, their works cry out for attention. So, there are two factors – the work itself and its delivery, we opt more for the work itself.
In the year 2000, at the Washington State Poets Association poetry reading at Whidbey Island, yours truly was scheduled to read immediately after the World Champion of Slam Poetry, who was such an energetic and evocative performer that he had the audience of over a hundred people laughing, hollering, jumping up and down, nearly collapsing the roof of the building. After waiting nervously in the wings, I had to meekly come out and say apologetically to the folks who paid to attend the festival, “ I am sorry folks, this has to be a slight change of pace…”
Now a little info of my literary background and experiences --- I have been reading, writing, publishing poetry for over 30 years. I work as an editor and publisher. I also host the online journal Five Willows Literary Review and the book press Goldfish Press. I am also the founder of the Chrysanthemum Literary Society ongoing since 2003. My two books of poems are from Kaya Press: The Truth in Rented Rooms, NY, NY, 1998 was the winner of the Pen Oakland Award and a finalist in the Norma Farber First Book from the Poetry Society of America. My second book, Water Chasing Water, USC, Los Angeles, CA, 2013 was the winner of the American Book Award for 2014. I have also published a memoir Paper-son Poet in 2016 with a grant from the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture. My poems and stories have appeared in dozens of journals here and abroad, including several international anthologies. I have a master’s degree in literary arts and I work as a literary consultant. I have lived in Seattle since 1969. Please feel free to email me at koonwoon@gmail.com for additional information or clarification.