As we approach this holiday season which some have named the Season of Light, whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, the winter solstice, Kwanzaa or any other festivities, one thing they have in common during the darkest time of the year, is the celebration of light.

PoetryBridge Association of West Seattle is a co-sponsor of a Poetry Reading and Writing Workshop Plus Open Mic on Saturday, October 21, 2017 from 2-5 PM at Alaska House in West Seattle, 4545 42nd Avenue SW, Seattle, WA 98116.

This is a public event, open and free to all. All Alaska House residents, their families, friends and neighbors are invited

Leopoldo share his view of what he thinks constitutes the 'best' poetry

We were able to have a Poetry Booth at three West Seattle Farmer's Market this summer, two in June and one in July. It was a good experience. Met a good number

At least that is what Jack Hirschman, San Francisco's North Beach beloved and celebrated poet said, although it apparently was all an act. I hope you enjoy the full article.

The Summer Soiree Series got off to a great start in June with Lew Jones and Katherine Grace-Bond followed by James Bertolino and Dorothy Lemoult in July.

Out last Poetry Booth this year at the West Seattle Farmer's Market will be on Sunday, July 23 from 10-2. We had such fun with the two in June.

Once again I am grateful for Koon Woon's recommendation of possible readers as Lew Jones and Katherine Grace-Bond got us off to a great start in June. Lew and Katherine filled our favorite coffee house with new voices with rich and textured sounds and images to my delight and everyone's.

They were followed by our amazing, and that is no hyperbole, Community Micers including Pam Carter, Samantha, Malya, Heidi, Catherine Slaton, Koon Woon, Ether and Fatima. Videos of each of their readings will be posted on the website soon and you will see what I mean.

Let the snow begin

First of all, credit and kudos to Leopoldo for the eighth year he is running this show – PoetryBridge is alive and well in West Seattle at the C & P Coffee, thanks to the kindness and support of Cameron and Pete. I attended with my friends Lew and Katerine the featured readers. At the C & P let the show begin. But for me, however, 

Let the snow begin, you say, let it drift down, downy on farmhouses, let it blanket the inadvertant sounds, so let the snow begin.

Our first PoetryBridge Poetry Booth at the West Seattle Farmer's Market on June fourth was lots of fun and a great success as evidenced by the 140 some folks who chose a pocket poem and the 40 some people who added a line to read the collective Farmer's Market Poem which is available here.

The sounds of set up
Fill the Sunday scene on California avenue, 
Delicious yogurt waits nearby

Love our community
Milly barks her way through! 
Bennie, beets, berries, barking, beauty ... 

We’ve got a sizzling hot bevy of readers line up for what I am inspired to name as our first ever Summer Soirée Series. Now a soirée generally refers to an evening party or gathering, typically in a private house, for conversation or music.

I admit I am probably playing fast and loose with the term, but we are meeting in a former home to someone, and it is in the evening, and poetry and storytelling are forms of music to my ears, so soirée it is!

Our motto is to be kind. Provide a space that’s based on this principle of kindness. You might think that's art and I think you could think of it like that, but for us, it's just to be kind, that's the biggest thing. 

....Because my life is so much better because it’s not my space anymore. It hasn't been my space for a long time. I am much happier and more part of something than I could have ever imagined.

In my mind, art is alive, not a commodity to be exchanged in the marketplace. Art is the experience of inspiration and creation and in its most lively and transformative manifestation, shared with others.

Poet Jan Steckel calls this body of work, “a powerful, readable, nearly-impossible-to-put-down, boundary-crossing coming-out collection.“ These poems are from a survivor who witnessed first hand the devastation through the heart of the AIDS epidemic." 

Imitating other Masters is a good way to learn poetry, but you must remember that poets are all different, every poet’s voice is different. That's what's most important. It’s what makes poetry distinctive.

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

The first thing is avoid self-pity like the plague. The second thing is don't pay attention to what seems to be going around you just work at a steady pace and soon all kinds of good things will happen to you.

Everywhere I looked, I saw a flowing stream of banners, puppets, colorful homemade signs, and the ubiquitous knitted pink pussy hats which created a carnival spirit of celebration and  joyousness that awakened the hope in me that had gone dormant temporarily.