*** New Anthology Takes Beautiful Shape ***

Poems have been arriving from all over the place, including Australia, for Write Wing Publishing's new anthology "Through A Distant Lens:  Travel Poems."  These poems are amazing, set in Machu Picchu, Long Island Sound, Venice, Croatia, Burgundy, Wisconsin, and Buenos Aires, to name just a few, and also some destinations of the imagination.  This collection will have more pages than "Surrounded:  Living With Islands," thanks to all the wonderful submissions.  The deadline is October 18, so if you have been thinking about it, stop thinking and get writing/revising/polishing.

In other news, I had a fabulous reading with my friend and fellow poet Linda Beeman on September 25 at Anchor Books & Coffee in Clinton.  We had a wonderful turnout, seeing many well-known faces and encountering some new ones.  The audience was attentive and all were good listeners.  Linda read from her chapbook "Wallace, Idaho" and I read from "Ring of Fire, Sea of Stone."  Whoever claims that poetry is dead in America is just plain wrong.

What a wonderful buzz of energy to have a roomful of people devoted to listening to poetry, reading poetry, writing poetry, even buying poetry books (what a concept!).  The evening was pure delight from start to finish.  Many thanks to Bruce and Trish Didier and to Debbie at the Clinton Library for co-hosting this event.

Stay tuned for news of the status of "Through A Distant Lens," and keep those poems coming!

Multiple Readings in September!

Musing on the death of the wonderful Seamus Heaney, taken away from us too soon:  I recently was feeling a bit frantic at the thought of giving three readings in September, but since Seamus died, it seems appropriate to be out there putting poetry forth into the world.  Here's what I'm doing:

1)  12:30 workshop and reading with members of JANE'S STORIES PRESS FOUNDATION at In Other Words bookshop in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, September 7, 2013.  There will be readings from JSPF's new anthology, "Bridges and Borders."

2)  11 AM to 12:30 PM on Saturday, September 14:  reading at the new festival in beautiful Coupeville, on Whidbey Island, Washington, "The Art of the Boat."  My poems will be about, what else, kayaks.  This festival will hopefully turn into a yearly event celebrating boats, art and writing about boats, and the people who sail around in them.

3)  6 PM on Wednesday, September 25 at Anchor Books & Coffee in Clinton.  I'll be reading from my recently-published chapbook, "Ring of Fire, Sea of Stone."  Also reading from her chapbook "Wallace, Idaho" will be local poet Linda Beeman.  Co-sponsored by Sno-Isle Regional Library and the Clinton Library.

Meanwhile, poems from all over the country, and from Australia too, are arriving for the new anthology "Through a Distant Lens:  Travel Poems."  Keep 'em coming!  The quality of poems so far is high.  This new project should result in a fatter (more pages) anthology than last year's "Surrounded:  Living With Islands."  Postmark deadline for submitting your poems:  October 18.