Category Archives: Uncategorized

Writing from the Heart: A 2 Day Intensive Retreat, May 18th and 19th

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You have an incredible story.
You have a powerful story to tell.

For both new and experienced writers of all mediums (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, journaling, etc..), Writing from the Heart affirms that everyone has a place of vivacity and insight within them capable of producing moving and meaningful art. In a safe and supportive setting we will move to a place of depth in order to increase the clarity and potency of our writing and open the possibility of revelation and transformation within ourselves.

Workshops include:
-Using Mythology to Center your Story
-Connecting to the Wild and Weird in Yourself and Your Writing
-Connecting with the Contemplative, Invoking the Ecstatic: Meditation,
Movement and your Writing Practice
-Applying Jungian Psychology and Vedic Astrology to Create Compelling
Characters
-Tapping into Collective Imagination to Compose Stories and Poems

One day and single workshop options.  Some scholarships available. 

Click here for full details and to register.

Boston, April 15th

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Written two days after the Boston marathon bombing (while there was still much speculation about who was responsible), which, also happened to be my 31st birthday.

A bomb goes off at a marathon in Boston
like everyone else
I’m looking at the pictures
posted on blogs

Trying to see what sidewalks look like
when they’re drenched with blood

What pandemonium looks like
when it happens in the midst of cherry blossoms
and Starbucks and Adidas facades
instead of the scratchy palms and yellow grit
of Pakistan

I don’t want to write about carpenter nails
imbedded in the backs of fit westerners
with masters degrees

Just like I don’t want to write about
Muslim school children
who now walk on donated prosthetics

I don’t want to point my finger in the air
and shout, “It was he who did this!
Or they who are to blame,
or those crude men who build the bombs!”

I want to be with the wounded
I want to touch the hands
of those who now roll in wheelchairs

I want to hear the voices
of the women who’ve eaten shrapnel

I want to record the words
of those who’ve been at the epicenter
of an inferno when the earth breaks out in fire

I want to know if those who were there will really say in the end
after the last stitches have been removed
and there is no longer any further hope of recovery

“They can take our hands and feet
our eyes and ears
and even the throats we laugh from

But they will never take away our will
to love”

Kintsugiwriters.com: A blog for writers with chronic medical conditions

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A new website has been born!  Pleased to announce the launch of www.kintsugiwriters.com, a blog for writers with chronic medical conditions.  The site creates an outlet where anyone with a significant chronic condition can share about their experience through any form of creative writing.  The first piece should be up shortly.  In the meantime, spread the word!  Guidelines are as follows:

-Submissions should be short: maximum 600 words. Can be an excerpt.
-Include a brief bio (max 100 words) involving some detail of your chronic condition
-Content does not necessarily have to be directly about one’s condition, though preference will be given to pieces that reflect the writer’s personal experience
-Please consider submitting a photo/scanned image, either of yourself or something that relates to the piece (original photo you have rights to)

The Gospel According to Matthew Tour Part II: Destination LA

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Excited to announce that the Gospel According to Matthew Tour Part II is alive and growing! Features have been confirmed in Portland, Eugene, Medford, Sacramento, San Fransisco, and Las Vegas with more shows on the way for Bellingham, Reno, and Los Angeles. Check out the Tour tab for details and stay tuned as more fun stuff unfolds for May and June.

Hmmm...I wonder what kind of potted traveling companion I'll take on this tour?...

Addendum to the Book of Lost Truths

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Alright, another piece that came out of Kintsugi. For the record, I was not dropping acid at the time of writing. However, I had been ruminating upon Neruda…

Addendum to the Book of Lost Truths

“I speak to you only of the sad harmonies of dangerous frogs.”
-Ramon Sincane, from The Hidden Floor

“Because all things are connected, start anywhere”
-The Book of Lost Truths: Parables and Other Sayings

Which elevator did you take?

The one going to the top floor
with its sweaty-handed executives
wearing marble rings?

Or the one that goes down
to unmarked basements
filled with strange, musical fires?

There is a room in this complex
for you somewhere

Is it the one where the long-bloused women sit
upon cardboard boxes
eating syrupless pancakes?

Or the one full of lemurs
with the rainbow tails?

If you touched each of the paneled amber buttons
one by one
will there be a special bell for you
and a door that opens in the esophagus
to hidden mezzanines?

When you go there look for the woman
with the cape made entirely from the feet
of peacocks
and the caterpillar head

She is the one who holds serpentine keys
to the breaths of unknown lovers

She is the one who speaks in the tongues
of lost dogs
who wander the grounds of vacant grocers

These are the kinds of clues you will be looking for

These will help you find the stairwells
climbed only by tornadoes

These are the particles of dust
that turn into elaborate horse drawn carriages

All other paths are to be abandoned

All other roads that lead down parkways
printed on glossy covered maps

This is the direction all dreams go
when they are draining back
into their primordial sewers

This is the heart that lives in a shoe
at the bottom of an inconsolable loneliness

It is the one that walks upon its own
unrehearsed silences
in the middle of windowless nights

When you hear it
in the company only of your well-laundered pillows
you will know you are being visited
by either a vision
or a ghost

The Last Time I Prayed

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Another new piece that has come out of Kintsugi, the writing circle I facilitate for people with chronic medical conditions. It’s remained a profound space, one I’m honored to share with a collection of remarkable individuals.

The Last Time I Prayed

I don’t quite remember
the last time I prayed

Maybe it was the night of my 29th birthday
where I sat alone in my room
my left leg a bonfire
where I could see all the substantial timbers of my life
my job
my apartment
my poetic aspirations
one by one
going down in flames

Maybe it was quite a bit before then
when my faith was just a shriveled blimp
barely hovering above the ground
asking God to provide a little more
hot air

Maybe it was the year after
when I asked God to please help me lose
my virginity

Maybe it was two years before then
when I asked God to grant me
a queen

Now I’ve stopped asking God for things
now that I’ve recognized the world brings me
an endless procession of heartaches and treasures
as steady as the ocean waves
breaking on the beach

Now I am the one sitting down upon that beach
my toes in the sand
exactly at the spot where the last wave expires
in a salty froth

Asking only that the ocean send me yet another
cold, electric, awakening jolt
of life

Upcoming Poetry Performances in March

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Poetry for You and Me: Friday, March 22nd 7pm

I’ll be doing an opening and closing set of poems to bracket an open mic at the Anacortes Center for Happiness next Friday. There will be some guitar and possibly drum accompaniment to keep the groove going between readers and give the evening some folksy flair. Participants are welcome to bring original work or that of another poet. Pay what makes you happy.

Anacortes Center for Happiness
619 Commercial Street, Anacortes
www.anacortescenterforhappiness.org

Words and Wine @ Grape Choice: Saturday, March 23rd 6:00pm

Excited to be featuring alongside a cadre of fantastic poets : Anita Boyle, Jim Bertolino, and Jodi Knowles with some additional spotlight readers. Hosted by Seattle poetry impresario Christopher Jarmick. The third installment of the Words and Wine series, I’ve been told back by popular demand.

The Grape Choice
located in Downtown Kirkland
(off of Central/85th)
9 Lakeshore Plaza
Kirkland, WA 98033

Dreamcatcher

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Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher ‘s got a big hole in it
How’s it gonna catch a dream?
How’s it going to stop a bullet
or a bomb if it can’t even catch a dream?

What’s your dreamcatcher look like?

Got a hoop with some spider webs attached
and an owl’s feather hanging from the side

Sounds like something a little kid would play with
Something that a man would put away up in the attic
while he went out and pursued a life

Yes, a dreamcatcher can sleep soundly underneath a pile
of one’s childhood clothes for many many years…

How does a dreamcatcher work?

First you got to get your dreamcatcher
out of the trash

Okay, got it

Now put it on the ground
and do a little dance around the outside

Your dreams love to see you dance

What if I can’t dance yet?

Your tears will do

What happens next?

Ask the dreamcatcher

It doesn’t say anything

That’s cause you’re awake
Dreamcatcher only speaks when you’re sleeping

Dreams can only be recalled
after you wake up

That Poet

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Every once in a while I get concerned that I’ve become that poet I’ve always warned myself about. Then I look in the mirror and find a healthy dose of irony looking back at me and figure I’m still doing okay for now…
 

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