A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
This month, we’re sharing stories woven with heart and light from our youth programs community. In the interview below, our 2023/24 Youth Poet Laureate Mateo Acuña shares the path to writing his first collection of poetry, where he finds inspiration, and what dedicated space and mentorship as part of the Youth Poetry Fellowship (YPF) program […]
Two roads in front of you, you take the road less traveled. Pfft, easy. Wait. Is that a Third road? When did that get here? They multiply, or at least You start to see more and more, but when there are more than two roads to choose from, when you’re standing in the Center of […]
To travel is to be a passenger whose Memory is something that follows us where our lives themselves cannot. Personhood in motion is merely moment, after moment, after all; pieces of ourselves we put together and craft a vessel out of to take us from place to place. Like the mythic Ark, the stories that […]
American Poetry I imagine my brand-new copy of The Best American Poetry 2021 lying stiff and silent after the apocalypse. I’d like to remain conservative a little longer. save seed for winter. watch it sprout in the spring. I break bread by myself, sitting on the floor, hunched over by the fire, like God’s lap […]
the poet this is you on your knees, surreal roses unfurled in a ghastly inversion at your feet. you balled your fists and balled your eyes out while you were patted on the back, like the ancient, quranic rage in your head could be tapped out. you are on your knees. you thought what a […]
Plato once asserted that justice, in the scheme of morality and goodness, ultimately comes down to compromise. We discussed it in class, so it must be true, but tell me, philosopher, if perhaps I could arrange for a meeting with your dust and bones— Is it a just compromise, every time the story plays […]
At the peak of my anxiety, consumed by emotion, overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts, I’m at a standstill. I don’t know when my home got bigger or I when I simply shrunk, but my house is far too big for me, and lately I feel so small. At a standstill of uncertainty, I’ve found that lately […]
“With your pictures you apparently want to arouse in us a feeling of having to swallow rope or drink kerosene.” – Braque to Picasso Maybe it’s as simple as this: Maybe God’s hundredth name is His face. I try to paint it on the moon, but I can’t reach far enough to fill His craterous, […]
He sits at the desk beside Teacher, scribbling words on the back of the coloring sheet while the rest of the class enjoys the playground and each other. His mom asks her maternal comrades what to do, if he’s okay, but he knows better. “Don’t worry, ma,” he says. “This is what I have to […]
Pesto She dances Whirs and grinds and her arms rise To ragged rocks of sea salt Where she sleeps She puckers up for a kiss Feels lemon when there is bitterness Goes dark when left alone A moldy solitude She duets with the plush Heel toe tapping Kitten heels staunch in their desire to step […]