A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
The silence stretches, yawning across the land. Quiet, so quiet. A strange reverie, unbroken by sound. The bombs have stopped. The children, born in a world where the thunder is a part of life, whimper. The elders, so few, so old, raise their heads in disbelief. For they remember, a time when bombs did […]
By Gabriela Denise Frank As our nation’s underpinnings come under greater scrutiny, I’ve been in a parallel process of personal inquiry, digging into generational and cultural foundations that have shaped my writing practice and relationship to art-making, capitalism, and self-worth. You know, easy, light stuff. Months of reflection have revealed how my upbringing isn’t a […]
By Gabriela Denise Frank Poet Aaron Counts, co-founder of Seattle’s Youth Poet Laureate (YPL) program, described the power of poetry to me this way: “A great poem helps you understand yourself and how you fit into the world. It’s like having the recipe for oxygen—it’s a survival skill.” Poetry isn’t frivolous or a luxury, it’s […]
By Gabriela Denise Frank When I watched Bitaniya Giday perform her poem, “Hyphenated Identity Crisis,” I didn’t know I would interview her. The video, which introduced Bitaniya as the 2020/2021 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate, was filmed outside on a breezy day rather than inside a dramatically-lit theater. Bitaniya read from her phone in front of […]
Hyphenated Identity Crisis And the American war machine takes on the motherland And I finally am no longer A hyphenated identity crisis See the words Ethiopian-American Imply me a patriot for the casualty of war they make out of my birthplace We diaspora longed to find home on the winning Side, in exchange our […]
Attention all young poets, rappers, leaders, and activists in the greater Seattle area, ages 14-19: are you interested in representing Seattle as the 2020/21 Youth Poet Laureate? We’re now accepting applications for this year’s Youth Poet Laureate program, and we want to see your work! What is the YPL program? Since 2015, the Seattle Youth […]
With our daily lives disrupted, we are all working to finding new forms of togetherness. From balconies, Italians break into song and Spain applauds its healthcare workers. Bookshops hand-deliver to Seattle porches. Local relief funds have opened up for artists and hospitality workers. And we at Seattle Arts & Lectures want to do what we […]
Inspired by Sarah Kay’s “B” (or “If I Should Have A Daughter”) To my little chick, hidden away, not yet emergent, When you are born, your eyes will be planets reflecting the depths of the universe: moon-starer, they’ll call you, my young astronomer, a child of the stars. Chickadee, small and sweet, your feathers speckled […]
Valentine there is a red-quilted heart-shaped box of chocolates sitting on my bedside and a pink envelope with my name on it written in a script that speaks secrets I will never spill even if the time comes that the script is all I have left to remember rain on a green ice cream […]
Extinguish larynx, strung down neck & plucked from voice box, pulling out a sharp snap; I holler to the kingbird out of loneliness. Feathered body & beak yellowed with age, sleek wings broken in by many winters, his dead eyes, refusing to acknowledge. Measurements of clawed feet, the push of the scalpel into his full […]