SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Lydia Ganz reads from a wood lectern, hair held back by a blue headband as she leans forward to look at her paper.

“Ode to Cinnamon,” by Lydia Ganz

Cinnamon O, cinnamon Soft but sharp quiet but demanding You are the tall red spruces old as time cutting the sky and stretching beyond You are clouds who knit together casting a blanket of gray swallowing the earth and casting soft raindrops You are the bear prowling through the forest lumbering paws slapping the mud […]

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Introductions: Richard Kenney

By Rebecca Hoogs, SAL Associate Director Twenty years ago this fall, I walked into the deep time of Richard Kenney’s classroom at the University of Washington. I was young and dumb—and by dumb I mean dumb but also quiet—painfully shy and silent, writing an all-thumbs poetry. I can’t blame Professor Kenney for making me older—we […]

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Get Spooky in Seattle: WITS Writers at Lit Crawl

Like a choice bowl of Halloween candy, this year’s Lit Crawl on October 24 is sprinkled with a healthy dose of our Writers in the Schools (WITS) and Youth Poet Laureate (YPL) programs. But which WITS writers will be where? Here’s a handy guide to help you map it out. But readers be warned—you have […]

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All at SAM: Exhibition Openings, WITS Broadsides Showcase, & More!

Tomorrow, on Thursday, October 17, the Seattle Art Museum will be opening its doors to the public to celebrate the opening of their new exhibit, Flesh & Blood. The exhibit features Italian masterpieces from the Capodimonte Museum, offering a rare opportunity to experience the fierce beauty of art from the 16th and 17th centuries. What’s […]

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“My Island Tree,” by Margaret Dawson

It used to be A place of comfort Of freedom Of joy Then it changed Into A place of worry Of dread Of anxiety How can something so innocent Lead to changing the way I Think Feel Act This beautiful place Now holds secrets And scars I could Climb Then leap Swinging into the cool, […]

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“The F Train,” by Lucia Young

The F Train Maybe she didn’t get the job Maybe the hiring manager found her height overbearing, That she reeked of women who frighten men Maybe he caught sight of the pendant on the chain around her neck Hanging just above the hemline of a new-looking grey cardigan. A tarnished beauty on the shore of […]

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5 Books Giving Us All the Fall Feels

By Rachel Bachler Trees turn, leaves crunch, night falls altogether at four in the afternoon, and the delightfully sudden fifty-degree drop in temperature entices even the grumpiest of sidewalk commuters to partake in a ceremonial open-mouth, ‘I can see my breath!’ exhale. Fall, with all its entrancingly warm scarves and pumpkin scones, is the time […]

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More of a River

This essay is part of a series in which Poetry Northwest partners with Seattle Arts & Lectures to present reflections on visiting writers from SAL’s Poetry Series. At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 17, Richard Kenney will read at Seattle Central Community College—Broadway Performance Hall. Tickets are still available! By Jason Whitmarsh In 1997, I moved from […]

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“Dos-Minds,” by Daniel Chamale

Que significa ser bilingue A lot of people think, it can be easy La dificultad sigue Want to practice on a daily basis I just wanted to talk to them Nomas una conversación I want to hear their stories Porque no tomas el acción Why don’t you study? Porque te cuesta Your family came to […]

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“Weather Patterns,” by Wei-Wei Lee

the lady in the elevator called, “look at that rainbow!” and we all did, sticking our necks out past the doors to get a good look. we are so starved for pretty things. but there was no rainbow, only the faintest smudge of purple against the cotton fluff of clouds spread across the sky like […]

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