SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

“Self-Portrait Poem” by WITS Student Miyabi Schorn

i have a body small and impatient, and feet that can jump, arms that can climb, fingers that can type, a head that can nod, my brown eyes that can see, and a great big imagination. Miyabi Schorn wrote this poem while a student at Lafayette Elementary School with WITS Writer-in-Residence Karen Finneyfrock. Miyabi read […]

Read More

Introducing the Winners of the 2022 Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest

Our utmost congratulations to the 2022 Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest winners and runners-up! Every year, Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program holds the Elaine Wetterauer Writing Contest, named for beloved English teacher Elaine Wetterauer, who taught for years at Nathan Hale High School and was an early champion of WITS, as […]

Read More

“Lived. Moved. Wanted. Got?” by Zora Sowinska

“Here” feels so lonely. The hands of a ghost who loved another ghost, the space between fingertips, the hall light under the door. Whispers that evaporate into thin air like an August creek. Ferns line the sidewalks and the trails, spores frequenting their undersides. In kindergarten, someone told me that those spores heal cuts, but […]

Read More

“Odes to my birth” by WITS Student Quynh Nguyen

Three… two… one… just one more second, only one more for a present. Ever wonder about life and death? Love and birth; all rise up toward a newborn. A tear slightly drops down from sky: the sky of all lovings; universes, stars, galaxy, space and shadow of emotions. If I were a tiny piece of […]

Read More

The Scribbles, the Rubbish, and the Mirrored Words

This essay is part of a series in which Seattle Arts & Lectures partners with Poetry Northwest to present reflections on visiting writers from SAL’s 2021/22 Season. On Thursday, April 7, Don Mee Choi will read and discuss her work with Stefania Heim at Hugo House, and the event will also be streamed live. Tickets are […]

Read More

Introductions: Mira Jacob

By Rebecca Hoogs, Executive Director Every summer, the SAL staff choose a book by an upcoming author in our season to read and discuss together. And it was a special joy last summer, after a year and a half of Zoom, to climb down from the Zoom grid and to gather in a circle, in-person […]

Read More

Introductions: Michael Schur

By Rebecca Hoogs, Executive Director It is now my great pleasure and greater intimidation to introduce Michael Schur. We are here tonight to learn how to be perfect as we celebrate the publication of his first book, How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question. Michael Schur is the creator, or co-creator, […]

Read More

“War Zone” by Avni Rao

And as dusk neared, The laughs were replaced with nonchalance, For it was dark and unsafe now One mustn’t do something to provoke— An ill-fated destiny corsets hung from old, battered joints An urge to for slim, slender, small, shrunken Gasping, choking, fighting They were struck by the intonation Of its missed, beautiful dictation of […]

Read More

“This Bowl of Soup” by WITS Student Marcus Frantela

The times I smell the sweet and sourness of the broth I know the night with be filled with joy. The pork so tender Just slips off the bone Like slipping into a fantasy of other worlds and imagination Infused with the taste of the broth It’s the kind of meat just by thinking about […]

Read More