A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
Fear When I was little, I was scared of fire. When it lit up, my face looked like a ghost, and my heart sounded like waves crashing on a beach. But now, I when I get scared, I become the thunderstorm. When I become the thunderstorm, my heart will look like courage ready to strike […]
By Katy Ellis, WITS Writer-in-Residence I have to admit revision has never been my strong point as a writer. Only in the last ten years have I truly grasped the fact that my second (or third or fourth or tenth) draft better says what I wanted to say in the first place. Now, I actually […]
By Peter Mountford, WITS Writer-in-Residence I have now entered my tenth year of teaching WITS, and I’m taking a look back. Specifically to my first residency at the TOPS school with teacher Lori Eickelberg’s 8th graders in the spring of 2008. Two years out of my MFA program, I was hard at work on a […]
By Laura Gamache, WITS Writer-in-Residence The book said everything perishes The book said that’s why we sing -Gregory Orr Every WITS teaching residency has a beginning, middle and end, like the stories humans are wired to crave. As a primarily lyric poet, I tend to work with kids as if we’re outside the narrative arc […]
By Imani Sims, WITS Writer-in-Residence It’s always an experiment when trying to engage young minds with new content. The haibun form allows for concrete examples while also allowing the freedom to imagine. This fall, I spoke to a group of young folks who embraced this idea with vigor. The Form: Haibun Definition: A “literary form originating […]
By Jeanine Walker, WITS Writer-in-Residence As a poet, I love to play with words. When writing or revising a poem, I can spend hours switching out a single word or phrase in an attempt to get the exact right one. Despite this, I believe a poet’s business is not words, exactly. A poet’s job is […]
By Letitia Cain, WITS Writer-in-Residence & SAL Event Manager It’s a Scottish tradition to open the front door of your house at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve to welcome in the new year, then rush to open the back door to let go of the past year. It’s a way of ushering […]
By Matt Gano, WITS Writer-in-Residence I hate the word “lecture.” I’ve always considered teaching poetry as a “conversation.” I hope to learn along with my students by talking about creative ideas, to open space in the classroom to unpack concepts such as “writing from the body,” “poetry as an economy of language,” “write what you […]
By Karen Finneyfrock, WITS Writer-in-Residence I’ve have success and fun in the classroom connecting students with poetry that feature the seasons or the weather. Each November, I bring my fifth grade classes the poem “This is a Letter” by Rebecca Dunham. Young students are especially drawn to images like “the broken confetti of late fall leaves.” […]
Cuando Estás Conmigo Dulzura era una cosa que no tenía. Entonces, cuando abriste la puerta estaba tan feliz. Tú haces brillar la habitación. Me trajiste afuera de la tumba. Tú me enseñaste que el mundo puede ser precioso. Pero el mundo es más precioso Cuando estás conmigo. When You Are With Me Sweetness was something […]