Greetings from my second favorite season—lilac season. Hate poetry or want to know the next time I’ll see you in person? skip and scroll down for announcements.
The lilacs are already reaching their mouths to the sky. The daffodils have barely bowed their heads. The tulips are already getting pushed out of the spotlight. I am still finding new lenten roses.
It is too early for lilacs.
Even though they are my favorite. They are too much, too perfumy and purple and proud and grow as tall as houses and I love them for their too much-ness. They are the state flower of New Hampshire, my homestate. They show up when they are ready.
It’s National Poetry Month which means the poetry phoneline is back up, and I am attempting to write a poem a day. I made a very tiny little book for them which means the poems will stay tiny. So far, none are worth sharing but it is a very good exercise.
But I do have this poem from Katha Pollit, about beautiful things that come out of tragedy. I first came across it while living in New Orleans, in the months after Hurricane Katrina. Though lilacs don’t grow in Lousiana, the poem made sense to me.
LILACS IN SEPTEMBER
Shocked to the root
like the lilac bush
in the vacant lot
by the hurricane–
whose black branch split
by wind or rain
has broken out
unseasonably
into these scant ash-
colored blossoms
lifted high
as if to say
to passersby
What will unleash
itself in you
when your storm comes?
Katha Pollitt
Studio Practice Collage for April started this week but you can still join us!
Mondays online 4-6 pm PST pay what you can
Tuesdays in person at Paisley Studios in Portland OR now $120
Are you an artist with a skill you want to share? Join me for a two session class about teaching your craft, including lesson planning, and other tips for getting started! Share Your Skills starts 4/24 online!
more out of town classes below!
Bay Area in April! Seattle and Tacoma in May!
Bay Area!
Saturday 4/13 tabling with Brick Factory Designs at the San Jose Print Fair
Monday 4/15 collage with me at SFCB! Don’t Trash it! Collaging with Scraps will offer plenty of creative materials to level up your collage for little or no money! Plus FUN. and the Collage Claw Machine!
Friday and Saturday May 3 &4 Tacoma Wayzgoose! I’ll be tabling with the Keep Writing project, prints, zines and collage buttons! Come say hi, stay for the steamroller prints
Seattle! May 10- June 9 Collage-O-Rama at Slip Gallery
I’ll be at the Belltown Artswalk opening on May 10, and
spending World Collage Day (5/12) smashing things, making art and a helping with a special little something with Torea Frey AND
I’m teaching 2 workshops on May 25 &26!
Monmouth OR for Focus on Book Arts!
Im teaching a Collage Techniques for Altered Books workshop on Sunday June 30th. Less than 2 hours from Portland! Just sayin’
collaboration summer
If you missed it, March’s card was a letterpress inspired RISO collaboration with Portland based writer Callum Angus. Im making plans for the summer, including some organizing the archive for better viewing AND taking steps to get my press out of jail (aka the storage unit with the missing key).
You can subscribe to Keep Writing at any time and start receiving monthly postcards with a prompt for your response!
you made it to the end! here’s a treat!
my friday favorite, the weekly dingus honors a lousiana dude without bashing the whole state.
calling your reps feeling fruitless? if you are able, send money directly to a young Palestinian writer trying to evacuate her family
but also keep bugging your reps
We made it to the end of another newsletter. I feel like there was something I forgot to tell you. I had that feeling last week. Then I shut the door, rode my bike three and a half miles in the sun to the train station. I exited the train 3 stops later, at the airport to finally remember that my ID badge was at home. And weirdly, TSA doesn’t just wave me through because I’m funny. And so I took the train back, rode home, abandoned my bike, drove to the employee lot, got on the shuttle, went through security and my boss said, oh, I shouldve told you I could cover for you. Cool. The title of that story is “Why was that woman who sold me a sandwhich so grumpy?” Just kidding, it was very slow at work, and I did not sell any sandwhiches. The real title is “At least I got to ride my bike in the sun.”
See you next week
Hope