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Illuminating poetry since 1959

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Lines / from the current issue

although there are many signs, / they are too long / to read, whatever reading is

ED SKOOG | The Magpie

Recent Features

December 2, 2020

Interview // When Haptic Touch is Removed: A Conversation with Maryam Monalisa...

Conducted by Serena Solin

by Staff
November 24, 2020

Magical Realism and the Sociology of Possibility

"Magical Realism is not so much about ghosts as possibility." —an essay by Alberto Ríos

by Staff
November 22, 2020

Interview // Other Futures Are Possible: A Conversation with Gina Myers

Conducted by Alex Gallo-Brown

by Staff
October 26, 2020

DAO STROM
an excerpt from Instrument

[Wading into a new decade (ten miles of jungle, twenty+ river crossings, one night in a cave, chimes at...

by Staff

poem of the week

ELLEN WELCKER
The Crossing

Published by Staff

My power, my only power
was fear.

November 24, 2020
Poems

MARIANA SPADA
Two Poems
translation by Robin Myers

Published by Staff

And all at once, the house had twice
as many rooms

November 20, 2020
Poems

HOA NGUYEN
Two Poems

Published by Staff

rain is a blessing from god she said
covered in hose water and mud

November 15, 2020
Poems

JOHNNY HORTON
Labor

Published by Staff

I found myself in the maternity ward, facing
someone else’s child

November 11, 2020
Poems

CHLOE MARTINEZ
The Moon

Published by Staff

If we can put a man on the moon,
surely we can figure this out.

November 1, 2020
Poems

ROSALIE MOFFETT
Ode to Casting a Vote

Published by Staff

I was gripped
by a thrifty pathology

October 29, 2020
Poems

Cinema Poetry NW

Features

blue blur color dark
Features

The Subvocal Zoo

A podcast featuring readings by and conversations with writers & poets.

November 15, 2020
Features, Recent

DAO STROM
an excerpt from Instrument

[Wading into a new decade (ten miles of jungle, twenty+ river crossings, one night in a cave, chimes at the altar of the Highway of Horror, then lunch by...

October 26, 2020
Features

Visual Poetry

Poets explore the intersection of word and image.

September 13, 2020
Features

On Failure

In which writers investigate the practice of failure.

September 12, 2020
Features

Line Cook

In which Editor Keetje Kuipers pairs an episode of a literary podcast with a delicious recipe.

September 10, 2020
Features

Other Rooms

In which our writers examine noteworthy work being published in contemporary poetry journals.

June 29, 2020
Features

Cinema Poetry NW

A series of poetry videos presented by Poetry Northwest.

March 2, 2020
Features

Garrett Hongo: A Tribute

Five essays on Hongo's writing and teaching, an interview with Mark Jarman, and a new poem from Hongo.

February 29, 2020
Features

Native Poets Torchlight Series

In which Guest Editor Jennifer Elise Foerster celebrates contemporary Native American poets.

February 1, 2020

book reviews

November 23, 2020

Struck by Lightning

A Review of Rebecca Foust

by Gabi Graceffo
November 16, 2020

Raveling the Unraveled

A Review of Diane Raptosh

by Staff
October 30, 2020

Profound Asymmetry

A visual review by Frances Cannon

by Staff
October 14, 2020

just want and the present / of its emergence, which repeats

Caryl Pagel on Kirsten Ihn's sundaey

by Staff

Essays

Magical Realism and the Sociology of Possibility

Published by Staff

"Magical Realism is not so much about ghosts as possibility." —an essay by Alberto Ríos

November 24, 2020
Essays, Recent

To Be in the Truth of Us

Published by Staff

Just Us attends to the ways the structural violence of whiteness shapes identity and interactions. —an essay by Dujie Tahat on Claudia Rankine

October 14, 2020
Essays, Recent

commentary

Interview // When Haptic Touch is Removed: A Conversation with Maryam Monalisa Gharavi

Published by Staff

Conducted by Serena Solin

December 2, 2020
Interviews, Recent

Interview // Other Futures Are Possible: A Conversation with Gina Myers

Published by Staff

Conducted by Alex Gallo-Brown

November 22, 2020
Interviews, Recent

Current Issue

Current Issue

Summer & Fall 2020

Helene Achanzar, Rae Armantrout, Taneum Bambrick, Cyrus Cassells, Sean Hill, Amit Majmudar, Dominica Phetteplace, Joy Priest, Dujie Tahat, Cody Walker, Daneen Wardrop, Shelley Wong & more

June 19, 2020

New from Poetry NW Editions

THEOREM <br>Elizabeth Bradfield & Antonia Contro
THEOREM
Elizabeth Bradfield & Antonia Contro
THE LACHRYMOSE REPORT <BR>Sierra Nelson
THE LACHRYMOSE REPORT
Sierra Nelson
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A THOUSAND GRIEFS <BR>Wei-Wei Lee
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A THOUSAND GRIEFS
Wei-Wei Lee

News

James Welch Prize: An award for indigenous poets
November 23, 2020

Announcing the James Welch Prize

Poetry Northwest will be launching a fundraising campaign this December for the inaugural James Welch Prize.

by Staff

Twitter

bill carty
Poetry Northwest Retweeted · bill carty @bill_carty
16 hours ago
And here's a seasonally appropriate poem from Welch that first appeared in @poetrynw in Spring 1967

https://t.co/5QYHKYojrU
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C. R. Grimmer
Poetry Northwest Retweeted · C. R. Grimmer @crgrimmertpv
24 hours ago
I believe in this so much. Our donations to the award for Indigenous U.S. poets will keep the contest "entry fee-free". Thank you @poetrynw x @SeaArtsLectures x @HugoHouse x Beargrass x In-Na-Po.

Donate here: https://t.co/ivJLqPs7Pb
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Dana Alsamsam
Poetry Northwest Retweeted · Dana Alsamsam @DanaAlsamsam
24 hours ago
Publishing success story: I submitted this poem MANY times & no one wanted it. Keetje over at @poetrynw believed in the poem & asked to publish it. Since, it was featured on @Poetry_Daily & has been nominated for a @PushcartPrize - the best poems take their time time, friends! https://t.co/W1ixDvKEs6
View on Twitter
poetrynw photo
5
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Poetry Northwest
Poetry Northwest @poetrynw
1 day ago
Today’s the day—our fundraising campaign for the James Welch Prize is LIVE! Help us bring this dream into being! We are so grateful for your support to celebrate the outstanding, incredible work of Indigenous poets, for years to come. #givingtuesday

https://t.co/ZuPWLKXXjF
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It’s here! Launch Day has arrived! Head on over It’s here! Launch Day has arrived! Head on over to the link in our bio, where our fundraiser for the James Welch Prize is LIVE on Kickstarter. We couldn’t be more thrilled to introduce you to this long-awaited dream—and with your help, it turns into a reality. A prize like this one with a significant monetary award, the chance to reach new readers, and the opportunity to gain fellowship by coming together with the judge to give a reading—can change the course of a writer's path. The James Welch Prize can only truly deliver on this promise if it does not cost any member of the Indigenous writing community who wishes to dream big and take a chance on the possibility of winning. And you play such an important role in making this come to being. Backers of the James Welch Prize will be crucial in giving this project the lift-off it needs to rise and succeed: to be completely frank, if we can't raise the needed funds to make this prize fee-free while still providing a substantial monetary award to our winners, we will be unable to make this treasured project happen. This is your opportunity to pay the fees for any Native poet who wants to believe that their work deserves a loving and appreciative audience. We believe that every writer deserves this chance, and we know that you do too. This project draws from the best of what Poetry Northwest does as a magazine and a community: a joyful collaboration that allows us to hold each others’ stories close in a way that we could never accomplish alone. And we wouldn't want to. We are thankful to have our partners to lean on—to make this award not only a reality, but also a yearly ritual. The James Welch Prize will bring together the resources of @seattleartsandlectures, @hugohouse, @beargrasswriting, In-Na-Po, and you, to create a meaningful prize with publication, readings, and honoraria for the winning Native poets. We are eager and excited to offer our platform in this literary community to elevate, honor, and celebrate Indigenous poets’ outstanding work, for years to come. With all the volume and heart we can muster up in a tiny but mighty caption box: thank you for supporting the James Welch Prize! #givingtuesday
Poetry Northwest is delighted to announce our nomi Poetry Northwest is delighted to announce our nominations for the Pushcart Prize!⁠ ⁠ Danusha Lameris / Zeeshan Pathan / Dana Alsamsam / Erin Adair-Hodges / Ellen Welcker / Camille Dungy / Chloe Martinez / Laura Read / Jenny Molberg / Paul Hlava Ceballos⁠ ⁠ @dlameris⁠ @zeeshan_jaanam⁠ @danaalsamsam⁠ @chekhovswatergun⁠ @ellenwelcker⁠ @camilledungy⁠ @cmartinez314⁠ @lauraread70⁠ @_jennysue_⁠ @paulhlava⁠ ⁠
We are delighted to welcome Helene Achanzar to our We are delighted to welcome Helene Achanzar to our staff as an Editorial Assistant! Helene is a Filipina Canadian poet and Programs Manager at the Chicago Poetry Center. She also happens to be the author of some of our absolute favorite poems from the Summer/Fall 2020 issue of Poetry Northwest. We are grateful to have her keen eye and ear not only in our pages but also on our team. Welcome to the family, Helene! @heleneiswaiting
Alex-Gallo introduces Gina Myers before their inte Alex-Gallo introduces Gina Myers before their interview, "Other Futures are Possible":⁠ ⁠ "Each year I fight,” Gina Myers writes in her new book, Some of the Times (Barrelhouse), “& each year / the things that hold / me back feel stronger.” Myers, who is the author of two previous collections, Hold It Down (2013) and A Model Year (2009), perfectly captures in these new poems a certain kind of Left affect (despondency towards our systems of work, economy, policing, racial inequity, and consumption, alongside a desire to make those things better) that forms the foundation of the radical politics that have emerged in many of America’s cities over the past decade. That doesn’t mean that her poems are without optimism, however. In fact, there is something inspiring about the emotional vulnerability and political activism with which Myers views the world where she and many Americans live—a world of “crumbling brick / & shoddy graffiti,” “shards of glass / & splintered wood” scattered by garbage trucks, bounced rent checks, endlessly accruing debt, and social precarity. That engagement with the reality of how things are is, for Myers, a prerequisite for political action—and for writing effective poems. “Remember di Prima: you can have what you ask for,” she writes in “To Do,” a kind of revolutionary to-do list, “ask for / everything.”"⁠ ⁠ Read the full article on our website. Link in Bio.
It was James Welch who said, “Indian writers mig It was James Welch who said, “Indian writers might come from different eras, from different geographies, from different tribes, but we all have one thing in common: We are storytellers from a long way back. And we will be heard for generations to come.” At four days away from the launch of our fundraising campaign for the James Welch Prize, and in the interim of so much excitement for this project and movement towards the necessary elevation of Indigenous voices, we ask: how can we be mindful, active, and continuous participants in Native American Heritage Month, as November draws to a close?⁠ ⁠ Poetry Northwest’s very own Keetje Kuipers wrote an article last November about Indigenous foodways, the survival of Native languages, and Sherwin Bitsui’s delectably rich poems. While we recover from the thankful meals we shared last night with our loved ones over distances near and far—here’s a great space to meditate in gratitude for the sacred landscape and storied culture from where our nourishment takes root.⁠ ⁠ "While the maple leaves fall in fat spirals, I am looking for chanterelles plumping up their heads through the damp soil, for the last of the huckleberries that still hang dark as night on the bushes bordering the trail. And when I find those foods that have fed the Suquamish for generations—still persistently abundant in this place where the hum of SUV’s through the trees’ scrim is inescapable—then I have the opportunity to honor in one small way the authority of the people on whose land I am an uninvited guest.“ Find this 'Line Cook' article through the link in our bio! ⁠ ⁠ #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth⁠ This stunning mural behind the James Welch Prize's banner is located in Missoula, MT, by Crow artist Stella Marie Nall. ✨
CLMP

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Poetry Northwest would like to acknowledge that our publications are made on the traditional homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples—including the Tullalip, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, and Sauk-Suiattle Tribes—whom we wish to honor, past and present, with the deepest respect and gratitude.

Illuminating poetry since 1959

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