Heather McHugh

“To be frank, the inevitable panel discussion on the ‘poetry of place’ bores me: it takes place too
literally. The place of poetry is nothing less than the place of love, for language; the place of shifting ground, for human song; the place of the made, for the moving.”
-Heather McHugh, Broken English

“The poetry of place” can be interpreted in many ways. Place can be topographical, domestic, institutional, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, natural, urban, artificial, linguistic, etc. Often, our poems document these places, get written within these places, and, on the page, become places of their own.

Living Room happens every week in a dynamic, diverse, and gentrifying place. We will use South Seattle’s 98118 zip code as an example of the many meanings of place and how they can inspire and inhabit our poems. Then we will do a short exercise to help us identify, visit and poke around our own senses of place. Anthony Warnke is your facilitator.

Bring a piece of work you’d like to read for our critique session (place-based or not). Writers of all ages and skill levels gather Tuesdays at 7P to read new work, the work of someone else or to just be in the engaging company of other writers. Your donation of $5 helps SPLAB put on special events and continue programming. Please bring 8 copies of the work you plan to read. If you do not bring copies, they are available for 10c.