Cascadia Poetics LAB
Poetry Postcard Fest
Watershed Press
Cascadian Prophets Podcast
Cascadia Poetry Festival 8

Living Room January 17th: Body/Image

January 10, 2012
Ryukan

For Walt Whitman, body-consciousness seemed to propel the poet beyond anything as simple as “interest” in the physiological processes of the body in health. The 1855 versions of “Song of Myself,” “The Sleepers,” and “I Sing the Body Electric” take their very inspiration from the being and workings of the human body. In these poems, bodily health is at once a metaphor for spiritual, social, and political success and a literal topic set on equal footing with the more traditional topics of poetic expression (Killingsworth). We’ll examine the use of the body in poetry and do a brief writing exercise too. Bring examples if you like. Meredith Nelson hosts.

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 continue our programming. Please bring 8 copies of the work you plan to read. If you do not bring copies, they are available for 10c.

Living Room happens at SPLAB in the Cultural Corner at 3651 S. Edmunds. (Look for the SPLAB sign on the wall and come inside.) We’re 2 blocks from the Columbia City Link Light Rail Station. Parking is available on the school grounds.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

dashed cool colors line

You May Also Like

Postcards for Prisoners

Postcards for Prisoners

From Judy Kleinberg: We had an excellent discussion of writing to incarcerated people last night in the Zoom Room. Hosted by Zach Charles and featuring Betty King of Bisbee, Arizona, Matt Trease of the CPL board, Katie Sarah Zale, who is a poet and teacher who works...

Sam O’Hana on How to Support Working Class Poets

Sam O’Hana on How to Support Working Class Poets

When I said that what’s good for general society is also good for poets, I’m talking about a series of cultural opportunities where a much wider stretch of people are allowed to take the opportunity to become writers. I came back from a conference last week where I presented some research on the demographic aspects of the New American poets. The poets that were born and came to maturity in the early to mid-20th century were beneficiaries of broad national scale longevity gains. This [includes] things like pushbacks against tuberculosis, against polio, against poor nutrition and infant mortality. These are gains that were made by the medical and scientific institutions, but also by general prosperity, by making more food available to more people and making that food shelf stable for longer. So, when you talk about what might make it possible for poor people to do more creative work, you could start by saying well we should just give people more money, but the fact of the matter is that plenty of people already have the wealth they need, they just don’t actually have any time.

Postcards from Mapes Creek June 8

Postcards from Mapes Creek June 8

Postcards from Mapes Creek on June 8! Join us on June 8, 2025 from 4-7 PM at Mapes Creek for a community poetry postcard gathering! At the mouth of Mapes Creek, we will gather with a postcard collage table, food and an open mic for reading postcard poems. This is a...