Former State Poet Laureate to Visit Orcas in Artsmith Reading

Friday, March 25, 5:00 p.m., Darvill’s Bookstore and
Saturday, March 26, 10 a.m., Orcas Library

— from Jill McCabe Johnson —

Seattle poet Elizabeth Austen—who for 15 years has brought poetry to the public through her KUOW radio program “The Beat,” and also spent the last two years bringing poetry to underserved communities as the State of Washington Poet Laureate—is now bringing her own poetry to Orcas Island. Austen will read with Orcas Island poet and painter Michelle Reed as part of the Artsmith reading series on Friday, March 25, 5:00 pm at Darvill’s Bookstore. The reading will be followed by a brief reception with light hors d’oeuvres courtesy of Artsmith and Darvill’s.

Austen will read new works as well as poems from her acclaimed poetry collection, Every Dress a Decision (Blue Begonia Press, 2011), in which she grapples with the sudden loss of her older brother. Austen’s poems often pose questions rather than answer, such as whether to have children, how to forgive past abuses, what if there were no weapons, and why does hope persist. Her facile wit and incisive observations carry the sharpness of meaningful conversation with a good-natured and very bright friend.

Michelle Reed, who hails from western Montana, writes, as well as paints, with the vivid imagery of a highly attentive artist. Her poems honor the beauty and depth of nature, human and otherwise as she explores the realms of compassion, gratitude, wonder, and awe. Reed’s work has appeared in ONTHEBUS, Spillway, Bandicoot, and Tsunami.

Elizabeth Austen will also facilitate a poetry workshop on the poetic line supported by The Orcas Island Library and Friends of the Library on Saturday, March 26, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. The event is free and open to the first 20 people who register at the library. Participants are encouraged to bring two poems to revise.