by Kirby Lindsay, posted 1 July 2013
On Monday, July 8th, at 6:30p, the Fremont Branch of the Seattle Public Library welcomes everyone to an hour of live poetry – and a showcase of language. This evening of Washington based poets – featuring the works of Steven Quig and Juniper White – will be co-hosted by the Library and Floating Bridge Press.
Gerry McFarland, a Board Member of the volunteer run, non-profit Floating Bridge, routinely arranges readings like this one. “The point is,” McFarland explained, “to promote the poetry, give exposure to the poet, and give access to their other work.” The evening also gives everyone from fanatical poetry fans to the entirely poetry clueless a chance to enjoy this medium. “I think poetry is the music in language,” McFarland observed, “It’s organic. It’s part of us.”
A Life Change Inspired By Poetry
McFarland books the readings, and selects the poets at random. For the Fremont Library reading, he selected two poets from different backgrounds who nevertheless use the medium of poetry as expression in modern life.
“I’ve been writing poetry for a long time,” Quig explained recently. He has had poems published in Poetry Northwest, Seattle Review, and had a poem published on a bus by King County METRO. “I started writing poetry in 1983,” he estimated, and he credited his discovery of poetry then with redirecting his career.
Quig teaches at North Seattle Community College, but he was working at Boeing when he attended a poetry workshop led by Nelson Bentley at the University of Washington, which he said, “opened my eyes to poetry.” Before this, Quig explained, “I didn’t know how to think about it. I didn’t know what you write about. Can you use ordinary language?” He had his questions answered, learned about forms, and how to listen to the poetry of other’s as well.
“[Poetry] really opened my eyes to things,” Quig said. As he wrote, he found his job unsatisfying and redirected himself into teaching English. While he said he hasn’t been writing as much lately, on July 8th, you’ll find his works still influenced by what he learned from Bentley and at the workshops – and from his life. “I use my own vocabulary,” Quiq explained of his works, “most of my poems are looking at relationships. There are usually some relationships that are being examined.”
In The Midst Of Life – Poetry
“I started writing what my eighth-grade mind considered poetry in middle school,” wrote White, by e-mail. She would go on to write short stories as well, but, “Being a mom with young children at home…,” she explained, “out of a lack of time, I reverted back to poems. I was able to bring a poem into the world… sitting in the driveway after running errands while my toddler slept in the back seat…”
“Now, writing is necessary.” White wrote, “It’s a form of hand and mind work that helps maintain my mental and physical health. When I am unable to write for long periods of time, I do not feel well.” White’s works have appeared in City Arts, Gods, Goddesses, Myth: Regional Women Poets, the Tacoma Arts Museum 20/20 and, of course, Floating Bridge Review.
As to her poems, White explained, “I want my work to convey an air of every day life.” She wants people to be able to connect, she wrote in her e-mail, “I believe most people do not realize that poetry is just another way to speak and hold a dialogue… to provide a shimmering glimpse – one that perhaps lets loose a laugh or draws a tear.”
‘Breath And Beat In The Poet’s Voice’
While many may think of poetry as words on a page, both Quig and White reported having done many readings – these chance for the public to enjoy poetry as living works of art.
As White wrote, “the collaborations and venues vary,” of the readings, “from the Evergreen State College to a small town in the Horse Heaven Hills in Eastern Washington…” She went on, “it always energizes me… I don’t believe there is a better way to connect with the written word than a poetry reading. Yes, I am admittedly a word-nerd, but there is nothing better than relating to an experience through poetry by breath and beat in the poet’s voice.”
Everyone can step inside the warm and welcoming Fremont Branch of the Seattle Public Library on Monday, July 8th, starting at 6:30p, to experience live the words of Quig and White, through their poetry, for this free reading. As McFarland explained, this evening will remind listeners, “that language does have music in it. It’s the soul of language. I think it is an important thing,” he explained, “I am biased, of course.”
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