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Check back soon for new content from a formidable tribe of new writers and thinkers!

As always, thanks for your patience and patronage.

Elaina Ellis Demands That You Follow Your Dreams

Ellis became a full time writer in 2010, having then graduated from Antioch  University with a MFA in creative writing and published her first full length book of poetry. Her first collection, entitled Write About an Empty Birdcage, is predominately about heartbreak and familiar emotional taboos. Jenny Factor, author of Unraveling at the Name, states that,


"Elaina M. Ellis has a voice that cuts through wool. Rich in sound and sense, meaning and madness, she signals and signifies. Her imagery comes from a place of truth and her people sweat and breathe. Hers is a talent that can set the world on fire."

Now with a repetoir of gilded reviews, Ellis has continued to work in and out of the classroom. Her motivation to write stems from, in her own words, the need to "worship, to recover, to seduce, to fight back, to play, to confess, and to make messes." 

Make sure to stop by the Hugo House on April 26th to see Ellis and numerous others rock the house.


 For more information about Elaina, visit her personal Hugo page at http://hugohouse.org/bio/elaina-ellis

Thanks for stopping in!

Slam Some Hot Iron, Wordsmith.

Daemond Arrindell is a slam poet and confidant of a revolutionary lit movement occuring in Seattle. He is known for a slew of suprise throw downs in coffee houses, stages, and various other venues across the city. His energetic performances garner applause and enthusiasm, and his unabashed word play is as approachable as it is baffling.

Since slam poetry has been said to be the foundation for funk, hip hop, and a multitude of other forms of music, I feel it is only appropriate that Daemond's blog post reflect some of the musicality of his performances. Here he is performing a slam duet about music with poet Roberto Ascalon.

As always, enjoy and thanks for checking in!

Two Poems from Bill Carty

Here are two poems from performer Bill Carty. Currently teaching at Edmonds Community College, Carty has also been published in numerous magazines and has recently built a reputation for his satirical mis-representation of 17th century history. He is also a regular contributor to DIAGRAM and has been published in prestigious collections including the New Orleans Review and Blue Mesa Review.

Here is a link to DIAGRAM, for those of you interested in one of his many current projects.
http://thediagram.com/9_6/bios.html

As always, enjoy and thanks for checking in!

THE STAR TALERS

A lawyer leans toward you,
"Kiddo, the quid pro quo is letting go.
Whatever goodwill you've banked
can't keep the firm's interest."
The evidence is evident only
as you imagine it: paint
on the bumper, a second driver
speeding from the scene.

This was the winter severed feet
drifted to shore and everyone
thought it was funny. Look
at yourself, where's the outrage?
A boy's shoe ditched on the highway—
what's that story? Once, someone
left a red rag in the road
just to keep your hopes down.

Some people just go missing.
Over the harbor, the sky clenches
dark and grim. Once, you tried
to disappear for good: knapsack packed,
you jetted into the woods.
That night thunder struck the coast
like gunshots, like some punks blasting
bottles from a jilted Datsun.

When along the ridge a tree exploded,
you charged through brambles.
Two miles later, skin torn and defeated,
you saw your house ahead
and thought of light and sleep.
You saw the grim hearth and didn't enter.
As the sky went slack, you collapsed
in the crook of an oak,
while stars blinked and fell
into the meadow like a thousand coins.

WAKE

As a doornail. As a duck. As a battery. A beat. The fall. Heat. A line. A heavy load. The weight. As wood. As air. As an eye. As the end. As it will be and has been. As dust. As it happens. Ascending. Moving on. Away. Into air. Into the sunset. A long sleep. A lonesome road. A kingdom come. Over Jordan. Back to nature. Snuffed out. Curtains. Croaked. Cashed. Kaput. Paid the debt. Pushing daisies. The piper. The plank. The price. The toll. The coil. The farm. The halo. The ghost. Now you see it. Ta-dah. The big one. Number's up. Long gone. Last legs. Done in. A box. The bucket. Earth bath. Across the river. Over water. In slumber. At peace. The latter end. Unto the Lord. A reckoning. To the maker. To meet Him. To go with Him. The just reward. The last account. The way of all earth. The inevitable hour. Last call. Last breath. Final rest. My regards. Bless you. What a shame. The luck. Who would have. My condolences. Heartfelt. Deepest. Warmest. Gravest. Sincere. Seriously. Peace be with you. I just heard. Anything I can do. Part of the plan. His plan. His will. The way. The strangest thing. It shouldn't. If only. You couldn't. I never. Imagine. The brightest light.

A Poem From Evan J Peterson

Evan Peterson is an eclectic Florida State Alumn with a penchant for non-fiction, performance, and education, and has since acquired a great deal of acclaim for his award winning poetry. Evan’s full-length poetry manuscript, tentatively titled The Cutting Room Floor, is currently haunting the contest circuit. His self-published zines and chapbooks include Secular Exorcisms, Hello Kitty Chainsaw, The Ecstatic Tarot, New Mythology, Starve A Fever, and Viscera. He is also the founding editor of ZiReZi, the zine review zine from ZAPP & Richard Hugo House. His writing is, as specified by his website, "characterised by a balance of levity and darkness."

Here he is reading his favorite poem for the Richard Hugo House website:

For more from the author, see his personally curated blog space at Poemocracy!

April Showers and Seattle Lyricism

For the literary curation of this month's show at the Hugo House, the Bushwick Blog will fill you in on information regarding those that are reading, vingettes of their poetry, and the recently published works of the many authors performing on April 26th. The first of these poets is Ed Skoog.

Skoog has received ample acclaim for his recent publication titled "Mister Skylight", which is a collection of works reminiscent of the 20th century new wave poets like Frank O' Hara and Ashbery. The Harvard Review calls his latest work "surprising and beautiful", and continues on that "Skoog's meaning is repeatedly deferred and actively destabilizes the conventions of telling and of the way readers and speakers relate to one another."

Brought up in Topeka, Kansas, Skoog has since received numerous fellowships and professorial residencies that brought him to Montana and California institutions. "Mister Skylight" is his first full length collection to be published, though much of his other work has appeared in Paris Review, The New Republic, and Tin House.

For more information and links to his published articles, reference the author's website at edskoog.com.

The Economic Structure of the Future

Here is a link to an article that discusses the potential economic structure of the society within Fahrenheit 451. It is a hypothetical inspection of subtle story elements that, through conglomeration, construct a general economic model within the story, and can further be understood as Bradbuty's antithesis to appropriate economic practices.

Please read and leave your thoughts. Thanks for checking in.

Happy reading!

The Economics of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451