Gwendolyn Morgan, poetry & art

Imbolc is the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

With heavy rain in the Pacific Northwest, and heavy sorrow in the world,

we turn to the beauty of the Trilliums and Snowdrops

emerging through the rain-soaked earth, the Varied Thrush

reminding us it still may snow, and the enormous flocks of geese and waterfowl

beginning new migration patterns.

This midpoint of winter is a time to step into our intentions,

offer art and poetry, compassion and kindness in our troubled world.

With much gratitude for a Winter 2020 Centrum Artist Residency. https://centrum.org/

“Y mi niñez fue toda un poema en el rio,

y un rio en el poema de mis primeros sueños.”

• Julia De Burgos

This autumnal season has been full of enriching art, literary art and visual art with Clark County Open Studios, Sitka Art Invitational and Portland Book Festival, plus Audubon Wild Arts Festival later this month.    Made on 23rd includes me as a Featured Artist: http://madeon23rd.com/

Grateful to hear many poets and writers including Diannely Antigua, Sally Wen-Mao, Morgan Parker, Paisley Rekdal, Jake Skeets, Dao Strom and others. 

Plus the Astro Poets: Your Guides to the Zodiac with Alex Dimitrov and Dorothea Lasky,  a perfect line up before a Taurus Full Moon, Scorpio Sun and Mercury Retrograde.

This New Moon in Scorpio turns the wheel of the year to Samhain,  a liminal time of listening to the autumnal migration: Dusky Geese, Trumpeter Swans, and Sandhill Cranes overhead with yellow, orange, topaz, and gold leaves twirling to the ground while rain, wind, and darkness increases.  May we honor our ancestors, listen to the spirits, celebrate this seasonal time of harvest and gratitude.   May we release what we no longer need to carry, and invite in what we want in our lives.

Every day the deer come to visit, and enjoy some bird seed….

“Black-capped Chickadee, Evening Grosbeak, Black-tailed Deer return more frequently…She is worried about the refugees and immigrants…” “Before the Sun Rises” –Gwendolyn Morgan©

On Sunday, October 20^th Refugee & Migrant Rights Fundraiser:  A reading and concert in support of South Texas Humanitarian Border Aide. Kim Stafford, Ana Maria Ferreira, Sophia Shalmiyev,  Armin Tolentino and I will be reading poetry.

The book Before the Sun Rises is available through Homebound Publications: https://homeboundpublications.com/before-the-sun-rises-by-gwendolyn-morgan/

“Look carefully at the letter shapes of your life,

your intentions

the vowels and consonants….”

Gwendolyn Morgan, Before the Sun Rises

Homebound Publications, 2019, p. 22

Before the Sun Rises is available through Homebound Publications

https://homeboundpublications.com/before-the-sun-rises-by-gwendolyn-morgan/

Before the Sun Rises is available through Homebound Publications,

released Summer Solstice, June 2019

Before the Sun Rises by Gwendolyn Morgan

“¿Te llegan las palabras que te escribo?”

• Octavio Quintanilla, 2018-2020 San Antonio Poet Laureate

What a gift to have an AWP breakfast gathering with a few poet laureates from around the country convened by Kim Stafford and Claudia Castro Luna last week.    And the gift of discovering many new books of poets to read, new resources, poetas and compañeras de escritura.

Claudia Castro Luna, Washington State Poet Laureate, will be at the Vancouver Community Library, Thursday, April 11, 2019 and again for a community Taller de Poesía, Spanish Poetry Workshop, Saturday, June 29, 2019.

Community collaborations I am working on are highlighted in an interview by Jackie Genis in this month’s Arts Brief:

Gwendolyn Morgan’s vision as Clark County’s newest Poet Laureate is to continue to lift up unheard voices

Happy Spring Equinox! “and all rain is holy water, she says” is included in the Spring 2019 Issue of The Wayfarer, which was released this morning and available on line. https://thewayfarer.homeboundpublications.com/

You may order a Print Issue: https://homeboundpublications.com/product/the-wayfarer-spring-2019/