An Evening of Poetry At the Fremont Library

Please join Floating Bridge 
at the Fremont Library!

Monday July 7th

6:30 - 7:45 p.m.

Poets Risa Denenberg, Sue Sutherland-Hanson and Katy E. Ellis will read from their work.  Hosted by Kathleen Flenniken

Risa Denenberg earns her living as a nurse practitioner and freelance medical writer. Risa has published three chapbooks and a full length volume of poetry, Mean Distance from the Sun (Aldrich Press, 2013). She is a moderator for the Gazebo, an online poetry workshop, reviews poems for the American Journal of Nursing, and is an editor at Headmistress Press, publisher of lesbian poetry. 

Sue Sutherland-Hanson taught English as a Second Language at Edmonds Community College for thirty years.  She earned her Masters of Divinity degree at a Quaker seminary with a writing-as-ministry emphasis.  She teaches creative writing, spiritual writing, also teaches spirituality classes in church and community settings. 

Katy E. Ellis grew up under fir trees and high-voltage power lines in Renton, Washington. Aside from her chapbook Urban Animal Expeditions (Dancing Girl Press), her poetry appears in a number of literary journals in the U.S. and Canada. Currently, she teaches creative writing to homeschoolers in West Seattle.

The Fremont Library is partnering with Floating Bridge Press on a quarterly series of poetry readings. Please join us in one of Seattle's most charming and comfortable reading rooms.

Creating

As a kid I memorized “Land of Counterpane” because I thought the poem was beautiful. I also thought I was cool, because it impressed my grandma. I don’t think my friends were as impressed. Then again, my friends memorized music lyrics and commercial jingles.

I don’t want to talk politics at parties. Sports can be just as polarizing and volatile. The weather is boring. But there’s something special about pulling a good poetry quote out of your pocket at a timely point in a conversation. That’s roughly what I was told by an instructor when I was an undergrad. I’ve tried it. I felt mysterious and poet cool. But I find there is a more valuable reason to memorize poems. The act of memorizing a poem helps me gain a deeper understanding of the poet’s word choice. It helps me unlock poems that have been challenging. It helps me to establish a connection with a poem and develop an intimacy we couldn’t have had otherwise. That’s pretty relationship heavy language, but a poem and reader grow together like people. Both can instantly turn each other on or off. They can evolve as time goes by, and they can be right or wrong for each other at various stages.

I recently read a NYT article that points out how our brains work better when we write things out by hand, than when we type at a computer. “Children not only learn to read more quickly when they first learn to write by hand, but they also remain better able to generate ideas and retain information. In other words, it’s not just what we write that matters — but how.” Here I am typing a blog on a Microsoft Surface. I was too lazy to pull out my notepad. This post had potential to be more creative. I apologize. I am being a little facetious, but I realize how difficult it is today to find balance. I do agree with the article.

When I write poems, I write them by hand. They seem more interesting and less sterile. When I’ve memorized poems, I’ve written them out. I often think on how in the past children would learn poetry by writing it out. Shakespeare had to copy the classics by hand. Those stories infiltrated his work, but he made them his own. It makes me wonder about the accessibility of poems. Of course many of you may have a biased perspective, as you are reading a blog right now, but would you rather read a poem in print or electronically on a web page, a pdf, or an e-reader device? Personally, I’ve got literary journals and magazines, bookshelves full of both poetry and novels, but I haven’t had time to read them lately. Instead I’ve been getting all of my information via my cell phone.

This is an electronic world, and I am an electronic persona. What can I say? It’s spring. It hasn’t felt spring-like. I’ve been watering my lawn daily. I can’t remember the last time I wore pants and shoes (as oppose to shorts and sandals). I’ve worn sandals sans socks. I have slathered myself in sunscreen more times than I can count. It’s spring, and I think I’ll go read some William Carlos Williams. I’d like to find my imagination again.

Announcing our 2013 Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award Winner!

We are delighted to announce that Hannah Notess of Seattle is the winner of our 2013 chapbook prize for her manuscript, "Ghost House."  Floating Bridge Press will be publishing Hannah's book in the fall.

Arlene Naganawa was the runner up for her manuscript, "The Scarecrow Bride," and our three finalists were "21 Boxes" by Linda Malnack,  "Smoke and Miracles" by Kevin Miller, and "Let Slip from Anchors" by Joannie Stangeland. 

Please keep posted for details about our annual Chapbook Award Reading in September, when Hannah and the finalists will read from their work.

Chapbook Competition Season is coming!

Fall is in the air today.  Which makes us think of poetry chapbook season. (You too?)  It's time to start polishing those poems you wrote over spring and summer, put them in order, and create a manuscript to send to Floating Bridge Press.  

We discovered these two wonderful how-to videos by Joannie Kervran Stangeland (author of our first FBP publication back in1994, the beautiful chapbook, A Steady Longing for Flight).  Joannie does a terrific job of demonstrating how to create a manuscript, including an automatic Table of Contents, page numbers and some other useful tricks.  This will be very useful this year as we are switching to all-electronic submissions.  

We hope this gets you in the mood. Remember, Floating Bridge Press begins accepting poetry manuscripts on November 1 and will remain open until February 15, 2013.  

And remember, our 2012 winner, Exile on the 45th Parallel by Vancouver poet Jodie Marion, will be published in October.  We hope you will attend her inaugural reading at Hugo House on October 26!

The Great Art Party Returns!

Support FBP by attending the Great Art Party--and go home with a piece of art!

Date: Saturday Sept 8th. Doors open at 6:30 PM. Location: Renaissance Seattle Hotel / 515 Madison Street. Evening includes a special spoken word performance by Jourdan Keith. Not a dinner event, but hors d'oeuvres will be served with a no-host bar. Dress is casual.

Don't miss out on the fun! Purchase tickets today! View the art that ticket-holders will get to choose from. Find out more about the Great Art Party.


Visit and "Like" our Facebook page to keep informed about all our upcoming readings and events!

The Far Field

Washington State Poet Laureate (and Floating Bridge Press editor) Kathleen Flenniken has started a new blog, The Far Field, which publishes a poem by a Washington State poet most days of the week. She is also accepting submissions. Consider subscribing--you will begin to see how varied and vibrant our state's poetry community really is.

Of course, we've known that for 18 years.

Our New Website! Our Twitter Feed!

It's finally here, new and updated and easy to use. We're taking about our new website! We are making it easier to find our books and order them, submit work via email (during our open reading period) and find out what Floating Bridge is all about.

While you're at it, why not sign up to follow Floating Bridge Press on Twitter?
@fbpress


The Editors

Chapbook Competition: Deadline Extension and Email Submissions

We are extending the 2012 Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Competition deadline from February 15 to March 1, 2012. This is in order to accommodate new email submissions. That's right, we are finally ready to accept email submissions!

In order to submit by email, please observe the following rules.

1. Use the PayPal Account on our webpage to pay your entry fee. If you do not pay the entry fee, we cannot consider your manuscript.
2. Follow our chapbook entry guidelines with the following adjustments:
3. Make sure your name does not appear anywhere in your manuscript. Your name should only appear in your email, along with your contact information including email and street address, phone number, and manuscript title.
4. Send your manuscript (as a Word or PDF file) to floatingbridgepress@yahoo.com.

Please pass the word along.