RELEASE DATE: January 25, 2012
Contact: Christine Perkins
Bellingham Public Library
(360) 778-7206
cperkins@cob.org
POET PRESENTS "WISDOM OF THE BODY"
Award-winning poet Judith Roche will read from her collection “Wisdom of the Body” at the Bellingham Public Library on February 9 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. This presentation is free and open to the public, and will take place in the Lecture Room.
Roche’s work, which has been published in the Seattle Times, The American Voice, and Crab Creek Review, among others, shows a deep appreciation for nature and the land. The importance of salmon to human populations has been a special focus. Roche edited an anthology on Pacific Rim salmon and participated in a public art project responding to the plight of endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest.
On her website, www.judithroche.com, the author presents a credo, which begins:
“I believe in the cave paintings at Lascaux,
the beauty of the clavicle,
the journey of the salmon.”
The credo concludes,
“I believe that art saves lives
and love makes it worth living them.
And that could be the other way around, too.”
Roche is a current member of the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau, whose aim is “feeding inquiring minds through engaging discussions.” Humanities Washington is the state's flagship non-profit for promoting and providing programs based in the humanities. Since 1973, Humanities Washington has provided a rich array of programs, exhibits, and experiences to hundreds of thousands of people across the state.
For those who appreciate the beauty of a good poem, but are having difficulty grasping the process of writing poetry, Roche will present a hands-on poetry writing workshop at Northwest Indian College on Friday, February 10 from 12:00 - 3:00 p.m. “The Poetics of Place--Expressing Your Sense of Place through Poetry” will be held at the Cultural Learning Center (Log Building), 2522 Kwina Road, Bellingham.
No registration is required; all are welcome to attend. Roche will offer her extensive experiences reading, writing, and teaching poetry. Participants will learn to express the “feel” of their natural surroundings – whether they are the lush farms of the Palouse or the evergreen forests of the Olympic Peninsula – and learn the building blocks for successful poetry writing. Judith will help build skills to use memories, experiences, and sense of place as a basis for writing poems. In Judith's words, "anyone who comes with an open heart will enjoy it."
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