Poetry at the Festival
Open Mic

The power of stories and the spoken word.
We want to hear you telling your story!

Poets are invited to show up, sign in and present their original poetry. There will be no restriction on the subject matter — but it would be great to hear some Saturday Night Sauna Connection poems.

The public is encouraged to come listen to the participants from the community and beyond read these original works.

Schedule

Friday, July 30, 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Youth Open Mic

Saturday, July 31, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Adult (age 18+) Open Mic

Both events will be held in Room 203.

Host:

Gary Anderson, a Deep River Finn will be the host for this event. Here are some tips and news from Gary:

Arrive early and sign up for a place on the schedule.
Bring more than one poem. You might change your mind and wish to read the one you left at home — or there may be time to read another.
If you would like your work posted for others to read, bring an extra copy and we will provide a space for public viewing.
Be an enthusiastic listener. Support your fellow poets.
We are in the planning stages for a chapbook anthology for 2006. At the festival, we will gather information and find ways for anyone interested to participate in this ambitious endeavor. The anthology will be poems on the Finnish-American experience, and has a tentative title, My Finnish Soul.

So come join us — and bring your most polished (or most Finnish?) poem!

Eulogy

Gary V. Anderson

For Aunt Marie, the best damned fisherwoman a dozer operator could have hoped to know

Those were the last best days.

Diesel smoke and mineral soil,
the good earth smells of logging
on the upper Naselle.

Down stream,
the uneven ground of the riverbank
welcomed the fresh-caught steelhead,
an oki drifter hanging from its mouth.

One more cast before the cat skinner comes home.

Another — then another.

Poetry at the FestivalOpen Mic

Schedule

Host:

Eulogy

Poetry at the Festival
Open Mic