Our first Saturday Workshop and Reading is going to Hades!!!! Welcome to National Poetry Month and special edition of PIE (PoetryIsEverything) First Saturday. Free workshop at 4:24pm; Free Reading and Open mic begins at 6:15pm. Our workshop leaders and featured readers are: Chi Stewart, Laura Lee Bennett, and Elizabeth Carroll Hayden Keep reading for more details.
Press Release: Poets Examine Mothers and Daughters in Retelling of Greek Tale
The Myth of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades Retold in Modern Verse.
—April 15, 2024: Persephone’s abduction by Hades into the Underworld—and Demeter’s subsequent rage, scourging the earth in search of her daughter—is one of the defining myths of Western culture. Was Persephone truly abducted? Or did she go willingly?
Three local poets—Chi Stewart, Laura Lee Bennett, and Elizabeth Carroll Hayden—have written Persona poems that give this myth a real-world setting and turn the story on its head. With each poet taking on the persona of one of the three main characters—Demeter, Persephone, and Hades—the retelling takes the shape of a thoroughly modern dysfunctional family saga. Join the authors for a reading of their new chapbook—a voice play of sorts—I Am Not Cursed.
The three poets will offer a workshop starting 4:24 pm on the collaborative process in writing Persona poetry using characters from mythology, followed by writing exercises and sharing work. Then they will give a narrative performance of the work, I Am Not Cursed, at 6:15 pm, at BookTree, 609 Market St, Kirkland, WA 98033.
The Facebook Event Page is Here!
Bios: Chi Stewart worked for 14 years in healthcare in Chicago, Oregon, Washington, and Saudi Arabia, and then became an at-home mom for two decades. She is now caregiving for elders and continues to paint and write.
Elizabeth Carroll Hayden is published in the anthologies Here, There, Everywhere, and 10x10, and the online journal, Belletrist. She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia.
Laura Lee Bennett has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon. In the 1990s, she featured at Seattle's Red Sky Poetry Theater. Her chapbook, Snake Medicine: First Step, was published in 2017 by Nine Muses Books.