I am honored to have served as a commissioned writer for the McKenzie River Trust's Willamette Confluence property in Western Oregon, as part of the Writing the Land Project. See below, for the poem-video (Writing the Land, 2023) produced for this project. Writing the Land also publishes wonderful anthologies containing profiles of land trusts/conservancies with associated poetry for lands across the United States. This year, poets Kristin Berger, Brittany Corrigan, and I each wrote for different lands within the McKenzie River Trust's holdings. I wrote for the Willamette Confluence, where the Coast Fork and Middle Fork of the Willamette meet. For more info about the Willamette Confluence and McKenzie River Trust, see: https://mckenzieriver.org/property/willamette-confluence/ I value the solitude, community of artists, and exposure to landscapes that residencies provide. The Great Basin in particular has had a powerful effect on my writing, as I’ve been traversing it for close to forty years, first as a ski racer in my teens traveling to events across the West, then as a geography student and eventually a professional land use planner working with small towns in Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and beyond.
As a writer, over the years, I have been a fortunate recipient of multiple residencies with Playa at Summer Lake in Oregon’s Great Basin country. I’ll return this March to work on my next full length book of poems, which is expected to publish in 2020 thanks to the fine people at Salmon Poetry. I also hope to use the time to explore an idea for a nonfiction project that has been on my mind for a long time and should draw on my experience as a small-town planner and artist. Thank you for reading, and happy trails.
"Daughters, Here | Daughters, Gone is not about loss but self-determination. It is a father’s prayer for his daughters, and daughters everywhere, as they remake the world in their vision." Please support this small press by purchasing a copy of the chapbook beginning mid-March here: Uttered Chaos Press.
Thank you, reviewer Mary Cisper and publisher Simmons Buntin, for this insightful and thought-provoking review of The Constellation of Extinct Stars and Other Poems. Please click on Terrain.org, or the above link, for the review, and please support this fine journal!
Thank you all, for the successful 2016-17 reading tour!
Stay tuned for more events in the Fall of 2017 and 2018. Oregon April 18, Tuesday at 7:00 pm Scot Siegel and Paulann Petersen Lake Oswego Library National Poetry Month, Honoring William Stafford Washington May 21, Sunday at 7:00 pm (workshop 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm) Scot Siegel and Ann Tweedy Book Tree Bookstore 609 Market St. Kirkland, WA 98033 ~ May 23, Tuesday at 7:00 PM Vancouver Barnes & Noble Vancouver Plaza 7700 NE Fourth Plain Blvd Vancouver, WA 98662 ////////Past Events ///////// Eastern Oregon Feb. 13, 2017. Thursday at 7:00 pm Pendleton Center for the Arts - First Draft Writers' Series 214 N. Main Pendleton, OR 97801 http://pendletonarts.org/index_files/first_draft.htm Arizona Oct. 27, Thursday at 7:00 pm Four Chambers Literary Series The Coronado, Phx 2201 N 7th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85006 Oct. 28, 2016, Friday at 5:30 pm Hosted by: Terrain.org. Sponsored by UofA English Dept. & Institute for the Environment Earth & Environmental Science Bldg., Rm S225 1177 E. Fourth St. Tucson, AZ 85719 Portland Aug 14., 2016, Sunday at 7:00 pm With Steve Williams Stonehenge Studio - Studio Series 3508 SW Corbett Ave. Portland, OR 97239 http://leahstenson.com/studio-series-at-stonehenge-studios/ Sept. 15, 2016, Thursday at 7:00 pm Broadway Books - Comma Series 1714 NE Broadway Portland, OR 97232 http://www.broadwaybooks.net October 16, 2016, Sunday at 3:00 pm Peregrine Literary Series Mary's Woods-Holy Names Heritage Center 17425 Holy Names Drive Lake Oswego, OR 97034 Hillsboro Nov. 28, 2016, Monday at 7:00 pm Conversations With Writers Reedville Presbyterian Church 2785 SW 209th Ave Aloha, OR 97124 Willamette Valley Oct. 10, 2016. Monday at 7:00 pm Grass Roots Bookstore 227 SW Second St. Corvallis, OR http://www.grassrootsbookstore.com # |