A RIVER & SOUND REVIEW

Clockwise from upper left:
(1) Student writer David Treichel;
(2) Musical guest Camille Bloom;
(3) Essayist Jennifer Culkin; and
(4) Poet Kathleen Flenniken.

You are just going to have to take my word for it. This is what happens when you take a low resolution digital camera to a public reading series and sit in the back.

A River & Sound Review is my pick of the week. Master of ceremonies Jay Bates is a high school English teacher who also happens to be a student in Pacific Lutheran University's MFA in Creative Writing Program. He has been responsible for most of the behind-the-scenes work, setup, and recruitment. The audience was primarily students from his English classes, their families, fellow students from his MFA program, their families, and a few stray souls (such as myself) from the community-at-large.

David Treichel has promise. His essay was very well written. Camille Bloom has a great voice and plays the guitar well, although I am not overly fond of her music. But that is just personal taste on my part. Jennifer Culkin read an interesting, and rather revealing, personal essay on periods and pregnancy and reflection and relationships. At first, I found myself fidgeting a bit due to uncomfortableness with the subject matter, but she handled her audience well, infusing the reading and the essay with just the right touches of humor and universality that everyone has something to grasp. Kathleen Flenniken's poems were masterful glimpses into the quotidian and banal, which she managed to make magical and viewed anew.

This was a wonderful evening spent enjoying readings at the Puyallup Public Library. I am looking forward to more.