Poet Hannah Gamble reads her poem "Cabana."
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A River & Sound Review (RSR) hosted a live show at Puyallup Public Library (PPL), which last happened a few years ago. TWT thought it was a blast, with enough literary shenanigans to keep the people of Puyallup awake for nearly two hours.
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Chicago poet Hannah Gamble read poems, many of them fairly new and/or recently published. Her gently transgressive poetry was delivered in a conversational tone, which would be used amongst friends and casual acquaintances alike. The poems are just slightly skewed or absurd, yet point out the beautifully flawed nature of what it means to be human. They are filled with sex and death and suffering and longing and love and loss. I was smitten with her very first words and continued to be so throughout her reading.
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RSR plays various interactive literary games during its shows. One of those games is 4-Minute Poetry Project. Each audience member is given a notecard and a pen. Then the entire audience is given five words (and one bonus word) that they need to use to write a poem in a period of four minutes. RSR poetry editors collect the poems and judge them. At the end of the show, the winner is revealed. At this show, the winner was none other than Troy's Work Table.
The five words were scribble, button, knuckle (selected by guest poet Hannah Gamble), danger, and tremble. The bonus word was warp.
The prized for the win were many. First, my notecard poem was returned with three stars at the top followed by two exclamation points, whose periods had also been used as eyes of a smiley face! Second, I received a copy of The Circus Train by Judith Kitchen. (I was planning on buying a copy after hearing her read, so this was a very pleasant surprise.) Third, I got to read my poem for all those gathered.
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My 4-Minute Poetry Project poem:
The danger
is that you allow me to scribble
down words and thoughts such as
"button" and "knuckle"
and "lemon Jell-o is
best left for Lutheran potlucks"—
where and when I expect you to
reflect and tremble
while I quietly warp away.
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Creative non-fiction writer Judith Kitchen and poet Stan Rubin read together. They happen to be wife and husband, as well as cofounders of the Rainier Writing Workshop low-residency MFA at Pacific Lutheran University.
For their reading, Judith found words that appear in both of their most recently published books—her The Circus Train and his There.Here. The words were then thrown into a fishbowl and drawn out. They took turns reading the passage or poem in which the selected word appeared. It was a wonderful way to read and even they didn't know exactly what was coming. And their interplay with one another as people, alongside the interplay of their pieces, was something to witness. They were gentle with one another, yet playful and pushing at times. It is obvious that they both spend time with one another and allow one another time to be alone with words. The balance of their relationship to one another as spouses and as fellow writers seemed perfect.
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There were also a few other features to the show. A couple of "advertisements" from the Pencil Advisory Council made an appearance. Two musicians known as Boyd and Grubb (and soon to be renamed, with suggestions from the audience) played a few blues-influenced numbers, as well as the new RSR live show theme song and a few other themes for various portions of the show. There was another literary game, Name That Book. RSR founder and host Jay Bates read a humor piece to start the show and ended the evening singing a cover version of "(They Long to Be) Close to You" as Elmer Fudd.
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It was truly an evening to experience and one that I am grateful that I did.
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