On Sunday, August 8th at 1pm Washington’s State Poet Laureate Rena Priest will perform a poetry reading for the public in the outdoor pavilion at the Lopez Community Center. All ages welcome!
On Monday, August 9th at 3pm join Rena Priest for a 90-minute poetry workshop at the Lopez Library. Find the joy in words through delightful poetry games, prompts, and encouragements. Suitable for teens and adults. Pre-register for the workshop here
Rena Priest, the Washington State Poet Laureate and member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation, will be coming to Lopez August 7th through 9th to participate in several events. Priest is the first Indigenous poet to assume the role of Washington State Poet Laureate. Her term officially began on April 14 with the “Passing of the Laurel.” Patriarchy Blues, her literary debut, was honored with the 2018 American Book Award, and her most recent work is Sublime Subliminal.
The Washington State Poet Laureate program is jointly sponsored by Humanities Washington and the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA). Poets laureate work to build awareness and appreciation of poetry—including the state’s legacy of poetry—through free public readings, workshops, lectures, and presentations in diverse communities throughout the state.
“I am incredibly excited and honored to take on this role,” said Priest. “I’m fascinated by the way people come together around poetry. I am always delighted by how they gather in quiet rooms and let themselves be drawn in, lit up, and transformed by the words of other people.”
Each laureate puts their own unique focus on the position, and Priest will focus on two primary goals during her term: celebrating poetry in Washington’s tribal communities, and using poetry to increase appreciation of the natural world and the threats facing it.
“There are 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington, composed of 140,714 tribal citizens,” said Priest. “I’m sad to say that in the hundreds of poetry readings I’ve attended over the years, I’ve only met a handful of Native poets. I know that this is not because we don’t exist, but because we don’t have the same access to writing communities as people living in cities and towns.”
For the environmental piece, she said, “We are in an important historical moment when science has given us a deadline to make significant changes to heal our planet. I want to use poetry as a tool to offer new perspectives and generate enthusiasm for the idea that we can slow and reverse the effects of ecological destruction simply by loving the Earth.”
Priest was drawn to poetry from an early age. Her grandmother published a small chapbook of poetry, and she cites that and Shel Silverstein’s book Where the Sidewalk Ends as “among the finest gifts I’ve ever been given.” And as a child, Priest would lie in bed at night and “whisper pleasing word combinations. It was the best thing I knew how to do. It’s still the best thing I know how to do.”
Priest holds an MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and makes her home in Bellingham. She often teaches writing at local universities and colleges.
In addition to her free public programs, Rena has graciously offered to give a reading at the Lopez Island Family Resource Center’s annual fundraiser on August 7th. As a concerned citizen raised “in a subterranean homesick matriarchy,” Rena reflects the LIFRC’s equity work: learning about, celebrating, and empowering diverse groups. Due to her popularity, the event has sold out, but LIFRC is keeping a waiting list. If you are interested, please contact Barbara at barbara@lifrc.org.