The Poetry Box LIVE – SEPTEMBER Edition!

Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025 @ 4:00 PM (Pacific)

3pm (Alaskan) / 5pm (Mountain) / 6pm (Central) / 7pm (Eastern)

Featuring:

• John Miller (OR) – author of Andes
• Kashiana Singh (NC) – author of Dualities of Albireo
• Mike Schneider (PA) – author of Many Hats
• Margaret Chula (OR) – author of Clothes To Go Out In

Enjoy a Video from the Show:

About the Featured Poets:

Kashiana Singh is a poet whose work weaves together the essence of place, identity, and introspection. Her chapbook Crushed Anthills (Yavanika Press) embarks on a poetic journey through ten cities, capturing the soul of each in vivid verses. Her second full-length collection, Woman by the Door (Apprentice House Press), released in 2022, explores the complexity of womanhood, while her newest collection, Witching Hour (Glass Lyre Press), debuted in December 2024, delving into themes of transformation in the birthing house of life.

When she’s not writing, Kashiana lives by the principles of her TEDx talk, “Work as Worship,” bringing mindfulness and reverence into her daily life. She is deeply involved in the literary community, proudly serving as the managing editor for Poets Reading the News and as president of the North Carolina Poetry Society. Outside of her poetry practice, Kashiana is also a vice-president in the healthcare services industry, seamlessly balancing her creative and professional pursuits. Residing in North Carolina, she loves being the family storyteller and bedtime poet for her grandson.

You can learn more about Kashiana’s book HERE

Mike Schneider began writing during the Vietnam War when, while serving in the US Air Force, he published an anti-war “underground” newspaper. He has practiced law, worked as a science writer, won awards for magazine writing, and written book reviews and essays on culture for several publications. For essays in the Thomas Merton Center’s New People, he received a 2003-04 Creative Artists Stipend in Arts Commentary from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Three times nominated for the Pushcart Prize, his poems appear in many literary journals, anthologies and three chapbooks. He received the 2012 Editors Award from The Florida Review and the 2016 Robert Phillips Prize from Texas Review Press. With a colleague in 2010, he founded East End Poets, a group of Pittsburgh-based writers. In September 2022, the Hungry Hill Writing Group in West Cork, Ireland awarded Schneider’s work second prize in its Poets Meet Politics 2022 International Open. His full-length collection Spring Mills (Ragged Sky) came out in 2023.

You can learn more about Mike’s book HERE

John Miller’s poetry received category placement in the Oregon Poetry Association’s Fall 2023 contest. His chapbook Olympic was published by The Poetry Box in 2022, with other poetry featured at the Elisabeth Jones Art Center’s Festival of Feelings, and at the 2021 Connecticut Poetry Festival.  His poems have also been published in the anthology Opening the Gate, River Heron Review, Third Wednesday: A Literary & Arts Journal, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, West Trade Review and others.

John is a founder of Portland Ars Poetica, a literary poetry collective whose activities include generative workshops, a book club and performance events.  Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he’s lived in Portland, Oregon since 2012 and has a degree in English from Amherst College.

You can learn more about John’s book HERE

Born in Northfield, Massachusetts, Margaret Chula has traveled overland through Asia, lived in England and Japan, and now makes her home on the Portland skyline. She has published fifteen collections of poetry including, most recently, Weeding the Labyrinth. Her haibun memoir, Firefly Lanterns: Twelve Years in Kyoto, was awarded a 2022 NYC Big Book Award in Multicultural Nonfiction. Maggie has given readings and lead workshops at haiku conferences throughout the United States, as well as in Poland, Ireland, Peru, Canada, and Japan. She has also served as poet laureate for Friends of Chamber Music, president of the Tanka Society of America, and on the Advisory Board of the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University. Grants from Oregon Literary Arts and the Regional Arts and Culture Council have supported collaborations with artists, musicians, photographers, and dancers. Kim Stafford says of her work: “She has long been a word shaman connecting the wild world to the human heart.”

You can learn more about Maggie’s book HERE

The Poetry Box LIVE – May Edition!

Saturday, May 10, 2025 @ 4:00 PM (Pacific)

3pm (Alaskan) / 5pm (Mountain) / 6pm (Central) / 7pm (Eastern)

Featuring:

• Sandra Rendig (CA) – author of Heart & Bones
• Cathy Cain (OR) – author of Love’s Press
• Marjorie Moorhead (NH) – author of Into the Thrum
• Rebecca Bluemel (OR) – author of More Water Than Tears

Enjoy a video from the show:

About the Featured Poets:

Marjorie Moorhead’s poetry books are What I Ask (Kelsay Books 2024) and Every Small Breeze (Kelsay 2023), chapbooks In My Locket, Survival: Tees, Tides, Song, and Survival Part 2: Trees, Birds, Ocean, Bees. Her poems have appeared in Amethyst Review, Tiny Seed Literary, Moist Poetry Journal, Bloodroot Literary, Sheila-Na-Gig, Porter House Review, The Poeming Pigeon, Verse-Virtual, What Rough Beast, A River Sings, The Poet’s Touchstone, and others, as well as sixteen anthologies to date, including The Wonder of Small Things (James Crews, ed.). Marjorie’s work has garnered nomination for Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She lives with her family and writes from the Connecticut River valley at the NH/VT border. Her local poetry group is 4th Friday Poets.

Website: MarjorieWritesPoetry.wordpress.com/places-you-can-see-my-work/

You can learn more about Marjorie’s book HERE

Sandra Rendig was born and grew up in the 1950’s in the small town of Sonora, California, a rural land of hills, trees, and creeks.  The natural world remains a strong influence in her writing.  Her parents, children of Italian immigrants, have significantly influenced her writing.  Many of her poems honor their self-reliance and strong work ethic.  She often writes about the beauty and emotional impact of the changing seasons.  Now that she is 78 years old, several of the poems reflect the passing of her own seasons.

After a 30 year career teaching young children (preschool – 4^th grade), she has been writing poetry for self-exploration, joy and solace.

You can learn more about Sandra’s book HERE

Poet and artist Cathy Cain is the author of Lamplight, The Weight of Clouds, A Shape of Sky, and Bee Dance, published by The Poetry Box press; and a chapbook, Empty Space Places You, published by Finishing Line Press.

Cain’s honors include the Edwin Markham Prize for Poetry, the Paulann Petersen Award for Poetry from Willamette Writers, a Pushcart nomination, a PEN/Voelcker nomination, and a First Place and other citations from the Oregon Poetry Association. Her poetry has appeared in Reed Magazine, The Poeming Pigeon, Verseweavers, VoiceCatcher, and in /pãn| dé | mïk/ 2020: An Anthology of Pandemic Poems.

The mother of two fine sons, Cain taught in the public schools for over thirty-two years. She lives with her husband near Portland, Oregon.

You can learn more about Cathy’s book HERE

Rebecca Lynn Bluemel is a Gateless® certified facilitator, group leader, and writing coach. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her two adorable gingers, leads a current series of generative writing workshops online, and owns and operates her own pet sitting business, Home Sweet Home Pet Care LLC. Her book, Excoriation, and chapbook, Womanhood and Other Scars, were previously published by The Poetry Box.  Her poetry has appeared in The Poeming Pigeon, Feminine Collective, Cirque, Tiny Seed, and many others.

You can learn more about Rebecca’s book HERE

The Poetry Box LIVE – March Edition!

Saturday, March 8, 2025 @ 4:00 PM (Pacific)

3pm (Alaskan) / 5pm (Mountain) / 6pm (Central) / 7pm (Eastern)

Featuring:

• Carolyn Martin (OR) – author of Splitting Open the World
• David Belmont (NY) – author of Ob-la-di Ob-la-da
• LeAnn Bjerken (MN) – author of Ordinary Omens
• Luna Moore Latorre (CA) – author of Chrysalis

Enjoy a Video from the Show:

About the Featured Poets:

From Roman Catholic Sister of Mercy and English teacher in New Jersey to international management trainer; from author of business books to poetry collections; from work addict to devotee of the Spanish proverb, “It is beautiful to do nothing and rest afterwards,” Carolyn Martin is blissfully retired––and resting––in Clackamas, Oregon.

A lover of gardening and snorkeling, feral cats and backyard birds, Martin embraces poetry as her way of interacting with the world­­––in images, rhythms, sounds, and intensities of language. That is why she’s settled into the joyful task of translating experience into as few words as possible.

Her aesthetic is found in Galway Kinnell’s statement, “To me, poetry is somebody standing up…and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment.” With little concealment, her poems grapple with this challenge.

Martin’s poems have appeared in more than 200 publications throughout North America, Australia, and the UK. The Poetry Box released her second collection, The Way a Woman Knows, in 2015; a chapbook, Nothing More to Lose, in 2020; and her fifth collection, The Catalog of Small Contentments, in 2021.

You can learn more about Carolyn’s book HERE

David Belmont is a mixed media artist and community organizer. He writes poetry, memoir and short fiction. World Gone Zoom: Notes from the American Epicenter, his debut poetry collection, was published by The Poetry Box in May 2021. Other writing has appeared in The Poeming Pigeon, Wildflower Muse and FishFood Magazine. David has been a professional musician for over 50 years, producing 26 albums of his own work. His CD WindWater Excursions spent 8 months on the New Age Voice Top 100 Airplay List (2000-2001)and was in heavy rotation on the syndicated radio program Echoes. He is vice president of Musicians for Musicians, a musicians’ rights organization based in NYC, and a member of the band SoSaLa (spoken word, dobro). David is on the faculty of the East Side Institute, an international center that promotes alternative and radically humanizing approaches to psychology, education and community building. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with visual artist Kim Svoboda and their labradoodle Penelope.

You can learn more about David’s book HERE

Originally from Minnesota, LeAnn Bjerken holds an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Washington University. A former journalist, freelance writer and mermaid performer, she has temporarily traded her fins for legs in order to better keep up with her daughter. Her poetry has appeared in Miracle Magazine, The Pacific Northwest Inlander, Spokane Coeur d’Alene Living Magazine, and online publications including Devilfish Review, The Artistic Muse, The Lake, Fox Adoption Magazine, and Plants & Poetry Journal. When not out seeking inspiration, she can be found at home snuggling with her husband Steve, daughter Eowyn, and cat Tikki.

You can learn more about LeAnn’s book HERE

Luna Moore Latorre is a writer of fiction and poetry living in Southern California. Chrysalis is her first published book. Her second book, a novel, is soon to be published by Library Tales (and distributed by Simon & Schuster) in July 2025. Luna’s other work can be found in Literally Stories, Eunoia Review, Yellow Arrow, and other places. When she is not writing, she loves reading, dancing, hiking, and being with her cat, Da Vinci.

You can learn more about Luna’s book HERE

The Poetry Box LIVE – February Edition!

Saturday, Feb 08, 2025 @ 4:00 PM (Pacific)

3pm (Alaskan) / 5pm (Mountain) / 6pm (Central) / 7pm (Eastern)

Featuring our 2024 Chapbook Prize Winners and Guest Judge:

• Flavian Mark Lupinetti – author of The Pronunciation Part  
• Laura Foley – author of Ice Cream for Lunch: A Grandparents Handbook
• Allison Thorpe – author of A Girl, a Slipper, and Yesterday’s Rainbow
• Donna Hilbert – Contest Judge & Special Guest

Enjoy the video from the show:

About the Featured Poets:

Flavian Mark Lupinetti, a Pushcart nominated poet, fiction writer, and cardiac surgeon, received his MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. He received first place awards in the 2023 Social Justice Poetry Contest sponsored by Sport Literate and the 2014 Betsy Sholl Poetry Award sponsored by Words and Images. His creative writing has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Cutthroat, december, Redivider, ZYZZYVA, and other publications, and his contributions to the scientific literature include more than 90 peer-reviewed papers, research studies, and monographs. A native of West Virginia, Mark now lives in New Mexico.

You can learn more about Mark’s chapbook HERE

Laura Foley is the author of ten previous poetry books, most recently, Sledding the Valley of the Shadow. Her book Why I Never Finished My Dissertation received a starred Kirkus Review and an Eric Hoffer Award. She has won a Narrative Magazine Poetry Prize, The Common Good Books Poetry Prize, Atlanta Review’s Grand Prize and others. Her work has been included in many journals including: Alaska Quarterly, Valparaiso, Poetry Society London, Atlanta Review, Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems, and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. She lives on the steep banks of the Connecticut River in New Hampshire, and romps with the grandchildren as often as possible.

You can learn more about Laura’s chapbook HERE

Sylvia Ahrens (writing as Allison Thorpe) grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. After adventuring around the country, she and her husband settled at the end of a lovely dirt road in Kentucky where they built their own home of natural stone and wood, raised a family and an organic garden, and reveled in bird song for almost four decades. Along the way, she earned degrees in English Literature, Creative Writing, and Women’s Studies. Her books include six collections of poetry and a series of cozy mysteries.

Inspirations include the growly screams of Janis Joplin, the enduring courage of Aung San Suu Kyi, the complex melodies of Bela Fleck, and the beautiful finality of the Oxford Comma. She works as a writing mentor at The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, loves lilacs, yearns to be a poker star, and lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

You can learn more about Allison’s chapbook HERE

Donna Hilbert’s latest book is Threnody, from Moon Tide Press, 2022. Earlier books include Gravity: New & Selected Poems, Tebot Bach, 2018. She is a monthly contributing writer to Verse-Virtual. Work has appeared in Braided Way, Cultural Daily, Chiron Review, Gyroscope, Sheila-Na-Gig, Rattle, Zocalo Public Square, ONE ART, The Los Angeles Times, and numerous anthologies including The Poetry of Presence volumes I & II, The Path to Kindness, The Wonder of Small Things, I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing, and featured on Writers on Writing, The Writer’s Almanac, and Lyric Life. She writes and leads private workshops in Southern California, where she makes her home.

You can learn more about Donna at https://www.donnahilbert.com/

The Poetry Box LIVE – January Edition!

Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 @ 4:00 PM (Pacific)

3pm (Alaskan) / 5pm (Mountain) / 6pm (Central) / 7pm (Eastern)

Featuring:

• AMY BASKIN (OR) – author of SKULL
• PENNY JOHNSON (WA) – author of HAGS ON TRACTORS
• DAVID GOODRUM (OR) – author of VITALS & OTHER SIGNS OF LIFE
• SHAWN PITTARD (CA) – author of WITNESS

Enjoy a video from the show:

About the Featured Poets:

Amy Baskin is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, an Oregon Literary Arts Fellow, and an Oregon Poetry Association prizewinner. Her work can be found in anthologies and journals including the HOCUS Tarot, Pirene’s Fountain, Friends Journal, and SWWIM. When not writing, she works for the Departments of English and History at Lewis & Clark College and helps run literary arts programs including Fir Acres Writing Workshop. She is the author of Hysterical Cake (Dancing Girl Press, 2021), Night Hag (Unsolicited Press, 2023).

You can learn more about Amy’s book HERE

Penny Johnson lives at the base of a mountain with a horde of animals in Central Washington. She and her horse run the farm. Johnson provides glimpses of extraordinary lives that have lost some scaffolding but radiate genuine and quixotic vulnerability. Johnson’s writing is visual and tactile. She has been featured poet in literary reviews and a contender in Seattle Poetry Slams.  Johnson was the recipient of the Kirkwood Award for Short Fiction through UCLA Extension. She was a resident of Devereux, received her BA from The Evergreen State College, MFA from Goddard College. Both Johnson’s novels, Memories of a Female Truck Driver and Double Back, are available from Amazon. She is a contributor in the WA129 anthology with poems previously published in Bellowing Ark, Pawn to Infinity, Spectacles, City Primevil, and Spillway. Johnson has most recently been published in Yakima Coffee House Poets where she won the Tom Pier Prize, Shrub-Steppe Review, and Cirque, A Literary Journal for the North Pacific Rim, with a Pushcart Prize nomination, Cleaver Fall 2023, Honorable Mention judged by Diane Suess and Quartet Journal.

You can learn more about Penny’s book HERE

David A. Goodrum, writer/photographer, was born, raised, and educated in Indiana and currently lives in Oregon in the Willamette Valley. As an undergrad he studied at Indiana University and graduated with a creative writing thesis of poems. He holds degrees in English and German and a doctorate in instructional systems technology. David has been a high school teacher, a developer of instructional software, a fine arts photographer exhibiting at juried art fairs, and a director of educational technology across two different universities. Vitals and Other Signs of Life (The Poetry Box, 2024) is his first book-length collection of poetry. His poems have been published in Tar River Poetry, The Inflectionist Review, Passengers Journal, Cathexis Northwest Press, Fireweed: Poetry of Oregon, Willawaw Journal, Spillway, Eclectica Magazine, Scapegoat Journal, Triggerfish Critical Review, among others. A chapb

You can learn more about David’s chapbook HERE

Shawn Pittard is the author of two slender volumes of poetry: Standing in the River, which was the winner of Tebot Bach’s 2010 Clockwise Chapbook Competition, and These Rivers from Rattlesnake Press. He’s been a coach for Poetry Out Loud and a California Poet in the Schools. Shawn taught recitation and writing in middle schools and high schools, including juvenile hall (yep, they’re good kids), as well as with veterans and the men in Folsom Prison. By day, he labored in the field of environmental protection, planning, and public policy, focusing on energy.

You can learn more about Shawn’s chapbook HERE