Poetry Box LIVE

The Poetry Box LIVE – NOVEMBER Edition!

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

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

Featuring:

• Laura Ann Reed (WA) – author of Homage to Kafka
• Patricia Cannon (CA) – author of Wild Heart
• Rick Rayburn (CA) – author of Pink Tercets
• Celeste Colasurdo (for Christine) (OR) – author of There Is Always a Volcano Before You

Enjoy a Video from the Show:

About the Featured Poets:

Laura Ann Reed was born in Berkeley, California, earned her B.A. from The University of California, Berkeley which included a year at l’Université Aix-Marseille in France, and lived most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area before relocating to the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Grant Reed, in 2004. She earned a master’s degree in the performing arts and taught dance at the University of California before earning a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Her work has been published in seven anthologies, including Poetry of Presence Volume II and has appeared in a large number of journals in the United States, Great Britain and Ireland. Homage to Kafka is her second chapbook. She is a contributing editor with the Montréal Review. Learn more at: lauraannreed.net

You can learn more about Laura Ann’s book HERE

Patricia Cannon has been a Registered Nurse at UCSF since 2001. Throughout her career, she has gained experience in various areas, including cardiac critical care, neurointensive care, hematology-oncology, and school nursing. Currently, she is focused on research. Outside of her professional life, Patricia is passionate about her faith, photography, and the written word in all its forms.

You can learn more about Patricia’s book HERE

Rick Rayburn has lived most of his life in California, starting in the Los Angeles basin, then moving to Humboldt Bay, before settling in Sacramento. A fourth generation Angelino, Rayburn grew up in Altadena, and went to UCLA in the 1960s, where he met his future wife, Marianne. After two years in the Air Force in Tucson, he worked at the Coastal Commission as a redwood ecologist in Arcata, where he and Marianne had three children. After fifteen years on the North Coast, Rayburn move his family to Sacramento, turning his focus to land preservation as the Natural Resource Manager at California State Parks. For many years he helped direct the Board of Governors of Center for Natural Lands Management and Chaired Big Sur’s Santa Lucia Conservancy. Upon retiring, he began writing, becoming active in the Sacramento literary community. He has published two poetry books, Under the Overstory (2020) and Slack Tide (2023), poems in eight journals, and a Van Gogh royal crown sonnet.

You can learn more about Rick’s book HERE

Christine Colasurdo lived at Spirit Lake before the eruption at Mt. St. Helens. She is the author of Return to Spirit: Life and Landscape at Mount St. Helens, The Golden Gate Parks: a photographic journey, and poetry chapbooks Rain and Cascade Manifesto. She taught writing and calligraphy at Multnomah Art Center in Portland, Oregon. She was a founding member of The Mt. St. Helens Institute. Her poems have appeared in Terrain.org, Windfall, OnEarth, Verseweavers, Medical Literary Messenger, The University of Portland Magazine and Denver Quarterly Review among others. Christine was also a visual artist and calligrapher. She died in 2021 at the age of 59. See more of her work at christinecolasurdo.com.

You can learn more about Christine’s book HERE

The Poetry Box LIVE – OCTOBER Edition!

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

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

Featuring:

• D. Walsh Gilbert (CT) – author of no mother but the sky
• WD Frank (WA) – author of Inventions & Variations
• Shawn Pittard (CA) – author of Shelter in Place
• Lynda Skeen (OR) – author of Broken Open

Enjoy a Video from the Show:

About the Featured Poets:

D. Walsh Gilbert is a dual citizen of the United States of America and the Republic of Ireland. Her poetry collections include Ransom, imagine the small bones, Finches in Kilmainham,  Misneach: A Story of Kidnap, Enslavement, and Colonialism, and  From the Altar of the Land (all, Grayson Books), Once the Earth had Two Moons (Cerasus Poetry), [M]AR[Y] (Kelsay Books), Deirdre (Impspired) and Bleat & Prattle (Clare Songbirds Publishing House). Her poems appear widely in poetry journals online and in print. She serves on the board of the Riverwood Poetry Series and as co-editor of the Connecticut River Review published by the Connecticut Poetry Society.

Gilbert lives in Farmington, Connecticut on a former sheep farm at the foot of Talcott Mountain near the watershed of the Farmington River, previously the homelands of the Tunxis and Sukiaugk peoples and near the oldest site of human occupation in Connecticut, dating back 12,500 years. She welcomes turkey, bear, and bobcat as daily visitors from the forest behind her home, writes every day, and visits her family in County Monaghan, Ireland as often as possible.

You can learn more about Debbie’s book HERE

WD Frank is an artist, musician, writer, and occasional professor of history from Yakima, WA. In addition to regional honors for poetry (including the Tom Pier Prize in 2004, 2016, and 2021), his two books on Russian sport and recent contribution to a collection of essays published in Austria received Ullr awards from the International Ski History Association in 2015, 2019, and 2025. His articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, The Journal of Sport History, Ski History Magazine, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, and Suomen Urheiluhistoriallisen Seuran Vuosikirja, Finland’s sport history yearbook. McFarland Publishers released his latest book, Under Mountain Shadows: Kay Kershaw, Lesbian Eco-Warrior of the Pacific Northwest, in 2024. He is currently working on a series of entries for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Sport and Exercise, forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2026.

Since 2006, Frank’s paintings have received numerous honorable mentions and awards at Larson Gallery’s Central Washington Artists’ Exhibition in Yakima and at Boxx Gallery in Tieton, WA. His work is also included in the Central Washington Artist Permanent Collection at the Yakima Valley Museum.

You can learn more about WD’s book HERE

Shawn Pittard is the author of three slender chapbook volumes of poetry: Witness, which was a Finalist in The Poetry Box 2024 chapbook contest; Standing in the River, 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, 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 book HERE

Lynda Skeen has been published in a variety of journals, including boats against the current, ONE ART, The Halcyone Literary Review, North American Review, Lucid Stone, The Hyacinth Review, and Anti-Heroin Chic.  She lives in Ashland, Oregon, with her husband and several cats.

You can learn more about Lynda’s book HERE

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