[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
Written by Greg Scheiber<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery word along the way
\nLit like a flame upon
\nThe wick of its origin<\/p>\n
I kiss each name and make
\nFor it a temple on my tongue I name\u201d<\/p>\n
writes Janaka Stucky in his forthcoming book of poetry, Ascend Ascend<\/em>, due out on April 23. Ascend Ascend<\/em> was written \u201cover the course of twenty days, coming in and out of trance states brought on by intermittent fasting and somatic rituals while secluded in the tower of a 100-year-old church\u201d (Stucky\u2019s website).\u00a0 Poetry is a mystical experience of language and Janaka Stucky, in both his work and poetics, constantly reminds us of that and the deeper connections that this type of artwork explores.\u00a0 Stucky describes the book-length poem as \u201cdocumenting the ecstatic destruction of the self through its union with the divine\u201d.\u00a0 Every poet knows the feeling when they\u2019re writing and something inexplicable seems to write the words on the page, something beyond thought that Stucky has captured in the quote above.<\/p>\n Janaka Stucky will be with us for Get Lit! this year in a brand new meditative poetry event on Friday, April 26. Following a yoga class designed specifically for the writer\u2019s mind and body at the Spokane Yoga Shala, Janaka Stucky will be giving a read where he will be joined by local Spokane poet and collaborative artist, Ellen Welcker.\u00a0 The yoga class will be from 8:30 to 9:30 am and the reading will follow at 10 am.<\/p>\n To purchase tickets and register for the Yoga for Writers please visit spokaneyogashala.com<\/a>.<\/strong> Kelly Schirmann is a poet with Black Ocean Press and her most recent book, Popular Music<\/em>, was released in 2016.\u00a0 She is one of the most sought-after young poets and her book has been described as \u201cgenerous mind with an explicitly wild and playful vision, agitated by the expanse of her own belief and willfully undone by the heft of her love\u2014for you, for every other, for the planets not invented yet.\u201d\u00a0 She has credited Gary Snyder, Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts, rock music, and others for inspiration as she attempts to create open poems that, in her own words, \u201callow[s] wind (song) to go through them, like lyrics\u201d.\u00a0 She will be reading at the Downtown Public Library from 7-8pm with Kaveh Akbar on Friday, April 26.\u00a0 Her book will be for sale and a signing will follow afterwards.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery woman I know is suffering from fatigue –Kelly Schirmann, from <\/em>\u201cPoem for a New Year\u201d<\/p>\n To purchase tickets for Popular Poetry: Kelly Schirmann and Kaveh Akbar click here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] Written by Greg Scheiber \u201cEvery word along the way Lit like a flame upon The wick of its origin I kiss each name and make For it a temple on my tongue I name\u201d writes Janaka Stucky in his forthcoming book of poetry, Ascend Ascend, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":924,"featured_media":5821,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":[],"_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/924"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/getlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJanaka Stucky is also the founder of Black Ocean Press, a Boston-based independent publisher with satellites in Chicago and Detroit. The award-winning publisher\u2019s mission states that they \u201cbelieve in the fissures art can create in consciousness when, even if just for a moment, we experience a more vital way of operating in the world\u2014and through that moment then seek out more extreme and enlightened modes of existence. \u00a0We believe in the freedom we find through enlightened modes of existence, and we are committed to promoting artists we firmly believe in by sharing our enthusiasm for their work with a global audience.\u201d\u00a0 Black Ocean was founded in 2004 and published its first books in 2006.\u00a0 Recently, they have merged with independent poetry publisher Gramma Press based out of Seattle.\u00a0 You can hear further about this at the \u201cAdventures in Publishing Panel\u201d on Saturday, April 27 at the MEC.\u00a0 Along with Janaka Stucky will be Christine Holbert from Lost Horse Press, Greg Gerding from University of Hell Press, Chris Howell from Willow Springs Books, and Kelly Schirmann from Black Cake.
\nBoth Stucky and Schirmann will also be at the Poetry Salon event at 9pm on Friday, April 26 in the Downtown Public Library. The salon will be a discussion of writing and the writing life with Stucky and Schirmann and they will be joined by Kaveh Akbar, Claudia Castro Luna, and Anastacia Renee with Ellen Weckler moderating.<\/p>\n
\nLeonard Cohen is dead
\nPoetry is a folk song, meaning
\nPoetry is completely worthless
\nunless it is mobilized toward
\nor attached to
\na commodity\u201d<\/p>\n