Opening Summer Events @ BookTree!

““Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks.” – Dr. Seuss 

Remember your local bookstore! Thanks for reminding your friends, neighbors, family and acquaintances that  BookTree!  is Kirkland’s only new and gently-used bookstore. Buy a book, a gift certificate and/or attend an event at the store soon. Remember to like and follow our Facebook Page! 

BookTree is nearly bursting at the seams with exciting upcoming events.  Before I highlight some of them I’ll remind you that:  LOYALTY CARDS ARE HERE!   For every $20 you spend on a new book, you’ll receive a stamp and are on your way to earning a $25 reward to purchase a new book. We are happy to keep the cards on file in the store for you.   Pictured – Loyalty Cards at BookTree)

THIS SATURDAY  JUNE 24TH!!!!  

DISCOVERING SEATTLE PARKS!  ALL of ’em!

Saturday June 24th meet Linnea Westerlind who has visited all of Seattle’s 426 parks and written the wonderful Discovering Seattle Parks: a locals guide.   She’ll be in the store this Saturday at 3:30 to talk about her favorite parks and sign books!  Click here to go to our Facebook Event Page  and please share it!

Let’s talk about A Gentleman in Moscow

Tuesday June 27th at 7 p.m.  BookTree’s Reading Circle (open to all) will be talking about Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow.  If you read the book come join us for a fun, informative discussion. It’s a great read!  We have copies for sale in the store.  Our Facebook Event Page 

Every Wednesday at 11AM is StoryTime

It’s FUN!  FREE!  Bring the Kids!  Share our Facebook Page and let everyone you know with toddlers and young ones about BookTree’s StoryTime!
John F. Kennedy and Britain!

Sunday, July 2nd @ 3:30 PM
The author of the just released Union Jack,  Christopher Sandford will be talking about Kennedy, answering your questions, and signing copies of his acclaimed book. More on our Facebook Event Page

By popular demand. . . The Tik Tik Tik  Type-In Returns.

Back in April we did this odd, wonderful thing at BookTree.  Dozens of vintage manual typewriters were set up throughout the store and families had a great time typing notes, letters, to do lists and more! A reporter from NPR even came in to interview folks and record sounds which turned into a little segment heard on NPR radio!   In days of yore there were typewriters.  Come play with us on  Sunday July 9th  1 to 4 p.m.!  Tik Tik Type-In at BookTree!  Facebook Event Page!

Spoken Wordsmiths and Poets from Everett

Saturday July 15th @ 6:30 p.m.  Third Saturday Reading/open Mic
A special summer edition of our popular 3rd Saturday Reading Series featuring 4 accomplished poets/spoken-word artists from Everett and a community open mic!   It’s time to discover what we do at BookTree on Third Saturdays!  You are invited to listen or even share something you’ve written!  FREE!
Please Share Our FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

RAIN GARDENS of the Pacific Northwest

Sunday July 16th @ 3PM
What’s all this about Rain Gardens?  Find out.
Meet the authors of RAIN GARDENS FOR THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST -Design And Build Your Own, Keri DeTore and Zsofia Pasztor.

With special guest Adrienne Ross Scanlan author of Turning Homeward: Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild ) – Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award (2016 Notable Book) and Nautilus Book Awards
(Silver Medal 2016-2017). Our Facebook Event Page

Dave Boling – Lost History of Stars  TUESDAY, July 18th  7PM
If you can’t wait until next time to hear more about this special off-site event
(You do need reservations to attend!) check out  OUR FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

We have tweaked our hours so please take note!
BOOKTREE NEW HOURS:
MON: NOON – 7PM
T-F  : 10AM – 7PM
SAT : 11AM – 6PM
SUN : NOON – 5PM

BookTree events means we sometimes stay open later and we’ll sometime open a little earlier than posted as well.  We are happy to order anything in print for you so feel free to email us (particularly after-hours) with book requests or call us during operating hours.  If we don’t have it, we can try to get it for you in a few days up to a week.

“In the library I felt better, words you could trust and look at till you understood them, they couldn’t change half way through a sentence like people, so it was easier to spot a lie.” 
–-Jeanette Winterson

Yes, please share this page and spread the news about Kirkland’s little bookstore that could –  BookTree!  We all love the idea of having independent bookstores but to survive they need your patronage or your help in letting folks know whenever they are in Kirkland, they should consider checking out BookTree at 609 Market St  Kirkland, Wa 98033!

And don’t forget to check out our website !!!

“In the library I felt better, words you could trust and look at till you understood them, they couldn’t change half way through a sentence like people, so it was easier to spot a lie.” 
–-Jeanette Winterson

NaPoWriMo Prompt for April 20, 2017

DAY 30  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  Sunday, April 30, 2017

 

“Perfumes are the feelings of flowers.”

― Heinrich Heine

 

The final day, the final prompt for NaPoWriMo 2017!  Hope you stretched and had a good

creative work-out and started a daily habit involving writing!

 

Day  30  Prompt

 

Choose 4 lines from what you have written in the last 29 days. These lines become lines 1,3,5, and 8.  Write new material for the  2^nd , 4^th , 6^th  and 7^th lines to create your final NaPoWrimo 2017 poem.

 

1  Previously Written Line

2

3  Previously written line

4

5  Previously Written line

6

7

8-  Previously written line

 

“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”

― Mary Oliver

 

The 28th prompt  suggested by Brendan McBreen  was to write a poem about a sandcastle.

 

Here’s what I wrote

Jersey Shore Sandcastle Builders

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

We built them several

summer afternoons

for several years in row.

A tradition.

 

We built them just far

enough from the incoming tide

that within an hour we knew

we would witness their destruction.

My brother and I would make a pile of sand,

sculpt it,

then create irrigation

to bring water to our mini moat.

Often there would be an outer wall

Mostly so that we could

watch it disintegrate

a little sooner

than the castle.

Sometimes,

we’d only see the beginning

of its end

because we’d built it too grand

and it was time to go.

 

We didn’t mind,

we would do it again tomorrow

or next summer.

Until suddenly

we were older,

and no longer

building sandcastles

on the Jersey Shore.

 

Keep Writing!

Today BookTree celebrated Independent Bookstore Day.  At the end of the day, several contributors to The Nasty Women Project read their work and signed books.  The proceeds from the book support Planned Parenthood.   Here’s a group picture of The Nasty Women and the co-owner of BookTree bookstore in Kirkland.

NaPoWriMo Prompt for April 29, 2017

DAY 29  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  Saturday, April 29, 2017

 

“So many things I had thought forgotten

Return to my mind with stranger pain:

Like letters that arrive addressed to someone

Who left the house so many years ago.”

― Philip Larkin

 

The penultimate NaPoWriMo prompt for 2017 is here!

 

And it also happens to be National Independent Bookstore Day!    So make sure that you visit an independent bookstore and buy something today.   In Western Washington 19 independent bookstores have joined together to create a fun contest with prizes and rewards for participants.    BookTree the bookstore I co-own in Kirkland  is part of Independent Bookstore Day too!   We have authors, guests, special limited merchandise, and much more.  BookTree’s event page is here.

 

Day 29 NaPoWriMo Prompt

 

Pick 4 or more Titles of current Best Sellers  (there are several types of lists to choose these from) Choose 4 titles from the lists.     Use the titles (as close to intact as possible) in a poem 4 to 8 lines long.

 

“Sir, I admit your general rule,

That every poet is a fool,

But you yourself may serve to show it,

That every fool is not a poet.”

― Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

Prompt 27 – suggested we write an Anaphora poem.

Here’s what I wrote:

 

An Anaphora Anaphora

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

Anaphora and a five-a and a…

Anaphora may be botched pig latin for a floral arrangement

Anaphora is a drug they use to knock you out before a major operation

Anaphora is a peaceful place the mind escapes to

Anaphora would make a great name – Anna-Phora Jones and the Cathedral of Chaos.

Anaphora better planet.

“Anaphora, I’m anaphora, Your anaphora, We are all anaphora.”

 

Poem Starter 123,321

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

Poem Starter ,

Poem Starter what are you?

Poem Starter,

Poem Starter; short, to the point

Poem Starter,

Poem Starter return to us soon.

 

Keep Writing!

BookTree Sitting Zone

NaPoWriMo Prompt for April 28, 2017

DAY 28  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  Friday, April 28, 2017

 

“This poetry. I never know what I’m going to say.”

― Jalaluddin Rumi

 

Welcome to the 28^th day of NaPoWriMo.

If you are anywhere near Auburn, Washington tomorrow

you should not pass up the opportunity to hear two former and the

current Washington State Poet Laureate as well as some other regional

poet laureates.  It will be quite the show- Friday Night.  Details here.

 

AND

 

On Saturday… 19 Western Washington Independent bookstores are celebrating Independent Bookstore Day.  Find out more about that here.

 

Today’s prompt was suggested by Brendan McBreen (he’ll be in Auburn Friday night….)

 

Write a poem about a sandcastle.

 

 “[Poetry] is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”

― Adrienne Rich

 

Prompt 26–  suggested Writing a couple of short poems embracing an absurd idea as a reality and perhaps commenting on popular culture, or language or history or if you must politics.

Here’s a few I wrote:

 

L.A. Salmon Run

by Christopher J. Jarmick

 

The Salmon in L.A. run,

but they don’t swim upstream;

No!

They drive

like everyone else.

 

Poem Starter 4217

by Christopher J. Jarmick

 

I just noticed something about

the word ‘artisanal’

It’s ‘art is ana’l squished together.

WTF!

 

Poem Starter 4247

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

Reality is now

something to

be negotiated

since many choose

to believe whatever

they feel like regardless of

its relationship with

the truth.

 

Poem Starter 4237

By Christopher J. Jarmick

 

When in doubt

take the fork

in the road

and eat your soup

with it.

 

Keep Writing!

Another Talia created version of the BookTree logo!

 

 

NaPoWriMo 2017! And so it begins . . .

And so it begins. . . .  NAPOWRIMO 2017

Always be a poet, even in prose.

– Charles Baudelaire

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NaPoWriMo  2017    April 1 to April 30 2017

National Poetry Writing Month = NAPOWRIMO

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April is National Poetry Month.   To celebrate people challenge themselves to write at least one poem each and every day during National Poetry Month.   Some choose a prompt and use it to create a poem.

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I post daily prompts to help inspire YOU to write.

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Poets around the world participate in the NaPoWriMo challenge.  Some post prompts on blogs or sites.  Many also post their poems…usually first drafts of writes that they have written to these prompts. This is of course a writing exercise and whatever you create in an hour or so will likely need rewriting, and editing before it can blossom fully as a poem.  What you wind up doing is creating a habit where you write every day.

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Please participate any way you are able.  Write every day or every other day or once a week.  If you fall behind and want to catch-up. . . do so.  If you skip some days… that’s okay.  This is a challenge, not a contest, not even a rite of passage.  Consider it a writing exercise and every day that you can participate consider a gift you are giving to your creative self.  Feel free to write messages, share my posts (with POETRYisEVERYTHING mentioned please).  I’ll be sharing too and will sometimes post links to other blogs that have poems or prompts.

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Find about more  About NaPoWriMo here 

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Again, I have asked Brendan McBreen  a member of the Striped Water Poets group in Auburn Washington to suggest some prompts that I’ll use during the month of April.   Thankfully he sent over lots of suggestions.    His website is here: Brendan’s Site

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On a personal note, I am overwhelmed with the work of running a  brand new business – as of late last year I am the co-owner of BookTree an independent new and used bookstore located at 609 Market Street in Kirkland, Washington.   BookTree on Facebook   (Please LIKE and Follow the page).  And  The BookTree Website.

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If you are in the Kirkland/Seattle/Western Washington area, there are several events of interest occurring at the bookstore.  Robert Lashley will be leading a free workshop and later in the evening reading some poems from his newest collection Up South.  We’ll also have an open mic.

Third Saturday PoetryIsEverything at BookTree.  

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Award-winning writer-poet-publisher Paul Hunter will be visiting BookTree with his brand new book on April 22^nd!  Hunter Facebook Event Page

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I’ll be reading at two places next Saturday (April 8^th)!  First is the  Greenlake Library (4 p.m. ) with David Horowitz.  And later in the evening I’ll be at the Tsuga Fine Arts Gallery, Main Street  in Bothel  at 7 p.m. for a special reading (along with Rayn Roberts).  Tsuga Fine Arts Gallery Reading  Both readings are free and also have an open mic.

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.

The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over

and let the beautiful stuff out. ”

― Ray Bradbury

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DAY 1  – NaPoWriMo Prompt for  April 1, 2017  

Let’s begin the 2017 NaPoWriMo challenge with a fairly simple prompt.

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First lines of books.   Choose 5 to 6 first lines in books that you admire.  Mix them up to create two new sentences.  Use one sentence to begin your poem and another to end your poem.  From the sentences you chose use three words from one or more of the sentences as they originally appeared (in order) in lines 2, 3, 4, and 5.

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Your finished poem should be 6 lines in length.

(Share the names of the books your lines came from when you post your poems)

If you post the poems on your blog or anywhere using this prompt… send me a link.

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Look for the April 2^nd prompt after 10 p.m. tomorrow.

ENJOY!

March P.I.E. Update

To be consumed by all things books is a burden to manage,

but a blessing to experience.

 

And so it goes.   Co-owning BookTree in Kirkland has monopolized my time the last several months and made even more demands than I imagined.

I have begun the Third Saturday Poetry is Everything workshop and poetry reading however.   We have quite the line-up scheduled in the coming months.

Please check out the BookTree website which has an event calendar  (authors, special events, poetry nights etc.)  BookTree Website

BookTree also has a BookTree Facebook Page.  It would be great if you could like/share and follow the page and help get the word out, that there is an independent new and used general bookstore in Kirkland (one of the few remaining on the eastside by the way).

I do have a couple of readings coming up  (April and beyond),  I am going to finish editing BANG! and it will be in print (and as an e-book) in September or October.

Soon it will be April and NapoWriMo time!

NorthWest Poetry Update- December 2017

Painting is silent poetry,

and poetry is painting that speaks.

Plutarch

Many of you know that I am now the co-owner/ manager of a new independent new and used bookstore, BookTree located at 609 Market Street in Kirkland, Wa 98033.

We had our Grand Opening on November 5th. It has been an overwhelming,                             and rewarding journey creating a new bookstore for Kirkland. A few Sunday’s ago the Seattle Times featured our store! We’ve had several author events, a holiday party and the beginning of our brand new workshop/reading/open mic series.

BookTree on Facebook here.

BookTree Website here

Seattle Times Feature on BookTree

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NEW EVENT – NEW SERIES  

Michael Dylan Welch -Third Saturday Workshop and PoetryIsEverything Reading/Open Mic

• Saturday, December 17, 2016
• 4:30pm  to 8:00pm
• FREE

Former Redmond Poet Laureate  Michael Dylan Welch will lead a free workshop “Haiku Can Help: Focusing Your Prose and Poetry.”  from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. and be the featured poet for our Third Saturday PoetryIsEverything Reading and open mic. 6:15 to 8:00 p.m. FREE

The co-feature is  Michael Schein!  (he has plans to re-locate in the near future so it may be a while before you get a chance to see and hear him).

Michael Dylan Welch has had his haiku performed for the Empress of Japan and at the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2012, one of his translations from the Japanese appeared on the back of 150,000,000 U.S. postage stamps. He was keynote speaker for the 2013 Haiku International Association convention in Tokyo, and has published his haiku, tanka, longer poetry, essays, and reviews in hundreds of journals in twenty languages, including Rattle, Kyoto Journal, Raven Chronicles, StringTown, Bacopa, The Writer’s Chronicle, Writer’s Digest, Clover, and many others, the latter of which just nominated him for a Pushcart Prize. He cofounded the Haiku North America conference in 1991 and the American Haiku Archives in 1996, and founded the Tanka Society of America in 2000 and National Haiku Writing Month in 2010. He served two terms as Redmond’s poet laureate, and in 2010 was selected for the Jack Straw Writers program. His most recent books are Seven Suns / Seven Moons (with Tanya McDonald; NeoPoiesis Press), Off the Beaten Track: A Year in Haiku (Boatwhistle Books), Fire in the Treetops: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Haiku North America, and Becoming a Haiku Poet (both Press Here).

Co-Feature Poet – Michael Schein is the author of the nonfiction history, John Surratt: the Lincoln Assassin Who Got Away (September 1, 2015), as well as two acclaimed historical novels, Bones Beneath Our Feet (2011) and Just Deceits (2008). Mr. Schein taught American Legal History at Seattle University Law School from 1988-2003, served on the speakers’ bureau of Humanities Washington, and is Director of LiTFUSE Poets’ Workshop. His poetry is supported by a grant from King County 4Culture, and has been nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize.

Born and raised in Vermont, Mr. Schein attended Reed College in Portland, University of Oregon Law School in Eugene, and now lives near Seattle.He is a former professor of American Legal History.

Open Mic

Bring a Poem or very very short piece of prose if you would like and sign up on our list to read for between 3 and 4 minutes.

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more readings- here

PoetsWest

and

Here   The Poetry Department.

 

As I have time I will update this blog with other readings and events of interest!