the thing you’re after
may lie around the bend
of the nest (second, time slain, the bird! the bird!
And there! (strong) thrust, the mast! flight
(of the bird
o kylix, o
Antony of Padua
sweep low, o bless
the roofs, the old ones, the gentle steep ones
on whose ridge-poles the gulls sit, from which they depart,
And the flake-racks
of my city!
– Charles Olson, from “I, Maximus of Gloucester, to You”
The days are getting longer and it’s time to take advantage of that. For this upcoming Living Room let us appreciate how light transforms our visions of the world around us. We will meet in the parking lot of the Columbia City School, near the big red doors. Don’t forget your walking shoes and your energy! We’re going on a poetic trot through the neighborhood. Part work-out, part odyssey, part observational tour, this journey will take twenty minutes. We will take note of those buildings we find shelter and service within, those paths that we have constructed for our ease, and the answers that exist within places we take for granted every single day. The tour will bring us back to our center point at the SPLAB Living Room, where we will engage in a short writing exercise that relates our journey to Art. Following the reflection, we will follow the regularly scheduled program and critique each other’s work. 
Greg Bem, the beloved facilitator, strongly encourages you bring poems that approach and deal, somehow, with Society, and how we humans interact socially (or not) in the environments they have created for each other, ourselves. Also, Greg Bem, the despotic facilitator, would like to encourage folks bring light snacks for the group, as we’re going to need to build up our calories after our trek! Light snacks in unison become heavy snacks.
Writers of all ages and skill levels gather Tuesdays at 7P to read new work, the work of someone else or to just be in the engaging company of other writers. Your donation of $5 helps SPLAB put on special events and continue programming. Please bring 8 copies of the work you plan to read. If you do not bring copies, they are available for 10c.
Living Room happens in the new SPLAB in the Cultural Corner of the old Columbia School, between Rainier AV S and 36th AV S, on Edmunds. We’re 2 blocks from the Columbia City Link Light Rail Station. Parking is available on the school grounds.)
