pugetsoundpoetryconnection.org
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Distinguished Writer Series
Presented by the City of Tacoma and
Puget Sound Poetry Connection
The goal of our readings is to bring poets of import to Tacoma
to help local poets learn and set goals for their own works.
We also provide a showcase for local poets to share their new work. All venues are free, physically accessible, and open to the public.
Want more information about “What’s Happening” in the poetry realm:
go to our CONTACT Page and sign in to our Forwarded Email List. If you want to share a reading, book sale or some other poetry event email our new email pspcpres1@gmail.com.
August 8th, 7:00 p.m.
Kings Bookstore (218 St. Helens, Tacoma)
Feature for August, Jamie Olson
Jamie Olson teaches in the English Department at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington. His essays and translations from Russian have recently appeared in Anomalous Press, Berfrois, Cardinal Points, Chtenia, Crab Creek Review, and Translation Review. Jamie writes about poetry, translation, and Russian culture on his blog The Flaxen Wave, and he is currently at work on a book translation of Timur Kibirov's Greek and Roman Catholic Songs and Nursery Rhymes. He lives in Olympia, Washington, with his wife and daughter.
After John Shade
When you open up your eyes then squeeze them shut
against the glare of verdure from the open window,
against the singing of these birds, against July —
won’t you be ashamed? Won’t you be afraid?
When the final sunbeam drops down through the dark
blue clouds and onto the water in the autumn silence,
slipping along the waves awhile before it dies —
won’t you be afraid? Won’t you be ashamed?
Translated from the Russian by Jamie Olson