In July issue’s “With Wand and Shawl: the Investiture of Vashon’s New Co-Poets Laureate,” we welcomed Iris Spring and C. Hunter Davis into this shared role. Please enjoy a poem by C. Hunter Davis. When summer ended my mother putthe bars of soap in a tinso we wouldn’t be pestered byants and mice.All winter long…
Poetry
Global Warming: No Such Thing
The temperatures in Europebroke records yesterdayfor the third straight year. The news reporteda three-year-old locked himselfin the family car and died. His Dad was gardening.His Mother was napping.Whose fault could thispossibly be? ~ Laura C. Lipmann Laura C. Lippman is a retired family practice physician and poet. Her two collections of poetry, The Catastrophist’s Daughter…
Announcements, July 2026, Poetry
With Wand and Shawl: The Investiture of Vashon’s New Co-Poets Laureate
By Jane Valencia On Summer Solstice Eve, poets and poetry lovers gathered from the Island and across the water to celebrate our new poets laureate, Iris Spring and C. Hunter Davis. The event took place at the Open Space for the Arts & Community, which now shepherds Vashon’s Poet Laureate program. Initiated in 2011, with…
Poetry
Before the Great Yawn of July
By C. Hunter Davis, Vashon Poet Laureate ~ C. Hunter Davis, Poet Laureate
July 2026, Poetry
Song of Summer Solstice
Do not weep when the Sun will seem to be receding soonSing to this longest day of the year and its eternal dawn Sing to the Summer, that vast expanse of blue above greenAnd to the way that Time slows down at the top of its wheel Lop-sided with gravity every six months, leaning in…
July 2026, Poetry
Grass and Stars
We listen to the voicethat says grass and starsthe voice that knows perfectlyhow to describe luminescence. We wait patiently onthe foothold of Marchto see early crocusand daffodils pushingthrough earth’s cold skin. We remember soft slippersawait us at the foot of the bed. The moon and sun rise againand again in the eternal blanket of heavenas…
June 2026, Poetry
Sonnets to Orpheus, Part I Sonnet 1
There stands a tree. What pure over-climbing!Oh Orpheus sings! A tall tree rings in my ear!Then all falls still but even in the silencingare new signs and portents that draw near. Creatures press in quietly from their clearly absolved dens, untussled bushes and nestsfree from predation, at their curious best.Not quiet from stifled fears, instead…
June 2026, Poetry
two ears two spirals
By Claudia Hollander-Lucas In summer, the forests are alive with aerial sounds that include the song-life of birds – and with poetry. Here is a poem I wrote last spring for a Poetry Festival in Port Angeles themed “The Music of Summer.” A beautiful placard of the poem was made by the Art Center and…
Announcements, May 2026, Poetry
Mukai Haiku Festival 2026
By Dr. Jade Keala Agua, Executive Director, Mukai Farm & Garden Our 7th Annual Haiku Festival brought together a vibrant community of poets from near and far. This year, the Festival received 190 submissions representing 9 different countries, with an inspiring 65% of entries from youth poets. Below, is a selection of this year’s haiku….
Island Voices, Poetry
Vashon Island Used to Be
By March TwisdaleVashon Island used to be,a land for you and me.Then Cancel Culture came,and we were wiped away.What’s a girl to do,who’s been raised Red, White & Blue?Speak up, express, explain:“A free thinker I remain, no matter what you do.”For all who were, who are, and those yet to be.I will not drop our…