Welcome to THE POETRY BOX LIVE!
Hosted by Shawn Aveningo Sanders
Featured Poets for our January Edition:
• AMY BASKIN (OR) – author of SKULL
• PENNY JOHNSON (WA) – author of HAGS ON TRACTORS
• DAVID GOODRUM (OR) – author of VITALS & OTHER SIGNS OF LIFE
• SHAWN PITTARD (CA) – author of WITNESS
ABOUT THE POETS:
David Goodrum is the author of Vitals & Other Signs of Life, his first full length poetry collection, released this past summer.
David was born, raised, and educated in Indiana and currently enjoys life in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. He holds degrees in English and German and a doctorate in instructional systems technology. David has been a high school teacher, a developer of instructional software, a fine art photographer, and a director of educational technology at two universities.
His poems have been published in Tar River Poetry, The Inflectionist Review, Fireweed: Poetry of Oregon, Willawaw Journal, Scapegoat Journal, and Triggerfish Critical Review, among others. His chapbook, Sparse Poetic, was published in 2023.
He is currently the President of the Oregon Poetry Association and has served on the Board of Directors for The Arts Center in Corvallis since 2022.
You can purchase David’s book at:
https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/vitals
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Penny Johnson, author of Hags on Tractors-- her memoir in poems that show us what it means to be a rural woman grappling with the land.
Penny lives at the base of a mountain with a horde of animals in Central Washington. She and her horse run the farm. Her writing is visual and tactile. Penny has been a featured poet in literary reviews and a contender in Seattle Poetry Slams. She was a resident of Devereux, received her BA from The Evergreen State College, and MFA from Goddard College. Her poems have been published in Bellowing Ark, Pawn to Infinity, Spectacles, Spillway, and most recently in Yakima Coffee House Poets where she won the Tom Pier Prize. She is also a a Pushcart Prize nominee, and was an Honorable Mention in Cleaver, judged by Diane Seuss.
You can purchase Penny’s book at:
https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/hags-tractors
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Amy Baskin, author of SKULL, which was a finalist in our annual chapbook contest last year.
Amy is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, an Oregon
Literary Arts Fellow, and an Oregon Poetry Association prizewinner. Her work can be found in anthologies and journals including the HOCUS Tarot, Pirene’s Fountain, Friends Journal, and SWWIM. When not writing, she works for the Departments of English and History at Lewis & Clark College and helps run literary arts programs including Fir Acres Writing Workshop. Her previous collections include Hysterical Cake (Dancing Girl Press) and Night Hag (Unsolicited Press).
You can purchase Amy’s book at:
https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/skull
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Shawn Pittard, author of Witness, which was also a finalist in our annual chapbook contest last year.
Shawn is also the author of two other collections of poetry: Standing in the River, which won Tebot Bach’s Clockwise Chapbook Competition in 2010, and These Rivers from Rattlesnake Press. He’s been a coach for Poetry Out Loud and a California Poet in the Schools. Shawn taught recitation and writing in middle schools and high schools, in juvenile hall, as well as with veterans and the men in Folsom Prison. By day, he labored in the field of environmental protection, planning, and public policy, focusing on energy.
You can purchase Shawn’s book at:
https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/witness
If you’re interested in ordering various titles from today’s reading, I recommend ordering thru Bookshop (to easily combine the books into one shipment):
https://bookshop.org/shop/poetrybox