When you think of poetry, what do you imagine? Whether it’s an image of one person standing on a stage or a writer looking questionably wistful as they write alone, The Salish Sea Poetry Festival can help to reshape your perspective on poetry.
Scheduled for Nov. 7-9, the festival takes place all over downtown Bellingham, with stops including the Pickford Film Center, Structures Brewing and Boulevard Park. The Salish Sea Poetry Festival organizers hope to bring people together from different backgrounds to listen, perform and appreciate poetry.
In Bellingham, the poetry community is vast, spanning across all different ages and demographics. Poetry is something that links artists in the Bellingham and Whatcom communities, and the organizers of the Salish Sea Poetry Festival understand this and hope to embrace it.
“I want poetry to be available to people … I think it helps create human connection,” Elizabeth Vignali, organizer of the festival, said.
Vignali has been working on the idea of a Bellingham poetry festival for about five years. She started with a poetry reading series in her home, where a group of people would meet to share poetry. Her home poetry series was small, however, and was by invitation only.
“I really wanted something that was available to everyone in the community,” Vignali said.
Aiyana Masla, one of the many poets performing at the festival, discussed the community impact she believes this festival could have as an out of state poet and author.
“Many of us are craving and needing and hungry for opportunities to slow down and be present,” Masla said.
Masla went on to say that poetry is a way for people to experience wonder, and notice the awe and beauty around them, she explained the ways poetry connected to her on an emotional level.
“When I read a really incredible poem, I know it because I feel suddenly changed. I feel physically, somatically tingly, teary, or somewhat altered,” said Masla.
With the hope of mental rejuvenation and social connection, there’s also the wonder of new experiences.
Though emotional connection to poetry can be found through reading, listening and writing, it can also be found through performing, something Zoey Sheffield will get to experience.
Sheffield, a senior at Western Washington University and the daughter of Washington state Poet Laureate Derrick Sheffield, will get to celebrate a new experience as she performs with her father. Sheffield’s father has performed her poetry on her behalf in the past, but this festival will be the first time they’ve shared the stage as performers.
For Sheffield, writing poetry at a young age has helped her as a university student.
“I can always use it to express something that I can’t express any other way … and also creating community with other students,” Sheffield said.
Masla also discussed her use of poetry in the writing of her book “Underdream.”
“This book came through as medicine as part of my treatment plan … poetry was vital in how I engaged with one of the hardest chapters I’ve lived through,” she said.
Poetry for many can be a lifeline, a way to engage with oneself and others. It’s a theme Vignali and the team hope to bring to the community as they get ready for the festival.
“I really want poetry to be available to people, I think it's one of the few ways we can
achieve transcendence in just three minutes. If you just take three minutes to really read a
poem aloud or listen to a poem read aloud, it takes you to a place that you can't achieve otherwise,” Vignali said.
Vignali and the rest of the team working on the Salish Sea Poetry Festival are hoping to open a space for creatives to come and experience art with one another. For Vignali and the team, this festival is a way to do that. More information can be found online through the organization's social media pages.
“There’s kind of poetry everywhere. I hope that it will just enhance everyone’s life that they’re already living,” Vignali said. “That’s what art should make you do … look around, really think, really just feel for a little while.”
Dylan Taasan (he/him) is a City Life reporter this quarter for The Front. This is his first quarter working on The Front and his third year at Western. A pre-major in the visual journalism program Dylan is working towards becoming a visual journalism major. In his free time Dylan loves spending time with his friends and loved ones, playing guitar, taking photos and cooking. You can reach him at dylantaasan.thefront@gmail.com
