Remembering Freddy: A Long-Lost Love Revealed

During the song “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen, I bumped into a writer friend, Maria McLeod. “Ready Freddy!” she shouted, “Freddy! That was the name of my secret crush!” This comment got my attention. I too had a secret crush in school. She shared her story, and I shared mine. We each had a long-lasting crush on someone for years, never told anyone. Please welcome, first-time guest blogger to Madrona Grove, Maria McLeod

Christmas Eve Walk

The legs of the pier were standing on the sky.  The bay water thick, and the activity of what plays in it a mystery to my eye.  Clouds and patches of blue, just fainting from the late afternoon, spread over the waves.  Sky dancing on the SeaVarious sea fowl floated along, feet paddle as rudders,ContinueContinue reading “Christmas Eve Walk”

International Peace Poets

The Bellingham Poets for Peace Read-In! Write-On! Event is pleased to announce the confirmed international speakers:Candice James,Duke Ashrafuzzaman, Bernice Lever, Max TellBong Ja Ahn, Lilija Valis, Janet Kvammen, Farina Reinprecht, and Una Brauhns.Referring to this collaboration of Canadian poets and American,Farina said it best, “We are a team” ***

Event: Read-In! Write-On!

Some local poet and writer friends are organizing a World Peace Read-in! and Write-on! It will be held on Saturday, November 9, 2013 from 2 PM to 8 or 9 pm. at 910-14th Street (St. James Presbyterian Church). There will be an opening and welcome reception at 2 pm. People will be welcome to comeContinueContinue reading “Event: Read-In! Write-On!”

Poetry: September Bellingham

Down the hill my city sitsWaves nip at its hairFreeway scratches the bellyMountains hold down its hipLow mist rolled in early,refuses to leave this coveDown into the clouds I walk,floating up into a subdued worldHere exhales are marked,Talk can be seenSun baths buildings in a peach-warm glowas it fights the floating moisturethat crowns my September BellinghamNoon-thirty,visibility stillContinueContinue reading “Poetry: September Bellingham”

Poetry: Robert Lashley

“Boards occupy a space between the mind andthe construction of the temporal. Cadences.” R.LashleyRobert Lashley Robert Lashley Robert LashleyLace covered lamp shade winksAs you walk toward the micCeiling fan squeaks approval of your presence Coffee shop poets snap anticipationAs your hand finds your poemIn a notebook of poemsNoble Prince of PoetryRoyal Performer of WordsNational ManagerContinueContinue reading “Poetry: Robert Lashley”

Artist Profile/B’ham Herald

Artist Profile Interview from June 2013

By MARGARET BIKMAN — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Shannon Laws, photo credit Cheryl Ford, 2013

Shannon P. Laws was born in Seattle and raised in Federal Way, where, she says, “as a teenager I learned that when a guy from Auburn asks you out on a date, he will most likely pick you up in a stolen car.”

Almost 8

Morning offering of beer bottles gather on the last step laid over, laid up, slept past last callMy coffee in too small a cup sits with me at a table that limpsConstruction worker walks from sandwich shop to truck, early enough for the dirty professions, still too early for the clean, those bleached-sterile by fluorescent preserved in recycled airTrash inContinueContinue reading “Almost 8”

Seagulls- 1, Crows- 0

Bellingham is an interesting place to live.  If you do not agree, I recommend an early walk around the neighborhood.  Remnants of our lively nightlife are evident in the early hours.  Left overs like a cigarette butt nest of empty beer bottles near the last step of an apartment building, and used rubbers, hint toContinueContinue reading “Seagulls- 1, Crows- 0”

Whatcom Creek Fire

On June 10, 1999, around 3:25 P.M., a 16-inch fuel line owned by the Olympic Pipe Line Company ruptured spilling over 277,000 gallons of gasoline into Whatcom Creek.  The volatile fuel explodes killing three people.  The massive fireball sent smoke 30,000 feet into the air, visible from Anacortes to Vancouver! One and a half milesContinueContinue reading “Whatcom Creek Fire”