April is Poetry Month, which is appropriate for us since we recently announced the winners of the Artsmith poetry contest, plus we're getting ready to co-produce A River & Sound Review on May 31st at the Orcas Center with a performance featuring our contest winners, and judge, Marvin Bell.  Jay Bates is the founder and host of this lively literary variety show.  In honor of poetry month, and in eager anticipation of the the show, below is one of my favorite poems by Bell.

These Green-Going-to-Yellow

This year, I'm raising the emotional ante, putting my face in the leaves to be stepped on, seeing myself among them, that is; that is, likening leaf-vein to artery, leaf to flesh, the passage of a leaf in autumn to the passage of autumn, branch-tip and winter spaces to possibilities, and possibility to God. Even on East 61st Street in the blowzy city of New York, someone has planted a gingko because it has leaves like fans like hands, hand-leaves, and sex. Those lovely Chinese hands on the sidewalks so far from delicacy or even, perhaps, another gender of gingko-- do we see them? No one ever treated us so gently as these green-going-to-yellow hands fanned out where we walk. No one ever fell down so quietly and lay where we would look when we were tired or embarrassed, or so bowed down by humanity that we had to watch out lest our shoes stumble, and looked down not to look up until something looked like parts of people where we were walking. We have no experience to make us see the gingko or any other tree, and, in our admiration for whatever grows tall and outlives us, we look away, or look at the middles of things, which would not be our way if we truly thought we were gods. Marvin Bell

This week the recipients of the Artsmith Artist Residency are "in residence" at Kangaroo House Bed & Breakfast.  Tonight is an opportunity for the public to meet the artists who hail from across the country, and listen to the writers share their memoir, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry works.  The artists hope to hear some of our local writers during the open mic following the reading.

The residency began last Friday, and the artists have had a very productive week so far.  They've enjoyed the space and time to be creative, as well as exploring Orcas Island.  Excursions to the beach, Moran State Park, Darvill's Bookstore, the Office Cupboard, and many of Orcas' fine restaurants have kept the artists inspired, well supplied, and well fed.  The sun, wind, and rain have also contributed to give those artists who aren't from Orcas a taste of island weather in the spring.

One artist, who comes from Red Wing, Minnesota, was delighted to see flowers and warm temperatures after leaving ten degrees below temperatures last week.  We're grateful she didn't bring Minnesota weather with her!