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PORT ANGELES – A variety of Indigenous writers from across the Northern Olympic Peninsula will participate in a public poetry slam – available free online – on Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday.
This event just might “help everyone better understand our communities,” said K’Ehleyr McNulty, the poet and staff at the Port Angeles library.
The 7 p.m. poetry slam will be streamed live via Zoom, with the link provided on NOLS.org and on the North Olympic Library System’s Facebook page.
Six writers from the poetry group Native Voices, led by poet-teachers Alice Derry and Kate Reavey, are expected to compete in the slam – which is different from a poetry read. A slam is a competition between oral artists who recite their work, often with dramatic flourishes.
The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Poetry Slam is recommended for viewers and listeners aged 13 and over, with parental discretion advised.
“It’s going to be powerful,” said Leslie Briggance, public services manager at NOLS. The poetry of the evening “can be deep. It can be hard to hear. But it is important to make the voices of indigenous people heard.
McNulty, for his part, said the Native Voices group has been a source of inspiration. The poets meet once a month on Zoom, and “these sessions are invigorating, healing and loving,” she said.
A member of the Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation, whose traditional lands are in California, she brought together poets from the Lower Elwha Klallam, Makah and Colville tribes, among others, for Monday’s online rally. Attendees include Brenda Francis-Thomas, Anika Stephan, David Carney and John Pritchard, while library staff Briggance and Jennifer LuBecke will be the hosts.
With each participant reciting for about three minutes, there will be room for more indigenous voices, McNulty added. Tribe members interested in participating in the live streamed slam can email them at [email protected] – “or they can bring their poetry to the session and let us know they want to read, in the chat,” she said.
“The only requirement is that they be native poets. ”
McNulty will serve as judge during the slam; it will also recruit additional judges from the public. Together, they will select the winner of the slam, who will receive a $ 50 gift card to Port Book and News in Port Angeles. The winner will be announced later next week.
The event is part of a program that the Peninsula College participates in in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day. Magic of Cinema, Studium Generale, House of Learning, Peninsula College Longhouse and The Native Poets Group join NOLS in poetry slam. Island Road screenings and a discussion on climate change are also planned.
Local groups of library friends lent their support to this first poetic slam of Indigenous Peoples Day. For more information on the program, visit www.nols.org, e-mail
[email protected], or call 360-417-8500.
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Jefferson County Senior Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or [email protected]
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