After sharing her poetry with neighborhoods throughout the city, Seattle Poet Populist Pesha Joyce Gertler's one-year term will come to an end this September.
"Being Poet Populist has been the most personally fulfilling year of my professional life," she said. "It was a validation for many of my deepest values."
An established audience
Including Gertler, there were 12 nominees and three finalists in the running. The finalists read at Bumber-shoot last year and were voted on by the local community.
Gertler noted that she might have been voted in due to her experience as a teacher for more than 20 years. During that time, Gertler has heard from a number of her students who have been inspired by her teaching.
"What I have learned is that you don't have to be a professional to get the benefits of writing," she said. "Anyone who wants to can obtain those benefits."
Gertler teaches women's self-discovery through creative writing through the continuing-education department at North Seattle Community College in the fall and spring. She also teaches a creative-writing series for both men and women, through the college's humanities department in the winter.
Once every quarter at the community college, Gertler organizes a reading series for students, local writers and anyone in the community interested in participating. The next one, on June 2, will include a reading by Gwen Purdy, a student of Gertler's who will celebrate her 80th birthday.
Gertler also teaches at the University of Washington Women's Center, which nominated her as Poet Populist. There, she teaches different aspects of the writing craft.
"I've had the opportunity to go to so many places besides the campuses," added Gertler, who has visited assisted-living centers and shelters, among other places. "I absolutely love the privilege to take poetry to as many places as I can, particularly to people who do not have regular access to creative writing."
On occasion, Gertler has read her poems to the Seattle City Council before their meetings.
As Poet Populist, Gertler gives at least two or three poetry readings every month. "Poetry and literature belongs to the people," she said. "I think it's so important to take it outside."
Gertler noted that the position has opened many doors for her. "I wish there were 20 of me because there are so many places I would like to go every day," she said. "I think the main thing I've learned is that my values are shared."
Although her interest in writing began in grade school, Gertler was drawn to poetry after taking a class as an adult in the '60s. "I fell in love with poems, and I began publishing right away," she said, noting that she also keeps a journal and writes fiction.
She later earned a master's degree in creative writing from the University of Washington.
"I grew up in a large, extended family who loved stories," Gertler noted. "I think books became my best friends."
Next reading
In honor of April being National Poetry Month, Gertler will read some of her poetry on April 29 at the Downtown Library, 1000 Fourth Ave. One of the pieces she will present, "Sarah and Hagar" - which she wrote in the '80s and brought to Israel-Palestine in 1992 - is about Sarah, mother of the Hebrew people, and Hagar, mother of the Arab people.
"I think right now, we need to hope for peace now more than ever," Gertler said.
Drummer Simone La Drumma and flutist Esther Sugai will accompany the reading.
In addition to "Sarah and Hagar," Gertler has written several other poems on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I'm very committed to the dream of Israel," she said. "I'm very saddened by the way that dream has been desecrated in many ways, on both sides."
Gertler often writes about world conditions. "When I enter a poem, I enter the 'Mystery,'" Gertler noted. "It's a place where you transcend ordinary time and environment."
Gertler has also invited J.T. Stewart, Judith Roche and Koon Woon to read some of their works at the event.
"I tried to think of three people that fulfilled the populist notion," Gertler said. We are [all] concerned with a voice of the marginalized.
Stewart is a poet, writer, playwright and editor. She is also curator for the 2006 Writers in Residence program with Jack Straw Productions in the University District. She has also given several poetry readings over the years at North Seattle Community College for Black History Month.
Roche, a poet for about 30 years, is former literary arts director of Bumbershoot Literary Arts and author of Myrrh/My Life as a Screamer and Ghosts. She will share some poems from her forthcoming book, Wisdom of the Body.
Her work with the Seattle Arts Commissions Salmon in the City project can be found at the Ballard Locks. For the project, she wrote a number of poems that reflect her response to the endangered Chinook salmon. The poems can be read at the visitors center or heard where the fish are viewed.
Woon has been a poet in Seattle for at least 20 years and is the editor and publisher of Chrysanthemum Magazine, a literary arts magazine. He is also the author of The Truth in Rented Rooms, which contains a collection of his poetry.
Set to music
On May 30, the University of Washington Choral Singers will perform Gertlers poem The Healing Time (also known as On My Way to Yes), which has been set to music by a New York composer. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Meany Hall.
Jessica Davis writes about arts and entertainment for the Herald-Outlook. E-mail her at needitor @nwlink.com.
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