BILL RANSOM AND DAN PETERS—PRESENT, PAST, & FUTURE

—30 YEARS OF BEGINNINGS, TO READ AT THE ELLIOTT BAY BOOKSTORE

The Elliott Bay Bookstore Reading with Bill Ransom, Dan Peters and myself this coming Wednesday January 27, 2010 at 7 pm, represents 30 years of poetry publishing by Blue Begonia Press.

Bill and Dan represent continuous red threads during these three decades and their work shows the prophetic roles of poetry that keep it timeless and visceral.

My role will be to read two jelly poems, one for each of them, connecting them to all that is timeless and true.

Bill Ransom was one of my first writing mentors and I printed and published his chapbook Last Call as one of my apprenticeship tasks of our early beginnings. These poems are included in Bill’s new book, The Woman and the War Baby. Bill and I share common threads and images in our writing and personal lives, including Latin America, war, and El Salvador.

Dan Peters, a sHADoWmark, was the first person to ever pin an entire manuscript to the Poetry Pole in the garden at Blue Begonia Press. Surprised at its presence, I removed it from the Pole and sat on the lawn to thumb through it. I read the entire manuscript in one setting and made the immediate decision to publish what became Dan’s first book. Down the Road the Children Go is Dan’s third book with Blue Begonia Press. Down the Road the Children Go displays the rich mixture of prophecy, poetry and celebration when lived and mixed through family relationships and love.

When I read the jelly poem introducing Dan to The Elliott Bay audience, I will also be introducing the new editor and publisher of Blue Begonia Press. Dan and his wife Amy will become the new editors and publishers of Blue Begonia Press with Dan’s selection of the next book to be published by the Press.

Amy Peters brings professional design credentials along with her passion and commitment for doing so.

During the thirty years that Karen and I have run the press, we have learned from, and grown with, every poet and artist who has contributed to the enrichment of poetry in our world. William Blake says, “Dream dreams, see visions, speak in parables.” Please join us Wednesday evening and help us do that.

There will be jelly and crackers for your jelly. This isn’t the jelly our mothers taught us to make. Still, it makes way-making possible.

Bill Ransom and Dan Peters. Wednesday. The Elliott Bay Bookstore. 7 pm.

Join us.

Jim Bodeen

22 January 2010