City of Edmonds - Washington

The second annual call for short poetry that links the reader to our unique Northwest region was met with over a hundred submissions, which were reviewed anonymously by a panel of five judges. Six poems by Puget Sound area writers were selected, along with three poems by Edmonds School District students. The poems will be displayed April through next March here on this web gallery, as well as posters in the Frances Anderson Center, City of Edmonds Neighborhood Office and on various park fences.

Amanda Hawk started writing poetry in grade school. Her early work was published in A Small Pond of Literature, Cranial Tempest, and Roar Shock. Her later work has been published in Volney Road Review, Drunk Monkeys Literary Journal, Anti-Heroin Chic, the winnow magazine, borrowed solace, The Raven Review, Eye to the Telescope, Feels Blind Literary magazine, with an upcoming publication in Sad Girl Review.

Susan Landgraf’s Crossings was just published by Ravenna Press as part of its Triple series. She was awarded an Academy of American Poets’ Laureate award in 2020, which resulted in a book of Muckleshoot Indian poetry. Landgraf’s other books include The Inspired Poet, What We Bury Changes the Ground, and Other Voices. More than 400 poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Margie, Nimrod, Third Wednesday, Calyx, Rattle, and others. She served as Poet Laureate of Auburn, Washington, from 2018 to 2020.

Roan McAuley is a senior at Edmond’s Meadowdale High School. McAuley’s writing has been featured in his school’s publication, Unmasked Magazine, with both poetry and prose works. McAuley was awarded Second Place for Student Prose in EPIC Group Writer’s 2022 Writing Contest.

Aryn Pauline McElhose has lived in the Pacific Northwest for 19 years, which inspires much of her writing. She is an enthusiastic writer, citing a love of writing since childhood and is working on her first book of poetry and a fiction partly based in Washington state. She is the mother of a 14 year-old son and a 4 year-old daughter, and enjoys hiking around the Pacific Northwest with her family, foraging for wild food, and taking in all the unique sites they visit.

Seattle poet Susan Rich has authored seven books including: Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected Poems as well as Cloud Pharmacy, The Alchemist’s Kitchen, Cures Include Travel and The Cartographer's Tongue. Her poetry has earned awards from Fulbright Foundation, PEN USA, and T.L.S. Susan’s poems appear in the New England Review, Image Journal, and Poetry Northwest among other places. Susan is co-editor of: Demystifying the Manuscript: Creating a Book of Poems. Her next book, Blue Atlas is forthcoming from Red Hen Press. She teaches at Highline College and directs Poets on the Coast: A Writing Retreat for Women.

Annabelle Yenter is a senior at Edmonds Meadowdale High School and a running start student at Shoreline Community College. Yenter loves to write and has a great passion for the arts. She is a leader of a school band, president of the book club, and is the chief editor of Meadowdale High School Unmasked Magazine.

Poet's Perspective Youth Poetry

This year's Poet's Perspective program included a Youth Program for writers ages 8 to 17 years. Approximately 20 entries were submitted and anonymously reviewed by a panel of five judges.