Melissa Huggins

Poetry In the Neighborhood

Melissa Huggins, Executive Director, Spokane Arts, No Phone Number Available

Friday, April 23, 2021 at 11:48 a.m.

Poetry In the Neighborhood

Welcome to a city full of poetry!

“In the Neighborhood” is a community-based project created by Spokane Poet Laureate Chris Cook and Spokane Arts to collect and share poetry exploring Spokane neighborhoods. Written by area residents past and present, of all ages and experience levels, the poems here each showcase unique perspectives on our city. Together they do one magical thing: share the many stories of our neighborhoods! All the poems shared by community members to date can be found at spokanepoetry.com, and for those who haven’t had a chance to participate yet, there’s a link on that page to submit your poem.

In honor of National Poetry Month this April, Spokane Arts commissioned a short video featuring eight community members reading their “In the Neighborhood” poems. The video was filmed, edited, and produced by local filmmaker Ira Dern (Darrien Mack) and Spokane Arts paid each poet a small stipend for taking the time to participate in this video project. The video was also supported by the Conference on College Composition and Communication; special thanks to SFCC professor Bradley Bleck.

Featured poets include:

  • Kailee Haong - Tightropes&Turkeys&Trying&Trying&Trying on Cliff Drive in the Cliff-Cannon neighborhood
  • Michael Bethely - I am Spokane outside Holy Temple Church of God in Christ in North Central Spokane
  • Chris Cook - Bones in Browne’s Addition
  • Ezeequal Michel - X?ast Sp?us in English and in Salish, near the Ben Burr Trail in Lincoln Heights
  • Eric Woodard - Traces outside the Garland Theater in the North Hill neighborhood
  • Louise Mills - Summer Ice Cream in Hamblen Park, in the Southgate neighborhood
  • Micah Orozco - Where Monroe Meets N Wall St in Shiloh Hills
  • Elissa Ball - South of St. Pat’s at Kehoe Park in Hillyard

Spokane-area community members can continue to submit poems to the project through the link in the project website at spokanepoetry.com.

Please note that by including these poems written by area residents, Spokane Arts is not endorsing the ideas expressed nor the authors themselves, but simply providing a space for community members to explore Spokane’s neighborhoods through poetry.

Questions? Email artshelper@spokanearts.org

More About...