PoMotion Welcomes Lance M. Loder

Lance M. Loder died last October after a 20 year battle with chronic illness and with the assistance of the Aurora Bridge in Seattle, Washington.

I  first heard Lance’s work read in May 2010 by his friend, to whom he left all of his poetry and writings, Christian Swenson.  I was mezmorized by Swenson’s reading of ‘Scissors’, a poem PoMotion featured earlier this month.  A few emails later, Swenson agreed to the idea of adding Lance as a posthumous contributor to our poetry blog.

Swenson is currently working to build a website, one that will bring to light the vision that Loder had for his writing.   The website will include a large body of Loder’s work.  Loder’s plan was to divide the mass of his poetry (of which there is a profound amount) into books within the collection of Coyote University.  He was planning that each year would have two books, one of lyrics and one of haiku, the contents in chronological order of composing.

In the spirit of the eternal life that writing can offer, we are honored to cross the boundaries of life and death and post Lance’s work.  The work we will feature spans from about March 2009 until just a week before his death.

Learn more about Lance.  Read his poem ‘Beware, Now’ and visit his bio page.

Posted by Sue Zalokar

PoMotion Welcomes Meredith Reese

Meredith Reese is creating ripples in Portland.  In the early stages of the 21st Century, in a town with a long history of radical organizing, Meredith is carrying on a torch of activism that has been passed down from one generation to the next in Portland for many years. She has set a tone for organizing, working to both educate the community and bring a diverse set of activist together through the PDX Peace Coalition and through organizing for workers rights with the May Day Coalition.

vocescubanas.com

Meredith also writes for the Socialist Worker, a newspaper and website with a long history of reporting news of everyday people from around the globe.  Meridith is a working class poet. A Yale graduate who has studied poetry from both an academic perspective and from working in the trenches of urban America.

PoMotion: production of poetry is happy to welcome her to our ongoing project!

Read Meredith’s poem ‘May Day‘ and visit her bio page to learn more.

Posted by Israel Bayer

PoMotion welcomes Julie McCurdy

Since Julie McCurdy was first published in Street Roots in March of 2009, her experiences and writing has affected the way Portlanders view homelessness. Street Roots covers many aspects of poverty, from many different perspectives.  Personal narratives married to hard-hitting journalism is one of the key elements to keeping Street Roots interesting and engaged in shaping the future of a city. Julie’s narrative and poetry help formulate that magic— to actual have a voice, and to create change.

I don’t say any of this lightly.

In “Notes on becoming an urban gypsy,” Julie writes one of the more scary and insightful pieces on becoming homeless for the first time.  The column rattled me. I was instantly a fan.

“Cries of solidarity,” ran in several street newspapers around the globe and became a rallying cry for homeless and housing activists around the country. It’s a beautiful and inspiring piece.

Julie’s words are magic.  They so often capture the crossroads, where the dark meets the light. Julies tells of a world that holds little logic or resolutions. Yet she endures. Many do. Refusing to retreat. Holding the line. Not only standing up and demanding to be heard, but doing it with a beautiful passion that refuses not to be ignored.

PoMotion is very happy to welcome Julie to the blog. Her poetry, like her column is beautiful and sincere, tragic and thought provoking. Check out her first poem, “The Legacy,” and visit her bio page to learn more.

By Israel Bayer

Write On!

PoMotion: production of poetry has launched a new page on the blog:  Write On!

It is here that we will feature the ‘first’ poems of artists, of all ages, in the hopes that their love of writing will flourish and they will know what it feels like to be heard.

The first post, A Young Child, is the work of a young, Native American writer, Vivica Goodlance.