Thanks to a grant from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry and the support of NMLA as the fiscal agent for the grant, Michelle Holland organized a Poetry Immersion Week at McCurdy High School in Espanola, April 22-26. Students in Davita Ritchie and Thomas Ashman’s English classes had the opportunity to work with Rosalia Triana, Joan Logghe, Hakim Bellamy, and me for the week in order to prepare to present their poems at a public reading at the Espanola Library on Friday, April 26. Sixteen student poets performed their poetry to an audience of family, fellow students, teachers, and other supportive members of the community, including the principal of McCurdy, and Steve Schwartz, the director of the Witter Bynner Foundation grant program.
The poets who are working with the students during the week represent the best of contemporary New Mexico poetry. Hakim Bellamy is currently the Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, and a former member of a couple of slam teams that have made the national stage. His first book of poetry, Swear, was just published by West End Press. Joan Logghe is a former Poet Laureate of Santa Fe, and a long-time resident of La Puebla. Her most recent books are The Singing Bowl, University of New Mexico Press which was a finalist in three book awards, and Love & Death: Greatest Hits with Miriam Sagan and Renée Gregorio, Tres Chicas Books, which won a New Mexico Book Award. Rosalía Triana is a New Mexican-born theatre artist with a Master’s Degree in Teatro Chicana/o, and is co-founder of Española’s MainStreet Theatre. As director of the Theatre Program at NNMC, she specialized in directing plays by Chicana/o artists, emphasizing the poetic nature of Latino writing. And soon, MainStreet Theatre will continue with this work!!
Michelle Holland lives, writes, gardens, and runs in Chimayo, New Mexico. Her books include the collection “Event Horizon,” included in The Sound a Raven Makes (Tres Chicas Press), and Chaos Theory (Sin Fronteras Press). She is the treasurer of the New Mexico Literary Arts (NMLA) board, one of the poetry editors of the Sin Fronteras Journal, and an active member of the board of New Mexico CultureNet. She currently teaches English at Los Alamos High School.
The poets who are working with the students during the week represent the best of contemporary New Mexico poetry. Hakim Bellamy is currently the Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, and a former member of a couple of slam teams that have made the national stage. His first book of poetry, Swear, was just published by West End Press. Joan Logghe is a former Poet Laureate of Santa Fe, and a long-time resident of La Puebla. Her most recent books are The Singing Bowl, University of New Mexico Press which was a finalist in three book awards, and Love & Death: Greatest Hits with Miriam Sagan and Renée Gregorio, Tres Chicas Books, which won a New Mexico Book Award. Rosalía Triana is a New Mexican-born theatre artist with a Master’s Degree in Teatro Chicana/o, and is co-founder of Española’s MainStreet Theatre. As director of the Theatre Program at NNMC, she specialized in directing plays by Chicana/o artists, emphasizing the poetic nature of Latino writing. And soon, MainStreet Theatre will continue with this work!!
Michelle Holland lives, writes, gardens, and runs in Chimayo, New Mexico. Her books include the collection “Event Horizon,” included in The Sound a Raven Makes (Tres Chicas Press), and Chaos Theory (Sin Fronteras Press). She is the treasurer of the New Mexico Literary Arts (NMLA) board, one of the poetry editors of the Sin Fronteras Journal, and an active member of the board of New Mexico CultureNet. She currently teaches English at Los Alamos High School.
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