Katie Eberhart - Writing and Poetry

Solstice Light

Katie Eberhart, Writer and Poet

For 28 years, my husband and I lived in the same house in southcentral Alaska, a place where I saw many changes in the garden and forest, mountains and rivers. I learned what long-time residents already knew, that autumn is signified when fireweed blooms reach the top of the stalk and highbush cranberries effuse a stinky-sock scent. I learned that a field not mowed becomes forest in just a few years and that unpruned lilacs drop enough seeds to grow a green carpet of sprouts the next spring.

The many years of observing nature in Alaska led me to examine how I decide what to write and what makes a memorable essay or poem, and to apply to the Rainier Writing Workshop MFA program. In 2010, I earned my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Recently we moved to Bend, Oregon, on the eastern and dry side of the Cascades, the high desert country (3,623 feet elevation), where I am painting the inside of the house light colors and working on a collection of Arctic poems.

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2012
Book Review: FIRE ON HER TONGUE: An eBook Anthology of Contemporary Women’s Poetry edited by Kelli Russell Agodon and Annette Spaulding-Convy / from Two Sylvias Press Selfishness was what I had in mind when I began reading Fire On Her Tongue, not because I expected to find egoistic poets but because I wanted to escape my own concerns. I intended to immerse myself in the ideas, forms, words, and language of poetry by women. I hoped for a panoply of experience—sadness and happiness, loss, love, ritual, and absurdity—wrapped in innovation, fragile pairings, and surprising meanderings. Fire On Her Tongue is a major collection of poems by women who deftly navigate the fine-lined nets of moments and times, like Gloria Burgess’ “The Open Door” (epigraph: for my ancestors and our children). . . Read the rest of the review on Rattle, Poetry for the 21st Century . . .
Upcoming presentations and workshops: Poetry workshop last week of March at the Palmer Senior Center, Palmer, Alaska, sponsored by the Palmer Arts Council. The Nature of Words, Bend, Oregon: journal-writing workshops for high school students during April. Northwest Poets' Concord, Newport, Oregon: Writing Workshop--Landscape to Mindscape, Finding Your Writing Territory (May 6) ASLE Off-Year Regional Symposium, Juneau, AK June 14-17: Presentation The Search for Meaning--Writing from the Volunteer Experience.
Recent Work, Projects, and Expeditions:
2011
*Facets, a poem. Cirque, Winter Solstice 2011, Vol.3, No.1.*
*Arctic Rush* -- Experiences with the Students on Ice Arctic 2011 Expedition. The Frontiersman, Palmer, Alaska. Sept. 1, 2011. "Blue whales on starboard" coming from the loudspeakers brought everyone hurrying on deck. The ship slowed and turned and we watched the whales' leathery-looking fins and thick backs slide above the gray-green water. . .
Writer and Economist on the Students on Ice, Arctic 2011 Expedition (Worked with students on Mock Arctic Council exercise and journal-writing workshops. Also started the daily on-ship poetry contest.)
The Fragrance of Memory, an essay *Rehabilitation, a poem Cirque, Summer Solstice 2011, Vol.2, No. 2.*
*Honorable Mentions:* The Place Where You Go to Listen and Aurora received Honorable Mentions in the Fairbanks Arts Association Statewide Poetry Contest. May 2011.
Poetry Workshop. Palmer Senior Center. March 23, 30 and April 6, 2011.	See The Frontiersman: Poetry workshop brings seniors out of their shells
*Reading Haiku:* Festival and Fundraiser for Palmer's Sister City, Saroma Japan. April 3, 2011.
Presentation: Radioactive Milk Controversy in Palmer, A Cold War Issue. Palmer Historical Society March meeting. (PHS March 2011 Newsletter)
Tower Tales. Featured poem at Palmer Arts Council Annual Meeting, Feb. 19, 2011.
Read from Cabin Fever at the Cirque First Friday Event - Feb. 4, 2011, MTS Gallery, Anchorage, Alaska.
*Judge.* Poetry Out Loud Contest. Mat-Su Borough, Alaska. Feb. 2, 2011.	See The Frontiersman: First area ‘Poetry Out Loud’ contest brings out the best from local teens.
2010
Cabin Fever. "Cirque," Winter Solstice 2010, Vol. 2 No. 1 (76).
Participated in the Palmer Arts Council's Poetry Month Events (April 2010) including a featured poet at the Palmer Poetry Month Sunday at 2:00 Program and co-editor/layout designer of Voices Between Mountains poetry anthology. In April 2009, I was a "street reader" for the Palmer Arts Council poetry walk.
Book reviews. Tarpaulin Sky Press web site. The Russian Version, Elena Fanailova Language Death Night Outside, Poem Novel, Peter Waterhouse Primeval and Other Times, Olga Tokarczuk Griffin, Albert Goldbarth
A 49 Writers post by Peggy Shumaker regarding Rainier Writing Workshop students and graduates who come from Alaska. Volunteer with the Alaska Bird Observatory for two weeks at a remote camp in the Yukon Flats Wildlife Refuge (June 2010). See photos and description of the rusty blackbird study on the ABO web site.
2009 and earlier:
Artsmith Artist Resident (January 2009), Eastsound on Orcas Island, Washington state. Open Studio and Open Mic, January 26, 2009. . . . For a couple years, I consistently posted photographs and observations -- some of my favorites: garden 2006 and mountains 2006 and of course Solsticelight.com is my writing. . . . From the Archives (isn't the Internet fun?): Survey of Greenhouse and Nursery Production in Alaska, 1982, Kathryn Eberhart, Agricultural Economist and Catherine Wright, Horticulturist. Alaska Division of Agriculture. February 1984.

Page updated February 13, 2012

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