LiTFUSE may be cancelled, but it's not over!
Dear LiTFUSiANs,
We are so sorry to announce that Tieton Arts & Humanities has made the difficult decision to cancel LiTFUSE this year due to financial issues. However, a team of poets and dreamers have united in the spirit of poetry and a love for this community to organize an alternative and free gathering in Yakima on Friday and Saturday, September 22 & 23. Although this is a FREE event, please register below so we can plan for your arrival.
For poets and poetry,
Your LiTFUSE Muses
September 22-23, 2023

FREE POETS GATHERiNG
Friday, September 22
5:30pm: Faculty Readings – Circle of Sonnets Feature, Bradfield & Cavazos
6pm: Sign up for Slam 4 Page Poets
6:15-8pm: Slam 4 Page Poets
Saturday, September 23
8-9am: Check in at Registration Table
Session #1: Saturday @ 9-10:15am
Bradfield – Exploring Erasure & Found Poems
What makes a “good” or “real” erasure or found poem? In this workshop, we’ll examine works by Mary Rufle, Layli Longsoldier, Nick Flynn, and Muriel Rukeyser, and more to consider…
Cavazos – Off the Page, Onto the Stage: The Art of Performance
Does approaching the mic make your knees wobble? Are audience members scrolling their phones while you read? In this workshop participants will learn the art of reading a poem aloud.…
Whitcomb – Manuscript Architecture: A-Frame, Pile, Geodesic Dome, Space Station
How do you build your poetry manuscript? What are some girders and guides to see your way to a cohesive vision for your book? I will discuss how my three…
Session #2: Saturday @ 10:45am-12pm
Denner – Meditation and the Art of Poetry
Art is meditation, meditation is art. Can mindfulness meditation be useful in the creation of poetry? As a Buddhist lama in the Dzogchen tradition, I have developed a poetics based…
Bradfield – “Othering” the Nature Poem
How might class, race, gender, and sexuality infuse our “nature writing?” We will look at “socialized nature poems” that allow identity to hold space with biological and cultural accuracy. We…
Welch – Haiku Targets
An overview of haiku fundamentals, and their misunderstandings, and how a literary understanding of haiku and its aesthetics can benefit the writing of any kind of poetry or fiction. Many…
1:20-2pm: Faculty Readings: Welch, Whitcomb, Keith, Denner
Session #3: Saturday @ 2:15-3:30pm
Cavazos – Radical Revision: Release the Energy
What do you do with a poem that lies lifeless on the page, clearly in need of resuscitation? In this workshop participants will learn to identify the energy in a…
Keith – Ekphrasis and Epistolary
Images conjure memories and emotions, but who do you tell? How do you frame the moment, the conversation between a piece of art and an unknown person? Recreating a gallery…
Welch – Our Endless and Proper Work: Learning Attention from Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver’s “Instructions for living a life” were to pay attention, be astonished, and tell about it. This inspirational talk for writers of all experience levels covers her key poems…
3:30-4pm: Book Selling & Signing
5-10pm: LiTFUSE Dinner & After-Party at Jen Lynn’s home