02 Nov Talking Gourds: Bardic Trails (virtual) Featuring Two Dine Poets, 11/5!
Talking Gourds announces the Bardic Trails virtual poetry series continues with Zoey McKenzie and Milton Bluehouse Jr. Event takes place Tuesday, November 5, 7 pm MT.
No longer needing to register with the library, participants are encouraged to visit here to get the zoom link each month, if they aren’t already on the mailing list.
Bardic Trails is a project of the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry Program, in collaboration with Telluride’s Wilkinson Public Library.
Go here for more about Talking Gourds.
The Bardic Trails virtual poetry series is proud to welcome Zoey McKenzie of Las Cruces (NM) and Milton Bluehouse, Jr., of the Navajo Nation as the featured readers. The event takes place Tuesday, November 5, 7 pm MT. Enjoy poetry from two fine Diné poets while we all wait election results.
Zoey McKenzie (formerly Benally) is a poet from Shiprock, who has recently moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico. She has worked for many years as a veterinarian in public health, enjoys watching fast zombie movies with her cat and hiking with her two dogs. Go to saaniidotcom.blogspot.com to read more of Zoey’s poems.
Zoey McKenzie
“Zoey and I have been friends and have read together for over two decades,” said Talking Gourds Director Art Goodtimes. “Most recently at the Writing for Resilience celebration run by Lisa C. Taylor in the spring of 2022 and sponsored by the Mancos Public Library, Colorado Creative Industries and the National Endowment for the Arts. We are delighted to have her performing for us again.”
A 2004 graduate of the University of Wisconsin/Madison Law School with a Juris Doctorate, Bluehouse focused on corporate and business law, federal Indian law, and constitutional law. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 2000 with degrees in History and Political Science, with minor studies in Federal Indian Law and Judaic Studies. He also pursued his MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Credit, Talking Gourds.
Son of a former Navajo leader and Tribal Chair, Bluehouse has spent the last 28 years working in tribal, federal, and state inter-governmental relations, including facilitating and mediating multiple Indian Country issues, as well as providing government relations training for federal and state agencies, private corporations, and non-governmental organizations. He is an avid hunter, rancher, and poet.
Next month’s featured poet will be our 2024 Fischer Cantor judge Juan Morales of Colorado College.
The Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds Poetry Program hosts the Bardic Trails virtual zoom series on the first Tuesday of each month. The Wilkinson Public Library continues as our collaboration partner and fiscal agent, with town support from Commission for Community Assistance, Arts & Special Events.
This month current San Miguel County Poet Laureate Joanna Yonder recommends as prompt: “What Goes Up Must Come Down” — if any participant should desire a prompt.
Other Talking Gourds projects include the Stories & Poems Norwood live reading series in collaboration with the Lone Cone Library on the third Wednesday of every month; the Stories & Poems Naturita in collaboration with the Naturita Community Library on the third Sunday of every month; the national Fischer Poetry Prize contest and the state/national Cantor Poetry Prize contest (both now closed until April); the Western Slope Poet Laureate award in collaboration with Grand Junction’s Center of the Arts (given every two years); the San Miguel County Poet Laureate collaboration (given every two years); the annual Karen Chamberlain lifetime achievement award given in collaboration with the Mountain Words Festival of Crested Butte; and the MycoLicious MycoLuscious MycoLogical Poetry Show in conjunction with the annual Telluride Mushroom Festival.
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