RASP: Redmond Association of Spokenword
Celebrating literary arts and poetry in Redmond for more than 20 years
RASP was founded in 1997 to promote literary arts and activities in Redmond, Washington, and the surrounding area. We meet on the last Friday of each month, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Open mic signup begins at 6:30 PM. RASP also holds a monthly writing critique group at the Redmond Regional Library on the second Tuesday of each month from 6:30 PM to 8:45 PM. All events are free. Please join us!.
Coming This Month
Rose Ramm Gamble (poet)—September 28, 2018
Signup starts at 6:30 PM; reading/open mic starts at 7:00 PM
Rose Ramm Gamble is a corn-fed Nebraska revolutionary. A veteran of the Midwest punk scene and wannabe mystic of Catholic heritage, her dogma descends mostly from Beatles lyrics. Curriculum vitae: taught English, leads a theater costume team, and once served Kenny Loggins a Shakespearian minstrel song and an ollalaberry muffin. When Rose stomps out her poetry, it's a shaman journey through social justice covens, parochial school studios, redneck trailer parks, therapy couches, mosh pits, Satsang meditations, and briars of shiny black berries, ripe for the picking.
MC—Michael Heavener
Special News:
New location starting in September 2018—
Redmond Heights Senior Living
You may have seen our new location as you turn left from Redmond Way onto Willows Road. We're going to meet in the Atrium at the Redmond Heights Senior Living—no kidding—from now on. The staff is welcoming us with open arms and wants us to feel like it is our home. They see this as an opportunity to give back to the community, and make RASP's unique blend of literature, poetry, and participation available to their resident (including former featured readers Mary Whittington and Winnie Jaeger).
To get to our new location, there are two entrances. From doenntown Redmond, turn left from Redmond Way almost immediately after you cross the bridge over the slough and then drive north until you see the building with the large columns out front. Or from Kirkland, turn right onto Willows Road and go about a quarter mile. Then turn right into the driveway and head south to the columns. The google map is here, or look at the Redmond Height website.
Mark your calendars for these dates, too!
Featured readers for 2018
Kevin J. O’Conner (poet)—October 26, 2018
Signup starts at 6:30 PM; reading/open mic starts at 7:00 PM
Kevin J. O’Conner, according to his phone’s auto-complete function, "is a poet who is not sure what he does, but doesn’t have any other way to make sure he has a more appropriate experience with his own story." This is not far from the truth. What Kevin is sure of is that his latest poetry collection is The Lilac Years. You can also read his blog, "Ordinary Average Thoughts," at https://ordinaryaveragethoughts.com/. Kevin lives near Seattle with his cat, Trixie, who likes to sit on top of the refrigerator.
MC—TBD
Kate Walton (storyteller)—November 30, 2018
MC—Michael Dylan Welch
Laura Lee Bennett (poetry and fiction)—December 28, 2018
Featured readers for 2019
Melanie Noel (Redmond poet laureate)—January 25, 2019
Melanie Noel is the author of The Monarchs (Stockport Flats, 2013) and The Ringing, a chapbook forthcoming from Goodmorning Menagerie. Her poems have also appeared in Thermos, Spiral Orb, Weekday, The Volta, and The Arcadia Project. She’s written poems for installations and as live scores for short films. She was a co-curator of the dance, music, and poetry series “Apostrophe,” and curated “Impala,” a reading series that took place in her grandmother’s car. She’s taught classes in parks, schools, hospitals, and community centers (lovepossum.com/teaching.html), and enjoys doing creative engagement work with older adults who have memory loss (www.melanienoel.com). She’s honored to serve as Redmond’s poet laureate for 2018–2020.
MC—Michael Dylan Welch
