Rena Priest is a poet , non-fiction writer , and an enrolled member of the Lhaq ’ temish ( Lummi ) Nation . She is also the recipient of the Vadon Foundation Fellowship ( 2020 ), and an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award ( 2020 ). She has attended residencies at Hedgebrook , Mineral School , and Hawthornden Castle .
Her collection , “ Patriarchy Blues ” was published by MoonPath Press and received an American Book Award . These poems are neat and tough with urban imagery . She mentioned that when she wrote these poems , she was living in New York which she describes as “ a man ’ s world .” She attended Sarah Lawrence for her MFA in New York .
Her second collection , “ Sublime Subliminal ,” was published in 2018 by Floating Bridge Press . It harks back to what started her interest in poetry as a child — the joy of sound , and the function , versatility and structure of language .
Priest ’ s recent works are tied to the natural world , science , and ecology . Her project for the Washington State Poet Laureate is developing but will most likely be an anthology with salmon as the subject . The Lummi people are the “ salmon people ” and the state of Washington is the bioregion of the salmon — “ everywhere a salmon could go .” She spoke of the Lummi ’ s use of reef nets which allow the smaller salmon to escape and the larger ones to be caught . The stories of the salmon and the poems to be written by poets around the state should help draw attention to the salmon from “ those who love poetry but don ’ t think about ecology .”
Because of the pandemic , her time as Poet Laureate has started out with less travel . She joked that she is the “ email laureate of Washington ” because of all the emails in planning and scheduling the activities ,
readings , and commencement speeches . She has done four events per week on Zoom since she began including events for regional colleges , being the “ Write-In ” leader at Richard Hugo House , creating readings for the Salish School , and others . She delivered commencement addresses for the honors students at Western Washington University , the Master of Information program at the University of
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