About the event:
What stirs you up?
With midterm elections and Thanksgiving on the horizon, November can be a particularly stirring time of year.
Politics, family, memories, traditions, love, loss, faith, and pop culture—along with all the complicated feelings that come with them—often rise to the surface.
This evening takes inspiration from Stir (2026), a poetry collection that explores the many things that unsettle, inspire, amuse, haunt, and move us.
Its poems wander through forests, memories, dreams, Hollywood, and unexpected places, shifting between the witty, thoughtful, quirky, and darkly humorous.
Our featured speaker, Christopher J. Jarmick, will share work and insights from Stir, guiding us as we explore what gets stirred up in our own lives and on the page.
What makes you laugh? What makes you angry?
What memories haunt, inspire, or keep resurfacing?
What traditions do you cherish—or question?
What conversations do you purposefully avoid?
Where is your safe place?
What, despite everything, still gives you hope?
Come stir something up on the page—and on the stage! Bring a pen and paper
(we will supply some as well).
Writing and sharing your work is completely optional;
if you just want to sit back and listen, you are warmly welcomed.
You don't have to agree with anyone,
you don't need a political opinion,
and you don't have to consider yourself a writer.
Just come curious.
All readings are free and include an open-mic reading for poetry or prose (usually about 3-4 minutes per person). We often socialize at a nearby restaurant afterwards.
About the featured reader:
Christopher J. Jarmick is a poet, writer, and the owner of BookTree—Kirkland’s only independent bookstore. A former Los Angeles TV producer and PEN-USA Northwest president, Chris has curated local readings and literary events in the Pacific Northwest since 1998 and co-founded the Western Washington Poets Network. He is the author of several poetry collections, including Not Aloud, Ignition, and his latest release, Stir (World Enough Writers, 2026), as well as the novel The Glass Cocoon. Every first Saturday, he hosts a free writing workshop, reading, and open mic at BookTree.
Poem Starter 1728
The shortest distance
between two points is
avoidance.
Poem Starter 1260
Without the stir
the egg, the butter, the flour
don't combine.