Poetry Reading: Dale Champlin and Francis Opila

Annie Bloom's Books welcomes local poets Dale Champlin and Francis Opila for an in-store reading from their latest volumes, published by Portland press Just a Lark Books.

About Isadora:

Isadora is a novel written in verse. A lonely old woman, calling herself "Old Shoe," reminisces about her childhood and past when her husband Harold was alive. These days, she's nearly alone, save for her strung-out son, Jimmy, who infrequently floats in and out of her life. Then an idea, a goldfish! Soon she has a companion, G. Hawn (aka Isadora), living in a Pyrex bowl near the kitchen. Almost immediately an unexpected dialog develops between the Old Shoe and Isadora. But karma is a bitch when you're a goldfish with a backstory and you still have all the longings and sensibilities of your former self.

Dale Champlin, a Pushcart Prize Nominee and prizewinning Oregon poet with an MFA in fine art, has poems in The Opiate, Timberline Review, Willawaw, Pif, and many other journals and anthologies. Her press, Just a Lark Books, recently published A Joy to See, a celebration of the artwork of Kay Levine by twenty-eight renowned poets. She is the editor of /pãn| dé | mïk/ 2020: An Anthology of Pandemic Poems from the Oregon Poetry Association. Dale has three poetry collections: The Barbie Diaries (2019), Callie Comes of Age (Cirque Press, 2021), and Isadora (Just a Lark, 2022).

About Conference of the Crows:

"Francis Opila is an adventurer, now in the mind of a crow, now in the hunger of a three-legged coyote, now in the terror of an escaping rattlesnake. Because of his shape-shifting, it's tempting to say his keen attention catches everything we miss, including our larger stories of cruelty and destruction. And yet, with a steady voice in a book that is gentle and brave, he illuminates the world he steps into ahead of us." ––John C. Morrison, author of Monkey Island and Heaven of the Moment

Francis Opila is a rain-struck, sun-loving poet who lives in the Pacific Northwest. His work, recreation, and spirit have taken him into the woods, wetlands, rivers, mountains, and deserts. As a young man, Opila shunned poetry after enduring uninspiring lessons as a student. Some years ago, he discovered Rumi, which opened to a profusion of other poets, which led to now. Conference of the Crows is his debut collection of poetry, a compilation of poems from a dozen years through 2022. He enjoys performing poetry, combining recitation and playing North American wooden flutes.