Poetry in Motion

News flash: "Writing itself, but poetry in particular, doesn't pay the bills," says James Belflower, a local poet and organizer of Potlatch Poetry, a website dedicated to the free exchange of poetry and other literary ephemera. "So part of Potlatch is trying to avoid having older items just disappear or get pushed under someone's bookshelf; it's a great advertising tool for writers and poets who don't have a huge fan base, but it's also about working outside of the capitalist economy, because most of us are publishing or producing or purchasing these books at our own expense."

Since it began in June, Potlatch, like Freecycle.org or the free section of Craigslist, has existed solely as an Internet-based community of waste-not, resourceful individuals who give away and trade their poetic unwantables. But today from 1 to 5 p.m., Potlatch will host A Swap of Language, its inaugural in-person journal/chapbook/ephemera swap and reading at the Dikeou Collection, 1615 California Street, Suite 515. Admission is at least one item to give away or trade. Get more information at www.potlatchpoetry.org or by calling 303-623-3001.
Sat., Oct. 6, 1-5 p.m., 2007