Voices of Tacoma: 
A Gathering of Poets

INTRODUCTION TO THE ANTHOLOGY

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To write a poem, or anything for that matter, about a particular place takes a lot of careful thought. It takes time and space. Time in the place and the space to think about it. It requires presence. It requires grace.

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In the process of helping to develop the community of writers who created this anthology I had the chance to witness, through time and space, the magic that happens when these elements creatively converge. Congeal. Coagulate.

 

In that time and space I worked with a lot of amazing people. People who I had previously called friends and people I met who I can now also call friends. Poets, Artists, Thinkers, Dreamers, Editors, Publishers; all with an opinion and some with advice. This community is an amazing place.

 

It started with an idea that took root after a meeting with Michael Haeflinger in late 2022. We met at Campfire Coffee and the idea I had for an anthology grew and grew as we bounced ideas off of one another. This process replicated many times over in the several months as I did the same brainstorming with Chris Vega, Kristy Gledhill, Lisa Lewis, Cameron Combs, Adela Ramos, Jackie Casella, Jenny Bartoy, Naomi Strom-Avila, and many other creatives and literary thinkers in the Tacoma area. 

 

After the project was chosen for the Tacoma Artists Initiative Program grant in 2023 we continued to have conversations about what this project meant, what we could do to not only create an anthology but help support the existing literary arts community. Conversations continued within the community as we stretched to achieve our goal of truly representing the Voices of Tacoma. To that end, a community conversation in February, 2024, with the folks at the Hilltop Urban Garden (HUG) was pivotal. 

 

We had just closed for submissions and had 60+ poets who contributed, which was fantastic. But the racial demographics were overwhelmingly white, compared to the demographics of Tacoma. As I presented the demographics to the folks at HUG they were clear - this project anthology could not be published, or claim to represent Tacoma, without a more equitable representation of BIPOC poets. 

 

We reopened to BIPOC poets immediately and, when we closed for submissions a second time, we had more equitable representation. It was truly the community conversation that pushed us to look back on our mission to represent the City, and I am grateful for the folks who spoke the truth. It wasn’t perfect – we missed getting a representative group of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish poets – so we know where we need to focus in the future.​

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We also were very focused on getting a range of voices from across our city. Though submissions were open to poets anywhere in the world, the majority came from the greater-Tacoma area. 

 

When we plotted the ZIP codes of contributors on a map we saw a large concentration in Central Tacoma and the Hilltop, which was fantastic. But what we were missing was a better distribution of contributors - we missed getting any poets from the Lincoln District and we only had two poets from the Eastside, which is, by population, the largest neighborhood in our city. 

 

We learned a lot of lessons in the process of creating this anthology. We learned the value of community building (with monthly gatherings, events, workshops, and hundreds of hours of outreach in all corners of the city), and we learned amazing things about our City through the voices of the poets - as will the readers of this anthology.

 

The anthology would not have been possible without the work of the editorial review board which included Julie Baldock, Jenny Bartoy, Teshawn Deville, Kristy Gledhill, Michael Haeflinger, Joanne Rixon, Celeste Schueler, Katharine Threat, Josie Emmons Turner, and Jesi Vega. I am grateful for their time and dedication to reading and scoring each of the poems, along with editorial suggestions and input. I am also grateful for the work of Delvis George, who interned on the project and helped develop ideas for further outreach and social media campaigns.

 

Lastly I want to thank Mauricio Robalino for being such an amazing partner in this work. Mauricio’s visual art is truly poetic and is very much in the spirit of our City, with images that strike the viewer with the strength, beauty, and grit that Tacoma is known for.

 

Burl E. Battersby

Tacoma, Washington, July 2024

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