Name: BIRDBRAINS Poetry Reading with Lacey's Poet Laureate Cynthia Pratt
Start: 2026-02-28T14:00:00-08:00
End: 2026-02-28T15:30:00-08:00
Location: 500 College St SE, Lacey, WA, United States, Washington 98503

BIRDBRAINS Poetry Reading with Lacey's Poet Laureate Cynthia Pratt

Come enjoy the mystery, cleverness, and the wide variety of bird knowledge contained in poetry from the anthology: Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington Birds. Local poets will read their poems and discuss how and why they chose the bird they wrote about. In addition, winners of Lacey Loves to Read poetry contest, will have a chance to share their poems. Refreshments will be served.
Poets in attendance include: Allen Braden, Stacy D. Flood, Lesia Alexander (reading Cheryl Waitkevich’s poem), Anya Kitchbaum, Susan Landgraf, Lacey’s Poet Laureate, Cynthia Pratt, and others.
About the Book:
Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington Birds is a one-of-a-kind Washington State bird guide. The anthology includes original pen and ink sumi-e paintings by artist Hiroko Seki, bird fact notes, and short poems/stories/memoir. Poems/prose are bird-focused rather than human centered. The bird notes include information about song, call, mating rituals, habitat, migration, climate, dark comedy, and fun facts.
Poet Bio:
Cynthia Pratt’s poems have appeared in Blue Heron Review, Kestrel Journal, Skink Beat Review, 3rd Wednesday, Willow Wept Review, and other publications, plus various anthologies including Bird Brains: A Lyrical Field Guide to Washington State Birds anthology. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her manuscript, Celestial Drift¸ was published in 2016. Cynthia’s book, That Wild Knocking, Finishing Line Press, will be forthcoming in 2026. She is Poet Laureate of Lacey as of 2022. During that time, she has presented poems to the City Council every April, presented poems to the City’s sister city delegation and to retiring directors, put together readings by other poet laureates, taped a reading for the City’s UTube, and promoted the City’s laureate program during other public readings. Pratt has been a member of the Olympia Poetry Network (OPN) since its inception, over 35 years ago. OPN puts on monthly poetry readings, both in-person and online, and provides free poetry workshops. The mission of OPN is to advocate for poets and poetry in the lower Puget Sound region.