Hear the Hummingbards, five local poets read their works.

Like a more famous bard, Carol Barrett has lived in England, as well as nine states. She is a descendant of both Lewis and Clark. Annual migrations take her to Ohio and California, to work with doctoral candidates in interdisciplinary and creativity studies. "Pansies" is her most recent book.

Krayna Castelbaum, Poetry Instigator, migrated to Oregon from New Jersey in 2003. T’was a long flight and a rough landing, but she acclimated quickly to her new nest. The rich habitat in Bend has welcomed her poetry instigations: she publishes the Poem of the Month and facilitates monthly Poetry Playshops and other events. Every Wednesday afternoon, she can be sighted in downtown Bend handing out short poems to nourish passersby.

Sarah Sennott Cyr approaches writing as a practice. Her writing is a collection of wakeful moments - hiking among sagebrush and junipers, standing before a painting, observing her two young children, and, of course, listening to the whistling buzz of a hummingbird dashing from bloom to bloom. These "captured moments" evolve into essays and poems. (www.sarahcyr.com, Instagram: @sarahcyr)

Sarah McLaughlin, lifelong writer and lover of flight, coined the word Hummingbards to celebrate the remarkable tiny aviators who enliven her yard each summer, and the equally remarkable wordsmiths who enliven her writing year-round.

Jamie Shanahan has migrated throughout the US, but made her nest in Bend in 2007. Poetry has taught her how to survive off nectar, and how to time travel between flowers. Her poetry chapbook, “Burn Site in Bloom,” was released in 2017 by Musehick Publications, and her collection, “Hero,” is forthcoming in 2020. Her website is jamierosehoughton.com.



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