Poetry Reading: Cathy Cain and Piper Bringman

Annie Bloom’s welcomes local poets Cathy Cain and Piper Bringman, whose new collections are published by The Poetry Box.

Cathy Cain, like a bee to flower, gathers thought from one encounter with nature to another. She speaks from many perspectives—as herself, as tree, as mushroom, or as goddess-hero. Sometimes playful, even mystical, Cain is deeply honest as she confronts the state of our relationship with the natural environment, with technology, and with what it means to be human.

“A roadmap to abundance, Cathy Cain’s poetry expresses the impulse to reinvent ourselves outside of cyber noise and instead define ourselves within the boundaries of sentiencies around us.” —Tricia Knoll, author of How I Learned to be White and Broadfork Farm

“Thrumming with a wise and generous curiosity, the poems in Cathy Cain’s Bee Dance are bright signposts pointing a way forward through a difficult age.”—Annie Lighthart, author of Lantern and Iron String

Cardboard Wings is the debut poetry collection by Piper Bringman, a 14-year-old poet who is coming of age. And, although her writing originally grew from a child’s grief for her beloved pet, it has blossomed into a rich voice of aspiration and charm. Join her as she explores the natural world, and shares her experience as a young curious heart navigating these modern times.

Bringman is a poet and lifelong Waldorf student in Portland, Oregon. She is in 8th grade and spends her days playing soccer, practicing violin, woodworking and learning different kinds of handwork. Outside of school, when she isn’t writing poetry, Pi can be found playing piano, snuggling in a beanbag chair with her cats and a fantasy novel, as well as in the ballet studio preparing to perform en pointe in annual renditions of The Nutcracker.