About Rachel

Rachel Kessler is a writer and artist based in Seattle, Washington.

Seattle Poetic Grid

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Rachel

Seattle Civic Poet the brilliant Claudia Castro Luna included one of my poems on her culminating Seattle Poetic Grid project. I wrote “Another ‘Rehab” In the CD” in one of her drop-in poetry writing sessions at the library. This poem is located on 26th Ave and Yesler Way:

http://www.seattlepoeticgrid.com

From the press release:

“Seattle Civic Poet, Claudia Castro Luna, launches a poetry map of the city. Seattle Poetic Grid (www.seattlepoeticgrid.com) is an interactive poetic cartography of the city and a culmination of Castro Luna’s two-year Civic Poet residency. The Grid brings Seattle’s poetic side to light. The project is intended to remain as a living testament of the city, and includes a link for those who would like to make their poetic contributions.”

And here’s some of my maps of Yesler Way from my installation at Vermont Studio Center:

(photo: Maude Deslauriers!)

Lit Crawl-ing to you

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Rachel

I’m baaaaaack from the woods of Vermont Studio Center (actually more of a village lifestyle), where they gave me a big white room, which I filled with my exploded brain via sumi ink and brush. Thursday, October 19 at 6:00 PM I’ll be sharing some of this month-long installation of maps and personal geography, alongside two rad writers, Summer Karaskova and Tara Atkinson, at Lit Crawl. This summer at Till, we all wrote by walking, listening with the ears we attached to our feet, in a workshop I led at Smokefarm. Come trip balls and dismantle the narrative plot patri-arch with us:

Till Writers Reading

The Highline 210 Broadway E. Seattle WA 98102 (21+)

Gather for readings by Tara Atkinson, Summer Karaskova, and Rachel Kessler, three rad women affiliated with Till. This is farm to table poetry, interdisciplinary work, and freshly published fiction that will leave you happily hungry for more.

(photo credit: Maude DesLauriers @8fleurebelle8)

Link

It’s nearly summer solstice, and the sun calls to us on these long golden days, urging us to don lab coats and roll down grassy knolls. An instructional video experiment by the Vis-a-Vis Society, with Britta Johnson and Ruby Seiwerath.

Vis-a-Vis Society

Vis-a-Vis Society’s instructional video on how to go DOWNHILL for NEPO 5K Don’t Run 2012

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“At the Ballard Locks Fish Ladder”

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Rachel

Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall selected my poem to be included in WA129!

Inspired by Moomins Feelings Flashcards, and partially written on a Path With Art “Writing Around the City” class I led on visit to the Locks, this poem about a giant squid’s documentary voice, the sadness of salmon and real estate shares book space with Sherman Alexie!

Excerpt from “Profanity Hill” Community Cartography Project

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Rachel

Jewish In Seattle Magazine published this cover story featuring excerpts from some of our story-tellers’ oral histories of Yesler Way. Check out the print edition for centerfold illustrated map!

Read it here.

Re Jane and Adam, Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, But Your Erotic Energy Touches Everything

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Rachel

I wrote an essay about the transformative power of the erotic as a catalyst for social change for Seattle Arts & Lectures.

Source: Re Jane and Adam, Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, But Your Erotic Energy Touches Everything

After the Party Pantoum

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Rachel

Working that walk so hard it hurts, it hurts, walking home in someone else’s high heels. You were who you were before you came here— a small animal, wandering, a drink in your hand. It hurts, walki…

Source: After the Party Pantoum

Some Kind of Sonnet

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Rachel

Sunday morning cast wide your nets. Nimble fingers tickle down a harvest of therapists for adolescents, depressed yet still trotting out to-do lists. Our listless rider of the emotional waterbed. W…

Source: Some Kind of Sonnet

The Gods’ Funniest Home Videos

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Rachel

Thank you, PANK, for publishing my prose poem “The Gods’ Funniest Home Videos.” This poem was inspired by Sandra Suarez, a woman who ripped off her clothes, rampaged through a McDonald’s and guzzled soft serve straight from the nozzle. Her rage resonated with me. As I watched, I felt such kinesthetic empathy with her actions. Both the power and futility of tearing up an evil place with bareskinned strength. She was having a bi-polar episode and some asshole employees videotaped it and now the whole world has watched and laughed at this woman in crisis. Every report describes her as “mother of two.” Female rage and motherhood, capitalism and nutrition, surveillance and Shadenfreude, oh human mammals and the stories we weave to keep safe. Read it here:

THE GODS’ FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS

Oblique Strategies For Self-Knowledge That Had A Lot of Energy But Are Ultimately Depressing Because Hope Is Eclipsed by That Self-Loathing Marauder Who Loots Everything

Posted on September 17, 2016 by Rachel

Tahoma Literary Review published my long poem “Oblique Strategies For Self-Knowledge That Had A Lot of Energy But Are Ultimately Depressing Because Hope Is Eclipsed by That Self-Loathing Marauder Who Loots Everything.” Read it here.