As part of the Portland Book Festival’s Cover to Cover programming this coming week, Toolbox Gallery has an exhibition of poetry themed around Small Wonders (not to be confused with the online magazine Small Wonders that reprinted my story “The Sauce Packet King of the West Hills”).
My poem “Toy Boat Attraction” is part of this exhibition, and I’ll be one of the contributing poets reading at the opening reception on Tues., Nov. 3rd from 5pm-7pm. The poems will be on display at Toolbox Gallery from Mon., Nov. 2nd through Sun., Nov. 8th.
I wrote “Toy Boat Attraction” based on fond memories of a theme park attraction with—you guessed it—toy boats. When my family took our annual road trip to the Bay Area each summer to visit my grandparents, we’d alternate each year going to either Marine World/Africa U.S.A. (later called Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) or Paramount’s Great America (later called California’s Great America). Great America had a double-decker carousel that made a big impression on me and helped inspired my story “The Menagerie Machine” (even though that’s about a single-deck carousel). But my favorite part of the whole theme park was called River Adventure. My new poem is all about River Adventure, the delight it brought my sisters and me, and how I can’t remember it in great detail no matter how hard I try.
