KELSEYVILLE >> The fifth event of the Poet Laureate Reading Series takes place Friday featuring the works of Lake County poet laureate emerita Mary McMillan.
The reading, which begins at 6:30 p.m., will take place at the Riviera Common Grounds Coffee House at 9736 Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville. It will also feature guest poet Lorna Sue Sides and guest musician Mike Wilhelm.
The eight-month series is held on the second Friday of each month through April and showcases poetry by presenting each of Lake County”s eight poets laureate in sequence, along with a guest poet and musician. Admission is free, with a $5 suggested donation.
The poet laureate is an official appointment by a government or conferring institution for the purpose of promoting poetry in that jurisdiction. These appointments occur from local to national levels.
In Lake County, the two-year position began in 1998 with the appointment of Jim Lyle. In 2008, McMillan was selected as the fifth poet laureate of Lake County.
Originally from Southern California, McMillan earned her Bachelor of Arts at San Francisco State University and her masters in journalism at the University of Utah. After working as a journalist in Utah, she moved to the Bay Area where she worked as a computer programmer, wrote fiction and poetry and studied with poet Richard Silberg, an associate editor of Poetry Flash Magazine, as well as with Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman, Galway Kinnell and Sharon Olds.
In 1997, McMillan completed a master”s degree in psychology, and after earning her license as a marriage and family therapist, she established a psychotherapy practice in Ukiah. At the same time, she began developing the curriculum for a course at Mendocino College, called Relationships and Children”s Behavior. McMillan also authored the textbook for the class, titled “Get Inside Your Relationships.”
In 2005, McMillan moved to Lake County, where for seven years she focused her psychotherapy practice in working with incarcerated youth. At the same time, McMillan renewed her connection with poetry.
As the poet laureate, McMillan began facilitating the free and public Writers” Circle, a monthly writing workshop founded by Carolyn Wing Greenlee during her tenure as poet laureate. McMillan continues to facilitate the workshop today.
“I”ve been fascinated and moved every month, as participants have brought in material often hoarded, hidden and feared for years — and I have watched these writers bloom into confident authors of exquisitely funny, terrifying or touching stories and poems,” McMillan stated.
As poet laureate, McMillan was also a contributing editor for “Creative Expressions,” a bi-monthly newspaper column featuring the work of local writers, which was published in the Record-Bee. In 2008, McMillan published her book of poetry, titled, “This Wanting.” McMillan will read from this work at the Friday event, and copies of her book will be available by donation.
Describing the writing process in both creative and healing terms, McMillan acknowledges the essential role of art in transforming painful human experiences. She describes the power of the writing process in accessing, retrieving and integrating disparate parts from the depth, or “well,” of human experiences.
“Writing is a unique way of thinking that there is no other substitute for,” she said. “Writing allows one to dig down, bring to light and integrate broken parts into a whole.”
From her practice, now located in Lakeport, McMillan currently works with adults and adolescents. She also teaches at Mendocino College and Marymount California University and at a cooperative co-parenting workshop in Ukiah.
The Writers” Workshop that McMillan facilitates takes place at 6:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month at the Main Street Art Gallery in Lakeport. Funded by poets and writers, it is a free public workshop. McMillan”s work is available at lulu.com, and amazon.com.
Casey Carney is the current Lake County poet laureate.
