Biography

“Patricia Staton is “a high-octane poet” said one panelist. Her work has been published in The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner and Pleiades, among others. Her “Walking After Dinner” was awarded a 2005 Pushcart Prize, and she received an Artist Trust Fellowship in 1995. She received a B.S. in theater from Skidmore College. Staton lives and works in Astoria, but commented: “My work is concerned with getting out the words. I am curious about everyday language. … While my surroundings infiltrate my poems, I lay no special claims on nature.””
--Oregon State Arts Commission Awards Panel, 2007

authorMy first collection of poems, “The Woman Who Cries Speaks,” was published in 2008 by Lost Horse Press in New Poets/Short Books, Vol. II, edited by Marvin Bell. Other poems of mine have appeared in The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Ascent, Delmar, Mid-American Review, Pleiades, and born magazine. Awards include a Pushcart Prize (Pushcart XXIX, 2005), and poetry fellowships from the Oregon Arts Commission (2007) and the Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission (1996).

I have worked as an advertising copywriter, hardware store clerk, and radio host. For thirty years, along with my husband, the watercolorist Noel Thomas, I built miniature houses for collectors. From 1981-1999 I wrote a series of how-to articles on our methods of aging and constructing for Nutshell News, Dollhouse Miniatures, and Miniature Collector. We now teach our techniques in workshops around the country. Our miniature work can be seen at www.thomasopenhouse.com.

 

Literary Background

Education:

Pacific Lutheran University MFA Program, Summer Residency 2004, 2005
Warren Wilson College MFA Program, Winter Residency 1994
BS, Theater, Skidmore College 1968

Awards:

Poetry Fellowship, Oregon Arts Commission, 2007
Literary Residency, Centrum Foundation, Port Townsend, WA, February 2006, September 2007, September 2008
Pushcart Prize, XXIX, 2005; “Walking After Dinner”
Fellowship in Literature, 1995, Artist Trust/WA State Arts Commission
Finalist: Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Series, 2003-4; 2004 semi-finalist, Winnow Press Poetry Series, for manuscript Scribes of the Original Inhabitants
Semi-Finalist, “Discovery”/The Nation poetry competition, 1999

Books:

The Woman Who Cries Speaks, in the Lost Horse Press New Poets Series: New Poets/Short Books Volume II,
February 2008

Publications:

Saranac Review Fall 2011
"On the Diminishing Returns of Sparrow Song
"

Saranac Review Fall 2011
The Fable of Sparrow & Ink

Poetry Northwest Fall/Winter 2010-11
For When Stray Dogs Occur

Poetry Northwest Fall/Winter 2010-11
Afterlife

Poetry Northwest Fall/Winter 2010-11
Complaint

Ascent: 31/1 Fall 2007
“On Asparagus”

The Iowa Review: 35/1 Spring 2005
“The Woman Who Cries Speaks,” “Rat”, “Sirens on the Fourth of July”

Prairie Schooner: 78/3 Fall 2004
“Body # 6: Nude with a Bowl”

Mid-American Review: 24/1 2003
“Walking After Dinner”

Pleiades: 22/1 2002
“Anything”

Delmar 7, Spring 1999
“Love Poem”

Other Publications: convolvulus, Rain, Black Fly Review, bornmagazine, The Cereal Vox

Anthologies:

Poetry Calendar 2006--Alhambra Publishing, Belgium
Writers Collective, Quiet Lion Press, Portland, OR, 1998;
Windblown Sheets, Clatsop Community College, Astoria, OR, 1999.

Projects:

2005 Guest Editor: bornmagazine (Portland, OR)
2004 Review Panelist: Regional Arts & Culture Fellowship Grants (Portland, OR)
2004 Review Panelist: Caldera Writers’ Residency Grants (Portland, OR)
2000 & 2002: Collaborative poet in the Portland-based, arts dialogue projects Word & Hand I, & II, each a RACC-supported collaboration between 6 pairs of poets and visual artists who corresponded in their media over the period of a year, with exhibits of the resulting works at Portland State Univ.
2000-2002: Coordinator for weekend poetry workshops with visiting writers (Astoria, OR)
1998,99: “Life with the Dead Man,” a poetry-based play derived from Marvin Bell’s The Book of the Dead Man: public reading at Raindog Playwright’s theater in 1998; staged reading, Seattle’s Mae West Fest, 1999.
1994-1997: Writers’ Representative, Columbia Pacific Arts Forum, Astoria, OR
1995: Poetry Workshop Leader: Naselle (WA) Juvenile Rehabilitation Ctr.

Readings:

Broadway Books, Conant & Conant Booksellers, KBOO, Portland Poetry Festival (Portland, OR); Elliott Bay Books (Seattle, WA); Foothills Writers Series: Peninsula College (Port Angeles, WA); Olympic Poets & Writers (Shelton, WA); Port Townsend Writers’ Conference; The Bookvendor (Long Beach, WA); KMUN, River Theater, RiverSea Gallery, Bridgewater Bistro (Astoria, OR).