We first learned of Hill Poems last year, when the collected poets gave a reading at Hugo House.  We were reminded about this compilation of poems by a recent Reading Local Seattle post.  Reviewer Amy Schrader had this to say about Hill Poems: 

I like the physical feel of this collection. It contains black and white photos of the Capitol Hill area (Dick’s Drive-In, Broadway Rite Aid, night-lit streets slick with rain) alongside the poetry. The overall effect is to bring to mind a half-mad guerrilla poet xeroxing pages of poems to hand out on the street at 2 a.m., and this has always secretly been my (perhaps overly-romanticized) impression of Capitol Hill.

Many of the black and white photos seem to have been taken during Snowpocalypse 2008.  The small pamphlet is replete with familiar Hill images: passengers on the bus, skateboarders and cyclists, homeless people and land use permits.  One of my favorite poems in the collection was “4 columns in the flailing light” by Chris Dusterhoff, which is filled with syncopated rhythm:

and it begins like anything begins

a leaky faucet a toothache

a divorce

this feeling that I am wrong

have been doing this too long

 

4 columns and the flailing light

 

good people

I’m failing

 The editors, Steve Barker and Nicole Lowman preface the collection with the following:

The Hill is changing.  Skyscrapers are launching throughout the neighborhood.  The Light Rail is on the way, moving some small business owners and closing others down. The individuality and personality is less evident every day. Sure, these changes will create a whole new personality, but different from the one we fell in love with. We wanted to capture the Hill, as we know it now, before it’s gone forever.

Other  poets featured in  Hill Poems include Erin Foran, Amanda S. Halm, Heidi Heimarck, Brian McGuigan, Michael Ricciardi, Alexandra Rossetter, Mercedes Sanchez and Monica Schley.  To get yourself a copy (per comment below), visit Pilot Books on the Hill or Open Books in Wallingford.