It’s on again: the Vashon Poetry Fest, held every other year at cafes, bookshops, schools and other locations around the island through Memorial Weekend, and featuring poets Sam Hamill, Tess Gallagher and Lawrence Matsuda giving readings and workshops, as well as other local poets and spoken word artists.

This year’s theme is “Passport to Poetry,” emphasizing “poetry’s power to cross and erase borders and boundaries,” according to the press release. A festival passport will be given to all participants, and the featured poets echo the theme: Hamill is a former Marine who will read and speak on the relation of poetry to war, Matsuda writes from his experiences growing up at the Minidoka, Idaho War Relocation Center during World War II, and Gallagher is a nationally-renowned Northwest poet who has received numerous awards.

Also appearing will be Storme Webber, Jourdan Keith, Karen Finneyfrock, and Seattle Slammaster Daemond Arrindell in performance Saturday evening at the Red Bicycle café, and American Book Award winner Judith Roche, Floating Bridge Chapbook contest winner Holly Hughes and Cal Kinnear, Founder of Copper Canyon Press on  Sunday.

All events are free to the public. More information at www.vashonpoetryfest.com