The Hill

by Amber Flame

As part of our Stories in Place series, local artist, writer, activist, and educator Amber Flame reminisces about sunny days on “the hill” next to Spectrum Dance Theater on Lake Washington with her friend and mentor, Terry Koyano. After Terry’s death in 2015, Amber developed a roll of film to discover one of the last photos taken of her friend sitting with Amber’s baby in the sun on the hill where they had created so many memories together.

Graphic description: Four graphics are pictured each with a black and white photo of a woman sitting on a blanket in the grass, wearing a bathing suit and holding a baby in her lap and people seen sitting off in the distance as the background image. The first photo has blue writing that says “The Hill, next to Spectrum Dance Theater on Lake Washington” a quote attribution to Amber Flame written in orange, and orange logo with the words “Stories in Place” and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods logo. The following three photos have colored amorphous shapes of orange, yellow, and pink (in order of photos) with black handwritten text.

Alt text: The following quote is separated between the graphic images; “My mentor and friend Terry Koyano would invite me to join her on “the hill” whenever the sun was even a little bit out in Seattle. The story goes, the Parks Department planted the willow tree that lives now on the edge of the lake there to stop the Koyano kids from jumping in the water over the rocks, instead of walking over to the beach. It didn’t stop them – or their kids, when the grands came along. After my mentor died in 2015, I got an old roll of film developed. Captured there, was possibly the last picture of my mentor with my baby, on a blanket in the sun on that hill by the lake.” -Amber Flame.

Graphics created by Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Senior Public Relations Specialist, Susie Philipsen

Amber Flame is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, activist and educator, whose work has garnered residencies with Hedgebrook, The Watering Hole, Vermont Studio Center, and YEFE NOF. A former church kid from the Southwest, Flame’s work has been published in diverse arenas, including Def Jam Poetry, Nailed Magazine, Winter Tangerine, The Dialogist, Split This Rock, Black Heart Magazine, Sundress Publications, CityArts Magazine, FreezeRay, Redivider Journal and more. Amber Flame’s first full-length poetry collection, Ordinary Cruelty, was published in 2017 through Write Bloody Press. In early 2018, Flame co-curated the art installation Black Imagination at Core Gallery in Seattle. She had her first solo exhibit in 2019 with a project entitled ::intrigue:: 8. Hugo House’s 2017-2019 Writer-in-Residence for Poetry, Flame’s second book of poetry, titled apocrifa, is forthcoming from Red Hen Press. Recently named Program Director of Hedgebrook, she continues to work as a writing instructor in community and for currently and formerly incarcerated women and youth while working on a third poetry collection, making music with her band Last of the RedHot Mamas, making art, and raising her awesome kid.

This story was a submission for the Stories in Place project, commissioned by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. The opinions expressed and information contained in this story do not necessarily reflect the policies, plans, beliefs, conclusions, or ideas, of the City of Seattle.