PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Amy Baskin at Art At the Cave February 12, 2026

January 11, 2026

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring Amy Baskin

Hosted by Christopher Luna and
Special Guest Co-Host Becca Lynne Bluemel

7 pm
Thursday, February 12

Art At The Cave
108 E Evergreen Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98660
https://artatthecave.com

ANTI-FASCIST, ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE,
PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

$5 Suggested donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s PayPal (search via christopherjluna@gmail.com), Venmo (username @Christopher-Luna-66), or CashApp account (ChristopherLuna9).

Author photo by Nina Johnson

Amy Baskin is an Oregon Literary Arts Fellow and 4-time Pushcart Prize nominee. She is the author of Hysterical Cake (Dancing Girl Press, 2022), Night Hag (Unsolicited Press, 2023), which explores femininity through the eternal voice of Lilith, the first woman, and Skull (The Poetry Box, 2024), a journey of healing from brain injury. She works for the Departments of English and History at Lewis & Clark College and helps run literary arts programs including Fir Acres Writing Workshop and the Visiting Writers Series, which is open to the public. She serves as staff advisor for The Palatine Hill Review, a student-run literary journal.

Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit

https://christopherlunapoetry.substack.com/

to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.

The Ghost Town Poetry community respectfully encourages you to support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020. Stop by their new location at 900 Washington, Suite 130 Vancouver, WA 98660: https://nichewinebar.com.

The Work Poetry Workshop moves to its new home at The Arts Hub on July 12/Birdhouse Books migrates to Ronald Records

May 21, 2025

Collage by Christopher Luna featuring Anne Sexton, Anne Waldman, Emily Dickinson, Diane di Prima, Wang Ping, Sylvia Plath, Alice Walker, and Alice Notley (clockwise from bottom left)

The Work Poetry workshop has a new home. Beginning July 12, the workshop will take place at the Vancouver Arts Hub from 2-5 on the second Saturday of every month and 9-12 on the fourth Saturday of the month. The Arts Hub is located at 1007 E Mill Plain Blvd, Vancouver, WA 98663 in the former home of the Vancouver library. The cost for this workshop will be a $25 suggested donation. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

The Arts Hub is operated by The Arts Centered, under the superb leadership of Christine Richardson. I encourage everyone in the community to take advantage of all that this important organization has to offer. Learn more here: https://theartscentered.org/

According to their website, “theARTScentered is a 501c3 non profit organization in Vancouver, WA, working to provide resources, space, professional expertise, and collaborative opportunities to local visual and performing artists & arts/culture groups and organizations since 2021. Why theARTScentered? It takes action to center something and active focus to keep something centered… it takes work! In all we do, we center our work around the arts and serve our community with the arts at the heart of it. We are connectors and master creative problem solvers, and we are passionate about creating opportunities for equity in cultural access.”

I will lead one more First Friday Poetry Reading on June 6 and two more drop-in poetry workshops at Birdhouse Books before bookstore owner Lucas Gubala moves his inventory to Ronald Records. My final workshops at Birdhouse Books will take place from 9-12 on May 24 and June 28. You can learn more about these workshops on the Creative Writing Workshops page of the Printed Matter Vancouver website.

I am very grateful to Lucas Gubala, Sarah Summerhill, Kirsten Hull, and all of the volunteers and customers who made Birdhouse Books a home for our poetry community. I will miss the cozy environs, the freeflowing tea, and the wonderful and generous Local Authors section. I am among the poets whose books could always be found on their shelves. Few have done more to support local writers.

Here is Lucas’s announcement regarding the move: “Birdhouse Books will be migrating! We will now share space with the incredibly groovy Ronald Records. Construction will be happening alongside the Main Street project, but you can look forward to a new space to browse books and records very soon. This does mean that our events will be put on hold after next first Friday (June 6), but stay tuned to https://birdhousebooks.store/ and @Birdhousebookstore on Instagram for announcements and call to action while we are moving. Thank you all!”

I encourage the community to continue to support Birdhouse Books as they make this transition.

Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three is Now Available

January 5, 2025

Book cover artwork by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Morgan Paige

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, Printed Matter Vancouver founders Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna co-edited a third anthology of poems from the series with series co-host Morgan Paige.

Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three features poems, memories, and photographs from throughout our two-decade history.

You can order the book directly from us by sending $20 via CashApp (ChristopherLuna9), PayPal (search for me via christopherjluna@gmail.com), or Venmo (username @Christopher-Luna-66).

Sticker designed by Morgan Paige featuring Christopher Luna’s self portrait

Many thanks to Morgan Paige for handling our Kickstarter campaign and for designing the book.

We are very grateful to all of our contributors and to all the peopl in our community and across the country who donated to our Kickstarter. We are especially thankful to Art At The Cave owner Anne John for her generous donation which made the book possible.

You can purchase the book locally at Vintage Books, Art At The Cave, or Powell’s Books.

A Tribute to Our Friend Judith Arcana

January 6, 2026

Poets dan raphael, Christopher Luna, and Judith Arcana at the Portland book launch for Christopher’s Message from the Vesel in a Dream (Flowstone Press, 2018) at Like Nobody’s Business.

Words cannot adequately express the sadness I feel upon learning that Judith Arcana has died. Judith was a friend, a mentor, and an unwavering supporter of my work. Our literary community and the reproductive rights movement have lost a guiding light, a true hero. Judith was a dedicated activist who risked bodily harm to protect women as a Jane, yet even after Roe v. Wade was overturned, never gave up. She had an easy smile and a great sense of humor.

In 2017 Judith Arcana interviewed me and my wife and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Toni Lumbrazo Luna for KBOO Radio’s Poetry and Everything.

The found material poems in Judith Arcana’s Flowstone Press book Announcements from the Planetarium gave me the courage to email Flowstone publisher Michael Spring to ask if he would read my manuscript featuring twenty years of collage poems. Spring wrote back and agreed to take a look. In 2018 Flowstone Press accepted the manuscript, Message from the Vessel in a Dream, for publication. The book was my my first full-length poetry book.

Learn more about Judith Arcana on her website.

Christopher Luna

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic featuring Laura Esther Sciortino plus typewriter poetry at Art At The Cave January 8, 2026

December 14, 2025

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring Laura Esther Sciortino

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm
Thursday, January 8

Plus Typewriter Poetry by Laura from 6:30 – 7:00!

Art At The Cave
108 E Evergreen Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98660
https://artatthecave.com

ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,
PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

https://printedmattervancouver.com/

$5 Suggested donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s PayPal (search via christopherjluna@gmail.com), Venmo (username @Christopher-Luna-66), or CashApp account (ChristopherLuna9).

Laura Sciortino is the author of Remote Control and co-creator of Send & Respond, a collection of poem and art pairings. Her poetry, fiction, and lyric essays have appeared in Artstra’s Poetry Moves, Fractured Lit, The Comstock Review, Unleash Literary Journal, Great Weather for Media, and elsewhere.

As a typewriter poet, Laura offers live poetry, crafting on-the-spot custom poems for people at various events and celebrations. She loves sharing her love of improvisation, connection, and writing and 100% believes that people + poetry = magic.

Laura will offer typewriter poems from 6:30-7:00 at this month’s event.

She also works as a writing coach and consultant, helping individuals and organizations find and refine their voice.

Laura lives with her husband, son, and three affable felines in the Multnomah Village neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Learn more by visiting LauraEstherSciortino.com or Instagram: @thetypewriterpoetpdx

Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit

https://christopherlunapoetry.substack.com/

to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Erin Aurelia with music by Zach Jenisch at Art At The Cave on December 11, 2025 [UPDATED with photos from the event]

November 20, 2025

Featured reader Erin Aurelia reads from her book Bone & Stars accompanied by Zach Jenisch on guitar.

I was very touched to learn that Art At The Cave decided to create a Ghost Town Poetry corner in the back of the gallery, and proud to see that we are next to Sam Marroquin’s George Floyd portrait.

The first poem to appear in Art At the Cave’s Ghost Town Poetry corner is Kristin Bulger’s “Hate Needs a Home.” Kristin has opened the show often and always helps us get things off to a great start.

Jacob Salzer and Matthew Eiford-Schroeder perform music and poetry.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Erin Aurelia

With music by Zach Jenisch

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, December 11

Art At The Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,

PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

https://printedmattervancouver.com/

$5 Suggested donation

No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s PayPal (search via christopherjluna@gmail.com), Venmo (username @Christopher-Luna-66), or CashApp account (ChristopherLuna9).

Erin Aurelia edits nonfiction books by day as owner of Sunshine Editorial Services & Book Coaching and writes and performs poetry by night with her favorite local musicians. She is the author of Bone & Stars: A Constellation of Poems of Healing and Recovery from Narcissistic Abuse, in which she writes on the themes of trauma recovery, reclamation of self, and the unflinching embrace of powerful emotions, and The Torch of Brighid: Flametending for Transformation. Her writing is featured in several anthologies, including Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Volume Three and Skullcrushing Hummingbird – The Zine Issue 6. She also served as the Poetry Managing Editor for the Spring 2021 edition of VoiceCatcher, an online women’s literary journal featuring short stories, poetry, and art by women of the Pacific Northwest. Find Erin’s business and books online at http://www.sunshneeditorialservices.com and follow her poetry on Facebook and Instagram at erinaureliapoetry.

Zach Jenisch is a cat dad, music enthusiast, and multi-instrumentalist who plays for local bands Moon Alone, Part Time Perfect, and Goddamn Motherfucker. When he isn’t playing or listening to music, he is posting videos of the antics of his collection of orange cats and escaping to the hills whenever he can to hike and camp. Find him online at https://www.instagram.com/seasoftreesmusic/.

Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit

https://christopherlunapoetry.substack.com/

to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Julene Tripp Weaver at Art At The Cave November 13, 2025 [UPDATED to include photos]

October 12, 2025

Julene Tripp Weaver reads to the crowd at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Julene Tripp Weaver reads from *Slow Now with Clear Skies*,
Greg Bee’s art visible behind her

Moss and Addison find a great vantage point (photo by Morgan Paige)

Moss, Addison, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna (photo by Moregan Paige)

Elise Hoekstra and Christopher Luna by Jacob Salzer

Moss with his poetry godfather Christopher Luna (photo by Morgan Paige)

Elmo Shade reads his poetry at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic (photo by Jacob Salzer)

Ghost Town Poetry emcee Morgan Paige by Jacob Salzer

Moss and Morgan at the mic by Jacob Salzer

Moss, the newest addition to the ghost Town Poetry family, enjoys his floor time

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Julene Tripp Weaver

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, November 13

Art At The Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,

PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

https://printedmattervancouver.com/

$5 Suggested donation

No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Donations can be made in person or by sending to Christopher Luna via CashApp (ChristopherLuna9), PayPal (christopherjluna@gmail.com), or Venmo (@Christopher-Luna-66).

Julene Tripp Weaver has four poetry collections; Slow Now with Clear Skies (MoonPath Press, 2024) truth be bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS (Finishing Line Press, 2017), which won the Bisexual Book Award, four Human Relations Indie Book Awards, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards; No Father Can Save Her, (Plain View Press, 2011); and a chapbook, Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues, (Finishing Line Press, 2007). Her poems have appeared in many journals, and anthologies that include: Rumors Secrets & Lies: Poems about Pregnancy, Abortion & Choice, I Sing the Salmon Home, and The Power of the Feminine I: poems from the feminine perspective, Volume 2. She worked in AIDS services for 21 years, is a retired psychotherapist, and lives in Seattle.

Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit

https://christopherlunapoetry.substack.com/

to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Rebecca Bluemel at Art At The Cave on October 9, 2025

September 26, 2025

Note: Erin Aurelia, our original featured reader for October, had to reschedule her reading for December 11.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Rebecca Bluemel

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, October 9

Art At The Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,

PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

https://printedmattervancouver.com/

$5 Suggested donation

No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s CashApp account (ChristopherLuna9), PayPal (search via christopherjluna@gmail.com), or Venmo (username @Christopher-Luna-66).

Rebecca Bluemel is a Gateless© certified facilitator, group leader, and writing coach. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her two adorable gingers, leads a current series of generative writing workshops virtually, and owns and operates her pet sitting business, Home Sweet Home Pet Care. Her book Excoriation, chapbook Womanhood and Other Scars, and More Water Than Tears have been published by The Poetry Box.

Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit

https://christopherlunapoetry.substack.com/

to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Peter Ludwin at Art At The Cave on September 11, 2025

August 16, 2025

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Peter Ludwin

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, September 11

Art At The Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,

PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

https://printedmattervancouver.com/

$5 Suggested donation

No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s CashApp account (ChristopherLuna9).

Peter Ludwin is the award-winning author of four books of poetry. His newest collection, An Altar of Tides, focused mainly on his native Northwest, won the 2024 Trail to Table Editors’ Award in Poetry from Trail to Table Press. His previous book, Gone to Gold Mountain, which addressed the little-known massacre of over thirty Chinese gold miners in Hells Canyon in 1887, was nominated for an American Book Award by the Before Columbus Foundation. In addition to receiving a Literary Fellowship from Artist Trust, he won the 2016 Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award from The Comstock Review, judged by Marge Piercy, and the W.D. Snodgrass Award for Endeavor and Excellence in Poetry from the San Miguel Poetry Week in Mexico. An adventurer who has traveled from the Amazon to Morocco to Tibet, he is particularly focused on history, physical/spiritual aspects of the natural world and different cultures. Ludwin lives in Kent, Washington. Find him at www.peterludwin.com.

Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit

https://christopherlunapoetry.substack.com/

to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring David Pickering at Art At The Cave on August 14, 2025 [UPDATED to include photos]

June 27, 2025

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic founder and emcee Christopher Luna. Photo by Jacob Salzer

Featured reader David Pickering reads from Jesus Comes to Me as Judy Garland

Featured Reader David Pcikering reads from Jesus Comes to Me as Judy Garland

Donna P. reads her poetry for the first time

Dean Anthony Brink came all the way from Taiwan to read his poetry to us

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring David Pickering
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige
7 pm
Thursday, August 14
Art At The Cave
108 E Evergreen Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98660
https://artatthecave.com
ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,
PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
https://printedmattervancouver.com/
$5 Suggested donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s CashApp account (ChristopherLuna9).
David Pickering is a native Oregonian, born and raised in the working-class culture of the north coast (though he will demur if asked the year). His first poetry collection, Jesus Comes to Me as Judy Garland, received the Airlie Prize in 2020. In March of 2025 his poem, “Closing on the Last Home,” was selected for the Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain Poetry Prize. David’s poetry is also published (or forthcoming) in a variety of journals including Cirque, Relief: A Journal of Art and Faith, Passager, Tar River Poetry, Mantis, Fireweed, Lips, Reed Magazine, and Gertrude. Recognized by the GLAPN as a Pacific Northwest Queer Hero, David lives with his husband in Portland where, even as you read this, he has likely had too much coffee.

Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit
https://christopherlunapoetry.substack.com/
to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.
The Ghost Town Poetry community respectfully encourages you to support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020. Stop by their new location at 900 Washington, Suite 130 Vancouver, WA 98660: https://nichewinebar.com.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Amber Marie at Art At The Cave July 10, 2025

June 16, 2025

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Amber Marie

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, July 10

Art At The Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,

PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

https://printedmattervancouver.com/

$5 Suggested donation

No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s CashApp account (ChristopherLuna9).

Amber Marie is a writer, maker, and performing artist who thrives at the intersection of these art forms. She both curates and designs original fashion and art for her traveling dark bohemian shop, The Beatnik Bazaar. She has designed and published books of poetry and short fiction, busked typewriter poetry for years, and continues to push the boundaries of performance art and written word. She seeks to get poetry “off the page” through experimentation and play.

Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit

https://christopherlunapoetry.substack.com/

to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.

Miranda Martin on what Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic has meant to her

June 12, 2025

I was very moved by what Miranda Martin had to say about her experience at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, so I asked her to send it to me. Especially now. it is crucial for like-minded people to gather in a safe public space. We all need to be seen and heard. It is community members like Miranda who keep Ghost Town Poetry fun, relevant, essnetial. Here is what Miranda had to say:

“I first learned of Ghost Town because I happened to walk into Art at the Cave during Ghost Town Volume 3’s book launch. (It was only my second time into the Cave – what serendipitous timing). I had made a promise to myself to seek out more community events after finding myself in a really dark place post November 4 – as many of us did. So, when Chris told me there would be a milestone open mic – the 20th anniversary open mic – I decided to check it out.

As I sat in the audience, not knowing a soul, I felt wrapped in the love overflowing in that room. Observing this group of people loving each other fiercely and with such passion; accepting and encouraging one another as they were vulnerable and brave – I knew I would be back.

Hearing the beautiful words from others sparked something inside me, and I began writing poetry again. And that overwhelming sense of comfort and encouragement you all provide gave me the courage to read much sooner than I ever thought I would – not only once, but twice.

So thank you all for being exactly who you are, and for welcoming me with open arms.”

I also might appreciate this rough draft poem I wrote about this experience:

“The thought of putting these words into paper loomed over me

a dark, guilt-ridden shadow

The more I put the task off

the more the pressure built

The more the pressure built

the more I couldn’t bring myself to complete the task

A task that, once finally complete

Wasn’t so big and scary after all”

Miranda Martin

we write because we must