GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC
hosted by Christopher Luna & Toni Partington
LGBTQ-friendly, all ages, and uncensored since 2004
7pm Thursday, October 11, 2012
and every second Thursday
Cover to Cover Books
6300 NE St. James Rd., Suite 104B
(St. James & Minnehaha)
Vancouver, WA
360-993-7777
http://www.printedmattervancouver.com
http://www.covertocoverbooks.net
Featuring Kristin Roedell and Traci Schatz:
Kristin Roedell is a retired attorney living in Lakewood, Washington. Her work has appeared in Switched on Gutenburg, Chest, and Tacoma City Arts. She is the author of Seeing in the Dark (Tomato Can Press) and Girls with Gardenias (Flutter Press, for sale at the reading for $6). Her third book is soon-to-be released by Legal Studies Forum, a press dedicated to poetry written by attorneys. She has been nominated for Best of the Web and the Pushcart Prize.
Few things are quiet
By Kristin Roedell
as night snow:
there is the uninvited
past, sharp and
certain as geometry
when geese fly;
there is age coming in slow
on a stinging tide;
there is sleep spinning
thin as blown glass.
All things snow remain
silent here; cars slip
inaudibly to the shoulder,
children doze, bedded
in the back seat
like sled dogs.
Down at the lake,
power went out
days ago; behind curtains
candles are lit, flashlights
doubling in the downstairs
mirror. Belly to back,
your damp breath
lies on my feathered
nape; like night snow,
you fall everywhere,
mute, ubiquitous.
Few things are quiet
as your still regard.
I will give voice to something
when the ice cracks.
It will wake the deepest
crocus, and ride
the Chinook
spawning.
Traci Schatz lives and writes in Portland, OR with her partner and their small petting zoo of animals. She has been published in VoiceCatcher (and went on to become an Associate Editor) and Wordstock 10, among others. She is currently enrolled in The Institute of Poetic Medicine’s facilitator training program, where she is exploring poetry as therapy and as a tool for empowerment and growth. With years of teaching and training experience—and as a facilitator for Portland Women Writers—Traci is always looking for new opportunities to discover the many ways in which writing brings healing and beauty to the world.
Night Gifts
By Traci Schatz
Maybe these dreams are a gift?
Night visions
of the past, rearranged.
New configurations of people & places.
Dreams about the love who left
my soul bruised.
The one who gave me a child.
This child who taught me
of love and desperate hope.
Who revealed my true self
to me.
Each night I plunge
to meet those met before and again
again until our union
becomes holy.
PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER 