[UPDATE: photos from] Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Jim Martin Plus Special Musical Guests Christopher and Stephanie Corbell at Art At The Cave on March 13, 2025

Featured Reader Jim Martin reads from OUT OF CHAOS, SHAPES
Jim Martin, who has been attending Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
since our first reading on November 2004
Jim Martin
Jim Martin
Jim Martin
Special guests Christopher Corbell and Stephanie Corbell of Raven Fables and Washougal Songcraft Festival
Christopher Corbell and Stephanie Corbell
Christopher and Stephanie Corbell
Alaya Mays knits as she listens to her fellow poets
David Rutiezer reads from his debut chapobook, Other Dances

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Jim Martin

Author of Out of Chaos, Shapes

With music by Christopher Corbell and Stephanie Corbell

of the Washougal Song Circle

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, March 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 through Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com). Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry.

This month’s featured reader has been attending Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic since the series was founded by Christopher Luna in November 2004. According to Jim Martin, “I was born here, in downtown Vancouver, on September 8, 1938. I’ve traveled around the world in various ways, but have always known that Vancouver is, for me, Home.

“In my travels through school, home, Clark County, and the World’s Oceans, my original world view of people, acquired at age nine, has been constantly affirmed: In large measure, we are all People, just People. That helped me to not become distracted by wealth or image, and freed me to spend a good part of my life thinking about Life, especially Human Life vs. All Other Species’ Life. A long journey, but it is paying off, even today, when we are governed by people who have neither the skills, nor an appreciation for the Writers of the Constitution’s concern that we might not increase in our ability to think clearly. Today, around the World, there is a large volume of people who are, in their own ways, moving back to knowing their neighbors, working together with all who wish to build a better World.

“During my working years, when I wasn’t tracing the paths, dinners, and behaviors of animals like crabs and snails, I also worked many hours each week helping K-12 teachers to become comfortable with teaching science. During that time, I discovered some wonderful ‘Happy Places’ where students, on their own, would find exciting questions to follow up on in inquiries they designed themselves. And to drift into thoughts about the lives and activities they discovered in those places.”

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.

UPDATED Statement on Healthy Spaces from Art at the Cave: We want to provide a healthy space to enjoy art. We have been practicing safety precautions such as regular cleaning, social distancing and mask wearing. As a result of the removal of the mask mandate effective March 12, 2022, we will no longer require the wearing of masks. We encourage you to continue to wear a mask if it makes you feel more comfortable, and we will supply masks and hand sanitizer at the door. As social distancing has become a norm, please be mindful some will still need a bit of personal space while inside the gallery.

Brittany Mishra’s Poem About Child Marriage in the US

Brittany Mishra’s poem from last week’s Tuesday Zoom edition of the Work is so important that I have decided to share it here. Brittany writes, Please share widely. The more people that know this, maybe the sooner we can make this place better.​”

United States of—

While the West was burning—
while tall, white orders were being signed—
a child was married to a man.

Sometimes, modern still has the same m sound as medieval.
All this time, I’ve believed in possibility—
I’ve lived in possibility. But this— this is really where we are—

***Unchained At Last, an organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States, found marriage licenses for 232,474 children between 2000 and 2018. Learn more here: https://www.unchainedatlast.org/

Poem by Brittany Mishra