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

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.

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 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.

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.