Printed Matter Vancouver

Poetry Moves Phase Two Begins July 3 with students from the Poets in the Schools Program

June 23, 2016

POETRY MOVES: Poems on the Bus

A Project of C-Tran, The Arts of Clark County, Printed Matter Vancouver and

Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna

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Sunday, July 3, 2016

10am – noon

Esther Short Park, Stage Area

This event is the public reading of student poems selected for Poetry Moves – poems on the C-Tran buses July–December 2016

Printed Matter Vancouver congratulates all of the students whose poems were selected:

Andrew H., Fort Vancouver High School

Ashley S., Fort Vancouver High School

Breanna K., Riverview Elementary School

Colwyn B., Fort Vancouver High School

Elora H., Discovery Middle School

Emma L., Vancouver School of Arts and Academics

Jaden L., Vancouver School of Arts and Academics

Jessica K., Fort Vancouver High School

Marley J., Hearthwood Elementary School

Rheanna N., Fort Vancouver High School

JOIN US FOR THIS WONDERFUL CELEBRATION OF LOCAL STUDENT POETS

Christopher at Evergreen High School June 2 2015 by Chris Margolin — Christopher Luna visits Evergreen High School in June 2015

When Christopher Luna was named Poet Laureate for Clark County in 2013, he launched a poets in the schools program that sends local writers into Clark County schools to lead poetry workshops aimed at showing children that poetry can be meaningful, magical, and fun. The program has received grant support from Humanities Washington and the Arts of Clark County.

Arts of Clark County Chair Karen Madsen made contact with C-Tran and laid the groundwork for the Poetry Moves program. Her husband Cameron Suttles designed the channel cards for the buses. The first phase of the program featured poems from ten Clark County poets, eight of whom were selected by Luna and his wife and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Toni Lumbrazo Luna (formerly Partington) as judges of a countywide contest. These poems were placed on 166 C-Tran buses from January –June 2016. For more information on the first phase of the project, visit: https://printedmattervancouver.com/2015/11/16/printed-matter-vancouver-congratulates-the-winners-of-the-poetry-moves-contest/

Phase Two of Poetry Moves will feature ten young poets from the schools visited by the poets in Luna’s Poets in the Schools Program. The workshops were led by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Jim Martin, and Morgan Hutchinson.

On July 3, we will celebrate the students whose poems were chosen with a special reading at Esther Short Park. Each student’s poem will be read, and a C-Tran bus will be present so that the students and audience members can see what the poems look like installed on the buses. The student poems will appear on C-Tran buses through December 2016.

For more information email printedmattervancouver@gmail.com

Summer Poetry Classes with Christopher Luna at Clark College and Multnomah Arts Center

June 5, 2016

Are you looking for inspiration? Would you like to write in a safe and supportive environment aimed at moving everyone’s work forward? Are you interested in learning more about how to revise your poetry and how to get published? Then join Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna this summer for one of three fun writing workshops.

Christopher at Multnomah Falls by Toni BW — Christopher Luna by Toni Lumbrazo Luna

Clark College

Poetry Matters: Writing Poetry
Beginners and experienced writers alike will generate new works and discuss the poet’s role in the community. Read, listen to, and write poetry together in a supportive class focused on providing gentle, constructive feedback. Discuss how to construct a manuscript and ready it for publication. Writers of all experience levels are welcome. Bring paper & pen or laptop. Age 16+.

Class Information
Item Number: K455
Date: 07/11 – 08/15 M
Location: CCE 208
Time: 06:00pm – 08:30pm
Fee: $134.00

To register for Poetry Matters (Mondays 6-8:30 7/11 – 8/15) at Clark College, visit: Clark College Community Education Class Information

Multnomah Arts Center

Poetry Writing Ages 18 & Up
Poetry as a means of expression, exploration, and experience is available to
everyone. Write poetry in response to prompts and read a variety of published
poems that you can use as inspiration. Read and respond to one another’s work in
this supportive setting, paying close attention to revision.
1055295 Mon. 10 am – 12:30 pm Jun. 20 – Aug. 22 $180 [9 classes]
Christopher Luna

Poetry—Revising & Publishing Ages 18 & Up
What should you do after writing a first draft of a poem? How do you shape and
develop a poem into a publishable piece of work? How do you decide if and when
to publish your work? Discuss strategies for revising and editing your poetry,
followed by an overview of how to find outlets that might publish your words.
Explore the importance of chapbooks and whether or not entering poetry contests
is a good idea. Please bring 3-5 typed, unfinished poems and a lunch to class.
1055296 Sat. 10 am – 4 pm Jul. 30 $60 [1 class] Christopher Luna

If you’d like to register for Poetry Writing or the one-day workshop on Revising and Publishing at Multnomah Arts Center, visit: http://www.multnomahartscenter.org/classes/summer2016/macSummer16_colorWeb.pdf

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Poet & Artist John Kay June 9, 2016

June 5, 2016

Ghost Town Poetry Flyer June 9 2016

GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna

7 pm

Thursday, June 9

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

Food and libation provided by Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street

LGBTQ-FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

angstgallery.com

Featuring Poet and Artist John Kay

John Kay is a widely published poet and visual artist who lives in Camas, WA. He grew up as a poet in Los Angeles, where he got to know Charles Bukowski, whose work continues to be an influence. Kay has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona. He taught writing courses for the University of Maryland for 20 years, and lived in Germany for 31 years. His most recent book, This Particular Kiss, was published this year by Pearl Editions in Long Beach, CA.

John Kay was profiled in the Columbian in February.

Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall to Visit Vancouver in May

April 22, 2016

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic and a Free Workshop

Featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall

at Angst Gallery May 12

Ghost Town Flyer May 2016

GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna

Workshop with

Washington State Poet Laureate and

Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna

3-5pm

Thursday, May 12

Workshop is limited to 28 people; pre-registration is recommended.

Pre-register by contacting Christopher Luna at christopherjluna@gmail.com

Open Mic

7 pm

Thursday, May 12

Both events located at

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

Food and libation provided by

Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street

LGBTQ-FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

angstgallery.com

Featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall

Tod Marshall was born in Buffalo, NY. He earned his PhD from the University of Kansas in 1996. His first collection of poetry, Dare Say, was the 2002 winner of the University of Georgia’s Contemporary Poetry Series. He has also published a collection of his interviews with contemporary poets, Range of the Possible (EWU Press, 2002), and an accompanying anthology of the interviewed poets’ work, Range of Voices (2005). These volumes include interviews with and poems by Robert Hass, Li-Young Lee, Robert Wrigley, Brenda Hillman, Dorianne Laux, Kim Addonizio, Ed Hirsch, Dave Smith, Yusef Komunyakaa, and others. In 2005, he was awarded a Washington Artists Trust Fellowship. His second collection, The Tangled Line (Canarium Books, 2009) was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Bugle (Canarium, 2014), was the winner of the 2015 Washington State Book Award. Marshall was also awarded the Humanities Washington Award in 2015 for creativity and service. He lives in Spokane, Washington, and teaches creative writing and literature at Gonzaga University where he is the Robert and Ann Powers Chair in the Humanities.

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Workshop Description

If You Ain’t No Place You Can’t Go Nowhere

My title is from Richard Hugo’s The Triggering Town. In his book, Hugo reminds poets of the importance of identifying the “where” of a poem and how rooting creativity to place can allow the imagination to grow in unexpected ways. In this workshop, we will explore ways to connect our imagination to the real and imagined landscapes of Washington.

There are many ways, of course, that we can think about “place.” Perhaps specific flora and fauna conjure up place for us (salmon and Arrowleaf Balsamroot, delicious huckleberries). Perhaps titles of towns or geological phenomena do the same (Anacortes, Mt. Rainier, and Twisp; The Columbia, The Palouse, and sharp columns of basalt, to name only a few). Perhaps people—individuals or groups—make a “where” vivid in our minds (Chief Seattle or Ken Griffey Junior, Kurt Cobain and Colonel George Wright, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp or Bing Crosby and Cathy McMorris Rodgers).

Using a controlled range of diction, we will work from freewriting to drafting a poem that might reveal something about where we are and where we’ve been, and perhaps such knowledge will tell us a little bit about who we are, were, and might be.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Joseph Green March 10, 2016

February 28, 2016

Ghost Town Flyer March 10 2016

GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna

7 pm
Thursday, March 10
Angst Gallery
1015 Main Street
Vancouver, WA 98660

Food and libation provided by
Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street

LGBTQ-FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
printedmattervancouver.com
angstgallery.com

9781936657179-cov-FINAL.indd

Featuring Joseph Green: Joseph Green’s most recent collection of poems is What Water Does at a Time Like This (MoonPath Press 2015), following That Thread Still Connecting Us (MoonPath 2012), The End of Forgiveness (Floating Bridge, 2001), Greatest Hits: 1975—2000 (Pudding House, 2001), Deluxe Motel (Signpost Press, 1991), and His Inadequate Vocabulary (Signpost, 1986). Through the Peasandcues Press, Green and his wife, Marquita, produce limited-edition, letterpress-printed poetry broadsides using hand-set metal type; and at the C.C. Stern Type Foundry & Museum of Metal Typography, in Portland, he works to preserve the craft of casting the type itself.

What You Can Say to Me When I’m Dead
by Joseph Green

I won’t want to talk about the war,
so don’t start. I won’t say anything at all
about politics. I’ve already had it

up to here with gossip.
And God is no good, either,
as a conversational topic. I’ll be finished,

too, with gnawing on the dry bones
of art, of accomplishment.
You can put them into your own

soup if you feel like it. I’ll be lying
down for a while. Just fill me in
on what you’ve been up to.

Please join us on March 10 for Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic featuring Joseph Green, poet, letterpress printer, and author of What Water Does at a Time Like This.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1555212558124357/

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Steve Williams at Angst Gallery, February 11, 2016

January 18, 2016

Ghost Town Flyer February 2016

GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna

7 pm
Thursday, February 11
Angst Gallery
1015 Main Street
Vancouver, WA 98660

Food and libation provided by
Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street

LGBTQ-FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
angstgallery.com

Featuring Steve Williams

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Steve Williams is the author of a new chapbook entitled Thirteen, a poem. He works in Portland, helping those who have barriers to employment find jobs. He lives with a lovely woman who writes and edits much better than he but refuses to admit it.

ThirteenFrontCover

Shades
by Steve Williams

One grandfather’s shadow is fresh tar
on the roof outside my window.
The other grandfather’s shadow –
a wind-up Indian with broken hands.

My grandmothers are whiskey radio baseball
and a garden full of curio cabinets and canning jars.

Corky, Blackie and Sam are dog shadows
warm under my blanket. My cat shadows
all ran away.

My father’s shadow is the Wichita Lineman
belted to every creosoted pole, spurs buried
in the wood listening to his own static.

My streetlight shadows are Spirographed
around my shoes, each a different shade
of black. These are my mother.

As the sun falls into drowned ash,
these shades fade into twilight.
This is where we all used to hide.

When my face rises in your bright hands,
I hold your kiss
long enough for each of them
to have their turn.

Christopher Luna’s Creative Writing Classes for Winter 2016

December 31, 2015

Christopher_Luna_Free_Poetry_Workshop_WSUV_Writing_Center by Louise Wynn

Are you looking for inspiration? Would you like to write new poetry in a safe, supportive environment while also making connections with others in the local literary community? Then please consider registering for one of Clark County Poet Laureate and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Christopher Luna’s upcoming creative writing classes:

Clark College

Poetry Matters: Writing Poetry
Register Now

Beginners and experienced writers alike will generate new works and discuss the poet’s role in the community. Read, listen to, and write poetry together in a supportive class focused on providing gentle, constructive feedback. Discuss how to construct a manuscript and ready it for publication. Writers of all experience levels are welcome. Bring paper & pen or laptop. Age 16+.

Class Information
Item Number: G028
Date: 01/04 – 02/29 M
Location: CCE 217
Time: 06:00pm – 08:30pm
Fee: $139.00
Instructor: Christopher Luna

No class on 1/18/2016

Multnomah Arts Center

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/60624

Classes

Literary Arts Workshops for Adults & teens

Poetry Writing
Poetry as a means of expression, exploration, and experience is available to everyone. Write poetry in response to prompts and read a variety of published poems that you can use as inspiration. Read and respond to one another’s work in this supportive setting, paying close attention to revision.

Jan 11, 2016 to Mar 14, 2016
Each Monday 10am to 12:30pm

MAC Room 8

$193

Except:
Monday, Jan 18, 2016
Monday, Feb 15, 2016

anthology cover art cropped — Original cover art for Ghost Town Poetry by Christopher Luna

Poetry Collage Workshop (1044221)
Poets and artists have always used allusion and reference to create something new. Explore strategies for assembling borrowed words and images into art and poetry. Create visual collages that incorporate text, or poems that include visual aids. Bring in art material and/or text that you would like to use and lunch. Scissors, glue, and paper to collage on will be provided.

Ages 18 & up
Feb 20, 2016
Saturday 10am to 4pm
MAC Room 7
$62

Clark County Arts Commission Presents a Benefit for Clark County Poet Laureate Poet Laureate Christopher Luna on Friday, December 4

November 22, 2015

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Poet Laureate Benefit
Sponsored by Clark County Arts Commission

Concurrent with the December 4th First Friday Art Walk, the Sixth Floor Gallery, in the Public Service Center at 1300 Franklin Street, will host a special event. Mark your calendar to meet Christopher Luna, Clark County, WA’s inaugural poet laureate, who recently accepted an invitation from the Clark County Arts Commission to extend his term through the end of 2016.

Proceeds from gallery sales and art objects crafted by local artists will go to support literary arts programs across the county. Entertainment will be provided by public school arts students, courtesy of the arts commission’s Spotlight on Young Performing Artists program.

Sale of art and various other items: 3:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Reception, with musical entertainment, light refreshments, and gallery talks on poet laureate-initiated projects: 5:30 – 7:30.

Christopher Luna will give a short poetry reading at 6:20pm.

For more info, visit:
http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com/

Clark County Poet Laureate

Printed Matter Vancouver Congratulates the Winners of the Poetry Moves Contest

November 16, 2015

Printed Matter Vancouver Publishers Christopher Luna and Toni Partington are proud to announce the winners of the Poetry Moves Contest, sponsored by Printed Matter Vancouver, C-Tran, and Arts of Clark County:

Neil Aitken

Tiffany Burba-Schramm

Diane Cammer

Sherri H. Hoffman

Erin Iwata

Tim Klein

Jennifer Pratt-Walter

Karen Read

Below are the winning poems, which will appear on C-Tran buses beginning in January. Partington and Luna will also have one poem each on the buses. We would like to thank everyone who submitted to the contest. We are also very grateful to Karen Madsen of Arts of Clark County, Graphic Designer Cameron Suttles, and Melissa York and Ronda Peck of C-Tran for their hard work and support.

There will be a reading at the Food Court at the Westfield Shopping Mall in Vancouver, WA at 1pm on Sunday, December 13 to celebrate the winners.

We could not be more proud of our fellow poets. We can’t wait to see these poems on the buses.

Excerpt from “Extern”
By Neil Aitken, Vancouver, WA

Sometimes I dream of the ghost of a bird
its eyes dark like mine
asleep in the fold of a tree
its shadow the shape of a harp.

Everything Settles
By Tiffany Burba-Schramm, Vancouver, WA

The frost settles upon the ground.
Snow settles upon the limbs of trees.
The ceiling in my house settles; creates small cracks.
The floor creaks and settles the weight of dogs approaching.
We settle, let the weight of the world crack our ambitions.
We let others’ harsh words and criticisms drape us
like settled winter fog.

We could fly
By Diane M. Cammer, Vancouver, WA

yet we stand, feet bound to ground
arms spread wide, wings in
another world, another time
waiting for wind, an updraft
when all that’s required
is a single bold step into the unknown.

Pilgrimage, 1988
By Sherri H. Hoffman, Vancouver, WA

Start at Dodger Stadium, Chavez Ravine, most perfect field. Onward to Candlestick, Wrigley, Three Rivers, Shea. Until Cooperstown, Holiest of Holies. Blessed with field grit rubbed into our salted skins, we’d say the sacred names. Koufax. Drysdale. Marichal. Campanella from the Brooklyn years. Jackie Robinson, born the same day as our Grandma Wildish. And Pee Wee Reese, who kept the faith, refusing to sign the petition to ban Robinson for being black. The game transcendent.

Excerpt from “Ours”
By Erin Iwata, Ridgefield, WA

I have to believe that something of seventeen still lingers
though she pains me with her adolescent optimism
I return, hoping she wasn’t wrong
that there is beauty in the stacked stones along the path
that there is a path indeed
mountains to be scaled and conquered
that the world is still ours

Counterpart
By Tim Klein, Vancouver, WA

At this very moment
someone
somewhere
is doing
the very same thing you are doing
for the very same reason.

From GHOST TOWN, USA
By Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna

the dirt beneath
Bonita’s fingernails
did not discourage him
she was reading a bilingual edition
of Dante’s Inferno
on the 37
and that was more than enough

HONEYCOMB PROPHECY
By Toni Partington, Vancouver, WA

In the residence of your heart
I wish to be a cubicle made of beeswax
translucent, unfiltered, bright with buzz.

Together we will construct a confluence
of resin and lace; a suspension bridge
across hedge thorns and conflict.

Journey
By Jennifer Pratt-Walter, Vancouver, WA

We are the tide’s twin, swimming
with the faithful senses of salmon—
we smell fresh river
from out of the salt, we are
drawn home under moon-watch
for as long as the journey takes.

Fourth Plain Boulevard
By Karen Read, Vancouver, WA

A home for hundreds walking — yet to name
the dreams that rise before they dare to speak.

Colorful signs that fly above — untamed
wave low and high, press forward, reach, and peak.

So often you find only what you seek.

Your power lines of old are not here sown.
They surge beneath this skin of place unknown.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Kristin Roedell at Angst Gallery November 12, 2015

October 23, 2015

GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington

7pm
Thursday, November 12
Angst Gallery
1015 Main Street
Vancouver, WA 98660

Food and libation provided by Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street

LGBTQ-FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
angstgallery.com

With our featured reader, Kristin Roedell

Kristin Roedell is a Northwest poet and retired attorney. Her work has appeared in over 50 journals and anthologies, including The Journal of the American Medical Association, Switched on Gutenberg, and CHEST. She is the author of Girls with Gardenias (Flutter Press) and Down River (Aldrich Press), a finalist for the Quercus Review Press poetry prize. She has twice been nominated for Best of the Web and once for the Pushcart Prize. She was the 2013 winner of NISA’s 11th Annual Brainstorm Poetry Contest and a finalist in the 2013 Crab Creek Review poetry contest.

Kristin Roedell in Poets & Writers

PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER

we write because we must

Author: Printed Matter Vancouver