Jim Martin, April Bullard, Rob Gourley, and Jenney Pauer at St. Johns Booksellers June 9, 2012
Photo by Toni Partington
Printed Matter Vancouver would like to thank Jim Martin, April Bullard, Rob Gourley and Jenney Pauer for representing Vancouver at Dan Raphael’s Market Day Poetry Series on Saturday, June 9. The series, which spans 22 weeks and features a different host each week, takes place at St. Johns Booksellers (8622 N. Lombard, Portland), a great independent bookstore owned and operated by Nena Rawdah. For more information, go tohttp://www.stjohnsbooks.com/ We would also like to thank Dan Raphael for curating this amazing series and Nena for having us. St. Johns Booksellers is simply one of the most enthusiastic and consistent supporters of local poets in Portland.
St. Johns Booksellers owner Nena Rawdah greets the audience
Photo by Mary Slocum
We would also like to thank Steve Williams, M, and Mary Slocum for coming out to support us. In addition, Christopher Luna would like to thank Mary Slocum and Toni Partington for documenting the event.
Below you will find information about each poet, an example of their work, and photos from the event:
April Bullard by Toni Partington
April Bullard resides with her husband aboard their houseboat near Vancouver, Washington. She admits to 50 years of age, over 30 years of marriage, mother of 3, grandmother of 2, navy veteran, and a fondness for absinthe. She creates work inspired by living cradled on the Columbia River as an artist, photographer, poet, and musician. Her work continues to be exhibited in numerous galleries, and businesses in the Vancouver/Portland area. Her paintings have a home at Cover to Cover Books & Espresso, in Vancouver, WA. Published cover art includes: Cover of Darkness (May 2011 and Jan 2012), Potter’s Field 4, Aoife’s Kiss (Dec 2011), and parABnormal Digest #3, all from Sam’s Dot Publishing. Published author credits include parABnormal Digest #2 and #3, Shelter of Daylight Autumn 2011, and two pieces forthcoming in Cover of Darkness June 2012, all from Sam’s Dot Publishing. For more info, visit: http://www.aprilbullard.com
River God by April Bullard
From the beach, I watch you walk
Waist deep in cool, dark water.
The afternoon sun behind you
Outlines your distinct silhouette
In a living aura of flaming gold.
Tiny blue reflections fail to disclose
Details of your shadowy side.
Out stretched arms create a commanding presence.
Your fingertips caress the surface of the water
Bringing a million sun kissed ripples
Twinkling to life,
Sparkling diamonds wandering on the current.
For an instant, you are a god.
The pure, blazing energy of life surrounds you.
Blissfully omnipotent,
Moving through the refreshing black cold of space.
Your merest whim, stray glance,
Or flick of a finger
Propels billions of burning stars
Through the celestial eddies of infinity,
Until their fever fades into oblivion.
Rob Gourley by Mary Slocum
Rob Gourley: Educated in Antioch College and Central Washington University, my employment career has consisted of 17 years as Teacher/Counselor in Washington schools and another 17 years as Locator/Surveyor in an auto processing company at Port of Portland intermodal transportation facilities, where I operate a Teklogix scanner or sometimes install software upgrades via G-scan equipment.
Rob Gourley by Mary Slocum
As for the craft of poetry, I was fortunate to have studied under the guidance of professors Milton Goldberg and Nicholas Crome, to have participated in an afternoon seminar session given by Gary Snyder, and to have meditated with supervision of zen master Bishop Nippo in the early 70s. During recent years my avocation has been listening/performing in various open-mic events of the Portland metro area. I’ve followed deer trails upstream in the following watersheds: Rivanna River (VA), Little Miami R. (OH), Puget Sound & Columbia R. (WA). After the canoe was stolen, I sold the paddles.
Rob Gourley reads from a chapbook created especially for the event at St. Johns Booksellers
which includes a brilliant tribute to Miles Davis
Photo by Toni Partington
Draft 20 from Skinflint’s Journal by Rob Gourley
… Caught myself recollecting the names
of those encountered through the dream,
before eyes opened to the light,
as if listing for some index –
“Campbell, Davis, Faulkner, Foster …
put Baker closer to the front.
Vascott follows last, no Walker!”
It was but an illusion that
a scene could be revisited –
the dream was not a DVD.
Finding the place I wanted brought
new faces and circumstances.
Giving up, I became awake
listening to bird trills outside,
rolled out, and stepped into jeans.
On the south porch by glass windows
six crimson amaryllis blooms
were leaning forward like fast friends.
Jim Martin by Mary Slocum
Jim Martin: Have you ever had a thought that wouldn’t be tamed? I have, and it won’t leave me alone. I’m a retired biologist and teacher, who spends his time with family, volunteers at animal shelters, does advising and board work in science inquiry education, dances tap and ballet, writes and reads poetry at open mikes, and makes and exhibits photographs. And thinking about who we are and why.
Jim Martin by Toni Partington
Jim Martin by Mary Slocum
Altitude by Jim Martin
his words
scuttle like a crab
legs on autopilot
twist and bend
pulling its body
his lies
close to the ground
unseen from above
while claws wave
in the air
directing your gaze
from its eyes
eyes
fasten on your
vulnerable neck
throbbing artery that
once breached
heart’s certain
death
scuttles
does the crab
low to the ground
will never know
the joy of altitude
Jenney Pauer reads from Serenity in the Brutal Garden
Photo by Toni Partington
Jenney Pauer is a graduate of Southern Methodist University, where she studied theater and English literature. After serving four years in the United States Army as a Korean linguist, she obtained a Secondary English Education degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before moving to the Pacific Northwest with her dog and cat in 2008, she taught high school English along the border of Arizona and Mexico. Recently, Jenney co-wrote a short film, Nico’s Sampaguita, accepted into the 27th Annual Asian Pacific Film Festival in Los Angeles, and soon to be released by Sacred Fire Films in San Francisco, California. Serenity in the Brutal Garden (Printed Matter Vancouver, 2012) is her first book.
Jenney Pauer, Rob Gourley, April Bullard, and Jim Martin
Photo by Toni Partington
Fa Mu Lan by Jenney Pauer
Fa Mu Lan is a name from the past,
even if today she is a stone in the woods
waiting for a hand to push her into motion,
she will not roll out into the sun
and grab her sword
and shout out her name
to fight men on the Internet
and women on diets.
She will be at a loss will she not?
Where is the battleground she knew?
Where is the tablecloth
stretched from the skin of her father
that urged her into war
centuries ago?
It is hanging on a wall in the
Smithsonian,
preserved behind a glass case,
and people pass by it quickly
so they can get a look at the body of the
Egyptian concubine—
Na-ret.
The salacious,
the once voluptuous,
Na-ret.
And Fa Mu Lan waits as a stone so that
beetles may nest and turn beneath her
and birds can hit her with their beaks
and shit on her.
She is an old woman left in a room
taught to forget even how to ask a question.
Give her some water.
She’ll live.
Photo by Toni Partington
Photo by Toni Partington
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic emcee and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Christopher Luna
Photo by Mary Slocum
Christopher Luna is the co-founder, with Toni Partington, of Printed Matter Vancouver, whose books include Ghost Town Poetry, an anthology of poems from the popular Vancouver, WA open mic reading he founded in 2004, and Serenity in the Brutal Garden, the debut collection by Vancouver poet Jenney Pauer. His books include GHOST TOWN, USA and The Flame Is Ours: The Letters of Stan Brakhage and Michael McClure 1961-1978, an important piece of film and literary history that Luna edited at Brakhage’s request, available on Michael Rothenberg’s Big Bridge.org.
Christopher Luna reads his poetry at St. Johns Booksellers
Photo by Toni Partington
Ghost Town Poetry co-host and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Toni Partington
Photo by Christopher Luna
Toni Partington reads from her book Wind Wing
Photo by Mary Slocum
Toni Partington: I’m a poet intrigued by the investigative process. I work with the narrative form to explore social commentary. I’m always looking for the “sweet” spot between poetry and art where collaborations find a common voice. Vancouver, Washington is my town and visual, literary, musical, and performance arts are my mission.
Printed Matter Vancouver is proud to report that the reading at St. Johns Booksellers was only the first of two Vancouver showcases we were invited to host in Portland this summer. Please join us in Director Park (SW Park & Yamhill) on Monday evening, July 9 for Poetry on the Piazza, a series of outdoor readings organized by David Abel of the Spare Room Collective. Christopher Luna and Toni Partington will be joined by Vancouver poets Kori Sayer and Jenney Pauer. Live painting by Gallery 360 member DaBat. For more info: http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfm?c=52454
David Abel and Christopher Luna chat before the show by Richard Schemmerer
Rick J’s notebook by Richard Schemmerer
Poetry on the Piazza organizer David Abel welcomes the crowd to Director Park
Tyler Morgan by Anni Becker
Tyler Morgan by Anni Becker
Christopher Luna by Anni Becker
DaBat by Anni Becker 
PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER 