My heart is full. I am deeply moved and grateful to everyone who attended our 20th Anniversary Reading. Thank you for all the love you showed me, Morgan Paige, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Art At The Cave. There is no way that a reading can remain fun, exciting, enriching, and a safe space for all without the participation of every reader, friend, and listener. I am very blessed.
Here are some photos from the event. If you took photos or video, please send them via printedmattervancouver@gmail.com.
Next I will be putting together packages for our contributors and Kickstarter supporters, having taken the reins from Morgan because she will soon be giving birth. At the reading, Morgan announced that she wants Toni and I to be the child’s Poetry Godmother and Godfather. We are honored to accept.
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic emcee Morgan Paige by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Susan Dingle applauds by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Christopher Luna caught mid-gesture by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Ghos tTown Poetry Open Mic co-host (2007-2020) and Printed Matter Vancouver founder Toni Lumbrazo Luna: photograph by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle, Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic host Morgan Paige, and past featured reader Joann Renee Boswell: photograph by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
Joe Poulton, Susan Dingle, Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Matthew Eiford-Schroeder by Morgan Paige
Moregan Paige, Christopher Luna, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna
Christopher and Toni kick things off by Morgan Paige
The opening moments of our four-hour anniversary reading captured by co-host Morgan Paige
Tom Kniffin by Morgan Paige
Al Haley by Morgan Paige
Alex Vigue by Morgan Paige
Armin Tolentino by Morgan Paige
Thanks to Morgan for picking up this cake!
Christopher Luna and Leah Jackson, whose Angst Gallery was Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic’s home from 2015-2020 Photo by Morgan Paige
Leah Jackson and Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Christopher Luna and Linda McCarty by Morgan Paige
Christopher Luna gestures at someone by Morgan Paige
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic founder Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Christopher Luna with clipboard by Morgan Paige
Eric Fair-Layman (aka Papasquatch) and Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Erin Iwata by Morgan Paige
Grace Valentine by Morgan Paige
Jim Martin and Christopher Luna by Morgan Paige
Jim Martin, who has attended Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic since our very first reading in November 2004 receives a warm introduction from Christopher Luna
Joann Renee Boswell by Morgan Paige
Joann Renee Boswell eads her poetry to the crowd by Morgan Paige
Kristin Bulger and Galen by Morgan Paige
Kyle David Congdon reads as Tony Blaine looks on by Morgan Paige
Lori Loranger by Morgan Paige
Lori Loranger by Morgan Paige
Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle shares her poetry
Toni and Christopher by Madilynn Klein
Jim Martin
Armin Tolentino reads a poem
Morgan introduces Christopher by Ian Caton
Joe Poulton, Susan Dingle, Toni and Christopher by Ian Caton
Christopher trying to keep it together as Morgan praises him by Ian Caton
Morgan gestures as Christopher, Linda McCarty, Colin Sandberg, and Laneta Johnson-Meeker look on by Ian Caton
Morgan, Christopher, and Linda by Ian Caton
Poets Laureate Selfie: Armin Tolentino, Christopher Luna, and Susan Dingle
Susan, Toni, and Christopher by Ian Caton
Toni and Christopher by Joann Renee Boswell
Toni and Christopher share a laugh with our Ghost Town Poetry family by Joann Renee Boswell
Christopher Luna founded Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in November 2004. The reading began at Ice Cream Renaissance before moving to Cover to Cover Books, Angst Gallery, and Art At The Cave, where it has taken place since 2022.
On Friday, November 8, Art At The Cave will host a book launch party for Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three, featuring poetry from throughout the twenty-year history of the series. Join us at Art At The Cave from 4-7 to purchase a copy of the new book, edited by Christopher Luna, Morgan Paige, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna, who co-hosted the reading from 2007-2020. The book will cost $20. Commemorative T-shirts and stickers will also be available for sale.
Sticker design by Morgan Paige featuring self portrait by Christopher Luna
Christopher, Toni, and Morgan would like to thank everyone who contributed to the Kickstarter campaign as well as all the poets who submitted their work. We would also like to express our deep gratitude to Anne John for her generous donation to the campaign as well as for allowing us to hold the open mic in her space every month. We could not think of a more beautiful venue in which to foster community and hear great poetry. We are also grateful to Mel Sanders of Cover to Cover Books and Leah Jackson of Angst Gallery and Niche Wine Bar for making their spaces available to our community for so many years.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who has attended Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic over the past two decades. We could not have enjoyed our raucous, three-hour, anti-racist, anti-fascist, pro-science, LGBTQ+ friendly, all ages, and uncensored poetry reading without your consistent embodiment of those principles and your willingness to hold the space for everyone who was brave enough to step to the mic.
Please return to Art At The Cave on November 14 for our 20th Anniversary reading featuring Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle:
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com to receive The Work, Christopher Luna’s monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.
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.
Susan Dingle moved from the East End of Long Island, aka ‘Strong Island,” New York, to Washougal at the invitation of her son Jake in 2020, the year after her husband died. Susan’s first chapbook, Parting Gifts, won honorable mention and publication by Local Gems Press, NY in 2020. A second chapbook, In Pilgrim Drag, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2020.
She is currently in the MFA program at Pacific University, completing her thesis of poems. With Julie Sparling, Susan co-hosts an open mic called Poetry Street PNW at the Camas Library on the 4th Wednesday each month. In March 2024, Susan Dingle was selected as Clark County Poet Laureate (2024-2026.) Following in the footsteps of Armin Tolentino, Gwendolyn Morgan and Christopher Luna, she leads workshops and projects to encourage people of all ages, ethnicities and gender identification to find their voices.
Susan graduated from the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois/Chicago in 1971, with publications including the Ohio Review, Partisan Review and APR. After teaching briefly at Colgate University, she left it all for Hollywood, to write epic poetry about LA and read it on the Merv Griffin Show. Fortunately, she returned to New York and got sober in 1981, performing her LA epic at open mics including the Nuyorican Poets Café in NYC and on Long Island as a one-woman show, The Hollywood Dream-Catcher. Becoming a clinical social worker in 2008 and a preacher in 2017, she is an ardent advocate for the power of poetry as a healing modality. She collaborated with Maggie Bloomfield on Break Out! a two-woman show about recovery, based on their poems. With Robert A. Brown, Susan founded Poetry Street in Riverhead, NY in 2014.
Christopher Luna founded Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in November 2004. The reading began at Ice Cream Renaissance before migrating to Cover to Cover Books, Angst Gallery. The series has called Art At the Cave home since 2022.
Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three Cover Collage Art by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Morgan Paige
On Friday, November 8, Art at the Cave will host a book launch party for Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three, featuring poetry from throughout the twenty year history of the series. Join us at Art At The Cave from 4-7 to purchase a copy of the new book, edited by Christopher Luna, Morgan Paige, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna, who co-hosted the reading from 2007-2020.
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com 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.
Annie Lighthart gave me permission to share what she wrote to me the day after her reading at Birdhouse Books with Janet Steward, which I curated and emceed with Lucas Gubala. “The first thing I thought of when I woke up this morning was the reading. I suddenly realized I could name what I felt in that room, what was palpable: community. And I realized I had felt that before—at the Ghost Town reading years ago. Here it was again: community. And it’s because of you. You create vital, warm, living, creative communities. It’s incredible, and rare. You make these communities possible. And you and they make the world a better place.”
Here are some photgraphs from that evening. The place was packed.
Annie Lighthart by Christopher Luna
Janet Steward by Christopher Luna
Annie Lighthart by Jacob Salzer
Janet Steward by Jacob Salzer
First Friday Poetry Night!
with Janet Steward and Annie Lighthart
Friday, September 6, 2024
7:00-8:30 PM
Birdhouse Books
1001 Main Street
Vancouver, WA, 98660
Birdhouse Books and Christopher Luna welcome poets Janet Steward and Annie Lighthart for September’s First Friday Poetry Night!
First Friday Poetry Night! is a poetry series featuring an everchanging slate of talented local poets hosted by Birdhouse Books and Christopher Luna. Catch us each First Friday at 7pm in the heart of VDA’s Art Walk. Drop by early to browse the books, soak in the art, and pick up some delicious treats upstairs at Short & Sweet before the show.
Janet Steward took advantage of retirement to write, learn Spanish, and collect memories with her husband, Larry. She decided she wasn’t destined for a long-term relationship, but fortunately Larry convinced her to try again. Their age difference of sixteen years made being a caregiver a probability, but she was surprised to find deepening intimacy, affection, and personal growth far outweigh the frustrations and loss that come with that role. Janet Steward’s became caregiver for her husband when memory loss joined his list of chronic conditions a few years ago. Now Is What Matters is a moving collection of poems that not only documents the couple’s journey, but offers a source of insight, courage, and comfort. More than anything these poems teach us that the practice of love is a lifelong exercise, one that is rewarded with a beautiful, intimate dance for two.
Like colorful strands of yarn threaded across a loom, the poems in Janet Steward’s Now is What Matters stretch from loss to comfort and from grief to gift, weaving a rich tapestry depicting the full picture of caring for a partner suffering from memory loss. The constant thread—the longest and most vivid strand running through the poems—is love. “We will swim in its ocean,” Steward vows. Love, she states, will “feed us for the rest of our lives.” Steward bravely lives and beautifully writes poems of truth and wisdom. We are lucky to be warmed by the insight and courage of her words. —Annie Lighthart, author of PAX
Now Is What Matters by Janet Steward
A Finalist in the The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize 2023
Annie Lighthart began writing poetry after her first visit to an Oregon old-growth forest and now writes and teaches poetry wherever and whenever she can. Poems from her books Pax and Iron String have been turned into music, used in meditation and healing projects in many different countries, and have traveled farther than she has. She wishes they would take her with them.
Pax is a book of peace, a book of love poems to the world. The poems within these pages ask us to wake to our own remarkable lives and our undeniable connections, to look with a steady eye at the demands of love. Whether considering insects, the soul, or the ghosts and thoughts that haunt us, this book insists that there is no reason to turn away. Let us redefine love and wreckage, time and weeds, it fearlessly states. Pax is that rare welcoming book that speaks to us like a wry and knowing old friend.
Annie Lighthart writes purely magical poems – they will rivet and change you, in all good ways. –Naomi Shihab Nye
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.
Bruce D. Hall is a poet and short story writer from southeastern Washington. The chapbook Poems From A Big Beard Poet is his first collection of published poetry. His poetry has appeared in Poets in the Shops in Vancouver, Washington, and on C-Tran buses as part of the Poetry Moves program. (Note to readers: if you do not submit, you will not get published).
Unlike most poets and writers, Bruce did not start writing at an early age. His very large family told stories at family gatherings, some of which could be believed. BS is a family tradition. His work has been called highly visual. This comes from a strict high school creative writing instructor, Bob Smith. Bruce rewrote his first paper 13 times before he got a B+, the lowest passing grade a paper could receive. He earned a B.S. degree, not the family kind mentioned previously, from a respected university in Electrical Engineering. His only writing was technical papers. Work brought Bruce to Vancouver in 2012. He signed up for Wildfire Writing, Christi Krug’s evening writing class at Clark College. The infection by muse had begun. As of this writing, no vaccine has been produced. He signed up for a poetry writing workshop taught by Clark County Inaugural Poet Laureate Christopher Luna. This brought Bruce to Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, where he was a regular reader until the pandemic allowed telework and relocation to be with his life partner Suzie Stacey and close to grandchildren.
November 2024 is the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. This year’s remaining featured readers are Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle and Debra Elisa.
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com 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.
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.
william erickson is a living poet. His work appears or is forthcoming in Poetry Daily, Sixth Finch, West Branch, Denver Quarterly and other pubs. william is the author of several chapbooks, as well as the full-length collection You Don’t Have to Believe in the World. He lives in Washington with his partner and their two pups in an old house across the street from a large tree.
November 2024 is the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. This year’s remaining featured readers will include Bruce Hall, Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle and Debra Elisa.
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com 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.
Our heartfelt thanks to Jennifer Pratt-Walter for sending this poem inspired by her experience at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic at Art At The Cave. Jennifer Pratt-Walter is a talented poet, musician, and photographer who has been a regular presence at our reading series for many years. Jennifer writes, “Thank you for the opportunity give and receive poetry in a supportive and outrageously amazing gathering.”
Jennifer Pratt-Walter reads her poetry at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on September 8, 2022
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
This moment is important—
look at you all out there, so beautiful
in your collective radiance, eager constellations of eyes.
You are visionaries; your creativity is so strong
it generates a sound (I am singing it now).
Such words we drink here together, ingesting
each other’s wisdom. Such a painting we make
in colors that have not even been invented yet,
opening barriers for change.
You are breathtaking just as you are right here.
You are breath-making as you move through your days
like oxygen. Look how you live in service to your conscience,
sewing lost edges together, seam-ripping
the world’s ills to let the healing in,
knitting bandages of words
to keep it there.
J. Pratt-Walter, 2024
As of this writing, there are 21 days left to go to fund our 20th Anniversary anthology of poems from Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, the anti-racist, anti-fascist, LGBTQ+ friendly, pro-science, all ages and uncensored reading series founded by Christopher Luna in 2004. Please share the following link and consider contributing today!
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.
Gay Garland Reed, Ph.D. is a professor emerita from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa where she taught for over two decades. She also taught in Korea as a Peace Corps Volunteer back in the 70s, and in China and the Middle East. After many years of academic writing and retirement in 2014, in 2017 she self-published a small chapbook of poems called Dragonfly Spirit. In 2022 she published a second chapbook called Transitory Moments: Poetry That Explores Impermanence. She relocated to Vancouver, Washington from Hawai‘i a decade ago.
November 2024 is the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. This year’s featured readers will include William Erickson, Bruce Hall, Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle and Debra Elisa.
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com 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.
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.
Kevin Sampsell is an editor and publisher (Future Tense Books), bookstore employee (Powell’s Books), collage artist, and author (of the memoir, A Common Pornography, the novel, This Is Between Us, and a forthcoming novel, Baby in the Night). His book of collage art and poems, I Made an Accident, was published by Clash Books in 2022. His newest book, the illustrated story, Sean the Stick (a collaboration with the artist Emma Jon-Michael Frank) came out in January 2024. His stories and essays have appeared in publications and websites such as Southwest Review, Diagram, Salon, The Rumpus, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Paper Darts, Joyland, and Longreads, as well as Best Sex Writing 2012, and Best American Essays 2013. He’s lived in Portland, Oregon since 1992.
November 2024 is the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. This year’s featured readers will include Gay Garland Reed, William Erickson, Bruce Hall, Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle and Debra Elisa.
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com 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.
PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER 