Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Debra Elisa at Art At the Cave December 12, 2024

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring Debra Elisa

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm
Thursday, December 12

Art At The Cave
108 E Evergreen Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98660
https://artatthecave.com

ANTI-FASCIST, ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE,
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.

Debra Elisa (Wöhrmann) was born in the Northwest and thanks the mountains and rivers, salmon and her backyard garden for their inspiration. Her collection, You Can Call It Beautiful, debuted last year, and she seeks a home for a coming-of-age novel-in-verse. She leads Poetry Play workshops and has worked with refugees as a Peace Corp Volunteer in the Philippines. She loves travel of all sorts. She believes stories save lives. She says we need poetry now as much as ever—and anyone can be a poet. www.debraelisa.com

“Debra Elisa’s poems in You Can Call It Beautiful show us that even in a time of existential threats to the ecosphere—of meaningless sound bites and islands of plastic—the poet’s job is to find words that refine our vision and thaw our fortified hearts.” Kathryn Hunt, author of Long Way Through Ruin and Seed Wheel

https://moonpathpress.com/DebraElisa.htm

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.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Celebrates 20 Years of Poetry and Community-Building with a Book Launch for Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three at Art At The Cave on November 8, 2024

Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three cover art by anthology editors
Morgan Paige, Christopher Luna, and Toni Lumbrazo Luna

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

20th Anniversary Anthology Book Launch   

Celebrating Ghost Town Poetry Volume Three

Edited by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Morgan Paige

4-7 pm

Friday, November 8

Art At The Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

https://printedmattervancouver.com/

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.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Bruce Hall at Art at the Cave on October 10, 2024

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Bruce Hall

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, October 10

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

$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.

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.

Photos from Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring will erickson September 12, 2024

Thanks to everyone who attended Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic featuring will erickson at Art At the Cave on September 12, 2024.

Sketch by Chris Stevens of Pop Octopus and Vancouver Drink and Draw at Metallion Cafe
It was an epic night with over 30 readers, plus our featured reader and our co-hosts Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige
Morgan Paige reads from her new book Blue Morpho

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring William Erickson at Art At The Cave September 12, 2024

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring William Erickson

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, September 12

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.

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.

Jennifer Pratt-Walter pays tribute to Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

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!

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Gay Garland Reed at Art At the Cave on Thursday, August 8, 2024

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Gay Garland Reed

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, August 8

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.

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.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Poet, Publisher and Collage Artist Kevin Sampsell at Art At the Cave July 11, 2024

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Kevin Sampsell

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, July 11

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.

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.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Marialicia González at Art At The Cave on June 13, 2024

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Marialicia González

Author of Language Has No Words

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, June 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.

The daughter of Cuban refugees, Marialicia González was raised in Miami with a value in the efficiency of love & creativity. Mari started writing as a child as a way to witness herself. Poetry gave rise to her imagination and haiku, in particular, captivated her. She is a grief revolutionary. Using her 30 years of experience as a midwife, RN, social worker, minister, and artist, she has transformed the heartache of deep, personal losses to become a strong voice in the cultural shift to normalize the experience and expression of grief. 
Marialicia is the founder of DARALUZ WISDOM, where she consults with individuals and groups in bringing clarity to the childbearing years and beyond. While facilitating workshops, rituals, creating courses, and providing one-to-one consulting, she supports people in making informed, wise choices, for themselves and their loved ones, with a focus on holding space for grief and the expansion that our grieving hearts hold. She is a space-holder, leatherworker and hiker, a storyteller and a mother. 

Language Has No Words is the poetic journey of one woman’s heart. Written in the classic syllabic composition of 5-7-5, these unconventional haiku accompany you through the nuances of grief, forgiveness, sex, longing, curiosity, joy, and hope. Marialicia González walks with you as you breathe deeply and awaken to the subtleties of life, navigating your deepest fears, satisfactions, and wonders; until eventually you become a poem unto yourself: https://campsite.bio/marigonzalez

November 2024 is the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. This year’s featured readers include Kevin Sampsell, Gay Garland Reed, William Erickson, Bruce Hall, 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.

Photos from Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Zia Pollis at Art At The Cave on April 11, 2024

Lightship Press authors and publishers at Ghost town Poetry Open Mic, Art At The Cave April 11, 2024.
Morgan Paige Poetry (Lick the Psychic), Christopher Luna (Voracity), Igor Brezhnev (publisher and book designer), Sam Preminger (Publisher and editor), Zia Pollis (Labors of Mercy).
Lightship Press: https://www.lightshippress.com/the-press
Morgan Paige, Lick the Psychic: https://www.lightshippress.com/books/p/lick-the-psychic
Christopher Luna, Voracity: https://www.lightshippress.com/books/p/voracity-by-christopher-luna
Igor Bjorn Brezhnev, nights since volumes 1-6: https://www.igorbrezhnev.com/
Sam Rose Preminger, Our Streets:
https://www.lightshippress.com/books/p/our-streets-by-sam-rose-preminger
Zia Pollis, Labors of Mercy: https://www.lightshippress.com/books/p/labors-of-mercy-by-zia-pollis
Zia Pollis reads from her Lightship Press chapbook Labors of Mercy
Lightship Press publisher Igor Brezhnev
Zia Pollis reads from Labors of Mercy