Tag: Christopher Luna

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Reggie Marra September 13 / Narrative Healing Workshop September 14

August 12, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic flyer September 13 2018 cropped

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

Featuring Reggie Marra, Connecticut Poet and author of Killing America: Our United States of Ignorance, Fear, Bigotry, Violence and Greed

7 pm

Thursday, September 13

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

FREE

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

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

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

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Reggie Marra is the author of four books of poetry and four of nonfiction, including And Now, Still: Grave & Goofy Poems and Killing America: Our United States of Ignorance, Fear, Bigotry, Violence and Greed. He has conducted poetry-writing and adult development and healing workshops since 1997, including work with the NEA’s Poetry Out Loud program, the National Association for Poetry Therapy, the Connecticut Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools program, the Transformative Language Arts Network, Teleosis Institute, the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, HealingNewtown, the National Speakers Association and in schools throughout the northeastern United States. Reggie is an Integral Master Coach,™ a Voice Dialogue practitioner through Bridgit Dengel Gaspard, and Nature Based Soulcraft® practitioner, through Bill Plotkin and Animas Valley Institute. Prior to 1997 he spent 21 years as a teacher, basketball coach and administrator in secondary and higher education. Learn more at www.reggiemarra.com.

EARLY AUTUMN SOUTHWEST EVENING

The music stops.
The young women holding hands,
their tank tops, shorts, boots, long
flowing brown hair, and the young
man in a black tee, blue jeans and
boots to their right, capture a neon-
backlit American summer evening.
They run, semi-crouched, amid
food and beverage containers
strewn across the open space while
those behind them kneel, crawl,
crouch and cower along the fence,
unsure where the shooter is and
when the shooting will stop.
If ever.

From Killing America: Our United States of Ignorance, Fear, Bigotry, Violence and Greed.

Killing America Cover

Killing America: Our United States of Ignorance, Fear, Bigotry, Violence and Greed is Reggie Marra’s fourth book of poems. As with his This Open Eye: Seeing What We Do (2006), Marra unflinchingly sees, writes and shares with the reader verbal snapshots of his country’s late 20th- and early 21st-century culture of violence as it manifests at home and abroad. His poems both grieve slaughtered school children, unarmed black men, ambushed law enforcement officers, church-, concert- and movie-goers, military veterans and victims of American foreign policy violence in the Middle East, and indict the leaders who refuse to act amid, or implicitly condone, the ongoing slaughter.

ISBN: 978-0-9627828-8-6

135 pages | 6×9 paper

Cover Art: Whose Heaven? by Ray DiCapua Charcoal and ink on paper | 48” x 72” Copyright © 2003 by Ray DiCapua

Go to Amazon in September: https://www.amazon.com/Reggie-Marra/e/B00AECM6OM

Approximately 546 copies of this book will be sent to the September 2018 occupants of the United States Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court and White House. We’ll be raising money to do that: https://www. gofundme.com/poems-for- politicians-in-dc

Ongoing updates and poem excerpts at: https://killing-america.com/

Narrative Healing: Transcending the Illness Narrative Workshop with Reggie Marra

6:30 – 9:00pm

Friday, September 14

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

Cost: $35

RSVP to christopherjluna@gmail.com by Thursday, September 13

Narrative Healing: Transcending the Illness Narrative

“It is true that the mind is restless and difficult to control, but it can be conquered… through regular practice and detachment” (6.35)  – The Bhagavad Gita, c. 500-200 BCE.

The power of story to heal was understood 2,000 years ago. We now have over 30 years of research that confirms this philosophical, intuitive understanding. This workshop will engage you in your own narrative healing process, introduce the salient history, philosophy and research, and prepare you to write and revise your story from a salutogenic, rather than pathogenic, perspective. Deepen your abilities to embrace your own healing and nurture that of your clients, patients, students or loved ones. Find out: do you have your story – or does your story have you?

Whether you are navigating your own personal healing, coming to terms with the ongoing cultural and societal healing that is necessary to address American violence at home and abroad, or the larger global issues of pain and suffering, story matters. Your narrative impacts what you see, how you see and what you can do next. Join us on ….. for an experiential introduction to narrative healing.

Book Launch Celebration for Matthew Eiford-Schroeder’s Consistently East at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic August 9, 2018

July 19, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

Featuring Matthew Eiford-Schroeder

Poet and author of Consistently East, the new book by Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, August 9

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

angstgallery.com

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

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar: http://briz.us/

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Join us as we celebrate the release of the latest book from Printed Matter Vancouver, poet Matthew Eiford-Schroder’s debut Consistently East.

2-Author Photo - color - Matt - 2018

“What is adventure in the time of Google Maps? If hardship is what separates an adventure from a vacation, how does one reconcile the ease of travel with the challenges one faces?” Matthew Eiford-Schroeder wrote the poems in Consistently East as he emerged from the fog of a brain injury he suffered as a result of a violent attack. Join the poet on his global travels from Brooklyn, New York to London, across Mongolia via a charity rally, then on to Seoul, Korea. After returning to the West Coast of the United States to visit his family, Matthew worked the oil fields of North Dakota before finally returning to Brooklyn, where he was assaulted. “I wrote these poems when the world stopped shaking enough for me to collect and organize words again. I had to rebuild myself, take an inventory of memories, then create. To begin to live in a world that had changed in a self that was no longer the same, but both not completely severed from the trauma and beauty of the past.”

Advance praise for Consistently East

“Traveling roads in between two stages of apocalypse, here is a friend’s diary written on a hostel wall. Through poetry, we relax into the same curiosity and fear of the wanderer, his flashbacks becoming ours. Love, insight, and invitation command this collection. And the revelation that our memoir is safest in the hands of a madman.”

– Tongo Eisen-Martin, author of Heaven is All Goodbyes (City Lights), winner of the 2018 California Book Award for Poetry.

About the Author

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Matthew Eiford-Schroeder was raised in Camas, Washington, where he spent a sizable portion of his time working and playing on his grandparents’ cattle farm. He moved around America, working retail and lifting heavy things, before eventually landing in New York, where he snuck into an art school and became a bouncer.  He currently lives in Bellingham, where he is studying political science at Western Washington University.

About Printed Matter Vancouver

Printed Matter Vancouver is a small press and editing service for Northwest writers co-founded by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna. Consistently East is our fifth publication, following two anthologies of poetry from the popular Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic reading series (est. 2004) and debut volumes of poetry by Vancouver, WA poets Jenney Pauer (Serenity in the Brutal Garden, 2012) and Tiffany Burba (Meet Me Where I Left You, 2016).

We love to work with writers to develop their skills, bring an idea to a reality, provide writing, editing, and coaching services, assist with a book concept, prepare for a book launch or a featured reading, or provide a critique of a manuscript. We work on small and large projects: from broadsides and chapbooks, to collections and anthologies. We work with writers in several genre areas: poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, news and public interest articles, and literary reviews. We assist writers with content, format, arrangement, and promotional strategies.

Our fees are reasonable and our initial consultation is offered at no charge. We are formally trained and have been published broadly. Let us help you launch yourself and make your writing goals a reality. For more information visit our website at printedmattervancouver.com or contact printedmattervancouver@gmail.com.

How I Found Myself in Clark County: Discovering the Self Through Poems of Place with Christopher Luna at Clark County Historical Museum July 28, 2018

June 29, 2018
Clark County Stories
 
How I Found Myself in Clark County:
Discovering the Self Through Poems of Place
with Christopher Luna
1-2:30pm
 
Clark County Historical Museum
1511 Main St
Vancouver, Washington
98660-2945
(360) 993-5679
Please contact us to hold your seat! More info below.
 
In 2003, New Yorker Christopher Luna found himself on the other side of the country, uncertain how to navigate the strange new culture of the Pacific Northwest. He spent the next decade writing poems and observations of Vancouver, WA (a place he nicknamed Ghost Town, USA) and building the local literary community through the popular Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic.
 
Join Luna, the first Poet Laureate of Clark County (2013-2017) in a discussion about making peace with unfamiliar surroundings and the power of writing poems of place. This 90-minute workshop will include a short writing exercise as well as ideas for writing poetry that begins where you are.
Christopher looking sideways at Julian Nelson December 2016
Christopher Luna by Julian Nelson
Christopher Luna served as Clark County, WA’s first Poet Laureate from 2013-2017. He has an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and is the co-founder (with Toni Partington) of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing service and small press for Northwest writers. He has hosted the popular Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in Vancouver, WA since 2004. Luna’s books include Brutal Glints of Moonlight, GHOST TOWN, USA and The Flame Is Ours: The Letters of Stan Brakhage and Michael McClure 1961-1978.
 
This event is FREE for everyone. Please register for this workshop at 360-993-5679 or by email at events@cchmuseum.org (include your name, phone number, and how many in your group).
 
Sponsored by: Clark County Historical Museum, Fort Vancouver Regional Library District, Humanities Washington “Washington Stories” Grant, Peabody’s College of Arts and Sciences Meyer Distinguished Professor Fellowship, Washington State University Vancouver, and Washington State University History Department’s Pettyjohn Fund.
 
 

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Risa Denenberg at Angst Gallery July 12, 2018

June 22, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic flyer July 12 2018 cropped

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Risa Denenberg

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, July 12

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7 sharp

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

Risa 38

Risa Denenberg lives on the Olympic peninsula in Washington state where she works as a nurse practitioner. She reviews poetry for the American Journal of Nursing and is a co-founder and editor at Headmistress Press, publisher of LBT poetry. She has published three chapbooks and three full length collections of poetry, including Whirlwind @ Lesbos (Headmistress Press, 2016) and  slight faith (MoonPath Press, 2018).

 

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Abiding Winter 

by Risa Denenberg

How we made it through another winter’s

not the question. Nor is it an answer

since one of us was left behind in winter.

 

In Spring, in buoyancy, you asked a question.

Cups stood their ground between us, tea and coffee.

You wished to be the answer to your question.

 

Then winter comes again and yet another,

a darkling season full of melancholy. The yanking

of my soul back to the gutter, that other

 

place where questions have no answers,

and answers only placate. It takes rafters

of steadfast faith, or mettle, to seek answers.

 

Truth is brutal. So much we can’t recover,

years I’ve begged for you to wait for Spring to bloom

again, living in despair beside each other, and another

 

stormy season while we tussle for an answer

or a coda to the sum of all of life’s bother.

I’ve learned to hold my tongue, to question

nothing. Questions are another sort of winter.

 

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

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Listen to a feature on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on OPB Radio’s State of Wonder

Christopher Luna’s Summer 2018 Creative Writing Classes [UPDATED JUNE 1]

May 18, 2018

Follow your bliss this Summer. Take a writing workshop with Christopher Luna.

Christopher has an MFA in Writing and Poetics from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, where he received training in literary community outreach from Jack Collom, and two decades of teaching experience. He served as the Poet Laureate of Clark County, WA from 2013-2017. In 2004 he founded the popular Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, which he co-hosts with his wife Toni Partington. Christopher and Toni co-founded Printed Matter Vancouver, which publishes local poetry and provides coaching and editing services to Northwest writers.

Darlene Zimbardi had the following comments about her experience in Christopher’s poetry and memoir writing classes: “I love taking classes with Christopher. From the moment you walk into the room, you see and feel his passion for literature. His zest transfers to his students. It doesn’t matter where you are on your writing path, he encourages and challenges you. Christopher holds a safe space for writers to share their work.”

Christopher at Multnomah Falls by Toni BW
Christopher Luna photographed by Toni Partington

Below you will find several creative writing workshops throughout the region sponsored by Multnomah Arts Center, Clark College, Niche Wine Bar, and Angst Gallery. Hope you can join us.

Contact printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or christopherjluna@gmail.com for more information.

Multnomah Arts Center

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Catalog:

http://www.multnomahartscenter.org/classes/summer2018/macSummer18_colorWeb.pdf

Registration Open Now

Poetry Writing – 1089264

June 18 to August 20, 2018

Each Mon 10am to 12:30pm

Multnomah Arts Center Room 08

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.

https://apm.activecommunities.com/portlandparks/Activity_Search/lit-arts-poetry-writing/91167

Price: $249.00     Ages: 16 and up

Poetry Writing for Teens – 1089486

June 18 to July 16, 2018

Mondays 1pm to 3:30pm

MAC – Room 08

Price:   $124.00

Ages:   At least 13 but less than 20

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.

https://apm.activecommunities.com/portlandparks/Activity_Search/lit-arts-poetry-writing-for-teens/91389

Poetry Writing for Teens – 1089496

July 23 to August 20, 2018

Mondays 1pm to 3:30pm

Location: Multnomah Arts Center

Facility: MAC – Room 08

Price:   $124.00

Ages:   At least 13 but less than 20

https://apm.activecommunities.com/portlandparks/Activity_Search/91399

Clark College

Mature Learning

Registration Open Now

Summer 2018 Class Schedule

Memoir Writing

https://ecd.clark.edu/classes/class.php?SKU=9412

Everyone has a story to tell. Each person’s life is filled with adventure, mystery, trouble, and triumph. Memoir is a powerful way to demonstrate the interconnectedness of all human beings. This course will empower you to begin to see yourself as a part of history, and to discover the value in documenting the story of your life.

Item #: 9412

Thursdays 7/12 – 8/23/2018

1:00PM- 3:20PM

$159

Room CCE 208

Downtown Campus

500 Broadway Street, Suite 200

Vancouver, WA 98660

Metered Parking: $ 0.50/hr

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Memoir writer Susan Starkey’s army jacket covered in pins from her years on the front lines of the battle for civil rights, the anti-war movement, and the gay rights movement

Continuing Education

Poetry Matters: Writing Poetry

https://ecd.clark.edu/classes/class.php?SKU=K013

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 and pen or laptop. Ages 16 and over.

Item #: K013

Tuesdays 7/10 – 8/7/2018

1:00PM- 3:30PM

$139

CCE 208

Downtown Campus

500 Broadway Street, Suite 200

Vancouver, WA 98660

Metered Parking: $ 0.50/hr

Niche Wine Bar

The Work Poetry Writing Workshop

Saturday Afternoon Edition

The Work 2017 Make Poetry Your Life

https://www.facebook.com/events/1021578504658289/

Join us on Saturday, June 9 for The Work, a monthly poetry writing workshop at Niche Wine Bar led by former Clark County Poet Laureate (2013-2017) Christopher Luna.

Christopher is completely convinced of poetry’s ability to encourage empathy and compassion, and to spark the shifts in consciousness which can lead to healing, personal growth, and an interest in fighting for progressive social change. He would love to share his passion for poetry with you.

We will read and discuss poetry, and write several new poems together from 11:30 until 2:30.

Niche is located at 1013 Main Street, right next door to The Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver’s landmark movie house in the Vancouver Arts District.

$20 suggested donation; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Bring a poem to share as a way of saying hello.

Shareable snacks are also welcome and very much appreciated.

Note: The Work Saturday Afternoon Edition will take place on the second Saturday of each month, unless otherwise noted. Upcoming Saturday workshops will take place on July 14 and August 11.

Angst Gallery

The Work Poetry Writing Workshop

Monday Evening Edition

https://www.facebook.com/events/1014332872053833/

Join us on Monday, May 28 for The Work, a monthly poetry writing workshop at Angst Gallery led by former Clark County Poet Laureate (2013-2017) Christopher Luna.

We will read and discuss poetry, and write several new poems together from 6:00 until 8:30.

Angst Gallery is located at 1015 Main Street, two doors down from The Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver’s landmark movie house in the Vancouver Arts District.

$20 suggested donation; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Bring a poem to share as a way of saying hello.

Shareable snacks are also welcome and very much appreciated.

Note: The Monday evening edition of the Work will take place at Angst Gallery on the last Monday evening of each month, unless otherwise noted. Upcoming Monday workshops will take place on the following dates: June 25 and July 30.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Matt Amott June 14, 2018

May 15, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic flyer June 14 2018 cropped

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Matt Amott

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, June 14

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

 

Amott head shot
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SONY DSC

Matt Amott is a poet, musician, and photographer who rambles around the Pacific Northwest. He is co-founder and co-editor of Six Ft. Swells Poetry Press and has been published in numerous collections as well as two books of his own, The Coast is Clear (Six Ft. Swells Press) and Get Well Soon (Epic Rites Press).  He can be reached and purchases made at afterhourspoetry.com.

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

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar

LGBTQIA+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Listen to a feature on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on OPB Radio’s State of Wonder

“A Welcoming and Unfettered Place for All:” Sharon Wood Wortman on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

April 20, 2018

Sharon Wood Wortman, who appeared as our featured reader in November 2007, shared the following observations about what she witnessed at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on April 12, 2018:

“The Oregonian published a story yesterday about a new 100-bed shelter proposed for under the west end of the Broadway Bridge. Housing is at a crisis, don’t we know? Wouldn’t it be something if the sponsors knew that in addition to the foundation-building of keeping people out of the elements, equally humane would be to help them express themselves, also in a safe and warm a place?

“What if when everyone is thinking of ways to help others redirect, they would consider poetry an essential—as surely as access to a bed, soap, and a toothbrush to call one’s own? Cuisine for the heart made right there at the shelter and then read before a microphone as part of the redistribution of the self? In a better manufactured world, someone would hire you two to implement such mending/remaking of humanity.

“From where I sat in the audience last night, it looked to me that you two offer, among all the things you offer, your talent for luxurious attention and high-end listening. I once thought of you as ministers of poetry, but you are something better, more practical. More tangible than any church, you run the HUD of poetry—providing a welcoming and unfettered place for people of all shapes, sizes, hues, abilities, genders, and clothing preferences, and you do all this on a cotton-thin budget. Amazing.”

Thank you, Sharon!

big and awesome cover

Christopher Luna is featured in Sharon Wood Wortman’s book The Big & Awesome Bridges of Portland & Vancouver.

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Sharon Wood Wortman’s poems “Underpinnings” and “Slippage” appear in Printed Matter Vancouver’s Ghost Town Poetry Volume One (Cover to Cover Books 2004-2010), available at Angst Gallery and Another Read Through.

Wortman 2010headshot

You can learn more about Sharon at Bridge Stories.

 

 

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Leah Stenson at Angst Gallery May 10, 2018

April 20, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic May 10 2018 flyer

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Leah Stenson

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, May 10

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7 sharp

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

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

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar

LGBTQIA+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Leah-Stenson-at-Stonehenge-Studios(1)
Leah Stenson at Stonehenge Studios

Leah Stenson is the author of two chapbooks, Heavenly Body and The Turquoise Bee and Other Love Poems, published by Finishing Line Press in 2011 and 2014, respectively; a regional editor of Alive at the Center: Contemporary Poems from the Pacific Northwest (Ooligan Press, 2013) and co-editor of Reverberations from Fukushima (Inkwater Press, 2014). Her full-length poetry book, Everywhere I Find Myself, was published by WordTech Communications’ Turning Point imprint in December of 2017. She serves on the board of Tavern Books.

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Drawing from a deep well of autobiographical and cross-cultural experience, Everywhere I Find Myself is a wide-ranging narrative journey of the heart.

“Leah Stenson’s Everywhere I Find Myself traverses the full range of human experience–what she calls the ‘terrible exquisiteness of being’–from the nuclear disaster at Fukushima to a friendly encounter with a cow; from the distractions of our devices to moments of deep tranquility; from a grandfather’s suicide to a daughter’s gift of a pair of pillowcases made from fine Egyptian cotton. By turns witty, playful, and deadly serious, these poems give readers one woman’s unflinchingly honest take on life’s beautiful, painful vicissitudes.”—John Brehm, author of Help Is on the Way and Sea of Faith

“In this engaging and satisfying first full-length collection of poems, Leah Stenson explores the tensions between mystery and understanding, and between estrangement and belonging. The world of these poems–our world–is simultaneously expansive and confining, and Stenson travels through it seeking connection. ‘Home / wasn’t far away,’ she tells us, ‘but the road never ended’.”—Andrea Hollander, author of Landscape with Female Figure, Woman in the Painting, The Other Life, and House Without a Dreamer

“’Eternity can be heard in the stir of the breeze, in the vineyards, the whisper of prayer,’ the poet writes in Everywhere I Find Myself. The poems explore love, memory and deep loss with equal verve. With an artist’s sharp eye for detail and a philosophical world view Leah Stenson is a savvy traveler. Her wry wit, compassionate heart and spirit infuse this vivid, engaging collection.”—Marilyn Stablein, author of Climate of Extremes, Splitting Hard Ground, and Sleeping in Caves

Flying to Ohio

by Leah Stenson

After a soporific of red wine and potato chips,

I drifted off over the Great Plains at midnight,

the cabin darkened, my heart and the heartland lit.

 

Now the sky is reddening in the east, and

in the west lights are clumped like islands

glimmering through velum.

 

On that solo adventure four decades ago, knapsack

on my back, I wandered from the foot of the Acropolis

to Delphi and Santorini, channeling light.

 

Returning home a prodigal wanderer, I never stopped.

Sometimes at high altitudes, I still find shards

of former selves, a polished stone, a sun-bleached shell.

Listen to a feature on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on OPB Radio’s State of Wonder

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Judith Arcana April 12, 2018

March 11, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Flyer April 12 2018 cropped

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Judith Arcana

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, April 12

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

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

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar:

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

ja laughing
Photo by Friderike Heuer

Judith Arcana writes poems, stories, essays and books, publishing online and on paper. Her work has, naturally, been influenced by the times and places of her life: A high school English teacher in the 1960’s, Judith was fired, as many were in those years, considered dangerously radical by the school board. She’s written poems and stories rooted in her commitment to reproductive justice, which began with her work in the pre-Roe abortion underground in Chicago.

AFTP final cover copy

Judith’s new poetry collection, Announcements from the Planetarium, was published by Flowstone Press in 2017; its poems examine memory, consider the nature of wisdom, and reflect on the experience of aging into new consciousness. Judith hosts a poetry show on KBOO community radio in Oregon and online.

The Woman Who Hands You A Gun

Don’t think because I’m old

I’m not learning anymore. No.

That’s not how it goes. Right

now I’m on my way, leaving

town to be a carny, a barker

at the tattooed lady’s tent flap

or the woman who hands you a gun

at the shooting gallery or hoops

to toss over baby dolls. It’s got

to be something I don’t have

to study or practice, something

I can slip right into, on-the-job

training. Because I don’t have

that kind of time anymore.

I’m saying I’ll be an intern

an apprentice – not a student.

I don’t have time for that.

…….. Judith Arcana  (First published in CIRQUE – Winter Solstice issue, 2012)

Listen to a feature on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on OPB Radio’s State of Wonder