Tag: Clark County Poet Laureate

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic 20th Anniversary Reading Featuring Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle at Art At The Cave on November 14, 2024

October 13, 2024

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

20th Anniversary Reading  

Featuring Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, November 14

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.

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.

Armin Tolentino and LaRae Zawodny on the Power of Poetry

March 17, 2024
The joyous finale. l.to r,: Poetry Moves poets Louise Wynn, Bethany Kim-Yin, Claudia Saleeby Savage, Em Gallup, Marcia Smith, Brittany Mishra, Sherri Levine, Gwendolyn Morgan Clark County Poet Laureate (CCPL) 2018-2020, Armin Tolentino CCPL 2021-2024, Susan Dingle CCPL 2024-2026, Artstra Chair and Director of Poetry Moves LaRae Zawodny, Poetry Moves Manager Derek Klein, Poet Emmett Wheatfall, Chair of the Clark County Arts Commission Debbie Nagano, Washington State Poet Laureate Arianne True, Christopher Luna Inaugural CCPL 2013-2017. Image from video by Angela Cochran.

I was so moved by the Celebration of Poetry at the Magenta theater on March 10 that I asked Artstra Chair LaRae Zawodny and outgoing Clark County Poet Laureate Armin Tolentino for permission to reprint their remarks. I am very grateful to both Armin and LaRae for their service to the poetry community. It is my hope that publishing their beautiful words here will inspire those in our community who were present at the event. Christopher Luna

LaRae Zawodny, Artstra Chair, Director of Poetry Moves, Director and emcee of A Celebration of Poetry
Image from video by Angela Cochran

LaRae Zawodny
Why POETRY?

Preparing for today, I felt a need to answer this question, at least for myself. I reflected … for months. I realized that poetry charmed me very early on in the form of lullaby and song, comforting and melodic. Then there were books with rhymes and pictures, adding the visual magic of words. The classics for children…you know them. Playfulness of sound with silly drawings to match were Edward Lear’s gift to me.

A more serious encounter with poetry played out countless Sunday school mornings when “what does it mean?” challenged me to interpret stories …to learn lessons from strange words in cadence unfamiliar.

The door opened for me…come right in, have a love affair with language. It is endlessly mysterious, amusing, magical, full of possibility, powerful.


Why am I sharing this personal story with you? There are many poets in the house today, each with a story of “why poetry?” Others may be here just to support a poet, with hopes of getting home in time to see the Oscars.
Maybe, listening today, a door to poetry will open for you. There are many doors. Poets, all of you, please know that YOU ARE recognized and honored today.

In the words of poet Rita Dove: “Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.”

To quote Leonardo Da Vinci, “Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.”

Truth is elusive. Today recognizing truth is, without exaggeration, a survival skill. We count on communication, predominantly linguistic, to solve problems, from the personal to the world stage.
We have a basic, some say “essential” human need to express ourselves. How well do our communication skills serve this need to express ourselves…to connect…really.

Today, with an epidemic of loneliness, many people feel unheard. In the political arena, it has been said “we don’t know each other.”

A university teacher laments “language is careless”. Responses to friends …reduced to an emoji, appreciation? an iconic thumbs up. Love?…a tiny electronic image. And the number of things we “love” is amazing.
Should we not, then, listen mindfully to those who seek with great care… just the right word, the turn of the phrase that will resonate, be heard.

Let us honor the poets, their voices honed into artistry, who write and speak their truth.

Armin Tolentino passes the pen to newly-appointed Clark County Poet Laureate Susan Dingle at the Celebration of Poetry at the Magenta Theater on March 10, 2024. Image from video by Angela Cochran.  

Armin Tolentino

Thank you to the Clark County Arts Commission and to ARTSTRA for your commitment and advocacy for artists of all disciplines. You make our County a richer place to live.

Thank you Gwendolyn Morgan and Christopher Luna for your mentorship and friendship. Thank you Susan for accepting this role and for all I know you’ll do to make poetry alive for Clark County. So proud to be part of this lineage with you three.

Serving as poet laureate for my community has been the greatest honor I’ve experienced as a writer. Over the last three years, I’ve focused on fostering spaces for people to write. These generative workshops were only possible because of following organizations with whom I’m so grateful to have partnered:

  • Community Organizations and Businesses: NAACP Vancouver, Summer of Pride Clark County, Plas Newydd Farm, Cascades Presbyterian Church, Willamette Writers, and Inspired Learning of Yacolt
  • Schools: Cascadia Montessori School, Ridgefield High School, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, Clark College
  • Bookstores: Birdhouse Books and Vintage Books
  • Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries: Vancouver Community Library, Cascade Park, Ridgefield, Washougal
  • Residential Facilities: Knights of Pythias Retirement Center and Clark County Juvenile Detention

As varied as these communities and participants are, the mechanics to these workshops have been identical. We welcome each other and sit down to an empty page. And, without judgement or editing, we fill the emptiness with whatever surfaces with zero regard for whether what we’re writing makes sense or is any good.

In these workshops I’ve talked plenty about the joy of writing. The exhilaration of uncovering a phrase or image we didn’t know was inside us. I’ve talked plenty about the sheer fun of playing with sounds and structures, the mouth feel of words. The lingering warmth of connection when we realize our words made a reader feel something.

What I haven’t talked much about is the fear. Mostly because I don’t have to. Everyone who writes knows that fear. Fear that we don’t know what to say. Fear we know what to say, but don’t know how to say it.

Fear that we’ve written it the best we can and our ability is simply inadequate to ever capture what we’re really feeling. Fear that we’re not good enough and will never be.

When we all gather as writers in a shared space, we recognize that Fear is in the room and we need neither resist it nor feed it. We have plenty of chairs. Fear can pull one up and stay if it likes. I won’t kick Fear out but I also won’t offer Fear a drink.

Because, what I’ve learned writing alongside you these last three years: you’re going to do this regardless of the fear. For many of you, writing isn’t a choice. This craft called you. So, writing isn’t a matter of banishing fear because, over time, the pull to write is simply stronger and more persistent than the fear. Every time I face a blank page, I have to admit to myself that I don’t know how to write a poem. But I’d still like to try. Over and over.

So thank you all for allowing me to face this fear alongside you. As Susan begins her term, I know you will show her the same support and outpouring of welcome I’ve experienced. Reach out to her. Find out how you can support her projects but also her own writing. She will undoubtedly show up for us, so let’s learn how we can show up for her. We as a County are better when we share this space, our words, and our fears and joys.

Photos and Video from Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic’s National Poetry Month Celebration Featuring Clark County Poet Laureate Armin Tolentino at Art at the Cave, April 14, 2022

April 23, 2022

Thank you to everyone who attended our National Poetry Month Celebration Featuring Clark County Poet Laureate Armin Tolentino at Art at the Cave on April 14, 2022. Here are some photos and videos from the evening.

Armin Tolentino performs Billy Joel’s “Vienna” by Joann Boswell

We were also blessed by this lovely tribute to the Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic community from series regular Brittany Braswell:

To The Poets

You Poet,

You write of the sad things,

Death, Suicide and heartache,

You stand before us,

Words flowing out of your mouth like the tears that have flowed down your cheeks,

You sad poet,

I love you,

You Poet,

You write of poems that are driven by hope,

You stand before us,

With metaphors of love and light,

You fill the room with positive energy,

Remind us not to forget to feel and to hope,

You hopeful poet,

I love you,

You poet,

You write to the stars and to the moon,

You stand before us,

The room turns to a galaxy,

I close my eyes and can see the milky way,

You interstellar cosmic poet,

I love you,

You poet,

You write about the uncomfortable things,

You stand before us,

You make us feel not alone,

You speak of the things we don’t know normally talk about,

The things that keep us up at night,

The things we tuck deep down inside of us,

You uncomfortable poet,

I love you,

You poet,

You write about science,

You stand before us,

Presenting to us a whole new way to look at a biosphere,

Showing us that poetry can be about whatever your heart feels,

You scientific poet,

I love you,

You poet,

You write of that trip you had last summer,

And the summer before,

You strand before us,

With an aura shining of hot pinks and bright yellows,

You define chakras,

You make us feel what you felt,

It is almost an out of body experience as I hang on every word you say,

You psychedelic poet,

I love you,

You poet,

You write of memories,

You stand before us,

Sharing the cabinets of your mind,

Creating an intimacy to the room as we all drop our walls and embrace each other,

Learning about where you come from,

You memorable poet,

I love you,

You poet,

You write of funny,

You stand before us,

Bringing laughter and light- hearted moments to this space,

You bring us together as we share a giggle or two,

You comedic poet,

I love you,

You poet,

You write in music,

You stand before us with poems that show up as lyrics,

You turn this gallery to a dance floor,

You musician poet,

I love you,

You poet,

You write about love,

You stand before us with a heart that is falling,

Or with a heart that is breaking,

Your tales of the heart make me want to love again,

In all the deep messiness of the word,

You love poet,

I love you,

You poets,

You bring so much to this space,

Your experiences, your light, your laughter, your love,

You write feelings into words,

You savor moments turning them into forevers,

I take your words, scribble phrases into my notebook,

Those are the things I want to remember you by,

You beautiful,

Room full of poets,

I love you.

Armin Tolentino reads to the crowd at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Armin Tolentino
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic co-host Morgan Paige watches Armin do his thing
Bruce Hall reads his work to the Ghost Town Poetry community
Bruce Hall
Fiona Murphy reads poetry in public for the very first time
Fiona Murphy
Jim Martin, a Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic regular since thr series was founded in 2004

Thanks to Art at the Cave for hosting us, for Terri Elioff for handling setup, breakdown, and book sales, and to everyone who read or listened. Here is the lineup of readers:

Grace Valentine

Eileen Elliott

Jim Martin

Elmo Shade

Toni Lumbrazo Luna

Bruce Hall

Joann Boswell

Brittany Braswell

William Erickson

Jay

Becca Smolen

Ian Caton

Fiona Murphy

John Miller

Aurora Bodenhamer

Cliff Wilson

Erin Iwata

Style Versatile

Esme Deltac

David McIntire

Igor Brezhnev

Camille Gray

Elizabeth Entity

Post pictures and video in the comments below and/or on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GhostTownPoetryOpenMic

For more info about the reading, visit: https://printedmattervancouver.com/2022/03/19/ghost-town-poetry-open-mic-celebrates-national-poetry-month-with-clark-county-poet-laureate-armin-tolentino-on-thursday-april-14-2022-new-mask-policy-at-art-at-the-cave/

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Celebrates National Poetry Month with Clark County Poet Laureate Armin Tolentino on Thursday, April 14, 2022 / New Mask Policy at Art at the Cave

March 19, 2022

NOTE: We regret to inform the Ghost Town Poetry Community that we will no longer be livestreaming the reading via Zoom. If you are interested in volunteering to help us deliver a hybrid online/in-person experience in the future, contact Christopher Luna at printedmattervancouver@gmail.com

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring Clark County Poet Laureate Armin Tolentino

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,
ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

7 pm
Thursday, April 14

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

$5 Suggested donation

Armin Tolentino is the author of the poetry collection We Meant to Bring It Home Alive (Alternating Current Press 2019). He earned an MFA at Rutgers University-Newark and his poetry has appeared in numerous journals including Common Knowledge, Arsenic Lobster, Hyphen Magazine, and The Raven Chronicles.  He is a phenomenal clapper, a passable ukulele player, and a bumbling, but enthusiastic, fisherman. More info at www.armintolentino.com.

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: https://nichewinebar.com.

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 suggested donation is five dollars.

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.

Art At The CAVE was established in 2017. Located at 108 E. Evergreen in downtown Vancouver, the CAVE is free and open to the public Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm, and on First Fridays when it remains open until 8:00pm. The gallery is also available to host events. Visit the website at artatthecave.com or contact gallery@artatthecave.com for more information

SoulFood Poetry Night Featuring Christopher Luna & Toni Lumbrazo Luna at SoulFood Coffee House in Redmond, WA June 20, 2019

May 26, 2019

SoulFood Poetry Night
Featuring Christopher Luna and Toni Partington

Thursday, June 20, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
SoulFood Coffee House
15748 Redmond Way
Redmond, WA 98052

20 June 2019 (1)

Series Description from host Michael Dylan Welch: On the third Thursday of every month, SoulFood Coffee House in Redmond, Washington, is home to SoulFood Poetry Night, an evening of engaged and engaging poetry. Our performance stage features professional sound and lighting systems in an inviting gallery and café setting in SoulFood Coffee House. Performances are streamed live to the Internet.

SoulFood Poetry Night is curated by Michael Dylan Welch, and has been running monthly since July of 2006 (we held our 100th reading in October of 2014). For more than a decade, we asked one featured reader to select someone else to read with him or her. This process echoed the sense of community and connection that is central to SoulFood Coffee House. This serendipity brought in new voices, and helped to create harmony or contrast in our reading series. Starting in 2016, though, we switched to primarily featuring groups or organizations. Featured readers start shortly after 7:00 p.m. Our featured readers are mostly from the greater Seattle area, but we welcome poets from farther afield as well.

After we have a break to enjoy the bookstore, its art gallery, and especially its café, we have an open-mic reading where we invite you to share your poetry. Just sign up when you arrive and be prepared to read for about three or four minutes each (depending on the number of readers). And the occasional song is welcome, too.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna at a special time and location Thursday, April 11, 2019

March 30, 2019

Printed Matter Vancouver, Clark County Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Morgan,
Clark County Arts Commission, and ArtsWA Present

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver
6:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Open mic sign up begins at 6:00 and closes at 6:30
FREE

Columbia Room
Vancouver Community Library
901 C Street
Vancouver, WA 98660

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Claudia Castro Luna will be signing books at Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street (nichewinebar.com) from 5-6 pm. Spend happy hour with the Poet Laureate. There will also be an after party at Niche Wine Bar at 8:30 pm.

Claudia-Castro-Luna-light-blue-dropshadow

Biographical information from ArtsWA and Claudia Castro Luna’s website: Claudia Castro Luna is Washington State Poet Laureate. She served as Seattle’s Civic Poet, from 2015-2017 and is the author of the Pushcart nominated and Killing Marías (Two Sylvias Press) also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry and This City, (Floating Bridge Press). She is also the creator of the acclaimed Seattle Poetic Grid, an online interactive map of showcasing poems about different locations around the city. The grid even landed her an interview on PBS NewsHour.

Castro Luna is a Hedgebrook and VONA alumna, a 2014 Jack Straw fellow, the recipient of individual artist grants from King County 4Culture and Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture. Born in El Salvador she came to the United States in 1981. She has an MA in Urban Planning, a teaching certificate and an MFA in poetry. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Northwest, La Bloga, Dialogo and Psychological Perspectives among others. Her non-fiction work can be read in several anthologies, among them This Is The Place: Women Writing About Home, (Seal Press) Claudia is currently working on a memoir, Like Water to Drink, about her experience escaping the civil war in El Salvador. Living in English and Spanish, she writes and teaches in Seattle where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children. Since 2009, Claudia maintains Cipota bajo la Luna, a blog with reflections, writing and reviews.

Claudia Castro Luna was appointed the fifth Washington State Poet Laureate by Governor Jay Inslee. Castro Luna’s term will run from February 1, 2018 to January 31, 2020. Prior to Castro Luna, Tod Marshall (2016-2018), Elizabeth Austen (2014-2016), Kathleen Flenniken (2012-2014), and Sam Green (2007-2009) held the position.

The Washington State Poet Laureate program is jointly sponsored by Humanities Washington and the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA). Poets laureate work to build awareness and appreciation of poetry-including the state’s legacy of poetry-through public readings, workshops, lectures, and presentations in communities throughout the state. Laureates are selected through an application and panel review process that evaluates candidates’ proposed project plans, writing acumen, and experience promoting poetry.

ABOUT CLARK COUNTY POET LAUREATE GWENDOLYN MORGAN

Gwendolyn Morgan learned the names of birds and wildflowers and inherited paintbrushes and boxes from her grandmothers. With an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College, and an M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union, she has been a recipient of artist and writing residencies at Artsmith, Caldera, Into the Depths of Winter, and Soapstone. Crow Feathers, Red Ochre, Green Tea, her first book of poems, was a winner of the Wild Earth Poetry Prize, Hiraeth Press. Snowy Owls, Egrets and Unexpected Graces, initially published by Hiraeth Press and now Homebound Publications, is a Nautilus Gold Winner in Poetry and a Foreward Indies Book of the Year Finalist in the Nature Category. Her third book of poems is forthcoming from Homebound Publications in the Summer of 2019. Her poems have appeared in: Calyx, Kalliope, Mudfish, Tributaries: A Journal of Nature Writing, Wayfarer as well as The Cancer Poetry Project 2, and other anthologies, blogs and literary journals. She is currently serving as the Clark County Poet Laureate. Gwendolyn and Judy A. Rose, her spouse, share their home and creekside walks with Naomi, a rescued Chesapeake Retriever and Cardigan Corgi mix.

ABOUT GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC

Christopher Luna founded Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in 2004; Toni Lumbrazo Luna, his wife and co-founder of Printed Matter Vancouver, joined him as organizer and co-host in 2007. Printed Matter Vancouver is an editing and writing coaching service for Northwest writers which also publishes books of poetry by Clark County authors. Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic began in November 2004 at Ice Cream Renaissance before moving to Cover to Cover Books and finally, Angst Gallery. It has been LGBTQ+ friendly, all ages, uncensored, and free since its inception. Christopher’s many years of service to the poetry community led the Clark County Arts Commission to name him the first Poet Laureate of Clark County, a position he held from 2013-2017.

Christopher Luna Reading/Book Signing at Final Vancouver Independent Artists Group Show on March 1, 2019

February 21, 2019

VIA final show March 1 20919

Vancouver Independent Artists
March Group Show
Final Event

5-10pm
Friday, March 1
North Bank Artists Gallery
1005 Main Street
Vancouver, WA

From event organizer Chris Stevens (Pop Octopus): Please join us for this final event in the North Bank gallery space. We will be showcasing a variety of local artists and saying goodbye to a Vancouver landmark. We’re opening up the back studio and hallway for the first time and will have some wonderful spoken word poetry and book signing from Christopher Luna. Please join us in saying farewell to this landmark of the Vancouver art community.

Artist Lineup:

Lindsey Butler
Bill Ferguson
John Burkett
Mike Lindberg
Lee Sekaquaptewa
Nickolas Barnes
Melissa Koren
Renee Bryant
Drew Taylor
Jacob Herring
Cory Crouchley
Kerry Scribner
Kelly Schrock
Patrick Flynn
Chris Stevens

Spoken word and book signing by Christopher Luna

Christopher Luna will be reading from and signing his new book, Message from the Vessel in a Dream.

Flowstone Press announces the release of Message from the Vessel in a Dream by Christopher Luna, Clark County, WA’s first poet laureate and the founder of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. Luna’s first full-length volume of poetry spans 20 years, and favors prose poetry and collage poems assembled and arranged using found materials. The book is dedicated to Carlos Santana, the guitar virtuoso and eponymous “vessel” who gifted Luna with the only line of poetry he has ever received from a dream.

Paperback: 140 pages
Publisher: Flowstone Press (November 13, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1945824220
ISBN-13: 978-1945824227

Order Message from the Vessel in a Dream

Message_FrontCover_sm
Message from the Vessel in a Dream (Flowstone Press, 2018) featuring poetry and collage art by Christopher Luna

How many Christopher Lunas are there? The bard, the community dynamo, the scholar, the compassionate one, the jazz quartet, the father & lover, the world of a man: all and more are speaking in this book. So many perspectives to experience here, so much to learn about literature, attitude, action and beauty. The maestro of Ghost Town has created a bustling, radiant and necessary environment. — Dan Raphael

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 Lumbrazo Luna, of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing service and small press for Northwest writers. He and Lumbrazo Luna co-host Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, the popular Vancouver, WA reading series he founded in 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.

“Message from a teeming mind” by Scott Hewitt for the Columbian, December 8, 2018.

 

Flowstone Press Presents Message from the Vessel in a Dream by Christopher Luna

December 20, 2018

Flowstone Press announces the release of Message from the Vessel in a Dream by Christopher Luna, Clark County, WA’s first poet laureate (2013-2017) and the founder of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic.

Luna’s first full-length volume of poetry contains work spanning 20 years, and favors prose poetry and collage poems assembled and arranged using found material. The book is dedicated to Carlos Santana, the guitar virtuoso and eponymous “vessel” who gifted Luna with the only line of poetry he has ever received from a dream.

Order Message from the Vessel in a Dream.

Message_FrontCover_sm
Message from the Vessel in a Dream (Flowstone Press, 2018) featuring poetry and collage art by Christopher Luna

How many Christopher Lunas are there? The bard, the community dynamo, the scholar, the compassionate one, the jazz quartet, the father & lover, the world of a man: all and more are speaking in this book. So many perspectives to experience here, so much to learn about literature, attitude, action and beauty. The maestro of Ghost Town has created a bustling, radiant and necessary environment. — Dan Raphael

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 Lumbrazo Luna, of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing service and small press for Northwest writers. He and Lumbrazo Luna co-host Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, the popular Vancouver, WA reading series he founded in 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.

Message Luna Front Cover 600 dpi croppedMessage Luna Back Cover 600 dpi croppedCollage Art by Christopher Luna for Message from the Vessel in a Dream

Read “Message from a Teeming Mind,” an article about Christopher Luna and Message from the Vessel in a Dream by Scott Hewitt for the Columbian.

Christopher Luna would like to thank all the people, living or dead, whose words provided material for the poems in this book. He would especially like to thank the poets and friends whose words (before, during, and after reading their work at the mic) offered such inspiration: Lynn Alexander, Jane Arnal, Elizabeth Austen, Brittany Baldwin, Roxanne Bash, Kristin Berger, Alex Birkett, Holly Black, Sari Breznau, Tiffany Burba, Barbara Lynn Cantone, J’Lyn Chapman, Sage Cohen, Darlene Costello, Walt Curtis, Leah Noble Davidson, Rene Denfeld, Natalie Diaz, Liz Donley, Josh Ehrdal, Matt Eiford, Terri Eliof, Eileen Elliott, Barbara Engel, Annette Ernst, Kathleen Flenniken, Michelle Fredette, Mike G (Michael Guimond), Rhonda Grace, Samuel Green, Jack Greene, Michelle Giuliano, Dean Haspiel, Miles Hewitt, Morgan Hutchinson, Vishal Khanna, Kevin Killian, Sabra Patricia Larsen, Rosemary Leary, Edee Lemonier, Robin Coste Lewis, Lori Loranger, Angelo Luna, Ben Scott Luna, Cathleen Luna, Dan Luna, Greg Luna, Jae Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Tod Marshall, Doug Marx, Alec Matthews, Dennis McBride, Marianela Medrano, Matt Meighan, David Meltzer (RIP), Kristopher Molina, Livia Montana, Judith Montgomery, Gwendolyn Morgan, Dan Nelson, Gwen Osborne, Aaron Pacora, Eric Padget, Jenney Pauer, David James Randolph, Dan Raphael, Yugen Rashad, Karen Read, Shelby Reece, Donna Roberge, Katharine Salzmann, Darcy Scholts, Laura Sciortino, Daniel Skach-Mills, Michael Smoler, Shawn Sorensen, Rob Sparks, Bill Sterr, John Stevens, Herb Stokes, Gary F. Suda, Grace Valentine, RicVrana (RIP), Julene Tripp Weaver, Paul Yates, and Lidia Yuknavitch.

message from the vessel in a dream

completely still
seemingly emotion-
less yet blowing
notes to charm
succeeding ages
it matters little
whether one studies
flow or counterpoint
so long as eventually
the instrument is raised to the lips

you make your appearance
known through some creator
neither Duke nor Trane
ever revealed the source
a wisdom too precious
to put a name to
something not unlike the sound of the heart
beating in the chest of your firstborn

listen to the wind
as interpreted
remember how his hips’
involuntary Poughkeepsie shimmy
show’d you how it was done
never forget promises made
in the quiet of the early morning
priorities set straight
a brick wall stared down till dawn
experience cool breeze adrenaline release
and never forget you learned to listen
don’t forget to breathe

 

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring a Book Launch for Series Founder Christopher Luna at Angst Gallery on December 13, 2018

November 17, 2018

Message_FrontCover_sm

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring A Book Launch for
Christopher Luna’s first full-length volume of poetry
Message from the Vessel in a Dream (Flowstone Press)

Note: Due to the venue’s concerns about limited seating, the evening will be split into two sessions. Christopher will deliver two readings–at approximately 8pm and 9:30pm. To accommodate as many people as possible, he will also be available to sign copies of the book from 5-6pm. There will be eight open mic slots open for each half of the event, for a total of 16 open mic readers.

The book launch and open mic reading will be hosted by Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Printed Matter Vancouver author Tiffany Burba (Meet Me Where I left You, 2016)

7 pm & 8:45 pm
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7
FREE

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 for the Portland Book Launch at Like Nobody’s Business on February 23.

Message Luna Front Cover 600 dpi cropped.jpg
Collage Art by Christopher Luna for Message from the Vessel in a Dream

Flowstone Press announces the release of Message from the Vessel in a Dream by Christopher Luna, Clark County, WA’s first poet laureate and the founder of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. Luna’s first full-length volume of poetry spans 20 years, and favors prose poetry and collage poems assembled and arranged using found materials. The book is dedicated to Carlos Santana, the guitar virtuoso and eponymous “vessel” who gifted Luna with the only line of poetry he has ever received from a dream.

How many Christopher Lunas are there? The bard, the community dynamo, the scholar, the compassionate one, the jazz quartet, the father & lover, the world of a man: all and more are speaking in this book. So many perspectives to experience here, so much to learn about literature, attitude, action and beauty. The maestro of Ghost Town has created a bustling, radiant and necessary environment. — Dan Raphael

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 Lumbrazo Luna, of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing service and small press for Northwest writers. He and Lumbrazo Luna co-host Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, the popular Vancouver, WA reading series he founded in 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.

Message Luna Back Cover 600 dpi cropped
Collage Art by Christopher Luna for Message from the Vessel in a Dream

Christopher Luna would like to thank all the people, living or dead, whose words provided material for the poems in this book. He would especially like to thank the poets and friends whose words (before, during, and after reading their work at the mic) offered such inspiration: Lynn Alexander, Jane Arnal, Elizabeth Austen, Brittany Baldwin, Roxanne Bash, Kristin Berger, Alex Birkett, Holly Black, Sari Breznau, Tiffany Burba, Barbara Lynn Cantone, J’Lyn Chapman, Sage Cohen, Darlene Costello, Walt Curtis, Leah Noble Davidson, Rene Denfeld, Natalie Diaz, Liz Donley, Josh Ehrdal, Matt Eiford, Terri Eliof, Eileen Elliott, Barbara Engel, Annette Ernst, Kathleen Flenniken, Michelle Fredette, Mike G (Michael Guimond), Rhonda Grace, Samuel Green, Jack Greene, Michelle Giuliano, Dean Haspiel, Miles Hewitt, Morgan Hutchinson, Vishal Khanna, Kevin Killian, Sabra Patricia Larsen, Rosemary Leary, Edee Lemonier, Robin Coste Lewis, Lori Loranger, Angelo Luna, Ben Scott Luna, Cathleen Luna, Dan Luna, Greg Luna, Jae Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Tod Marshall, Doug Marx, Alec Matthews, Dennis McBride, Marianela Medrano, Matt Meighan, David Meltzer (RIP), Kristopher Molina, Livia Montana, Judith Montgomery, Gwendolyn Morgan, Dan Nelson, Gwen Osborne, Aaron Pacora, Eric Padget, Jenney Pauer, David James Randolph, Dan Raphael, Yugen Rashad, Karen Read, Shelby Reece, Donna Roberge, Katharine Salzmann, Darcy Scholts, Laura Sciortino, Daniel Skach-Mills, Michael Smoler, Shawn Sorensen, Rob Sparks, Bill Sterr, John Stevens, Herb Stokes, Gary F. Suda, Grace Valentine, RicVrana (RIP), Julene Tripp Weaver, Paul Yates, and Lidia Yuknavitch.

Sample Poems

message from the vessel in a dream

completely still
seemingly emotion-
less yet blowing
notes to charm
succeeding ages
it matters little
whether one studies
flow or counterpoint
so long as eventually
the instrument is raised to the lips

you make your appearance
known through some creator
neither Duke nor Trane
ever revealed the source
a wisdom too precious
to put a name to
something not unlike the sound of the heart
beating in the chest of your firstborn

listen to the wind
as interpreted
remember how his hips’
involuntary Poughkeepsie shimmy
show’d you how it was done
never forget promises made
in the quiet of the early morning
priorities set straight
a brick wall stared down till dawn
experience cool breeze adrenaline release
and never forget you learned to listen
don’t forget to breathe

Channel Z (circa 1989)

suddenly static in my own time in your own time beware a tear can appear a rip a slash through the static in a moment and suddenly too suddenly you are not wherever you are but then again and there may be no reason why but there you are in the lavender shorts the garment that stuck around not wanting to miss a moment of this crisis this chaos this crisis of faith this fundamental fissure in the unseen scripture you rarely regarded as worth your time that time static that age static in my attic laughs in a darkened kitchen and you did not then and you do not now believe do not believe do not believe in anything but love

Intend to Attend

A beautiful chaos, this life. A world of pure potential. Tomorrow the discomfort index will be quite high. The weight of too many goddamn outbursts strung around my neck like an albatross. Ghost glimpsed at the periphery. Undefined blur caught by insufficient retina. Fractals behind the eyes. The moment’s gonna get you. Nurture it like a serpent to your breast. Like a neutron caterwaul. Moments away from a fatality. Skeleton falling apart. Filled with the seeds of all the troubles and blessings of existence, but also provided with the sustaining virtue, hope.
Intend to attend. Herb Stokes.

A beautiful chaos, this life. Vishal Khanna.

A world of pure potential. Translated dialogue from the film Poetry, directed by Chang-dong Lee.

The weight of too many goddamn outbursts strung around my neck like an albatross. Leah Noble Davidson.

Fractals behind his eyes. Doug Marx.

The moment’s gonna get you. Wayne Shorter.

Like a neutron caterwaul. Katharine Salzmann.

Moments away from a fatality. Jae Luna.

His skeleton was falling apart. Daniel Skach-Mills.

Filled with the seeds of all the troubles and blessings of existence, but also provided with the sustaining virtue, hope. Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p. 23.

This is a deeply personal business, and it demands respect
Bruce Springsteen

This Professor Lorenz is a hypnotist as well as a horticulturalist. It’s a geography of the spirit for him. Writing this thing on communicating with the divine spirits. A million birds came to [the] window. . . Felt he was on the same beam, man, tuned in the same. Millions of birds, man. What they really pay you for is to be as present and alive as you can be. We create the illusion of stasis. You’ve got to destroy that mattress. It has to be rebirth on a nightly basis.

This Professor Lorenz is a hypnotist as well as a horticulturalist. Dialogue from The Corpse Vanishes, 1942.

It’s a geography of the spirit for him. Shelby Reece.

Writing this thing….millions of birds, man. Charles Mingus.

We create the illusion of stasis. Narration spoken by spoken Jake (David Mazouz), the brilliant troubled child in the 2012-2013 TV program Touch.

You’ve got to destroy that mattress. Dialogue spoken by Kirsty Cotton, the female protagonist played by Ashley Laurence in the 1988 horror film Hellbound: Hellraiser II.

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.