Wordlights Saturday poetry evenings presented by NovaPDX, Rocking Frog Cafe and hosted by Igor Brezhnev.

On Saturday August 31st, we’ll have a feature from Christopher Luna, two mini features from Toni Lumbrazo Luna & Morgan Paige, and a short set poetry open mic!

OUR FEATURE:

Christopher Luna

Christopher Luna served as the first Poet Laureate of Clark County, WA from 2013-2017. His first full-length collection of poetry, Message from the Vessel in a Dream, was published by Flowstone Press in 2018. Luna has an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and is the co-founder, with Toni Lumbrazo Luna, of Printed Matter Vancouver, a small press for Northwest writers which also provides writing coaching, editing, and manuscript review. He has hosted the popular Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in Vancouver, WA since 2004. Luna’s books include Brutal Glints of Moonlight and The Flame Is Ours: The Letters of Stan Brakhage and Michael McClure 1961-1978. In 2019 Uttered Chaos Press in Eugene, OR will release a revised and expanded edition of Christopher’s Ghost Town, USA, a decade-long investigative poem about Vancouver, WA.

MINI FEATURES FROM:

Toni Lumbrazo Luna

Toni Lumbrazo Luna (formerly Partington) is a poet, editor, publisher, visual artist, and writing coach living in Vancouver, Washington. She holds a B.A. in Social Work and a M.A. in Humanities and Literary Editing. She’s had a long career in social work, college teaching and administration, grant writing, life and career coaching, and nonprofit consulting.

She is the author of three books of poetry: Jesus is a Gas, Wind Wing, and her most recent, Driven By Hope, released in June 2019. Her poetry has been published in VoiceCatcher (editions 3 and 4), OutwardLink, Poeming Pigeon, Perceptions and more.
She was Co-Editor for the final print edition of VoiceCatcher 6. Toni is currently working on her memoir, titled Life in View of the Crazy House.

Toni is co-founder of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing service and small press imprint that publishes the poetry of Pacific Northwest writers. Toni works with poets and writers on their manuscripts, individual poems, essays, and prose. She has also developed business plans, marketing materials, grant proposals, and government reports. She co-hosts the Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, established in 2004 by
Christopher Luna.

Toni has been creating visual art since 1980 and in the last seven years has enjoyed the challenge of collage using found materials. She uses both 2D and 3D formats, experimenting with salvaged metals, plastics and anything that is the slightest bit unusual.

Most recently she was nominated to serve on the Clark County Arts Commission representing the business community. Originally from central New York, she’s made the Pacific Northwest her home for thirty years. Toni has been writing poetry since she was ten years old and is still in love with it!

Toni can be reached at http://www.printedmattervancouver.com

Morgan Paige

Morgan Paige is a creator, morbid optimist, business owner and cannabis lover residing in Vancouver, WA. Her poetic cadence is not her own. Rather, an expression of the ever unfolding spiral of nature manifesting itself through her selection of shared symbols and sounds we call language. Her poetry takes you on a playful, chanting ride, inviting you to join her in exploring femininity, psychedelia, love, addiction, philosophy and the life/death/life cycle.

She regularly performs at open mics in Vancouver and Portland, OR and has been featured at readings such as The Dialogue, Lets Talk About Sex, Ghost Town Open Mic and The Last Stand at Wildwood Saloon. Most recently, she performed at the Kiggins Theatre with the Clark County Poet Laureate, Gwendolyn Morgan, for VanTalks 2019.

Her first chapbook will be released summer 2019.

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Sign-ups start at 5:30, show starts at 6PM. On second and fourth Saturdays each performer in the open mic gets 5 minutes, there are only 8 slots available and the list order is randomized.

Come share your words and join us for a night of open mic, a great feature, delicious nourishment and tasty libations.

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Rocking Frog Cafe is an independently run, local gem in the lower Belmont District of southeast Portland. Nestled in a lovely early-century Craftsman-style bungalow, we offer a comfortable place to study, eat and socialize. Find out more about The Rocking Frog at rockingfrogpdx.com.

NovaPDX is a talent and production company based in Portland, Oregon. We organize and host performance and educational events, showcasing local and visiting musicians, poets and comedians. Our mission is to create spaces where talent thrives. Learn more about us at novapdx.org.

Your host, Igor Brezhnev is a poet, an author, an artist and a book designer among his other sins. He is roaming the West Coast thinking up new art, books and helping shape creative projects. You can find out more about Igor at igorbrezhnev.com