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.

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.

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/