Tag: Niche Wine Bar

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Emmett Wheatfall at Angst Gallery June 13, 2019

May 12, 2019

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Flyer June 13 2019

 

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver
Featuring Emmett Wheatfall

7 pm
Thursday, June 13
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

Emmett cropped

Emmett Wheatfall is a published poet, playwright and recording artist. Emmett is the author of six books of poetry and a play titled Under the Red Robin, and has released five poetry CDs. In May 2018 Fernwood Press (an imprint of Barclay Press) published Emmett’s sixth poetry collection entitled As Clean as a Bone. For more information, visit http://emmettwheatfall.com

as clean as a bone cover

Boxed-In

I saw a man with no teeth,
he smiled at me.

I bumped into a woman who had no feet,
she crawled to me.

I hugged a child with no arms; we
laughed until I cried.

A blind man called to me. Why
couldn’t I see where he was coming from?

A homeless man cursed at me,
afterward, he and I shared his beer.

A street-walker propositioned me, I
replied, thank you, but no thank you,

then named that street after her.

Some people are boxed-in. Life is like that
for some.

Life is like that.

Emmett Wheatfall, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring John Burgess at Angst Gallery on May 9, 2019

April 14, 2019

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Flyer May 9 2019 cropped

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver
Featuring John Burgess

7 pm
Thursday, May 9, 2019
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

JB_60

John Burgess grew up in upstate New York, worked on a survey crew in Montana, taught English in Japan, and since 1985 has lived in Seattle, where he works for an insurance company. Past glories include: 2006 Jack Straw writer; co-founder of the original Burning Word Festival; 2008 Words’ Worth curator for the Seattle City Council; and past Board president at Hugo House, Seattle’s creative writing center. He’s a co-instigator with the Band of Poets. He has five books of poetry, some with maps and drawings, from Ravenna Press: Punk Poems (2005), A History of Guns in the Family (2008), Graffito (2011), “by Land…” (2015), and 1977 (2018).

1977 Cover

From 1977:

SPLEEN

I sing in praise of destitute dogs,
for days of melancholy rut
snouts bowed subservient
dissonance from the gut—

of strays, bile and vile
ion charged connected
for scent of beaten,
canine teeth retracted

a pack under attack—
ah, ill-humored howl

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.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Nastashia Minto at Angst Gallery March 14, 2019

February 16, 2019

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Flyer March 14 2019

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna
of Printed Matter Vancouver

Featuring Nastashia Minto

7 pm
Thursday, March 14, 2019
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

Nastashia Minto Head Shot

A Georgia native who currently lives in Portland, OR, Nastashia Minto has performed at the Unchaste Readers Series, Neon Dream, Incite and various other reading series in the metro area. She has also appeared on KBOO Radio’s Talking Earth. Her writing has been published in SUSAN and in the forthcoming Unchaste Anthology Volume III. Nastashia’s first book, Naked, was published by Eldredge Books in February 2019.

Note: Nastashia and Eldredge Books will launch Naked with a reading at Another Read Through (3932 N Mississippi Ave. Portland, OR 97227) on February 28.

Nastashia Minto Naked Cover

Ask Me …

Ask me of the mistakes I’ve made, and let me pull back the layers to my truth. Many false narratives, but I’m the original carbon proof. DNA soaked in cocaine and booze — don’t know how my genes survived, but ask me of the mistakes I’ve made. I still hold her truths, although she tells many lies. I cry, we cry, she cried, but she said we were all a mistake. Maybe after one, but after three, take responsibility for their place, your place, our place in this world. Forgiveness seems to fall off trees like leaves in the fall, but even in some regions the leaves will stay on the trees, so I guess forgiveness will never fall. Ask me of the mistakes I’ve made. I’ll be the first in line, raised hands to account for all the shit I’ve put you through. Ask me of the mistakes I’ve made. You preached forgiveness but forgot I came from you

Nastashia Minto

Christopher Luna Interviewed by People of Vancouver, WA

February 5, 2019

Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Christopher Luna was recently featured on People of Vancouver, WA:

Instagram
YouTube

Christopher would like to thank Steve and Emily for this wonderful video. He is also grateful to Leah Jackson for her many years of support for The Work and Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. Finally, a hearty shout out to those who attended the workshop at Niche that afternoon (and appear briefly in the video): Stella Guillory, Diane Corson, Denise Campbell, Suzanne LaGrande, Robert Syverson, Paula John, Cathie Padgett, Sonja Gellerson, and Bruce Hall.

THE WORK Ginsberg and Stein

Here is the text which accompanies the video on the People of Vancouver WA YouTube Channel:

Christopher Luna is a poet, teacher, editor and was the first Poet Laureate for Clark County. He has been hosting Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, since 2004, and we caught up with him at his writing workshop, also known as The Work, which is held on the second Saturday of every month at Niche Wine Bar on Main St.

“The name for the workshop comes from a couple of lines in a poem by Allen Ginsberg called Memory Gardens, where he says ‘What is the work? To ease the pain of living. Everything else, drunken dumbshow.’ I interpret that as let’s, as poets, in a culture where our work is not always completely understood or respected, let’s take it seriously enough to look at it as work. I think there are some people, even other writers, who don’t see poetry as work because they tend to be shorter than novels. I want to encourage poets in the workshop to own being a poet. To have fun, but to take the work seriously.”

Ginsberg himself co-founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado, where Luna earned an MFA in Writing and Poetics. It was there that Luna learned about outreach, developing writing workshops and going out into the community to teach. After becoming Clark County’s first Poet Laureate, he launched the Poets in the Schools Program, which continues sends writers into local educational settings to lead poetry workshops to this day.

For more information about Christopher Luna’s coaching and editing services, Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, or The Work, visit https://printedmattervancouver.com/

Music: Bass Walker – Film Noir by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/&#8230😉
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-…
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Tim Whitsel at Angst Gallery February 14, 2019

January 13, 2019

ghost town poetry open mic flyer february 14 2019

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver
Featuring Tim Whitsel

7 pm
Thursday, January 10, 2019
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

img_3191

Tim Whitsel believes in the power of dogwood blossoms. He may have migrated west on a solitary bicycle at the age of nineteen. He remembers the cheekbones of the first girl he kissed. He studied with David Waggoner, James Welch and Stanley Plumly at the University of Washington. For six years he curated the Windfall Reading Series at the Eugene Public Library. His poem “Mudflat Allure” won first prize at the 2013 Northwest Poets’ Concord. We Say Ourselves appeared in 2012 from Traprock Books and Airlie Press published his full-length collection Wish Meal in 2016.

GRIMACE

A cabin on a snowy river made
lonelier by threadbare conifers.

French doors, three glass teeth
facing the direction of the storm.
Everyone is away for the day.

Cinching their ballcaps snug
for a comfort they don’t feel.

Blowing on their hands one at a
time so their placards don’t fall.
Follow the Money, Hear ME

unwilling to be fenced like cattle
or fly south like trumpeter swans.
Tim Whitsel
May 10, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring VoiceCatcher poets Claudia F. Savage and Deborah Brink Wöhrmann at Angst Gallery on January 10, 2019

December 18, 2018

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Flyer January 10 2019 edit

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver
Featuring VoiceCatcher poets Claudia F. Savage and Deborah Brink Wöhrmann

7 pm
Thursday, January 10, 2019
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

Savage headshot August

Claudia F. Saleeby Savage is part of the performance duo Thick in the Throat, Honey and co-runs a parent-artist podcast of the same name. Her most recent book of poetry is Bruising Continents. Other recent work appears in BOMB, Denver Quarterly, Columbia, Nimrod, Water-Stone Review, and Anomaly (the interview series “Witness the Hour: Arab American Poets Across the Diaspora”). She is a 2018-2021 Black Earth Institute Fellow, a progressive think tank. Her collaboration, reductions, about motherhood and ephemerality with visual artist Jacklyn Brickman, is forthcoming in 2020. She teaches privately and as a Writer in the Schools and lives with her husband and daughter in Portland.

My Daughter Discovers Synchronicity
Claudia F. Saleeby Savage

If you cannot keep that smell of rosemary on your palms, tea warm in your

morning mug, or stop your daughter’s howl when the soup bowl tips, swallow

this sorrow and spit out birds. My daughter gulps air to better voice her throat’s

vibration. Her belly’s taut drum. The contours of my face mountain under

her gaze. Outside a woodpecker searches for rot in a telephone pole. Her

fingers enter the belly button. A world tucked in worlds tucked in worlds.

In mine there are borders of guns. Refusals. A veil could mean your children

starve…

Deborah headshot

Deborah Brink Wöhrmann marvels at the body’s way of responding to thought and word and the mind’s way of speaking what the body feels and says. After years of teaching writing and such, she now weaves bodywork, nutritional studies and small-group creative workshops into her North Portland life. She loves to wander in the woods and along beaches, to garden, cook and to explore.

Excerpt from “Sunset”
for M.E.W.

You taught me the art
of opening windows
at just the right hour
closing them again
before heat
swept in.