LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
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.
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
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.
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/
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
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 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
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
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 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.
Follow your bliss in the new year. 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.
Christopher Luna by Julian Nelson
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.”
Rae Latham, a writer in Christopher’s Monday morning workshop at Multnomah Arts Center, comments: “Christopher is the poetry alchemist who helps us discover gold.”
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.
Explore poetry as a means of expression, discovery, and generating compassion. 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.
M 10:00am-12:30pm 1/7-3/11
$200 [8 Classes] 1095189 Christopher Luna
M 1:00-3:30pm 1/7-3/11
$200 [8 Classes] 1100629 Christopher Luna
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. See yourself as a part of history, documenting the story of your life.
“Well, while I’m here I’ll do the work — and what’s the work?
To ease the pain of living. Everything else, drunken dumbshow.”
― Allen Ginsberg, from “Memory Gardens” (Fall of America, City Lights)
The Work is a drop-in poetry writing workshop for beginners as well as more experienced writers. Beginning in January 2019, we will meet three times per month: on the second Saturday afternoon of each month at Niche Wine Bar, and the second and fourth Monday evening at Angst Gallery, unless otherwise noted. Please check Facebook for more frequent updates.
Saturday Afternoons
Join us on Saturday, January 12 for The Work, a monthly poetry writing workshop at Niche Wine Bar led by Christopher Luna.
Poetry encourages empathy and compassion, and sparks the shifts in consciousness which can lead to healing, personal growth, and an interest in fighting for progressive social change. I look forward to sharing my 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.
Upcoming Saturday afternoon workshops will take place on February 9, March 2, April 13, and May 11.
Second and Fourth Monday Evenings (beginning in January 2019)
The Work will also take place at Angst Gallery (1015 Main Street) from 6 – 8:30 on the second and fourth Monday of each month, unless otherwise noted.
Upcoming 2019 Monday evening workshops will take place on January 14 & 28, February 11 & 25, March 11 & 25, April 15 & 29, May 13, June 10 & 24.
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.
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.
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.
LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
LA poet Geneva Chao
Genève/Geneva Chao is the author of three books of poetry and several translations. Chao lives in Los Angeles. Her books include one of us is wave one of us is shore (French/English), Hillary Is Dreaming (English), and émigré (English/French/guernesiais/pidgin).
Hoku
with winds
comme des
through channels
fourmis on
sifting sand
grimpe les uns
into glass, every
sur les autres
chamber packed
se hissent
tight with bodies
jusqu’aux toits
in boxes in alleys
afin de voir
finally to climb
enfin la lueur
to see stars
des étoiles
