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
Jonathan Oak is the author of two poetry books, Sutly fucked ↑ and Things I Forgot To Say, as well as the upcoming novel Jerry. He has lived and performed in Portland for the last six years. He was part of the VAMP reading series in San Diego and a fixture in the Phoenix poetry and music scene. He was on three Slam Nationals teams, hosted a poetry radio show, worked underground theater in San Francisco, and ran writing workshops for 15 years.
Christopher Luna will lead a series of classes and workshops this Fall. Most of these occur year-round. The best way to stay up-to-date on his activities is to sign up to receive The Work, a monthly newsletter for poets in Portland and Southwest Washington: printedmattervancouver@gmail.com
Christopher Luna in his office/studio, photographed by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian
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, GHOST TOWN, USA and The Flame Is Ours: The Letters of Stan Brakhage and Michael McClure 1961-1978.
According to Rae Latham, a writer in Christopher’s Monday morning poetry writing class at Multnomah Arts Center, “Christopher is the poetry alchemist who helps us discover gold.”
POETRY WRITING
Poetry Writing at Multnomah Arts Center
Poetry as a means of expression, exploration, and experience is available to everyone. 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.
Clark College 1933 Fort Vancouver Way Vancouver, WA 98663 Anna Pechanec Hall Room 114
Memoir Writing at Clark College, Tuesdays from 1:00 – 3:20 pm September 24 – November 26: 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.
Angst Gallery 1015 Main Street Vancouver, WA 98660
Christopher is also offering an eight-week workshop/writers group called Writing Your Life Story at Angst Gallery on Thursdays from 10:30am – 1:00pm, October 3 through November 21.
Document your memories for your family or for possible future publication. Complete short timed writings as well as weekly take-home assignments. Give and receive feedback in a safe, informal environment. Christopher will introduce the participants to the techniques of creative nonfiction storytelling which uses the content of one’s life as the foundation for narrative. He will introduce current examples in popular nonfiction and memoir to assist the process. Participants will be encouraged to share their writing in a safe environment (no one will be required to share their stories) with the option of receiving feedback from the facilitator and other students. We will work to achieve the following goals:
1) learn the key elements of successful storytelling in written form,
2) create a living document for yourself, your family, or others,
3) delve into or build upon your written skills.
Bring your ideas, notes, paper, and pen/pencil (no books required).
Open to all skill levels. The class will be limited to ten (10) participants.
Cost: $225 (cash, check, card)
REGISTER AT ANGST on Wednesdays from noon til four OR email printedmattervancouver@gmail.com to set up a time to register.
THE WORK
Christopher also facilitates a poetry writing workshop known as The Work, from 11:30-2:00 on the second Saturday of the month (unless otherwise noted) at Niche Wine Bar (1013 Main Street, next door to Angst Gallery and the Kiggins Theatre). Doors open at 11:15 so that you can purchase coffee, tea, and other non-alcoholic beverages from Niche and grab a snack. The workshop begins at 11:30.
“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, “Memory Gardens” (Fall of America, City Lights)
The Work is a drop-in poetry writing workshop for beginners as well as more experienced writers. Poetry encourages empathy and compassion, and sparks the shifts in consciousness which lead to healing, personal growth, and an interest in fighting for progressive social change.
We will read and discuss poetry, and write several new poems together. Each workshop will feature at least three timed writing exercises.
$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 2019 Saturday afternoon workshops will take place on October 12, November 16, and December 14.
There is also a Monday evening version of the workshop that takes place on the second and fourth Monday of the month (unless otherwise noted) at Angst Gallery (1015 Main Street).
Upcoming 2019 Monday evening workshops will take place on October 28, November 25, and December 9.
If you are looking for writing coaching, editing/manuscript review, or information about poetry and memoir classes, send Christopher an email via printedmattervancouver@gmail.com.
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver Featuring Joannie Stangeland
7 pm Thursday, August 8 Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7 $5 Suggested donation
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
Photo of Joannie Stangeland by Roseanne Olson
Joannie Stangeland is the author of The Scene You See, In Both Hands, and Into the Rumored Spring. She received the 2019 Crosswinds Poetry Journal grand prize, and her poems have also appeared in Boulevard, Prairie Schooner, The Southern Review, and other journals.
Self-Portrait with an Aubade
By Joannie Stangeland
The light must be sheer—Vermeer’s camera obscura
draws early sun, gauze filtered
through green. Leaving shadows’ blue pools,
night’s voices vanish.
Water jug, leaded glass, and ultramarine,
morning streams a sacrament—thin blessing
melts before you swallow. Tension subtle,
serene across the canvas.
Look to the window when day brushes your face,
clean strokes—the care, translucent.
Step into this skin like an artist, a flautist,
a muse. A yellow cup.
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver Eugenia Hepworth Petty with special guests Xavier Cavazos & Connor Simons
7 pm Thursday, August 8 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
Eugenia Hepworth Petty writes, shoots film, and covers things with wax and resin. In the past she had an obsession with cassette tape recorders. She prefers buses over planes. In the mid 1990s she lived in Ukraine and began using her camera more than her tape recorder, and later began making postcards, which she continues today. Most recently she co-founded and co-edits the online journal Squatters’ Press, which is dedicated to the myriad causes and consequences of the migration of sentient beings upon this earth. Eugenia’s most recent publication is the chapbook Instructions or the Apocalypse (Dancing Girl Press, 2016).
Xavier Cavazos is the author of Diamond Grove Slave Tree (2015), the inaugural Prairie Seed Poetry Prize from Ice Cube Press, and Barbarian at the Gate (2014), which was published in the Poetry Society of America’s New American Poets Chapbook Series. Cavazos earned an MFA in Creative Writing and the Environment from Iowa State University. His poetry appears in anthologies such as Aloud: Voices from the NuYoRican Poets Café (1994), Under the Pomegranate Tree: Best Latino Erotica (1994), Verses That Hurt: Pleasure and Pain from the POEMFONE Poets (1996), and Best American Experimental Writing 2015. Cavazos’s honors include a Nuyorican Poets Café “Fresh Poet Award” (1993), Grand Slam Champion of the Nuyorican Poet’s Café (1995), and a Poetry Society of America National Chapbook Fellowship (2013). He currently teaches in the Africana and Black Studies and the Professional and Creative Writing Programs at Central Washington University.
Connor L Simons is a poet and translator based in Minneapolis. He is currently a candidate for an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota, where he also works as the poetry editor for the Great River Review. His work has recently appeared in the Apricity Press, Indianapolis Review, Adelaide Literary Journal, and is forthcoming in the Colorado Review and La Revista Union.
Niche 9th Anniversary Poetry Contest (Deadline August 15, 2019)
Niche Wine Bar and Printed Matter Vancouver are seeking short poems on the theme of “community” to commemorate the ninth anniversary of Niche Wine Bar. What does community mean to you? What does community look like? How does one strengthen community?
The winning poem will be printed on wine glasses to be distributed to all those who attend the Niche Anniversary Party at the Kiggins Theatre on October 14, 2019. The second place winner will have their poem printed on t-shirts. The third place winner will have their poem printed on beverage napkins. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will gain entrance to the 9th Anniversary Party on October 14 and have their poem displayed on the screen in the Kiggins Theatre during the slide show.
October 14 is Indigenous Peoples Day. Each year’s anniversary party features short films from a particular country. This year’s films were produced in New Zealand.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS (Deadline August 15)
Address this question using poetry: What does community mean to you?
Submission Guidelines:
Deadline: Poems will be accepted by email only (printedmattervancouver@gmail.com) until 11:59pm on August 15, 2019.
Fee: $5.00 for up to three poems.
You may submit no more than three (3) poems on the theme of community for a submission fee of five dollars. Poems should be no longer than FIVE (5) lines. Each piece may be a complete poem or an excerpt from a longer poem. If the poem is an excerpt, please indicate this and give the poem title. Previously published poems may be accepted subject to the discretion of the editors. However, please indicate the publication name, date, poem title, and publication rights in the body of the submission email.
Mail or hand deliver a check for five dollars written to Angst Gallery, 1015 Main Street Vancouver, WA 98660. Only those poets who have paid the fee in full by August 15 will be considered for the contest.
If your poem is accepted for use in this project, the editors may have suggestions for edits or format changes to prepare the work for display. Whenever possible the editors will work with the author to review suggested changes. Authors will have the final decision on the edits. The editors are unable to guarantee publication of your work if they feel the edits are necessary and the author disapproves of the changes.
Authors agree to public use of their poem and photo. Niche will retain first rights to use and display the poems. From there, rights revert back to the author. Authors agree to have their work and photo appear online or in other publicity/promotions by Niche Wine Bar.
Contest Judges: Angst Gallery Director Leah Jackson and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founders Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna
Poem Format (please pay close attention to these directions):
Format your poem(s) in Times New Roman, 12 point font/one inch margins in one document.
Include your name, address, best phone contact, and email at the top left of the page.
Include the poem’s title in bold with one blank line between the title and the body of the poem.
Poems should be single-spaced with one blank line between stanzas.
Poems may not exceed five (5) lines and must be your original work.
These five (5) lines may be excerpted from a longer poem, if indicated as such.
Poems must be saved as a Microsoft Word document with this extension: your last name+Niche Poetry. Example: Rhodes+Niche Poetry
How to Submit:
Type Niche Poetry Contest 2019 into the subject line of the email.
Include in the body of the email:
The title(s) of your poem(s).
Contact information: name, address, email, and best phone contact number.
For previously published poems, indicate the publication name, date, poem title, and whether you own the publication rights.
Include your poem(s) as a separate attachment in Microsoft word.
EMAIL SUBMISSIONS TO PRINTEDMATTERVANCOUVER@GMAIL.COM UNTIL 11:59PM PST ON AUGUST 15, 2019.
Note: You will receive confirmation that we have received your submission(s).
Printed Matter Vancouver presents A Book Launch Celebration for Driven By Hope The third book of poetry by Toni Lumbrazo Luna
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna of Printed Matter Vancouver Featuring Toni Lumbrazo Luna
7 pm Thursday, July 11 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
Driven By Hope is Toni Lumbrazo Luna’s third book of poetry. It contains glimpses into the lives of people she has met throughout her career as a Social Worker and Life/Career Coach. These poems are based on real life and Toni takes them to new places inside her imagination. Perhaps you will see yourself through her eyes.
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 Lumbrazo Luna by Christopher Luna
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 printedmattervancouver@gmail.com
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 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
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.
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
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).
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
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.
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.
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
PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER 