Tag: poetry readings

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Lightship Press Poet Red O’Hare at Art At The Cave on March 9, 2023

February 22, 2023

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Red O’Hare

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST, PRO-CHOICE,

ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

7 pm

Thursday, March 9

Art at the Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

$5 Suggested donation

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com). Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.

Red O’Hare is a West Coast-based Jewish-American Poet. Her debut book of poetry, Seaglass Strange, was published late last year by Lightship Press. She was born during the Reagan administration to the child of Jewish immigrant Carnies and that of stalwart Presbyterian missionaries. She believes in boots and ghosts. Her dog is named after a Doctor Who character, but you have to guess which one. Red has been writing and performing poetry since she was 15 years old in California’s San Fernando Valley.  She’s competed in poetry slams but has never won, and has been featured at Wordlights, The Last Stand at Wildwood Saloon, The Nest, Portland Poetry Slam, and The Crow’s Nest, to name a few. She has also performed at Studio Morey, Fused Creative’s show Leave Me On Read, Telltale PDX’s show This Is What We Need, The Brewery Artist’s Lofts, The Anna Broome Room, and KBOO Radio’s Talking Earth poetry series, hosted by Dan Raphael. Red’s spoken word album is available at redohare.bandcamp.com.

Connect with Red on her website: www.redohare.com or follow her on Instagram at @mizredohare or on Facebook at facebook.com/mizredohare.

Learn more about Lightship Press here: https://www.lightshippress.com/

The Ghost Town Poetry community respectfully encourages you to support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020. Stop by their new location at 900 Washington, Suite 130 Vancouver, WA 98660: https://nichewinebar.com.

UPDATED Statement on Healthy Spaces from Art at the Cave: We want to provide a healthy space to enjoy art. We have been practicing safety precautions such as regular cleaning, social distancing and mask wearing.

As a result of the removal of the mask mandate effective March 12, 2022, we will no longer require the wearing of masks. We encourage you to continue to wear a mask if it makes you feel more comfortable, and we will supply masks and hand sanitizer at the door. As social distancing has become a norm, please be mindful some will still need a bit of personal space while inside the gallery.

Book Launch for Christopher Luna’s Voracity with special guests Angelo Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna at Birdhouse Books January 6, 2023

December 18, 2022

Join us for First Friday with The Lunas (Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Angelo Luna) featuring the Vancouver book launch for Christopher Luna’s Voracity (Lightship Press, 2022)

From Birdhouse Books: “It’s a family affair: Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, and Angelo Luna will be joining us for the return of our First Friday Poetry Series!

Christopher Luna, co-host of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic and co-founder of Printed Matter Vancouver, has just released his new poetry collection, VORACITY, from Lightship Press, and will be joined by his wife Toni Lumbrazo Luna, co-founder of Printed Matter Vancouver and local poetry powerhouse, and his son Angelo Luna, who co-authored the father-son poetry collection EXCHANGING WISDOM.”

7pm
Friday, January 6
Birdhouse Books
1001 Main Street Basement
Vancouver, WA 98660

Voracity, featuring poetry and collages by Christopher Luna, is now available from Lightship Press or the author.

Voracity by Christopher Luna
$18.00

“Brutally honest confessional poetry, Christopher Luna’s Voracity conjures a beatific earnestness which transcends pain and suffering through acts of lyrical, life-affirming grace and redemption.” David Madgalene, author of Call Down the Angel

In this revealing poetry collection, Luna invites readers on a candid and intimate journey behind the mask of a public figure as he grapples with identity, body image, and the enormity of his hungers.”

Driven By Hope by Toni Lumbrazo Luna
Printed Matter Vancouver, 2019

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. Order Driven By Hope here:

Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous
The Poetry Box, 2021

Exchanging Wisdom features poems for and about Christopher’s son Angelo Luna, as well as a few pieces Angelo wrote for Christopher. The earliest poem was written when Angelo was three, and the most recent at age 21. Christopher endeavored to encourage his son to be an autonomous, freethinking individual. Angelo grew to become that and so much more. Taken as a whole, the poems in this collection track the development of Angelo’s personality and the strong bond between father and son.

Christopher Luna is a true heir to the Beat and New York School traditions of candor and grandeur. This collaboration and celebration of life runs on impeccable timing and deep love. As Luna and his son Angelo exchange wisdom they also re-invent the meaning of open verse: these poems crack open the heart and spill the joy of parenthood into the world.

—Lisa Jarnot, author
Robert Duncan, the Ambassador from Venus

One day you’re gonna have to…remind me how to believe in the basic goodness of all beings, Christopher Luna tells his son, Angelo, in his latest book, Exchanging Wisdom. More than a collection of father-son poems, Exchanging Wisdom is a record of gratitude. Luna knows that to be a parent is to be both teacher and pupil, vulnerable and responsible. In every poem Luna’s love beams: Like Lone Wolf and Cub we traversed…and you reminded me that magic is real…. These poems contemplate our never-ending wars, sickness, apathy, and art-making through the lens of a deeply reverent father. For some, being a parent, being the adult, is synonymous with having the answers. Luna, a Buddhist poet, community-organizer, and activist, reminds us that questioning is the only way to truth. What are you afraid to find? he wonders. Are these the right questions to ask? In these mind- and heart-opening poems Luna invites us to experience pure joy and wonder again through memory and thankfulness. Once you’ve opened those doors/ you need never do so again, asserts Luna. Once father you cannot go back to your former life. Thankfully for us, Luna never did.

—Claudia F. Savage, author of Bruising Continents

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring John Miller at Art At The Cave September 8, 2022

August 18, 2022

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring John Miller

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST, PRO-CHOICE,

ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

7 pm

Thursday, September 8

Art at the Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

$5 Suggested donation

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com). Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.

John Miller is the author of Olympic, published in 2022 by The Poetry Box. His poetry has featured at the 2021 Connecticut Shakespeare Festival and the Elisabeth Jones Art Center’s 2021 Festival of Feelings. John is founder of Portland Ars Poetica (https://www.meetup.com/Portland-Ars-Poetica/).  He has lived in Portland, OR since 2012. 

The Ghost Town Poetry community respectfully encourages you to support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020. Stop by their new location at 900 Washington, Suite 130 Vancouver, WA 98660: https://nichewinebar.com.

UPDATED Statement on Healthy Spaces from Art at the Cave: We want to provide a healthy space to enjoy art. We have been practicing safety precautions such as regular cleaning, social distancing and mask wearing.

As a result of the removal of the mask mandate effective March 12, 2022, we will no longer require the wearing of masks. We encourage you to continue to wear a mask if it makes you feel more comfortable, and we will supply masks and hand sanitizer at the door. As social distancing has become a norm, please be mindful some will still need a bit of personal space while inside the gallery. Art At The CAVE was established in 2017. Located at 108 E. Evergreen in downtown Vancouver, the CAVE is free and open to the public Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm, and on First Fridays when it remains open until 8:00pm. The gallery is also available to host events. Visit the website at artatthecave.com or contact gallery@artatthecave.com for more information

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Pattie Palmer-Baker at Art at the Cave July 14, 2022

June 19, 2022

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Pattie Palmer-Baker

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,  

ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

7 pm

Thursday, July 14

Art at the Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

$5 Suggested donation

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com). Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.

Pattie Palmer-Baker lives in Portland, Oregon with her beloved husband and her quirky, elderly dachshund who writes odes to treats. Over the years of exhibiting her artwork – a combination of paste paper collages with her poetry in calligraphic form – she was surprised and delighted that people, despite what they may believe, do like poetry. In fact, many liked the poems better than the visual art. She now concentrates on writing.

Nominated for the Pushcart Poetry Prize, Palmer-Baker has been published in many journals including The Poeming Pigeon, VoiceCatcher, The Best of VoiceCatcher, Ghazal Page, Voices: The Art and Science of Psychotherapy, Calyx, and Phantom Drift. Her chapbook, The Color of Goodbye, was recently published by Kelsay Books: https://kelsaybooks.com/products/the-color-of-goodbye.

Learn more at https://www.pattiepalmerbaker.com/

The Ghost Town Poetry community respectfully encourages you to support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020: https://nichewinebar.com.

UPDATED Statement on Healthy Spaces from Art at the Cave: We want to provide a healthy space to enjoy art. We have been practicing safety precautions such as regular cleaning, social distancing and mask wearing.

As a result of the removal of the mask mandate effective March 12, 2022, we will no longer require the wearing of masks. We encourage you to continue to wear a mask if it makes you feel more comfortable, and we will supply masks and hand sanitizer at the door. As social distancing has become a norm, please be mindful some will still need a bit of personal space while inside the gallery.

Art At The CAVE was established in 2017. Located at 108 E. Evergreen in downtown Vancouver, the CAVE is free and open to the public Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm, and on First Fridays when it remains open until 8:00pm. The gallery is also available to host events. Visit the website at artatthecave.com or contact gallery@artatthecave.com for more information

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Igor Brezhnev at Art at the Cave and on Zoom November 11, 2021

October 23, 2021

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Igor Brezhnev

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,  

ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

7 pm

Thursday, November 11

Art at the Cave

108 E Evergreen Blvd

Vancouver, WA 98660

https://artatthecave.com

$5 Suggested donation

NOTE: Art at the Cave co-founder Kathi Rick has graciously offered to help us to continue to include our new friends from around the country in the open mic. Email katecrackernuts@comcast.net by no later than midnight on November 10 to indicate your interest in participating. In the subject line, let us know if you are “Reading” or “Just Listening.” You will receive instructions for how to join the meeting.

Zoom open mic readers are invited to share one poem for three minutes or less. 

Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com). Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.

Masks must be worn at all times to participate in this event. Open Mic readers may remove their masks while reading. The microphone will be sanitized after each reader.

Statement on Healthy Spaces from Art at the Cave: We want to provide a healthy space to enjoy art. We are practicing safety precautions such as regular cleaning, social distancing and mask wearing. We kindly request that you wear a mask and practice social distancing while visiting the gallery. If needed, we will limit the number of people in the gallery. Masks and hand sanitizer are available upon entry.

Art At The CAVE was established in 2017. Located at 108 E. Evergreen in downtown Vancouver, the CAVE is free and open to the public Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm, and on First Fridays when it remains open until 8:00pm. The gallery is also available to host events. Visit the website at artatthecave.com or contact gallery@artatthecave.com for more information.

Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020: https://nichewinebar.com

Igor Brezhnev is a poet and a book designer, among his other sins. His most recent body of published work is titled nights since. It is a series of 363 poems written every night from January 18th, 2019 to January 14th, 2020 documenting the emotional landscape of being without a home. Igor’s other work includes two full-length poetry books, dearest void (2016) and america is dry cookie and other love stories (2018) as well as a number of spoken-word albums available on Bandcamp at igorbrezhnev.bandcamp.com. You can support his work at patreon.com/igorbrezhnev and get daily poems & weekly audio recordings. More information about Igor and his books can be found at igorbrezhnev.com.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on Zoom Featuring Leah Mueller August 12, 2021

July 17, 2021

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Leah Mueller

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, August 12

On Zoom

$5 Suggested donation

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,

ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020: https://nichewinebar.com

Leah Mueller is an indie writer and spoken word performer from Bisbee, Arizona.  Her most recent books, Misguided Behavior, Tales of Poor Life Choices (Czykmate Press), Death and Heartbreak (Weasel Press), and Cocktails at Denny’s (Alien Buddha) were released in 2019. Her latest chapbook is Land of Eternal Thirst. Leah’s work appears in Rattle, Midway Journal, Citron Review, The Spectacle, Miracle Monocle, Outlook Springs, Atticus Review, Your Impossible Voice, and elsewhere. Check her out online at www.leahmueller.org or www.twitter.com/leahsnapdragon.

NOTE: This month’s reading will take place on Zoom. Email christopherjluna@gmail.com by no later than 3 pm on August 12 to indicate your interest in participating. In the subject line, let us know if you are “Reading” or “Just Listening.” You will receive instructions for how to join the meeting.

Open mic readers are invited to share one poem for three minutes or less. 

If you are willing to donate to support the series, please use Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com) or contact him to make other arrangements. Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on Zoom Featuring Andrea Hollander July 8, 2021

June 19, 2021

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Andrea Hollander

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, July 8

On Zoom

$5 Suggested donation

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,

ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020: https://nichewinebar.com

Andrea Hollander moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2011, after living for more than three decades in the Arkansas Ozarks, where she was innkeeper of a bed & breakfast for 15 years and the Writer-in-Residence at Lyon College for 22. Hollander’s 5th full-length poetry collection was a finalist for the Best Book Award in Poetry from the American Book Fest; her 4th was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award; her 1st won the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. Her poems and essays appear widely in anthologies, college textbooks, and literary journals, including a recent feature in The New York Times Magazine. Other honors include two Pushcart Prizes (in poetry and literary nonfiction), two fellowships in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the 2021 49th Parallel Award in Poetry. In 2017 she initiated the Ambassador Writing Seminars, which she conducts via Zoom. Her website is http://www.andreahollander.net.

NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, this month’s reading will take place over Zoom. Email christopherjluna@gmail.com by no later than 3 pm on July 8 to indicate your interest in participating. In the subject line, let us know if you are “Reading” or “Just Listening.” You will receive instructions for how to join the meeting.

Open mic readers are invited to share one poem for three minutes or less. 

If you are willing to donate to support the series, please use Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com) or contact him to make other arrangements. Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Micah Fletcher AKA Kool Chief Rocker May 13, 2021

April 23, 2021

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring Micah Fletcher

AKA Kool Chief Rocker

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm
Thursday, May 13
On Zoom

$5 Suggested donation

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,
ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, has provided a home for the reading series since 2015: https://nichewinebar.com

Micah Fletcher, also known as Kool Chief Rocker, or Rocker for short, is a nationally-recognized poet and spoken word artist who took first place in Portland Oregon’s citywide youth poetry competition Verselandia in 2013.

Micah’s style is hard hitting, vulnerable and razor sharp often moving listeners to tears with his deep self-reflection and critical social commentary

His latest project, released alongside his mentor Mic Crenshaw, Brink Of Distinction, is available on iTunes and all streaming platforms for your viewing and purchasing pleasure.

Links:

@thekoolchiefrocks on instagram

Album links:

https://music.apple.com/us/album/brink-of-distinction/1453889416

NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, this month’s reading will take place over Zoom. Email christopherjluna@gmail.com by no later than 3 pm on May 13 to indicate your interest in participating. In the subject line, let us know if you are “Reading” or “Just Listening.” You will receive instructions for how to join the meeting. Open mic readers are invited to share one poem for three minutes or less.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on Zoom Featuring Eileen Davis Elliott April 8, 2021

March 21, 2021

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Eileen Davis Elliott

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige

7 pm

Thursday, April 8

On Zoom

$5 Suggested donation

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,

ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, has provided a home for the reading series since 2015: https://nichewinebar.com

Eileen Davis Elliott

Eileen Davis Elliott is a poet and visual artist from Vancouver, WA where she retired from a career in mental health. She has just released Pobrecitos, a collaborative work written by Eileen Davis Elliott and illustrated by Lily Engblom-Stryker and Ava Town, students from Vancouver School of Arts and Academics who shared and expanded the messages of the written work focusing on the marginalized from all over the world. Travelogue, poetry, documentation of the world we live in and the people we do not always notice. Pobrecitos (Spanish for “the poor ones”) is a love story to all we meet on our path. This is Elliott’s third book, available through Amazon, Bookbaby store, and her website, Eileendaviselliott.com. Earlier books include Prodigal Cowgirl, and Miles of Pies, part family narrative and part history of a way of Midwestern life. Both of these books are available through the author’s website.

She is working on two novels and another collection of poems, as well as an invitational anthology tentatively titled Unfinished Business. Elliott has also recently completed a series of “transformative collages,” wherein she uses earlier “failed” artwork to “paint through to resolution” self- questions which came up during the time of enforced isolation. She keeps a close eye on the hummingbird feeders as well.

NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, this month’s reading will take place over Zoom. Email christopherjluna@gmail.com by no later than 3 pm on April 8 to indicate your interest in participating. In the subject line, let us know if you are “Reading” or “Just Listening.” You will receive instructions for how to join the meeting. Open mic readers are invited to share one poem for three minutes or less. 

If you are willing to donate to support the series, please use Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com) or contact him to make other arrangements. Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on Zoom Featuring Penelope Scambly Schott November 12, 2020

October 22, 2020

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Hosted by Christopher Luna, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, & Morgan Paige
Featuring Penelope Scambly Schott

7 pm
Thursday, November 12
On Zoom

$5 Suggested donation

LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,
ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, this month’s reading will take place over Zoom. Email christopherjluna@gmail.com by no later than 3 pm on November 12 to indicate your interest in participating. In the subject line, let us know if you are “Reading” or “Just Listening.” You will receive instructions for how to join the meeting. Open mic readers are invited to share one poem for three minutes or less. 

If you are willing to donate to support the series, please use Christopher Luna’s PayPal account (christopherjluna@gmail.com) or contact him to make other arrangements. Include a memo stating that the money is for Ghost Town Poetry. The suggested donation is five dollars.

Please support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, has provided a home for the reading series since 2015: https://nichewinebar.com

Penelope Scambly Schott is a past recipient of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. She has published a novel and several books of poetry, most recently On Dufur Hill, poems about the cycle of a year in her small wheat-growing town of Dufur, Oregon. Instead of listing residencies and other prizes, Penelope wants you to know that every day she and her white goldendoodle Sophia climb Dufur Hill, where she adds another rock to her cairn. Sophia is also a co-host of the White Dog Poetry Salon, which Penelope and her husband host in Portland, and a co-author of the forthcoming chapbook Sophia and Mister Walter Whitman.