Tag: poetry

Christopher Luna’s Winter 2018 Creative Writing Classes [UPDATED December 5]

November 27, 2017

Christopher Luna’s Winter 2018 Creative Writing Classes

Christopher with Ginsbergs Collected by Julian Nelson December 2016
Christopher Luna by Julian Nelson

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has already signed up for one of my classes. As of this writing, my Thursday memoir writing class is full, but there are still spots available in the Wednesday memoir writing class, and my MAC classes on poetry writing and collage. I have also updated the link to the Wednesday memoir writing class so that it will take you directly to the class description. Please feel free to contact me with any questions: printedmattervancouver@gmail.com.

Multnomah Arts Center

MAC_logo_withTransparency

http://www.multnomahartscenter.org/classes/winter2018/macWinter18_colorWeb.pdf

Poetry Collage Workshop     Ages 16 & Up

Poets and artists have always used allusion and reference to create something new. Explore strategies for assembling borrowed words and images into art and poetry. Create visual collages that incorporate text or poems that include visual aids. Bring newspapers, magazines, photos, found text, and natural items to class. These items will be shared or swapped during class. Scissors, glue, and paper to collage on will be provided. All levels.

1082751  Sat.  10 am – 2 pm   Feb. 24   $40 [1 class] Christopher Luna

Poetry Writing     Ages 16 & Up

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.

1082102  Mon.  10 am – 12:30 pm   Jan. 8 – Mar. 19   $249 [9 classes] Christopher Luna

Clark College

Registration begins December 4

Mature Learning

Memoir Writing

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. With the help of former Clark County Poet Laureate (2013-2017) Christopher Luna, you will begin to see yourself as a part of history, and appreciate the value of documenting the story of your life.

WEDNESDAY CLASS

Item #: 9027

Dates: Wednesdays 1/10/2018- 3/14/2018

1:00PM – 3:20PM

$215

Room: CCE 208

Downtown Campus

500 Broadway Street, Suite 200

Vancouver, WA 98660

Metered Parking: $ 0.50/hr

THURSDAY CLASS

This class is full and cannot accept additional students. Please consider taking the Wednesday class described above.

Item #: 9028

Dates: Thursdays 1/11/2018- 3/15/2018

1:00PM – 3:20PM

$215

Room: CCE 208

 

THE WORK

Niche Wine Bar/ Angst Gallery

The Work 2017 Eliot

The Work Saturday Afternoon Edition

Join us on Saturday, December 2 for The Work, a monthly poetry writing workshop at Niche Wine Bar led by Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna.

Christopher is completely convinced of poetry’s ability to encourage empathy and compassion, and to spark the shifts in consciousness which can lead to healing, personal growth, and an interest in fighting for progressive social change. He would love to share his 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.

Note: The Saturday Afternoon Edition of The Work will take place on the second Saturday of each month, unless otherwise noted. Upcoming readings will take place on the following dates: January 13, February 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, and June 9.

The Work Monday Evening Edition

Christopher Luna and Leah Jackson are excited to announce a new Monday evening edition of The Work, to take place on the last Monday of every month.

Join us on Monday, January 29 for The Work, a monthly poetry writing workshop at Angst Gallery led by Clark County’s first Poet Laureate (2013-2017) Christopher Luna.

We will read and discuss poetry, and write several new poems together from 6:00 until 8:30. Angst Gallery is located at 1015 Main Street, two doors north of The Kiggins Theatre, Vancouver’s landmark movie house in the Vancouver Arts District. Food and libation available for purchase at Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street (accessible through a doorway at the rear of the gallery).

$20 suggested donation; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Bring a poem to share as a way of saying hello.

Note: The Work will take place on the last Monday of each month, unless otherwise noted. Upcoming workshops will take place on the following dates: February 26, March 26, April 30, May 28, and June 25.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Jamie Houghton December 14, 2017

November 19, 2017

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Flyer December 14 2017 cropped

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Jamie Houghton

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, December 14

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

angstgallery.com

Jamie Houghton head shot

Jamie Houghton is a poet, musician and teaching artist. Her poetry chapbook, Burn Site in Bloom, was released by Musehick Publications in 2017. Her secret talents include making the best Key Lime Pie in town and looking weirdly good in fur hats. You can read her personal essays on her blog.

Jamie Houghton book cover

THE MOWER TO THE GLOWWORMS

(After Andrew Marvell)

by Jamie Houghton

 

Think of it as just a haircut through your heart which is your whole

body glowing because that’s what a pulse does and your heart is electric

 

Think of your heart as mud struck by lightning in the womb some where

you cannot dive for or become small enough to see

 

Think of it as a slight shock combing up your spine or your skin

changing like the surface of water

 

Think of it as division think

of me as a witness think

of clinging to the rain or pouring

down the grate think

of it as the last

whisper before being extinguished

 

Think of it as sinking just

to rest in the dark wet think

of it as a buffet and you

are sunlight’s last snack think

of the shining blades as music think

of your tailbone as a mouse

 

and you will be fed to the peonies

and the dogs and the dawn think

of me as next

 

Food and libation provided by Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street, Vancouver.

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar.

LGBTQIA+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Listen to a feature on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on OPB Radio’s State of Wonder.

 

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Julene Tripp Weaver November 9, 2017/ Poeming Health Workshop November 10

October 15, 2017

Ghost Town Flyer November 9 2017 cropped

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Julene Tripp Weaver

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, November 9

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

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

Julene T Weaver Brick Background

Julene Tripp Weaver lives in Seattle where she is a psychotherapist and a writer; she worked in AIDS services for over 21 years. Her third poetry book, truth be bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS, was published this spring by Finishing Line Press. Two prior books are No Father Can Save Her, and Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues. She is widely published in journals and anthologies including: Anti-Heroin Chic, Riverbabble, River & South Review, The Seattle Review of Books, HIV Here & Now, and In The Words of Women International 2016 Anthology (creative nonfiction). Find more of her writing at http://www.julenetrippweaver.com.

Julene will also be leading a workshop at Angst Gallery at 6:30pm on Friday, November 10 entitled Poeming Health: Are you or is someone you love living with a chronic illness? Are you a caregiver? This workshop will provide a clearing space to crystallize what is necessary for your survival, no matter the challenges. We will explore our personal experience through writing to our illness, to our loved one, to our pain. Bring a notebook and pens you are comfortable with. Cost: $25.

To register for the workshop, please attend Julene Tripp Weaver’s reading on November 9 or contact Christopher Luna via christopherjluna@gmail.com or 360-910-1066 before Friday, November 10.

 

JTWeaver-TruthBeBold WebPage-LargeSize

HIV Today

By Julene Tripp Weaver

We long term survivors

got a lifetime, came through the hard

years still strong. Smart not to trust early.

The only answer at the beginning, AZT,

we found our own box of hope

filled a whole book with reasons

to live, made art, wrote stories, poems,

created family.

 

We felt love for our dying

brothers and sisters, wanted them

to fall well, we held community

created an embrace: Act Up meetings,

coalitions, die-ins. We made history.

Moved science up a notch

like that last lover in our belt,

that quilt panel we’ve all made.

 

Those of us still here with

our endless days to live

take pills daily to hold steady.

Victory survivors

welding a healing path

with our scrapbooks we created, Hope,

it’s title, and for some of us

our hearts melded to welcome this virus

make it feel at home. Give it a long life.

Listen to a feature on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on OPB Radio’s State of Wonder

 

 

 

 

 

 

Printed Matter Vancouver Books Available at Another Read Through in Portland, OR

August 31, 2017
Tiffany
Tiffany Burba reads from Meet Me Where I Left You at Another Read Through Books in Portland, OR on February 23, 2017

It is more important than ever to support local, independently-owned bookstores. One of our personal favorites is Another Read Through at 3932 N. Mississippi Ave. in Portland. Owner Elisa Saphier is delightful, personable, and knowledgeable. She allows authors and publishers to hold readings and book launch events in her beautiful second-floor loft, and hosts regular events such as Lesbian Lit Book Group. A generous amount of shelf space is devoted to Northwest authors in all genres.

GT 2 FRONT COVER

You can find Ghost Town Poetry volumes one and two, Tiffany Burba’s Meet Me Where I Left You, and Christopher Luna’s Pulitzer Remix chapbook Brutal Glints of Moonlight at Another Read Through.

Printed Matter Vancouver is grateful to Elisa for her service to the literary community, and for carrying our books at her bookstore. We are very proud to be associated with Another Read Through. Show your support by dropping by the store today!

The latest publication from Printed Matter Vancouver.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Coleman Stevenson September 14, 2017

August 17, 2017

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic flyer September 14 2017

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic featuring Coleman Stevenson

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, September 14

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

angstgallery.com

Coleman Stevenson is the author of two collections of poems, Breakfast (Reprobate/GobQ Books, 2015) and The Accidental Rarefication of Pattern #5609 (bedouin books, 2012). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in a variety of publications such as The Portable Boog Reader, Gramma, Paper Darts, Seattle Review, E-ratio, Osiris, Louisiana Literature, Mid-American Review, and the anthology Motionless from the Iron Bridge. She has been a guest curator for various gallery spaces in the Portland, OR, area, and has also taught poetry, design theory, and cultural studies at a number of different institutions there including Portland State University, Mountain Writers Center, The Art Institute of Portland, and Columbia River Correctional Institution. She created and has taught the Image+Text track in the Certificate Program at the Independent Publishing Resource Center since 2015. She creates tarot cards and other divination products through her business The Dark Exact. A collaborative text and image project with artist Aspen Farer, The Doppelgänger Museum, is ongoing.

Food and libation provided by Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar: http://briz.us/

LGBTQIA+ FRIENDLY, ANTI-FASCIST, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

Listen to a feature on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on OPB Radio’s State of Wonder: http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/state-of-wonder/article/ghost-town-poetry-vancouver-washington-open-mic/

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Sean Aaron Bowers August 10, 2017

July 28, 2017

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Flyer August 10 2017 edit

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

featuring Sean Aaron Bowers

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, August 10

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

Angst Gallery

final

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

Food and libation provided by Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street

Niche logo

Sound provided by Briz Loan & Guitar

LGBTQIA+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

We_Were_Warriors_FRONT_COVER

Sean Aaron Bowers is a Portland native. His first collection of poetry, We Were Warriors (University of Hell Press, 2012), was published under the pseudonym Johnny No Bueno. His upcoming book, Concrete & Juniper is due to be released by University of Hell in late 2017 to mid 2018. His work has appeared in Criminal Class Review, Present Tense, and Nailed Magazine. You can find out more about him at seanaaronbowers.com once he gets it up and running again.

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on State of Wonder

July 21, 2017
Toni and Christopher OPB pic
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic co-hosts Toni Partington and Christopher Luna at Angst Gallery in July 2017. Photo by Aaron Scott. Art by Cynthia Heise.

Printed Matter Vancouver would like to thank producer Aaron Scott, intern Elayna Yussen, and everyone at OPB Radio’s State of Wonder for featuring the Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic community on their program. I founded the reading series in 2004, and Toni Partington, my wife and co-host, came on board in 2007. It was a very moving experience to hear what the series has meant to Toni and series regulars April Bullard, Eileen Elliott, and Erin Iwata. I found myself in tears as my friends spoke about their personal journey, and how Ghost Town Poetry has contributed to both their personal growth and their development as writers. We hope that you will agree that Aaron and his crew perfectly captured what makes the reading series so unique.

Toni and I were also pleased to find that the producers acknowledged Angst Gallery’s role in the community as  “de facto arts center.” Angst Gallery owner Leah Jackson has been one of the driving forces in the Vancouver Arts District for many years. Since 2005, she has provided me with a venue in which to present local and national poets, poetry & music collaborations, coaster poetry, and bilingual poetry readings. I would not have been named the first Poet Laureate of Clark County without her unfailing support. In fact, Leah Jackson was the first to acknowledge my service to the poetry community when she named me the poet laureate of her two businesses, Angst Gallery and Niche Wine Bar. This great honor allowed me to have two years of practice as her laureate (2011-2012) before being called upon by the Clark County Arts Commission to serve the poets of Clark County as their poet laureate.

The program also includes a wonderful interview with Erika Bartlett, a Vancouver artist whose solo show, “The Art of Healthy Spaces”, is on display at the gallery through July 29.

Christopher Luna

To listen to the entire program, visit:

Hurray For The Riff Raff | Ghost Town Poetry | Teva Harrison | Ural Thomas | Bend Art Center

April Bullard by Tiffany
April Bullard reads her work at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. Photo by Ghost Town videographer Tiffany Burba 

To listen to the segment on Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic, visit:

Vancouver’s Ghost Town Poetry Hasn’t Missed A Beat Since 2004

Erika on OPB
Erika Bartlett and her work at Angst Gallery in Vancouver, WA. Photo by Aaron Scott

To listen to the segment with Erika Bartlett, visit:

Erika Bartlett At Angst Gallery: Mixing Nature And Business

 

Poetry Moves Season Four Launches on July 15 in Esther Short Park

May 29, 2017

poetry_moves_season_4_poster

Poetry Moves Season Four Launch Celebration

11:30-12:30

Sunday, July 15, 2017

Farmers Market Music Stage

Esther Short Park

Vancouver, WA

This event is a public reading of student poems selected for the fourth season of Poetry Moves, featuring poems written by students in Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna’s Poets in the Schools program whose work has been selected to appear on C-Tran buses from July–December 2017

Congratulations to all of our student poets:

James B., 4th grade, Hearthwood Elementary

Gavin B., 4th grade, Hearthwood Elementary

Brooklyn C., 2nd grade, Hough Elementary

Ellie G., 8th grade, Amboy Middle School

Allison K., 5th Grade, Union Ridge Elementary School

Kaylee K., 5th grade, Union Ridge Elementary School

Berenice L-P., 6th grade, Discovery Middle School

Jacob R., 8th grade, Amboy Middle School

Johanny S., 6th grade, Discovery Middle School

Christina S., 11th grade, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics

JOIN US FOR THIS WONDERFUL CELEBRATION OF LOCAL STUDENT POETS

Season Four of Poetry Moves will once again feature ten young poets from the schools visited by the poets in Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna’s Poets in the Schools Program. The workshops were led by April Bullard, Christopher Luna, Jim Martin, and Morgan Hutchinson. Christopher Luna supervised the instructors, and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Toni Partington managed and supported the team.

On July 15, we will celebrate the students whose poems were chosen with a special reading at the Vancouver Farmers Market Music Stage in Esther Short Park. Each student’s poem will be read aloud. Those students who cannot be present will be acknowledged by one of the instructors from the Poets in Schools Program. Arts of Clark County will have channel cards from previous seasons of Poetry Moves for sale to benefit the program.

The student poems will appear on C-Tran buses through December 2017.

When Christopher Luna was named Poet Laureate for Clark County in 2013, he launched a poets in the schools program that sends local writers into Clark County schools to lead poetry workshops aimed at showing children that poetry can be meaningful, magical, and fun. The program has received grant support from Humanities Washington and the Arts of Clark County.

Arts of Clark County Chair Karen Madsen made contact with C-Tran and laid the groundwork for the Poetry Moves program. Her husband Cameron Suttles designed the channel cards for the buses. The first and third season of the program featured poems from ten Clark County poets, eight of whom were selected by Luna and his wife and Printed Matter Vancouver co-founder Toni Partington as judges of a countywide contest. Season Two featured students from the Poets in the Schools Program.

POETRY MOVES is a project of C-Tran, Arts of Clark County, and Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna.

Please visit our Facebook page: Poetry Moves

Pleasse

 

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Rob Katsuno & Dan Raphael Thursday, June 8, 2017

May 14, 2017

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic flyer June 8 2017 edit

Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic

Featuring Rob Katsuno and Dan Raphael

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Partington of Printed Matter Vancouver

7 pm

Thursday, June 8

Open mic sign up begins at 6:30 and closes at 7

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/

LGBTQIA+ FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

katsuno-professional-photo-image

Rob Katsuno has been employed as a Boeing jet design engineer, a Mitsubishi Joint Venture Broker, a Morgan Stanley Investment Banker in NY and Tokyo. He holds an MBA from UCLA and currently works as a Ameriprise Financial Advisor. In 2011 he received third place in the Willamette Writers Kay Snow Writing Contest. He is also a talented performer who has appeared at BackfencePDX and United Solo, America’s largest solo performance festival in Theatre Row, NY. For more information about rob, visit robkatsuno.com

Dan Raphael by Robert
Dan Raphael performs at the Ford Building in Portland Photo by Robert Sanders

Everyone in This Movie Gets Paid, dan raphael’s 19th book, came out last June. Some of his newer poems appear in Caliban, Curly Mind, The Poeming Pigeon, In Between Hangovers and Otoliths. Every Wednesday he writes and records a news poem, as well as writing stories for the news anchors on KBOO Radio. He hosts Fo Po Poetry, a monthly reading series in Portland, and is the prose editor for Unlikely Stories, an e-zine based in New Orleans.