Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic and a Free Workshop

Featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall

at Angst Gallery May 12

 GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC

Hosted by Christopher Luna and Toni Lumbrazo Luna

Workshop with

Washington State Poet Laureate and

Clark County Poet Laureate Christopher Luna

3-5pm

Thursday, May 12

Workshop is limited to 28 people; pre-registration is recommended.

Pre-register by contacting Christopher Luna at christopherjluna@gmail.com

Open Mic

7 pm

Thursday, May 12

Both events located at

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA 98660

Food and libation provided by

Niche Wine Bar, 1013 Main Street

LGBTQ-FRIENDLY, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004

angstgallery.com

 

Featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall

Tod Marshall was born in Buffalo, NY. He earned his PhD from the University of Kansas in 1996. His first collection of poetry, Dare Say, was the 2002 winner of the University of Georgia’s Contemporary Poetry Series. He has also published a collection of his interviews with contemporary poets, Range of the Possible (EWU Press, 2002), and an accompanying anthology of the interviewed poets’ work, Range of Voices (2005). These volumes include interviews with and poems by Robert Hass, Li-Young Lee, Robert Wrigley, Brenda Hillman, Dorianne Laux, Kim Addonizio, Ed Hirsch, Dave Smith, Yusef Komunyakaa, and others. In 2005, he was awarded a Washington Artists Trust Fellowship. His second collection, The Tangled Line (Canarium Books, 2009) was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Bugle (Canarium, 2014), was the winner of the 2015 Washington State Book Award. Marshall was also awarded the Humanities Washington Award in 2015 for creativity and service. He lives in Spokane, Washington, and teaches creative writing and literature at Gonzaga University where he is the Robert and Ann Powers Chair in the Humanities.

Workshop Description

If You Ain’t No Place You Can’t Go Nowhere

My title is from Richard Hugo’s The Triggering Town. In his book, Hugo reminds poets of the importance of identifying the “where” of a poem and how rooting creativity to place can allow the imagination to grow in unexpected ways. In this workshop, we will explore ways to connect our imagination to the real and imagined landscapes of Washington.

There are many ways, of course, that we can think about “place.” Perhaps specific flora and fauna conjure up place for us (salmon and Arrowleaf Balsamroot, delicious huckleberries). Perhaps titles of towns or geological phenomena do the same (Anacortes, Mt. Rainier, and Twisp; The Columbia, The Palouse, and sharp columns of basalt, to name only a few). Perhaps people—individuals or groups—make a “where” vivid in our minds (Chief Seattle or Ken Griffey Junior, Kurt Cobain and Colonel George Wright, Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp or Bing Crosby and Cathy McMorris Rodgers).

Using a controlled range of diction, we will work from freewriting to drafting a poem that might reveal something about where we are and where we’ve been, and perhaps such knowledge will tell us a little bit about who we are, were, and might be.