Our thanks to Joann Renee Boswell for her warm, thought-provoking, witty set earlier this month at Art At The Cave. According to Joann, “I had so much fun, felt so celebrated, loved the whole energy in the room. It was magic.” She even handed out colored pencils and coloring sheets featuring illustrations by Jay Williams and Joey Hartmann-Dow from Joann’s new book Meta-Verse, now available from Fernwood Press:
Here is the blurb I wrote for Joann: In her latest collection, Joann Renee Boswell invites us to leap with her into the “multidimensional wormhole” of the metaverse, a choose-your-own-adventure coloring book version of this life in which “we are / magnificent. / complex.” A fearless, capable guide, Boswell believes in our ability to stay with her as she careens from parenting to self-love to quantum physics, from the injustices of racism, sexism, fascism, and religious hypocrisy to the liberatory mysticism of art and magic. We are even encouraged to draw on the pages without illustrations, for “there’s always space for more creative chaos.” Prepare yourself for a fun, engaging, and transformative dive into this poet’s multitudinous and ever-expanding consciousness. You’ll be glad you played along. Christopher Luna, Clark County Poet Laureate (2013-2017), author of Voracity
Joann Renee Boswell reads from Cosmic Pockets at Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic on May 11, 2023.
Brittany Braswell reads her poetry to the crowd at Art At The Cave on May 11, 2023.
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.
A. Molotkov is an immigrant writer. His poetry collections are The Catalog of Broken Things, Application of Shadows, Synonyms for Silence and Future Symptoms. His novel A Slight Curve and his memoir A Broken Russia Inside Me are forthcoming; he co-edits The Inflectionist Review. His collection of ten short stories, Interventions in Blood, is part of Hawaii Review Issue 91; his prose is represented by Laura Strachan at Strachan Lit. Please visit him at AMolotkov.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.
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.
Joann Renee Boswell is a poet, photographer, teacher, director, mystic, mother who lives in Camas, WA with her husband (a Quaker minister) and her three young children. You can call her Jo, Jojo, Jomama, or Smookles Renee. Joann’s first book, Cosmic Pockets (Fernwood Press, 2020), is a full-length collection of poetry and photography. Her chapbook, breath so hungry, is a love letter. Her second full-length collection is a coloring poetry book in collaboration with two illustrators, called Meta-Verse, out any day. Joann loves rainy days filled with coffee, contradictions, dystopian fiction, justice, handholding, forest bathing, hope, and sci-fi shows. She was her high school mascot and spent a summer working at a lumber mill. Her super power might be whimsy. Joann has been a poetry editor for Untold Volumes and VoiceCatcher. She has been published in places such as CIRQUE, otoliths, VoiceCatcher, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Not a Pipe Publishing, and Soul Forte. You can read more at joannrenee.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.
UPDATE POSTED APRIL 11: I regret to inform you that our featured reader, Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest, will be unable to join us on Thursday due to illness. Here is what she posted on her Facebook profile: “After 3 years of dodging it, covid has finally caught up to me and it truly is as awful as you all say. 🤒 I’m sad that I’ve had to cancel a number of upcoming events and will miss out on the Olympia launch of the anthology, and sad to have missed you all yesterday in Seattle. On the flip side, this is the most rest I’ve had in as long as I can remember.”
To honor Rena’s service to the poetry community, bring a favorite poem by Rena or another favorite poet laureate to share at the open mic.
Rena has already been invited to read for us at a later date. Stay tuned for details to follow by subscribing to The Work poetry newsletter (send a request to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com) or by visiting Printed Matter Vancouver.
We thank Rena for her service to our state and wish her a speedy recovery.
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest
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.
Rena Priest is a member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She is wrapping up her term as our 6th Washington State Poet Laureate. She is also a Maxine Cushing Gray Distinguished Writing Fellow an Academy of American Poets Fellow, and the recipient of an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award. Her debut collection, Patriarchy Blues, received a 2018 American Book Award. Most recently she has edited an anthology titled, I Sing the Salmon Home: poems from Washington state. Other books include Northwest Know-how: Beaches and Sublime Subliminal. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Katherine Factor by Erin Monahan
Katherine Factor is an author, poet, and editor. She is the author of a book of poems, A Sybil Society, and four Choose Your Own Adventure interactive novels, including Spies: Mata Hari, Spies: Harry Houdini, and Spies: Spy for Cleopatra. Katherine earned her MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa and has been a writer-in-residence at schools for the arts. Her music essays can be seen on PopMatters. Her children’s book about Bigfoot is forthcoming in March 2023 from ChooseCo.
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.
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.
Robert Lashley was a 2016 Jack Straw Fellow, Artist Trust Fellow, and a nominee for a Stranger Genius Award. His books include Green River Valley (Blue Cactus Press, 2021), Up South (Small Doggies Press, 2017), and The Homeboy Songs (Small Doggies Press, 2014). His poetry has appeared in The Seattle Review of Books, NAILED, Poetry Northwest, McSweeney’s, and The Cascadia Review, among others. In 2019, Entropy named The Homeboy Songs one of the 25 essential books to come out of Seattle.
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.
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.
“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 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.
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.
Sam Preminger (they/them) is a trans-nonbinary, Jewish writer and publisher. They hold an MFA from Pacific University, serve as the Editor-in-Chief of NAILED Magazine, and are a co-founder of Lightship Press. They’re the author of Cosmological Horizons (Kelsay Books, 2022) and their poetry has appeared in Prairie Schooner, North Dakota Quarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Narrative Magazine, among other publications. They live in Portland, OR, where they’ve acquired too many house plants.
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.
Our thanks to Tom Hogan for inviting us to bring some of the poets from the Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic community to Oregon for the Milwaukie Poetry Series at Milwaukie Floral & Garden on October 7. Angelo and Christopher Luna read from their first co-authored book, Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autnomous, published in 2021 by The Poetry Box. They were joined by Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic regular Erin Iwata and Toni Lumbrazo Luna, co-founder of Printed Matter Vancouver and former co-host of Ghost Town Poetry.
Angelo Luna reads from Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous
Angelo Luna reads from Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous
Erika Moorman reads in the open mic
Ghost Town Poet Erin Iwata reads to the crowd at the Milwukie Poetry Series
Erin Iwata reads her poetry
Milwaukie Poetry Series host Tom Hogan with featured readers Erin Iwata, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Angelo Luna, and Christopher Luna
Nat Iwata reads his poetry in public for the first time
Tiel Ansari reads in the open mic
Milwaukie Poetry Series founder Tom Hogan with featured Ghost Town Poets Erin Iwata, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Angelo Luna, and Christopher Luna
Milwaukie Poetry Series founder Tom Hogan with featured Ghost Town Poets Erin Iwata, Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Angelo Luna, and Christopher Luna
Here is tom Hogan’s announcment for the reading:
Milwaukie Poetry Series First Friday
Featuring Ghost Town Poets and Open Mic
October 7, 2022 at 6:30 PM.
In-person at Milwaukie Floral & Garden or watch on Zoom.
Share poetry! It’s that time of year for First Fridays!
We’re having in-person poetry readings again! Our Friday, October 7 event will conclude the 2022 season First Fridays events. Our First Friday events are co-sponsored by the Milwaukie Poetry Series and St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church.
This event is in person at Milwaukie Floral & Garden, 3306 SE Lake Rd. This is a new location and is approximately a half mile east of downtown Milwaukie on Lake Rd. It will also be a virtual event on Zoom.
Our Featured Readers are members of the Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic community. Christopher and Angelo Luna will read from their new book Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous and from other work. Christopher served as the first Poet Laureate of Clark County, Washington. The other two featured readers are Toni Lumbrazo Luna and Erin Iwata. The featured readers will read for about 40 minutes, followed by an Open Mic.
Readers for the Open Mic must be in-person and anyone who would like to participate is welcome. If you want to read in the Open Mic, email Tom Hogan at tomhogan2@comcast.net to register. Plan to read 1 or 2 poems. We will have another round of poems if time permits, depending on the number of participants and length of the poems.
Register to watch the event on Zoom at the Milwaukie Poetry Series website, www.milwaukiepoetryseries.com. You will receive a Zoom link prior to the event. The event will be recorded and available for viewing on demand on the Ledding Library YouTube Channel after the event.
Please call Tom Hogan at 503.819.8367 or e-mail him at tomhogan2@comcast.net with any questions about this event or the Series. We hope you can join us. Thank you for participating, please be safe and well.
Sixteen Years: Enriching Milwaukie one poem at a time.
PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER 