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Christopher Luna by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian

Christopher Luna by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian
Christopher Luna by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian

Monday, June 21, 2010

Coming Soon: To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License, an art book by poets David Madgalene, Toni Partington, and Christopher Luna



Poets David Madgalene, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington perform throughout July to celebrate the release To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License, a limited edition art book

To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License is a one-of-a-kind, limited edition art book created collaboratively by poets David Madgalene, Toni Partington, and Christopher Luna. The text is a series of poetic travelogues written during Christopher Luna’s yearly visits to California from 2005 to 2009. Each poem was written in collaboration with others he visited or with whom he traveled. The cover of each book is an album cover that has been altered, painted, and/or collaged upon by all three artists. Other poets and artists who appear as characters or voices in the book include Michael McClure, Michael Rothenberg, Eric Padget, Eileen Elliott, Judy Irwin, Ed Coletti, and Mark Eckert. Christopher, Toni, and David will be giving a series of readings from the book in July, and the covers will be on display at Angst Gallery throughout the month. David's wife, Judy Irwin will accompany him on keyboards Please join us at one of the following events to celebrate the release of To Be Named:

5-9pm July 2, 2010
First Friday Opening Reception for
To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License
Poetry and art by
David Madgalene, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington
with musical guest Judy Irwin
Angst Gallery
1015 Main Street
Vancouver, WA
Poetry and music sets at 5:30, 6:30. and 7:30
Book covers to be displayed throughout the month of July


 7pm Thursday July 8, 2010
Open Mic Poetry hosted by Christopher Luna
Featuring David Madgalene (with music by Judy Irwin)
Cover to Cover Books
1817 Main Street, Vancouver
McLoughlin Blvd. & Main Street
“always all ages and uncensored”
For more info call or 360-910-1066



David Madgalene and Judy Irwin
7 pm Saturday July 10, 2010
St. Johns Booksellers
622 N. Lombard, Portland

For more examples of the book covers and information about how to purchase a copy of To Be Named, visit: http://tobenamed-artandpoetry.blogspot.com/

They are going like Mama’s hotcakes and these bona fide collectors’ items will only increase in value as time goes by! There were only fifty copies made and already four have been stolen by little gray art and poetry speculators from another planet!!!!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Market Day Poetry Series Tomorrow, June 19: Poets Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore at St. Johns Booksellers

Market Day Poetry Series
Curated by Dan Raphael
Every Saturday from June through September
a block from the St. Johns farmer’s market

Saturday, June 19
12 – 1 pm
Poets Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore
Hosted by Christopher Luna
St. Johns Booksellers
8622 N. Lombard Street
Portland, OR

Bios and poems


Peter Ludwin will be reading from his first full length poetry collection, A Guest in All Your Houses (Word Walker Press 2009, $14). A review of the book is available here: http://www.lochravenreview.net/2010Spring/doss.html

For the past nine years he has been a participant in the San Miguel Poetry Week in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he has workshopped under renowned poets such as Mark Doty, Tony Barnstone, Forrest Gander, Linda Gregg, C.D. Wright, Patricia Goedicke, Alfred Corn and C.K. Williams, to name a few. In 2007 he received a Literary Fellowship from Artist Trust, an adjunct of the Washington State Arts Commission. He was the 2007-2008 Second Prize Winner of the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Awards, and during the same year he was also a finalist for the Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award. He is a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee.

His poems have appeared in many journals, among them Antietam Review, Briar Cliff Review, California Quarterly, Coal City Review, Common Ground Review, The Comstock Review, Concho River Review, Connecticut River Review, Cottonwood, Flint Hills Review, Front Range, The Fourth River, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Hurricane Review, Interdisciplinary Humanities, Karamu, Kyoto Journal, Lake Effect, Lullwater Review, Mad Poets Review, Midwest Quarterly, Peregrine, Permafrost, The Prague Revue, Quercus Review, Red Wheelbarrow, River Oak Review, The Rockford Review, Slant, Small Pond Magazine of Literature, The Raven Chronicles, South Carolina Review, South Dakota Review, Whiskey Island Magazine and Writers Without Borders.

He currently has work forthcoming in Cider Press Review, RiverSedge, Tribeca Poetry Review, Willard & Maple and Wisconsin Review.

He has been a featured reader in Washington, Oregon, California, South Dakota, Minnesota and in the Czech Republic. In 1996 he read over the radio during the Cleveland Bi-Centennial. He has twice read for the Distinguished Writers Series in Tacoma, Washington. In the fall of 2009 he read for the John R. Milton Writer’s Conference at the University of South Dakota, and featured with noted poet and fiction writer Frank Gaspar at Whittier College in Los Angeles. He also has a background in folk music, and plays acoustic guitar and autoharp. He has both taught and performed at the Pacific Northwest Folklife Festival.

Forest Camp, Pahvant Range, Utah
by Peter Ludwin

From up here I could summon wolves
to circle my sleeping bag, I could
call down the moon on my tongue.

The sun on the red cliffs behind me,
the stream roaring through rabbitbrush
while cottonwoods dance in the wind—

these tell me, like the handwriting
that condemned Belshazzar, that I
have been judged and found wanting.

I must stay here, in mind if not in body.
I must cultivate the heart of a whisper,
of the artichoke buried in spines.

It’s late in the harvest season,
and I must gather enough of me up
to make it through the winter.


Eileen Davis Elliott was born to the Great Plains, polished by the winds of the world and continues to be fine-tuned by daily experience. She writes of seeking and sometimes finding, of sinning and sometimes redemption. Her book, Prodigal Cowgirl ($15), reflects journeys and partial resolutions.

Her second book Miles of Pies is well under way. She is a mixed media artist and continues to travel since her recent retirement as a psychologist.

Excerpt from Canis Lupus
by Eileen Elliott

We sing our choruses in yelping voices
cadences from long-gone times
now faded into whispers
made near-inaudible by passing years

And the cracking of long bones in our jaws is electric
like the borealis
on deep snow


Gail Moore was a voiceless poet most of her life. She finally began writing in 1990 after a vision of a strange animal emerging from a cave and shaking off wool. She lives in Newport, Oregon, and after a long love affair with the rain, misses the sun and wants to go home to LA.

Gail was the recipient of the Pacifica Foundation Award for Best Poet of 2001 and the Dorothy Daniels Honorary Writing Award competition in 2000. She is the author of two books: Poems on the Half Shell ($14) and Post Card Poems ($10).

Spillage
by Gail Moore

In the house of mistakes
I grafted your name into the future.
Your name was shadow. My name was dust.

Sibilant or still, I slid down the dry wall;
I joined you in the court of redress as
we had spilled our best over the edge of time.

Your face melted into an astonishing silence.
I find you only in sleep or in the leftover
parts of myself.

I have rattled the door of your mind
but you do not answer.
Still, your name sleeps on my floor.

Monday, June 14, 2010

A message about the Gulf Coast disaster from Michael Rothenberg, editor of Big Bridge


Dear Friends of Big Bridge,

My apologies for writing you all on issues that are not related to Big Bridge. But we have come to a moment in our existence as a species in which "propriety" is less and less meaningful.

As you all know Big Bridge has always been vocal on political and social issues and so the time has come for us to speak out against OIL!

Many of our friends living in the Gulf Coast are seeing their lives destroyed forever. An entire ecosystem appears doomed. The impact is global.

Everyday it seems more certain that we are witnessing the worst man-made environmental holocaust in history and I feel we must be heroic in our actions to make something positive out of this horror.

Over the last few weeks, I have focused attention to my facebook communications, posting as many articles and pieces of information on the "spill" as I can, hoping that the spread of information will make a difference in how we do things. I have organized three events, fundraising benefits for The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, http://www.labucketbrigade.org/ , a non profit environmental health and justice organization tracking the impact of the BP oil spill and prevaenting the impact from being "swept under the rug." Two events in Petaluma, June 27(poetry and music fest) and July 10th (an art auction), and another event in Pacifica, CA (poetry and music and art auction) on August 7. For details please contact me.


It is time to make a real change. Not just leave it to government to show us the way. Please, get out in the street, wave signs, write friends, spread the word, organize!! We are into a new age. Stop Oil! Stop Global Warming! Stop Corporate Ownership of the Planet! There is no time left to waste.

If you have news that you want to get around please send it to me or join me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/michael.rothenberg. If we are not "friends" yet, I would be happy to add you. Again forgive me for using Big Bridge mailing list to send this message but I could not hold back.

My sincere best in these sad and terrifying times. Hope lies in real change not in promises!

Yours,
Michael Rothenberg
Big Bridge, http://www.bigbridge.org/

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Images from "Skin," featuring poetry and art by Toni Partington and Christopher Luna, at North Bank Artists Gallery




Toni and I would like to thank all the friends who came out to support our opening reception Friday at North Bank Artists Gallery including Erin Dengerink, Anni Becker, Greg Bee, Sara and Eric Sawyer, Shawn and Donna Sorensen, Christopher Williams, Kori Sayer and Matt, Sherrill Roberts, Cosimo Giovine, Rainy Knight, Olin Unterwegner, Lee Powell, Cara Cottingahm, Christine Eagon, Leah Jackson, Michelle Venclik, Kelly Keigwin, Lauren Perez and her visiting cousins, and Eileen Elliott. Eileen was kind enough to read her poem "THE HEART AS A REGENERATIVE ORGAN," which I recently turned into a broadside that is on display in the show. I'd also like to thank Erin Dengerink, who allowed me to display our collaboration based on my poem "YOUR SISTER, YOUR MOTHER, YOUR LOVER, YOUR FRIEND."

600 people came through over the course of the evening. We were overwhelmed by the positive response we received. We are particularly grateful to those hearing or seeing our work for the first time who took a moment to express their thoughts. If you were not able to join us, the show will be up until the end of the month.

Finally, I would like to thank Anne John for inviting us to show our work in the gallery, and to Kathi Rck and Terri Elioff for their assistance in the days leading up to the show.

Here are some images from the exhibit as well as the spoken word portion of the reception.

Art by Erin Dengerink, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington





Christopher Luna reads his work near THE MATADOR


The amazing Anni Becker's photo of Christopher Luna
reading his poetry at the First Friday opening of "SKIN"
at North Bank Artists Gallery, Vancouver, WA 





Local artist Greg Bee and his friend Paul listen as Toni reads her poetry 



Kori Sayer and Matt check out the show



Thanks again to everyone who came out to show their support for our poetry and art.

Christopher Luna and Toni Partington

Friday, June 4, 2010

THE WORK: JUNE 2010 Poetry newsletter compiled by Christopher Luna

THE WORK JUNE 2010
POETRY NEWSLETTER BY CHRISTOPHER LUNA

Toni Partington and I have been invited to participate in the North Bank Artists Gallery’s exhibition entitled “Skin.” Our poetry and art will be on display throughout the month of June. Please join us tonight between 5 and 9pm for an opening reception and poetry reading to celebrate. North Bank is located at 1005 Main Street. And don’t forget to check out the other great galleries and vendors at First Friday and Craft in the Village.

To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License
An Art Book
by Christopher Luna, David Madgalene, and Toni Partington





 
In July, Toni and I will be joined by Windsor, CA poet David Madgalene as we present “To Be Named,” a new 200+ page book that features five years worth of collaborative poetic travelogue written by the three of us with the help of a cast of thousands. The cover for each book will be a one-of-a-kind, extremely limited edition album cover that has been altered by all three of us. Many thanks to Leah Jackson for allowing us to debut this project at Angst. More details to follow! David will also be reading at Cover to Cover Books.

There is plenty of poetry to hold you off until then.



Open Mic Poetry
hosted by Christopher Luna
7pm Thursday, June 10, 2010
& every second Thursday
Cover to Cover Books
1817 Main Street, Vancouver
McLoughlin Blvd. & Main Street
“always all ages and uncensored”
For more info call 360-514-0358
or 360-910-1066

With our featured reader, Kristin Berger:


Kristin Berger lives with her husband and two young children in Portland, Oregon, where she serves as an Associate Editor of VoiceCatcher. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, For the Willing (Finishing Line Press, 2008, $12), and her non-fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Kristin’s poetry and essays have appeared in CALYX, New Letters, and The Pedestal Magazine among other publications, and currently in Mothering Magazine and Cup of Comfort for Mothers.

For more about Kristin, visit her website at http://www.kristinberger.wordpress.com/.

***********************************

Two days after Kristin’s reading, I will once again be facilitating The Work, a monthly workshop at Angst Gallery. The workshop will take place Saturday, June 12 at noon. This will be our last workshop until September, so don’t miss it!

**************************************

I am very excited to be participating in Dan Raphael’s Market Day Poetry Series in St. Johns again this year. On June 19 I will be hosting Peter Ludwin, Gail Moore, and Eileen Elliott. Please join us. Here is Dan’s announcement about the series:

dan raphael will be reading Saturday, June 5th, noon, with Rick J and Mary Slocum at St Johns Booksellers, 8622 n lombard. this is the first of 17 readings to be happening same time same place every saturday until 9/25, which just coincidentally is the run of the St Johns Farmers Market, half a block away, from 9-1, It’s a good place to visit, with several good places to eat and drink around, cathedral park, the st johns bridge, etc.

6/12 is hosted by Christine Broller Spangle
6/19 is Christopher Luna w/ Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore
6/26 is Melissa Sillitoe w/ J M Harris and Celestial Concubine

For more info on the reading I will be hosting on June 19, see item 8 below.

I think you’ll enjoy “Frenzied Sweetness,” my recent interview with Michael Rothenberg and David Meltzer for Rain Taxi Review of Books. We talked about Michael Rothenberg’s “CHOOSE” and his and David’s recent multi-city, multimedia ROCKPILE ON THE ROAD tour:

http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2010spring/rothenberg-meltzer.shtml

Finally, a few shout outs.

Here is an article about Tacoma’s new poet laureate, Tammy Robacker, who will be coming to Vancouver to read for us this summer:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/30/1206288/lessons-from-tacomas-poet-laureate.html

The Columbian recently acknowledged two of the newest and most exciting art venues in the “Couve, The Space and The Stray Gallery:

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/may/30/other-places-to-see-art/

Rock on this summer,
Christopher Luna

THE WORK
June 2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Final chance to participate in one of Sharon Wood Wortman’s Bridge Walks (Portland)


2. Sage Cohen readings in June and an invitation to submit to "THE LIFE POETIC iPOEM CONTEST"


3. Children’s Poetry with Susan Blackaby at Barnes & Noble Vancouver June 9


4. Carolyne Wright at King’s Books (Tacoma, WA) June 11


5. The Studio Series: Poetry Reading and Open Mic featuring Paulann Petersen and Carl Adams 7-9 pm, June 13 at Stonehenge Studios/Ross Island Café (Portland)


6. Figures of Speech Series: Sid Miller and Alison Apotheker at 100th Monkey (Portland) June 16


7. Christi Krug + open mic at Paper Tiger Coffee (Vancouver, WA) June 17


8. Market Day Poetry Series with Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore June 19 (Portland)


9. Tacoma Poet Laureate Tammy Robacker at Tacoma Public Library June 24

10. SAVE THE GULF MUSIC AND POETRY FESTIVAL with David meltzer, Sharon Doubiago, Neeli Cherkovski, Geri DiGiorno, Terri Carrion, Pat Nolan, Bill Vartnaw, Katherine Hastings, Michael Rothenberg, Zack Fortune, David Madgalene and Sonoma County Poet Laureate Gwynn O'Gara June 27 (PETALUMA, CA)


SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

THE WORK
JUNE 2010
Compiled by Christopher Luna

1.

Sharon Wood Wortman is retiring from leading the bridge walks she has done for Portland Parks & Outdoor Rec since 1991 so that she can spend more time on other things, including being with her 11 grandchildren. So catch one of these before they are no more. .

FOUR PORTLAND BRIDGE, POETRY, AND MUSIC WALKS ANNOUNCED FOR 2010

Contact: Nancy Harger, Portland Parks - 503 823-5127
or Sharon Wood Wortman 503 222-5535 sharon@bridgestories.com

Sharon Wood Wortman, author of The Portland Bridge Book, and leader of waterfront bridge walks for Portland Parks & Outdoor Recreation since 1991, announces four guest performers for the 2010 bridge walking series:

Saturday, June 5 - Poet Sage Cohen
Saturday, July 24 - opening day of PDX Bridge Festival 2010 - Poet Paulann Petersen (Oregon's newest Poet Laureate)
Saturday, August 7 - closing of PDX Bridge Festival 2010 - Musician Mary Flower
Saturday, September 18 - Poet David Hedges http://david.hedges.name/

Sage Cohen, author of Writing the Life Poetic, and The Productive Writer (both published by Writer's Digest Books), will be the featured poet for the June 5 walk.

About a mile long and easy-paced, each walk includes a tour of the Oregon Dept. of Transportation’s Traffic Management Operation Center and the tower and bascule pit of the Morrison Bridge. See eight bridges in all.

Registration not required. Begins at 8:30 a.m. at the corner of NW Second & Everett (steps of the Northwest Natural Building). Ends with lunch (extra $) in Chinatown. $16 for adults, $10 for children.

Supporting the Divine, by Sharon Wood Wortman

A kiss is like a cantilever bridge—
Two lips meeting in the middle,
Air jumping up and down
(vortices exciting the molecules);
tension and compression
at such an angle two hearts
can safely walk hope across
no matter how many miles
or old the ground.

2.


Sage Cohen and Christopher Luna
at Cover to Cover Books
in Vancouver, WA

POETIC ADVENTURES WITH SAGE COHEN IN JUNE

Portland bridge and poetry walk
Saturday, June 5, starting at 8:30 a.m.
Starts at the corner of NW Second & Everett (steps of the NW Natural building)
Ends with lunch (extra $) in Chinatown.
$16 for adults, $10 for children

Learn more: http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/05/join-me-for-a-bridge-and-poetry-walk-on-saturday-june-5-.html

Free poetry workshop at the Chinese Garden
Monday, June 7, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30
Lan Su Chinese Garden
Scholar's Study (Celestial Hall of Permeating Fragrance)
239 Northwest Everett Street (@NW 3rd)
Portland, OR 97209

Learn more: http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/05/join-me-for-a-free-workshop-at-the-chinese-gardens-on-june-7.html

SUBMIT TO "THE LIFE POETIC iPOEM CONTEST"

Submission deadline: July 4, 2010

Sage Cohen invites you to submit up to three, unpublished poems that represent "the life poetic." She'll be choosing 365 for inclusion in a "Life Poetic" iPhone app that features a poem a day. Enter to win prizes valued at more than $400!

Get all the details: http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/04/youre-invited-to-submit-to-the-life-poetic-iphone-poetry-contest-.html

"THE LIFE POETIC iPHONE CONTEST" OFFERS A NEW FORUM FOR POETS AND POETRY LOVERS

Poet and author Sage Cohen is seeking submissions for a new poem-a-day iPhone application. Offering 365 poems that explore "The Life Poetic," this virtual anthology will let viewers easily read poems on their iPhone and then share them by text or email.

Poets interested in appearing in this anthology are invited to submit up to three poems to "The Life Poetic iPoem Contest" by July 4. In addition to publication opportunities, prizes include a free class, manuscript review, and many books -- with an award value of $350+.

All contest details and submission guidelines can be found here:

http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/04/youre-invited-to-submit-to-the-life-poetic-iphone-poetry-contest-.html

Sage Cohen is author of Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry (Writer's Digest Books, 2009) and The Productive Writer: Tips and Tools for Writing More, Stressing Less and Creating Success (Writer's Digest Books, 2010). She blogs at http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com.

3.

"Strand by strand a spider strings
Her scaffold stalk to stem,
And when a passerby drops by
Midflight, she draws him in…"

Would you like to witness some great poetry for children? Poetry appealing to literature lovers of all ages?

We welcome local poet Susan Blackaby for a reading of her beautifully written and illustrated book Nest, Nook and Cranny. Nest, Nook and Cranny is broken into different sections - Desert, Wetland, Woodland, etc. and contains work that's visually appealing, with a large variety of metaphors that also provides a great way to learn about our natural world. It’s intented for kids ages 8-12 but would make a good gift to anyone.

This is a rare event for our Poetry Group regulars - and their children and grandchildren.

Barnes and Noble Vancouver 2nd Wednesdays Poetry Group
Wednesday, June 9th
Critique Group in café: 6 pm
Author Reading in back corner: 7 pm
Open Mic in back corner: 7:45 pm
7700 NE Fourth Plain Blvd., 98662

You’re Invited,
Shawn Sorensen (crm2679@bn.com)
Community Relations Manager
Barnes and Noble Booksellers
Vancouver Plaza

7700 NE 4th Plain Blvd.
Vancouver, WA 98662
tel: (360) 260-3854
fax: (360) 253-5414

http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/

4.

The City of Tacoma and Puget Sound Poetry Connection Presents

Carolyne Wright
Distinguished Writer Series
Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 7:00 p.m.
at Kings Bookstore, 218 St. Helens Ave, Tacoma

Open mic to follow featured reader--So come read a poem with us!

*To learn more about local poetry readings, writer workshops, local lit events and lots of poetry publication opportunities, join Puget Sound Poetry Connection on our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=88695587874&ref=ts
or our webpage: http://pugetsoundpoetryconnection.art.officelive.com/default.aspx

5.

The Studio Series: Poetry Reading and Open Mic will feature Paulann Petersen and Carl Adamshick at its first event on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at Stonehenge Studios/Ross Island Café, 3508 SW Corbett Avenue, Portland 97239 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The readings by the featured poets will be followed by a 20-minute intermission before an open mic begins at 8:00 and continues until 9:00. During the intermission there will be an opportunity to sign up to read during the open mic and the café will serve food and drink, including alcoholic beverages. The café is not usually open on Sunday nights but it will be open on second Sundays from 6:00 to serve café fare such as burgers and gourmet sandwiches for those who wish to have a light meal before the event. Free and open to the public, The Studio Series will be held monthly on second Sundays. For more information, please contact organizer and host Leah Stenson at leahstenson@comcast.net.

Directions to the Studio Coming from the south, take the Corbett Exit on I-5. Turn left off the exit ramp onto Corbett and head downhill to the Studio, which will be on your right. If you are coming from the

north, take Macadam to Boundary. Make a right on Boundary. Go one block and make a right onto Corbett. Continue on Corbett past the blinking red light at Hamilton and head downhill to the studio on your right.

Paulann Petersen’s books of poetry are The Wild Awake (Confluence Press), Blood-Silk (Quiet Lion Press), A Bride of Narrow Escape (Cloudbank Books), which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and Kindle (Mountains and Rivers Press). A fifth full-length book, The Voluptuary, is scheduled to be published by Lost Horse Press in late 2010. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and the recipient of the 2006 Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts, she serves on the board of Friends of William Stafford, organizing the annual January Stafford Birthday Events.

Carl Adamshick is the winner of the Walt Whitman Award selected by the Academy of American Poets. His book Curses and Wishes is due out in the spring of 2011 by LSU Press. He has published poems in American Poetry Review, The Harvard Review, and The Missouri Review.

6.

At Figures of Speech this month we have Sid Miller and Alison Apotheker (see below). Also, as usual, open mic., writing prompts, books, cookies and a new art show at the 100th Monkey. So mark your calendars, key into your phones, your computers, your personal electronic devices, Wednesday June 16th at 7 p.m. The 100th Monkey is located on the east side at 110 S.E. 16th. 503-232-3457 for directions.

And don't forget our monthly critique group at Looking Glass Books in Sellwood on the second sunday of every month at 5 p.m. We hope to see you and 10 copies of your poems on June 13th. So come on by for a couple hours, say hi to Charlie (the best book store dog ever) and have a good time with the group.

http://www.the100thmonkeystudio.com/
http://www.lookingglassbook.questoffice.net/
http://figuresofspeechpdx.wordpress.com/

Thx again for supporting the community, looking forward to seeing you all soon.

warmly,
Steve and Constance

Bios:

Sid Miller's first two full length poetry collections were published in 2009,Nixon on the Piano (David Robert Books) and Dot-to-Dot, Oregon (Ooligan Press). This coming fall he will be the writer-in-residence atthe Sitka Center for the Arts. He is the founder and editorof the Portland based independent press, Burnside Review..

Alison Apotheker's poems have been published in many literary magazines,including Alaska Quarterly Review, Mid-American Review, and PrairieSchoooner. Her work has received the C. Hamilton Bailey fellowship fromOregon Literary Arts, twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and wasrecently featured on the NPR radio show, "The Writer's Almanac."Her first book of poems, Slim Margin, was released in 2008

7.

From Daniel Nelson

Greetings and celluloid mutations wordsmiths,

Many thanks to all who supported our last reading in word or deed. For those who missed it Tommy Gaffney delighted us with his hilarious and meaningful poems from a life rooted in dirt but soaring into space. Thank you again Mister Gaffney. For June we will have, in addition to a pride of local literary lions, the fine verse and wry pathos of Christi Krug. Christi Krug's poetry has appeared in print and online in The Fossil Record, sixlittlethings, the Aroostook Review, Salal Journal, Umbrella, and Bumbershoot. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in qarrtsiluni, VoiceCatcher, Halfway Down the Stairs, Colored Chalk, sub-scribe, Defenestration and elsewhere. Awards include Inscape Best of Nonfiction, Whidbey Island Poetry, and Oregon Christian Writers Fiction. As a writing coach, Christi teaches "Wildfire Writing" at Clark College and independently. She is a northwest native who has sampled several cities and believes Vancouver, Washington to have the finest quality rain anywhere.

Hope you all will come out and join us on Thursday, June 17 at 7pm at Paper Tiger, 703 Grand Blvd. in the 'Couve.

Dan Nelson
nelsondaniel59@yahoo.com
360-334-1129

8.

Market Day Poetry Series
Curated by Dan Raphael
Every Saturday at noon from June through September
a block from the St. Johns farmer’s market



Saturday, June 19
12 – 1 pm
Poets Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore
Hosted by Christopher Luna

St. Johns Booksellers
8622 N. Lombard Street
Portland, OR

Bios and poems


Peter Ludwin will be reading from his first full length poetry collection, A Guest in All Your Houses (Word Walker Press 2009, $14). A review of the book is available here: http://www.lochravenreview.net/2010Spring/doss.html

For the past nine years he has been a participant in the San Miguel Poetry Week in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he has workshopped under renowned poets such as Mark Doty, Tony Barnstone, Forrest Gander, Linda Gregg, C.D. Wright, Patricia Goedicke, Alfred Corn and C.K. Williams, to name a few. In 2007 he received a Literary Fellowship from Artist Trust, an adjunct of the Washington State Arts Commission. He was the 2007-2008 Second Prize Winner of the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Awards, and during the same year he was also a finalist for the Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award. He is a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee.

His poems have appeared in many journals, among them Antietam Review, Briar Cliff Review, California Quarterly, Coal City Review, Common Ground Review, The Comstock Review, Concho River Review, Connecticut River Review, Cottonwood, Flint Hills Review, Front Range, The Fourth River, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Hurricane Review, Interdisciplinary Humanities, Karamu, Kyoto Journal, Lake Effect, Lullwater Review, Mad Poets Review, Midwest Quarterly, Peregrine, Permafrost, The Prague Revue, Quercus Review, Red Wheelbarrow, River Oak Review, The Rockford Review, Slant, Small Pond Magazine of Literature, The Raven Chronicles, South Carolina Review, South Dakota Review, Whiskey Island Magazine and Writers Without Borders.

He currently has work forthcoming in Cider Press Review, RiverSedge, Tribeca Poetry Review, Willard and Maple and Wisconsin Review.

He has been a featured reader in Washington, Oregon, California, South Dakota, Minnesota and in the Czech Republic. In 1996 he read over the radio during the Cleveland Bi-Centennial. He has twice read for the Distinguished Writers Series in Tacoma, Washington. In the fall of 2009 he read for the John R. Milton Writer’s Conference at the University of South Dakota, and featured with noted poet and fiction writer Frank Gaspar at Whittier College in Los Angeles. He also has a background in folk music, and plays acoustic guitar and autoharp. He has both taught and performed at the Pacific Northwest Folklife Festival.

Forest Camp, Pahvant Range, Utah
by Peter Ludwin

From up here I could summon wolves
to circle my sleeping bag, I could
call down the moon on my tongue.

The sun on the red cliffs behind me,
the stream roaring through rabbitbrush
while cottonwoods dance in the wind—

these tell me, like the handwriting
that condemned Belshazzar, that I
have been judged and found wanting.

I must stay here, in mind if not in body.
I must cultivate the heart of a whisper,
of the artichoke buried in spines.

It’s late in the harvest season,
and I must gather enough of me up
to make it through the winter.



Eileen Davis Elliott was born to the Great Plains, polished by the winds of the world and continues to be fine-tuned by daily experience. She writes of seeking and sometimes finding, of sinning and sometimes redemption. Her book, Prodigal Cowgirl ($15), reflects journeys and partial resolutions.

Her second book Miles of Pies is well under way. She is a mixed media artist and continues to travel since her recent retirement as a psychologist.

Excerpt from Canis Lupus by Eileen Elliott

We sing our choruses in yelping voices
cadences from long-gone times
now faded into whispers
made near-inaudible by passing years

And the cracking of long bones in our jaws is electric
like the borealis
on deep snow

Gail Moore was a voiceless poet most of her life. She finally began writing in 1990 after a vision of a strange animal emerging from a cave and shaking off wool. She lives in Newport, Oregon, and after a long love affair with the rain, misses the sun and wants to go home to LA.

Gail was the recipient of the Pacifica Foundation Award for Best Poet of 2001 and the Dorothy Daniels Honorary Writing Award competition in 2000. She is the author of two books: Poems on the Half Shell ($14) and Post Card Poems ($10).

Spillage
by Gail Moore

In the house of mistakes
I grafted your name into the future.
Your name was shadow. My name was dust.

Sibilant or still, I slid down the dry wall;
I joined you in the court of redress as
we had spilled our best over the edge of time.

Your face melted into an astonishing silence.
I find you only in sleep or in the leftover
parts of myself.

I have rattled the door of your mind
but you do not answer.
Still, your name sleeps on my floor.

9.

NEW TACOMA POET LAUREATE ROBACKER GIVES PREMIERE READING JUNE 24 TACOMA, WA --Urban Grace: the Downtown Church is excited to present poet Tammy Robacker for a premiere reading to celebrate being named 2010 Soul of the City Tacoma Poet Laureate on Thursday, June 24 at 7 p.m. at the Tacoma Public Library—Main Branch. This event is free and open to the public.

After thoughtful deliberation, a panel of five local judges chose Robacker’s application for its excellence in poetry, commitment to the Tacoma arts community, and strength in leadership. Judges included current Laureate Antonio Edwards, former Laureate William Kupinse, Emily Noelle-Ignacio, Grace Livingston, and Holly Senn.

“Tammy Robacker has been a consistent and productive artist on the poetry scene of Tacoma for several years. When I heard that that judges had chosen her to be our next Poet Laureate I thought it was an excellent choice,” said Tad Monroe, Pastor at Urban Grace: A Downtown Church. “Tammy has worked hard to forge strong relationships within the diverse and eclectic world of Tacoma poets. Finally, her work speaks for itself. She is a fine crafter of words without sentimentality or cliche and she explores the widths and depths of the human experience from the funny, to the painful, to the socially conscience and the spiritual. She can make you laugh and she can make you cry and at the end of the day; what else is there?”

At the June 24 premiere reading, special guests will also be joining Robacker to celebrate poetry, Urban Grace’s poet laureate program, and her introduction to the local community. Both former Soul of the City Poet Laureates Antonio Edwards and William Kupinse will be reading their work in honor of the event. Also, three of this year’s 2010 Poet Laureate contest candidates, Brittany Short, Deborah Renee Crespo, and Pamela McCauley, will share poetry they submitted for application to the competition. Robacker has also invited Puyallup High School senior, Maddison Hamel, to open her premiere with a special poem recital. Hamel was the winning 2010 Poetry Out Loud competition finalist in Pierce County this year.

As Poet Laureate, Robacker will perform once a month at Urban Grace, by request at Urban Grace events, as well as lead two FREE public poetry workshops in Tacoma for the community. Over the next year, Robacker will also participate actively by supporting poets, poetry and literary arts education in the local community, and hosting monthly poetry writing workshops. If you are interested in working with Robacker or having her read for your school, organization or event, please visit her website: www.tammyrobacker.com and send her a personal request. If you would like more information about the Soul of the City Poetry Competition or the Poet Laureate position, please email Nicolette Paso, Urban Grace Program Associate at npaso@urbangracetacoma.org, call 253.272.2184 x106, or visit http://www.urbangracetacoma.org/

10.

From: Michael Rothenberg

SAVE THE GULF
MUSIC & POETRY FESTIVAL



A Benefit for The Louisiana Bucket Brigade
SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2010 2:00 — 5:00 p.m.
The Phoenix Theater, 201 Washington St., Petaluma 707-762-3565http://www.thephoenixtheater.com/

POETS INCLUDE: DAVID MELTZER, JUDY GRAHN, SHARON DOUBIAGO, NEELI CHERKOVSKI. Also: Geri DiGiorno, Terri Carrion, Pat Nolan, Bill Vartnaw, Katherine Hastings, Michael Rothenberg, Zack Fortune, David Madgalene and Sonoma County Poet Laureate Gwynn O'Gara

MUSIC BY ANNE CAROL and
PETALUMA'S FABULOUS HIGH CLASS!

ADMISSION: $5 — $5,000! NO ONE TURNED AWAY

All proceeds go to The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a non-profit 501(C)3 environmental health and justice organization tracking the impact of the BP oil spill and preventing the impact from being "swept under the rug". Donations are tax-deductible. Checks accepted.
www.labucketbrigade.org
oilspill.labucketbrigade.org
SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

1.

From: Michael Rothenberg
Date: Sun, May 16, 2010 at 2:31 PM
Subject: LONG LIVE NEW ORLEANS!!! BIG BRIDGE TRIBUTE

Complete New Orleans Tribute Issue

Dear Friends of Big Bridge,

We are pleased to announce the final Supplement of Big Bridge's Epic Tribute to New Orleans. When we set out to offer this tribute to the magical and great City of New Orleans we had no idea it would take two years and three installments. Gratitude to Jack Krick and Mary Sands Woodbury for webmastering us through this enormity. And thank you for your patience in allowing this tribute to evolve. There is no shortage of wonders to be found within!

Love to you all! And LONG LIVE NEW ORLEANS!!!

BIG BRIDGE
http://www.bigbridge.org/

Complete New Orleans Tribute Issue

2010 SUPPLEMENT

FEATURES

Photographing the Ninth Ward
Images of New Orleans After Katrina by John Rosenthal

Diane di Prima
A Retrospective Collection of Essays

Home Again, Home Again
A Memoir by Ron Loewinsohn

Perfiles de la Noche / Profiles of Night
Mujeres poetas de Venezuela/Women Poets of Venezuela
A Selection from the Bi-lingual Anthology
Original complete text selected and translated by Rowena Hill
Co-edited by Pen de Venezuela and bid and co.
Selection for online edition by Terri Carrion

Poetry by

María Auxiliadora Álvarez, Edda Armas, Enriqueta Arvelo Larriva,
María calcaño, Laura Cracco, Ida Gramcko, Patricia Guzmán, Veronica Jaffe,
Maritza Jiménez, Rowena Hill, Martha Kornblith, Luz machado, María Isabel Novillo,
Cecilia Ortiz, Hanni Ossott, Yolanda Pantin, Emira Rodríguez, Margara Russotto,
María Clara Salas, Elizabeth Schön, Blanca Strepponi, Ana Enriqueta Terán,
Alicia Torres, Elena Vera, Carmen Verde Arocha, Miyo Vestrin

FEATURE POETS

Wendy Babiak Jim Christy Hans Plomp Robert Priest

FEATURED ARTISTS
Ed Coletti Jeff Crouch Diana Magallon and Jeff Crouch John Martone Spencer Selby

FICTION
edited by Vernon Frazer

Tom Bradley Seth Phelps Stefani Christova Jordan Zinovich
Jefferson Hansen Joe Clifford Christopher Brookhouse Andy Stewart

REVIEWS
Allan Graubard reviews Gherasim Luca
Paul Martinez Pompa reviews Francesco Levato's translation of Tiziano Fratus
Jack Foley reviews Katherine Hastings
Roberts French reviews Anne Valley-Fox
Art Beck reviews Neeli Cherkovski
Steve Dalachinsky & Yuko Otomo review Gerald Nicosia
Billey Rainey reviews Stephen Bett
Wanda Phipps reviews a performance by Delirious Dances

An Interview with Choreographer Edisa Weeks
Interviewer: Wanda Phipps


2.

From: Victory Lee Schouten/RS Gallery
Date: Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 3:22 PM
Subject: Brave New Words 2010 Events!

Hi All,

If you caught the first two Brave New Word's 2010 events: Poetry and Music of Ancient Mexico with Cindy Williams Gutiérrez & Gerardo Calderón in March and this past Saturday's launch party & reading for Nashira Priester's new book Mystic Glyphs from Onyx Larynx, which also featured jazz artist Julian Priester and Cuban poet Jorge Enrique González-Pacheco, you know these are "do not miss" events.

Below is the schedule for the rest of 2010. However we may well add a few more as the spirit moves us and the funds appear! We all loved Jorge Enrique González-Pacheco's poems so much we may need to fit him into this year's schedule too! We'll keep you posted.

If you would like to support BNW checks can be made out to: "BNW / Greenbank Farm". Mail donations to:

BNW
765 Wonn Road, Bld. C - #103
Greenbank, WA 98253

Brave New Words 2010


June 12
Launch Party and Reading for new award-winning book:
"The Habit of Buenos Aires"
Lorraine Healy

Lorraine Healy is a poet, writer, and photographer living on Whidbey Island, Washington. The winner of several national awards, including the Hackney Prize, she has been published extensively both in the U.S. and her native Argentina. Her poem "An Artifact of Light" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2004 soon after it appeared in her first chapbook, The Farthest South, published by New American Press in 2003. Her first full-length manuscript, The Habit of Buenos Aires, has won the Patricia Bibby First Book Award and will be published by Tebot Bach Press in 2010.

July 17
"Finding Water, Holding Stone"
James Bertolino and Anita K. Boyle

James Bertolino¹s poetry has been appearing internationally in books, magazines and anthologies for over 40 years. Bertolino¹s poetry has been recognized nationally by the Book-of-the-Month Club Poetry Fellowship, the Discovery Award, a Hart Crane publication award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, two Quarterly Review of Literature book awards and, the Jeanne Lohmann Poetry Prize for Washington State Poets. Ten volumes and fifteen chapbooks of his poetry and prose have been published. He holds an MFA from Cornell University and taught creative writing at Cornell, Washington State, University of Cincinnati and Western Washington University. He has since retired and lives on five rural acres with Anita K. Boyle near Bellingham, Washington.

Anita K. Boyle graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in Art (graphic design, illustration) and English (creative writing). She is a director of the Whatcom Poetry Series: The Poet As Art, and the publisher/editor of Egress Studio Press. She was a winner of the 2004 Red Sky Poetry Theatre statewide competition, and is included in the anthology Red Sky Morning. Boyle received a Willard R. Espy Literary Foundation residency in Oysterville, WA during October 2003. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications. Her chapbook, Bamboo Equals Loon, was published in 2001. She also writes collaborative poetry with James Bertolino. Their poems have been published in literary magazines, as well as the collaborative poetry anthology, Saints of Hysteria (Soft Skull Press, 2006), and in two chapbooks, Pub Proceedings and Bar Exams.

http://readwritepoem.org/blog/2010/02/22/read-write-interview-james-bertolino-and-anita-boyle/

July 24/25 Loganberry Festival
Interactive Art/Poetry Installation
A. K. Mimi Allin

A.K. Mimi Allin has produced numerous installations for groups such as LitFuse, Studio-Current, The Urban Wilderness Project. In 2006 she gave a year-long public performance, "The Poetess at Green Lake", for which she sat outside for 9 hours every Sunday, at a small wooden desk, offering intimate poetry exchanges. She¹s produced magazines in matchbooks and has read poetry through a hole she melted in a 300-pound block of ice. Allin fuses poetry with visual and performance art.

September 18
"Music Maker"
Matt Gano

Matt Gano is a nationally known poet, writer, and performance artist residing in Seattle, Wash. He was a member of the National Poetry Slam team for Seattle in 2004 and 2005, and remains one of the top performing artists in the national and international poetry circuit.

Matt works as a full-time teaching artist with local arts organizations such as Seattle Arts and Lectures: Writers in the Schools and Arts Corps. In addition, he is the arts-in-education facilitator and a writing mentor for Youth Speaks, Seattle¹s nationally renowned youth poetry program. His published work includes chapbooks "Art Barker" and "Welcome Home," as well as "I Eight The Infinite," a self-titled poetry LP and a live recording entitled "A Giant¹s Pulse." Matt Gano returns to Seattle in 2010 after teaching Spoken Word poetry and Creative Writing as Artist in Residence at Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong School of Creativity.

October 16
"Moonlight in the Redemptive Forest"
Michael Daley and Felicia Gonzalez

Felicia Gonzalez was born and raised in Cuba. An alumna of Hedgebrook Writers Retreat, she is a recipient of a 2007 Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship. In 2006, she was awarded an individual artists grant from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for the chapbook, Recollection Graffiti.

Michael Daley was born in Boston, and is a graduate of UMass with an MFA from the University of Washington. He¹s worked as a laborer, taxi driver, waiter, tree-planter, editor, Poet-in-the-schools, and high school English teacher. The author of three books of poems, a book of essays and several chapbooks, his work has appeared in numerous literary journals , and on Garrison Keilor¹s Writer¹s Almanac. In 2001 he received a Fulbright grant to live in Hungary for a year. Twice the National Endowment of the Humanities has awarded his work, as has the Seattle Arts Commission, Bumbershoot, and the Fessenden Foundation. This year Pleasure Boat Studio published Michael's newest collection of poetry Moonlight in the Redemptive Forest He received a grant from Artists Trust to produce the book¹s accompanying CD, Frankie the Milkman¹s Song & Other Poems.

November 20
Native American Violinist and Storyteller
Swil Kanim

Swil Kanim is a world class virtuoso violinist who advocates self-expression to create stronger community. He intertwines his music with storytelling, poetry, and audience interaction. His original compositions are mesmerizing and inspiring to all ages alike. While quickly becoming the most popular Native American Violinist, Swil Kanim is also a key-note speaker and notable actor; he starred as "Mouse" in Sherman Alexie¹s highly acclaimed movie The Business of FancyDancing. A Lummi tribal member Swil Kanim lives in Mt. Vernon, WA.

Brought to you by Brave New Words the spoken word production group of Greenbank Farm, a qualified 501 C-3 not-for-profit. info@bravenewwords.org

Brave New Words
Spoken Word Productions
For More Information Contact:
Victory Lee Schouten, ED
Phone: 360.331.7099 or 360.222.3070
765 Wonn Road, Bld. C, #103
Greenbank, WA 98253

Brave New Words operates under the auspices of Greenbank Farm, a qualified 501 C-3.

3.

Call For Art Opens
It's time to submit... your creativity!

PDX Bridge Festival, in partnership with Portland City Art, is pleased to announce our 2010 Call For Art!

We are looking for artists of all types—painters, sculptors, photographers, collagists, installation artists, film makers, performers, and musicians—to take part in this community-sourced, citywide celebration of the bridges. Using “Bridge” as a thematic or metaphorical element of your work is encouraged, though it is not required. The “Bridge” theme may include—but is not limited to—bridging communities, bridging styles, bridging time periods, concepts, politics, perspective, mediums, etc. In other words, we are open to all quality works of art and performance, and leave it up to you to explain the bridge link.

Art will be exhibited at PDX Bridge Festival in a variety of traditional and non-traditional venues, including Olympic Mills Commerce Center, City Hall, Pioneer Place Mall, East Bank Esplanade, and at galleries throughout the city.

To submit your art for consideration at PDX Bridge Festival, please visit the submissions page on our website (http://portland-bridge-festival.com/callforart/index.html). If you have questions, please direct additional inquiries to submit@pdxbridgefestival.org.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: June 16th, 2010!