Christopher Luna by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian
Christopher Luna by Alisha Jucevic for the Columbian
Thursday, July 23, 2009
POETS PICNIC SATURDAY/ INDEX ART FESTIVAL & other news....
MID-JULY POETRY E-NEWSLETTER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Reminder: WA/OR Poets Picnic in Vancouver this Saturday from noon to four!
2. Christopher Luna, Lorraine Healy, Jeff Lair, and others read at the Index Arts Festival August 1
3. New links for Christopher Luna poetry, audio, reviews, and more on http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com
4. August Postcard Poetry begins soon! Register now!
5. Portland Bridge Walks with Sharon Wood Wortman
6. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS for EcoNvergence: Northwest Regional Gathering on the Economic and Ecological Crises October 2 - 4, 2009 in Portland, Oregon
1. This Saturday from noon to four is the annual gathering of Washington and Oregon poets. This year’s picnic will take place at my home in Vancouver. Please bring poems and food to share. RSVP (christopherjluna@gmail.com) for directions.
2. The following week I will be one of the featured readers at the Index Arts Festival. Many thanks to Roy Seitz for inviting me to be a part of this. Details below:
Index Arts Festival Begins
10:00 AM August 1st.
Over 30 booths
Music in to the night....
Poetry Reading
Begins 11:00 AM
18 of the North West's finest poets
Index Wa.., Sportsman’s Hall, on Avenue ‘A’ at Sixth.
Hwy 2 left turn at the Index Café
(MM 36) 1 mile to fifth. Left over the river. (only an hour or so from the Montlake cut.) http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Index&state=WA&zipcode=98256
Jack McCarthy, Victory Lee Schouton, Lorraine Healy, Murray Gordon, Jeff Lair, Nancy Dahlberg, Priya Keefe, Christopher James Jarmick, Roy R. Seitz, John Akins, M Anne Sweet, Garrett Rutledge, Mary Crane, Peter Zlinsky, John Burgess, Paul E. Nelson, Christopher Luna, and a few locals...MC: R.R. Seitz. Further contact: hanpi777@hotmail.com
Plus, over forty of the NW’s finest artists in printing painting, photographer and purveyors of trinkets. A music stage until 10 PM that will include many surprise musicians of national notoriety.
3. Thanks to Lynn Alexander for her review of Ghost Town on Full of Crow: http://fullofcrow.com/crowreviews/2009/06/ghost-town-usa-by-christopher-luna/#more-106
Check out MICrow, a flash fiction supplement from Full of Crow: http://www.fullofcrow.com/microws2009main.html
I recently posted some new audio on the blog, including my reading at First Friday in Vancouver, which was broadcast by KOUG radio’s Cara Cottingham:
http://randomrequestradio.blogspot.com/2009/07/koug-simulcast-from-first-friday-7309.html
I also posted a link to the Center for Book Arts. In 2001 I was fortunate to be invited to read at the Center for Book Arts in New York. To commemorate the reading, CBA created a beautiful, limited edition broadside of my poem “message from the vessel in a dream.” You can purchase a copy of this broadside for $10: http://www.centerforbookarts.org/bookstore/broadside/detail.asp?pubID=103
4. From Lana Ayers: Please join us for the annual August Poetry Postcard Fest. Every day for the month of August you compose a short poem on the back of a poetcard and mail it to the person on the list below you, working your way down the list until you've sent 31 cards. To join register at http://concretewolf.com/august and create a login and password.
Have fun!
Regards,
Lana
http://LanaAyers.com
5. THE SECOND OF THREE 2009 PORTLAND PARKS & OUTDOOR RECREATION BRIDGE, POETRY, AND MUSIC WALKS TAKE PLACE SATURDAY, JULY 25
Contact: Nancy Harger, Portland Parks - 503 823-5127
or Sharon Wood Wortman 503 222-5535
Matthew Dickman, winner of the 2008 APR/Honickman First Book Prize for his book All American Poem, grew up in Lents, a Portland neighborhood located 92 blocks and several poems east of the Willamette River. Sharon Wood Wortman started first grade at Oliver P. Lent School in 1950. Her first book, The Portland Bridge Book (OHS Press, 1989), came about as a result of her question, "Are these bridges safe?" Her mother and grandmother suffered phobias, among them gephyrophobia--fear of bridges. (Wood Wortman's family crossed the Willamette River into downtown Portland about as often, she said, as they flew to New Jersey.)
The two ex-Lentsers take on the Central City bridges on Saturday, July 25, 2009. Meets at 8:30 a.m., corner of NW Second & Everett (steps of the Northwest Natural Building). Ends with lunch (extra $) in Chinatown. $16 for adults, $10 for children.
Due to the Morrison Bridge’s sidewalk reconstruction, the 2009 walks visit the operator’s house of the Burnside Bridge. Opened in 1926, Burnside is designed with a lift span that weighs 5,000 tons—exciting, especially since the pile “clusters” supporting the bridge’s river piers are made of 40-foot-tall Douglas fir tree trunks. A total of 380 tree trunks, much like an underwater pincushion, support each bascule.
About a mile long and easy-paced, the walk includes a tour of the Oregon Dept. of Transportation’s Traffic Management Operation Center and the Historic American Engineering Record Willamette River Bridges Exhibit. See eight bridges in all, with several stops for the reading of poems.
An excerpt (last 11 lines) from "Lents District," by Matthew Dickman
Dear Lents,
Dear 82nd avenue, dear 92nd and Foster,
I am your strange son,
you saved me when I needed saving
and I remember your arms wrapped around
my bassinet like patrol cars wrapped around
the school yard
the night Jason went crazy—
waving his father’s gun above his head,
bathed in red and blue flashing lights,
all American, broken in half and beautiful.
The 2009 series concludes with singer Mary Flower on Saturday, October 10.
6. Dan Raphael sent the following info about an exciting and important event that he has had a hand in planning:
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
EcoNvergence: Northwest Regional Gathering
on the Economic and Ecological Crises
October 2 - 4, 2009 in Portland, Oregon
Proposal Due Date: August 8, 2009
Our nation and the world are facing two great crises. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression is accelerating. Foreclosures, bankruptcies, and layoffs continue to rise as older generations watch hard earned savings vanish, younger families live in fear of layoffs and bills they cannot pay, immigrants face increased detention and deportation, and students despair of finding jobs when they graduate. Meanwhile, the government persists in futile attempts to rescue the insolvent banks whose reckless behavior triggered the crisis through trillion dollar bailouts at taxpayers’ expense.
The greatest ecological crisis humanity has ever faced continues unabated. Temperatures continue to rise, ice continues to melt and more rain forests are plowed down as the planet lurches forward into dangerous, unchartered waters. Meanwhile, well-heeled lobbyists for fossil fuel industries and global agribusiness gear up once again in Washington DC and State legislatures across the country to stymie attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Northwest region of the United States has pioneered effective responses to environmental and economic problems in the past. A decade ago the “Battle for Seattle” during the World Trade Organization Ministerial meetings sparked a critical reevaluation of neoliberal globalization. Now that this model has been thoroughly discredited, it is time for us to collectively determine what comes next.
This October, internationally known speakers such as keynote speaker Noam Chomsky will join academics, activists, and others from the Northwest in Portland, Oregon to explore the way forward out of the twin crises challenging humanity. The gathering will be hosted by the First Unitarian Church of Portland whose ministries have a long history of aiding campaigns promoting social justice and environmental preservation. The Conference is being organized by participating organizations from a variety of sectors. For a full list of participating organizations, email econvergence.program@gmail.com.
Environmental, labor, human rights, student, peace, and community organizations are all invited to contribute to the event. There will be dozens of panels and workshops each day exploring how we can make positive changes within our communities as part of a national process to respond to the current economic and ecological crises.
If you would like to be a part of this exciting event by hosting a panel or workshop, we invite you to submit a proposal for consideration. If you would like to get involved in the conference planning process as an individual or a participating organization, please contact econvergence.program@gmail.com.
Important Information about Conference Sessions
Please review the information below and contact us if you have any questions.
Session Topics
Each session must focus on some aspect of either the financial and economic crisis or the climate and ecological crisis, or the overlap between the two. The conference intends to provide attendees with an analysis of both “what went wrong” and “what we can do now”. Sessions analyzing the origins of the crises, sessions presenting a vision of a just and sustainable world, and sessions examining responses and/or solutions to the crises will all be considered. Analyses from both academic and activist points of view will be welcomed. Sessions may focus on either a global/national scale or a Northwest regional/local scale. We encourage creative, innovative proposals that are in alignment with the conference theme.
Session Format
Sessions of many formats will be considered. Examples of session formats include lectures/panels, interactive workshops, art/music/cultural events, and public actions. Each session must provide a facilitator or team leader for the session. We encourage all types of learning and will include sessions from all formats in the conference.
Session Dates & Times
Sessions will be held on the following dates:
· Friday, October 2 (at First Unitarian Church, depending upon demand)
· Saturday, October 3 (all day at First Unitarian Church)
· Sunday, October 4 (morning and early afternoon at Portland State University)
Session Length
The final schedule for the conference has not been determined. Please indicate your preference for the length of your session (60 minutes, 90 minutes, or 120 minutes). The Program Committee reserves the right to determine the final length of each session based on schedule demands.
Session Coordinator
All sessions must designate a Session Coordinator on your application. This person will serve as the primary liaison to the Program Committee in terms of conference planning and scheduling. Coordinators are responsible for organizing, introducing, and facilitating their sessions and providing the Program Committee with all necessary information prior to the conference.
Presenter Travel & Housing
Unfortunately, we are not able to provide travel reimbursement at this time. All presenters will need to make their own travel arrangements and cover their own travel expenses to and from the conference. The Conference Committee will be organizing a limited number of housing accommodations for those traveling from out of town. If you would like to request a homestay during your time in Portland, please indicate this on your application.
Session Materials
Presenters will be responsible for providing their own handouts and other session materials for conference participants.
Audio-Visual and Other Equipment
A limited amount of audio-visual and other equipment (e.g. screen, projector, DVD player, flipchart & markers, etc.) will be available for presenter use, however, we cannot promise equipment for all sessions. If you have access to your own audio-visual and other equipment that you could bring, that would be most appreciated. If you need audio-visual or other equipment provided, please indicate this on your application and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
Presenter Discount
Session presenters will be able to attend other conference sessions at no charge.
Submission Process and Deadline
Submission Process
Proposals are due by August 8, 2009. Please submit your proposal electronically to econvergence.program@gmail.com. The subject line needs to read: “EcoNvergence Session Proposal”. Only proposals which follow the format below will be considered.
Proposal Format
Your proposal must include all of the following information:
1. Presenter Information
· Session Coordinator: Provide full name, organizational affiliation, title, address, email address, and telephone number.
· All Other Presenters: Provide full name, organizational affiliation, title, and email address and/or telephone number.
· Background: Provide a brief description of the presenters’ experience providing workshops and/or presenting the material covered in their session.
· Participating Organization: Please indicate if any of your presenters are representing a participating organization involved in the planning of the conference and, if so, which organization they represent.
2. Session Scheduling
· Date & Time: Please rank your preferences (1, 2, 3, etc.) for the date and time of your session. If you absolutely cannot present during a particular timeslot, please leave it blank. Please note, workshops may or may not be held on Friday, October 2 depending upon demand.
___ Friday, October 2 – Morning
___ Friday, October 2 – Afternoon
___ Saturday, October 3 – Morning
___ Saturday, October 3 – Afternoon
___ Sunday, October 4 – Morning
· Length: Please rank your preferences (1, 2, 3) for the length of your session. The Program Committee will determine the final length for all sessions based on schedule availability.
___ 60 minutes
___ 90 minutes
___ 120 minutes
3. Area of Focus
· Crisis: Each session must focus on at least one of the following crises. Please indicate which crisis your session will address (check all that apply):
___ Economic / Financial Crisis
___ Ecological / Environmental Crisis
· Please explain briefly how your session relates to the economic and/or ecological crisis and the conference theme.
· Scale: Please indicate the level/scale on which your workshop will focus (check all that apply):
___ Global
___ National
___ Northwest Region
___ Local (City/Neighborhood)
4. Descriptive Title and Short Session Description
· Provide a title that captures the subject of your session. The Program Committee retains the right to work with session coordinators to develop alternative titles at their discretion.
· Provide a short description of your session (2-6 sentences) that may be used in the conference brochure and/or other conference materials. This description may be edited at the discretion of the Program Committee.
5. Presentation Style
· Please select which of the following best describes your session:
___ Lecture/Panel
___ Interactive Workshop
___ Art/Music/Cultural Event
___ Public Action
___ Other: ________________________________________
· Provide a brief description of your presentation style and the approximate amount of time dedicated to each style (e.g. 75% panel presentation and 25% question and answer or 25% presentation, 25% discussion, and 50% interactive activity, etc.).
6. Session Materials
· Please describe any materials that you will be distributing to participants.
7. Audio-Visual and Other Equipment
· Please list any audio-visual or other equipment you will bring with you (please indicate if electricity will be required).
· Please list any audio-visual or other equipment you are requesting the Conference Committee provide for you (e.g. screen, projector, DVD player, flipchart & markers, etc.). No guarantees regarding equipment can be made at this time.
8. Housing for Presenters
If any of your presenters are traveling from out of town and would like a homestay arranged, please provide the following information:
· Number of presenters requiring housing
· Names of those requiring housing
· Dates housing will be required (Thursday, October 1 to Sunday, October 4)
· Whether you need a private room or are comfortable on a couch or floor
· Whether you have any special needs (e.g. allergies, no pets, smoking/non-smoking, etc.)
Notification
You will be notified whether or not your proposal is accepted. Notifications will be sent primarily via email and should be sent around the end of August.
Contact
If you have any questions about the conference or the proposal application process, please contact us at econvergence.program@gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing you at EcoNvergence: Northwest Regional Gathering on the Economic and Ecological Crises in Portland, Oregon!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Can downtown Vancouver become a viable arts district? Discussion Wednesday, July 15
ART CONVERSATIONS
A monthly salon by artists for the community artists, galleries and the art curious
OPENING DISCUSSION: Can downtown Vancouver become a viable arts district?
ARTIST PRESENTATION: Jennifer Corio & Dave Frei · Cobalt Designworks
LOCATION: North Bank Artists Gallery · DATE: July 15, 2009 · TIME: 7:00 pm ADDRESS: 1005 Main Street, Vancouver, WA 98660 · PHONE: 360.693.1840
Art Conversations will occur the third Wednesday of each month @ 7:00pm
with rotating hosts and venues. Participation of all art forms encouraged
Join Our Mailing List!
North Bank Artists Gallery
1005 Main Street
Vancouver, Washington 98660
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Check out the ROCKPILE Website and Blog featuring David Meltzer and Michael Rothenberg
Dear Big Bridge Readers,
Please check out the new ROCKPILE Website & Blog at Big Bridge, www.bigbridge.org/rockpile/ ROCKPILE is a collaboration between David Meltzer — poet, musician, essayist, and more — and Michael Rothenberg of Big Bridge Press. David and Michael will journey through eight cities in the U.S. to perform poetry and prose, composed while on the road, with local musicians and artists in each city. ROCKPILE will serve to educate and preserve as well as to create a history of collaboration. It will help to reinforce the tradition of the troubadour of all generations, central to the cultural upheaval and identity politics that reawakened poets, artists, musicians, and songwriters in the mid-1960s through the 1970s. The project will end with a final multimedia performance celebration in San Francisco.
The ROCKPILE Website & Blog will tell you all you need to know about the ROCKPILE project including performance dates, venues, artist bios and performance clips of some of the musicians we will be meeting and performing with in each of the cities. Once we hit the road, we will be posting travel photos, journal entries, performance videos, interviews and more, daily, on the ROCKPILE Blog, so log on and join us as we travel around the country. Write us, comment on the blog, and let us know you are with us, let us know you care! And of course, we hope to see you on the road!
Best, Michael Rothenberg, David Meltzer, Terri Carrion & Ziggy.
ROCKPILE (www.bigbridge.org/rockpile/) Made possible by a grant from the Creative Work Fund, a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, also supported by generous grants from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation, and support from the Committee on Poetry.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
POETS AT CORNUCOPIA DAYS (Kent, WA) Saturday, July 11
The Northwest Renaissance presents:
POETS @ CORNUCOPIA DAYS
2 p.m. Saturday, July 11
Kent Centennial Center
400 West Gowe
Featuring
Jeff Lair • Susan Landgraf
Casey Fuller • Carolyn Maddux
~ & a poetry game with prizes! ~
Celebrating 25 years of poetry in Kent
Produced with generous support from the Kent Arts Commission
--------------
The Northwest RenaissancePoets, Performers & Publisher
CONTACT: Marjorie.Rommel@gmail.com, 253/939-0571
Celebrating 25 years of City-supported poetry in Kent, The Northwest Renaissance presents POETS @ CORNUCOPIA DAYS 2-4 p.m. Saturday, July 11, in the Kent Centennial Center, 400 West Gowe. The program will include readings by four well-published Northwest poets, audience participation games and prizes, and free broadsides featuring poems by each of this year’s readers: Jeff Lair, Susan Landgraf, Casey Fuller, and Carolyn Maddux.
Jeff Lair lives and raises chickens in Everett. His poetry is unambiguous, frank, and often surprising in its serious consideration of disillusionment, epiphanies of bewilderment, and death –– always with enough irony to make you laugh. His illustrated books of poems are Bucking and Braying at the Dark Edge, and Tall Grass.
Writer/photographer Susan Landgraf’s chapbook Other Voices was published this summer by Finishing Line Press. Her poems have appeared in Poet Lore, Nimrod, Rattle, The Laurel Review, Third Coast Review, Pikeville Review, Interim, Ploughshares, Cincinnati Poetry Review, and The Aurorean, among others. Honors include a Fulbright-Hays grant to travel and study in South Africa and Namibia; awards from the Pablo Neruda Society, Society of Humanistic Anthropology, and Academy of American Poets; residencies at Hedgebrook, Ragdale, Soapstone, and the Willard R. Espy Foundation compound in Oysterville, Washington; and a Theodore Morrison scholarship to attend the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference. She was awarded an NEH grant to spend five weeks in Peru and Bolivia studying the “Andean Worlds” in 2005, and in 2007 she received a Jack Straw Productions production grant. A former journalist, she taught at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China in 2002 and 2008 through an exchange program with Highline Community College where she teaches writing, literature, and media classes.
Casey Fuller lives in a small studio apartment in downtown Olympia, Washington. He works in warehouse and has lots of tattooes. He has been a board member for the Olympia Poetry Network for more than five years and has helped organize roughly 60 poetry readings and 30 poetry workshops. His work has appeared in Switched-on Gutenberg, In Tahoma's Shadow, and Palabra. He received The City of Olympia's Here Today public arts grant in 2009 to create book of photos and poems entitled, What's Being Sent. In August, he will earn his MFA in creative writing from Pacific Lutheran University's Rainier Writing Workshop. Then, he says, he’s going to rest.
Carolyn Maddux is a more-or-less retired journalist who teaches creative writing at Olympic College Shelton and sells antiques in downtown Shelton. Her two books are Remembering Water from Bellowing Ark Press and a letterpress chapbook, Voluntary on a Flight of Angels, printed as a benefit for Hypatia-in-the-Woods, a retreat and resource center for women in the arts. Her poetry has appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Salal, Crab Creek Review and elsewhere.
This program is made possible by generous assistance from the Kent Arts Commission, which has supported poetry in Kent for more than 25 years.
The Northwest Renaissance is a nonprofit coalition of Puget Sound-area poets and writers that has produced poetry readings and workshops in many venues since the mid-60s. The organization published an annual chapbook anthology of poems by featured readers as part of its programs at the Kent Canterbury Faire, and now offers a series of free poetry broadsides at Cornucopia Days.
The group also has published other anthologies, including Tablets the Rain Inscribes, On the Eighth Day, Pisces, and this year, Jump Start, a collection of poems by established Northwest poets who led workshops for NWR at Highline Community College over a period of 10 years.
For more information, contact Marjorie.Rommel@gmail.com.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
1 BR Apt. for Rent in lovely Vancouver home ($950)
$950 / 1br -
RENT + UTILITIES PAID - PRIVATE, CHARMING, UNIQUE (Vancouver)
Reply to: hous-aqgpu-1254916191@craigslist.org
Date: 2009-07-05, 4:53PM PDT
This spacious apartment is the only rental on this large lot with a lovely yard and a classic mid-century brick home. We think you will find this a unique place to live with plenty of privacy, your own parking spot, a retreat-like atmosphere - all in a great neighborhood centrally located in Vancouver. Just 12 minutes from downtown Portland, less than five to the Columbia River, and all of the amenities of a luxury rental.
We have priced this to include rent and utilities (no hassle setting up your electric, gas, water, garbage or satellite tv) - we've arranged for all of these and you write just one check each month!.
You will love the private entry through a lovely gated yard to a huge 900sf apartment. The rental is located mid-way between I-5 and I-205 just above SR-14.
AMENITIES: -- Large Great Room (29ftX16ft) with a brick gas fireplace -- Kitchen at far end of great room includes new cabinets, fridge, electric range/oven, microwave, and a stainless steel island -- One bedroom with a ceiling fan and a whole wall of closets and storage with slide-out shelves -- Bath is remodeled with a tile shower and lots of storage -- Off street parking -- Rent is $950 a month -- Security and deposits are $950 -- Application & Credit Check required (small fee) -- Applicant must provide rental references -- Sorry, no pets or smoking!
Are you interested in seeing this one of a kind rental? If so, please inquire via email with your name and phone number. We will make every effort to accommodate your schedule to view the unit. Thanks and happy house hunting!
Evergreen Blvd. at Andresen Ave.
Jared White and Farrah Field at Concordia Coffee House July 12/Spare Room Schedule
From: David Abel <passages@rdrop.com>
Spare Room presents
Jared White
Farrah Field
Sunday, July 12
7:30 pm
Concordia Coffee House
2909 NE Alberta
$5.00 suggested donation
www.flim.com/spareroomspareroom@flim.com
=============================================
Upcoming Readings
July 25: Jennifer Bartlett, Sarah Mangold, & Lindsey Boldt
August 6: Norma Cole & Lindsay Hill
August 16: Graham Foust & Eric Baus
September 20: Joe Massey & Joel Felix
=============================================
Jared White grew up in Massachusetts and lives in Brooklyn. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Barrow Street, Borderlands, Cannibal, Coconut, Fulcrum, Horse Less Review, The Modern Review, Sorry 4 Snake, Verse, and Word For / Word, and he has published essays in Harp & Altar, Poets Off Poetry at Coldfront, and Open Letters, and a chapbook entitled Yellowcake was included in the recent hand-sewn anthology Narwhal from Cannibal Books. From time to time, he blogs at jaredswhite.blogspot.com and plays the piano.
Farrah Field’s poems have appeared in Chelsea, Harp & Altar, Harpur Palate, Margie, Massachusetts Review, Mississippi Review, Pool, and Typo. She was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming and raised in Nebraska, Colorado, Louisiana, Arkansas, Sicily, and Belgium. She lives in Brooklyn and blogs at adultish.blogspot.com.
=============================================
Prognosis
What a letdown. The Paranoia of Semiotics or the Semiotics of Paranoia
Made you make something of made things. It seemed unmade to you
For a moment there at least. One possible girl followed swiftly by another,
Ergo man. Better make sure just in case. Make a cake. What are the things
You make? Conservative ephemera? Or should I say creative economics?
Hydroponics makes me feel good but isn’t really accurate. I fear the former.
A sign every year brings me ever closer to terrified ownership of a home
And a shotgun versus the system. Liking too many people to fit more in.
Russians would say I love you so I’m leaving. A disembodied judgment
Of merciless code is proof I care. We’re not in Russia though so mine is mine
Because I found it where you left it lying around. Now I can say I made it.
That’s how we do things here. I’m industrious and that’s my final offer
Or next-to-last if you’ll do better. What I really want is negotiation with you
About next steps. How to make decisions when there’s nothing to decide,
Not yet. I don’t want to see both sides, when one is enough for now. Just
Minutes longer and the world goes on competently that I made for real.
Please keep it safe with my autograph on the panorama. I worry for
Some reason seeing, because the world is so very good and my eyes clear.
Jared White
Night and Different Night
Did I have an orgasm—
three—do you go to church—what—do you know anything
about stocks—sort of—could I ease the biting next time—
no. Your best friend has found someone and your back
is breaking out. You bought a small house I want to have
sex in Pennsylvania. That dangling plug may be a hazard
of some kind and if I didn't need your mouth,
I'd tape it shut.
Farrah Field
Saturday, July 4, 2009
POETRY E-NEWSLETTER JULY 2009
Summer simmers on, with many poetic events to choose from. I am particularly happy to announce that this summer’s meeting of the Washington and Oregon poets will be held at my new place of residence in Vancouver on Saturday, July 25 from noon to four. Angelo and I now live with Toni Partington, my partner of two years and one of the best damn poets in the ‘Couve. Our house is a mid-century brick house with plenty of room for poets and friends to stretch out, relax, and share their work. We plan to hold the event in the backyard, so please bring some poems, food to share, and your own lawn chair, if you have one. This is an annual event that many people in Washington and Oregon look forward to all year. It’s Vancouver’s turn, and Toni and I are proud to host this year’s gathering. Please RSVP to this email address (christopherjluna@gmail.com) for directions.
Remember to submit work for WORDS, a juried multimedia show at Angst Gallery in September. The deadline for submissions is July 31. You will find more details under item 6 below. I am also still looking for poets and musicians (and painters and dancers) who would like to perform at the first Friday reception for this show.
We have had some really great featured readers at Cover to Cover this year, and July’s reading will be no exception. I so enjoyed Judith Arcana’s own announcement of her reading that I have also included it below (see item 3).
Open Mic Poetry
hosted by Christopher Luna
7:00pm Thursday, July 9, 2009
& 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
http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com
With our featured reader, Judith Arcana:
Judith Arcana writes poems, stories, essays and books. She’ll read from work in progress and recent publications: POEMS, a folding broadside with 5 poems in it (2008, $5); Family Business, a 20-page manuscript in a cartoon envelope (2008, $8); 4th Period English, a chapbook about immigration and the always-related issues of race, class, nation and border (2009, $10); and What if your mother, poems rooted in her work in Chicago’s underground pre-Roe abortion service (2005, $15). A native of the Great Lakes region, Judith lives now in Portland.
Visit juditharcana.com or speakersclearinghouse.org for more information on Judith’s books and upcoming readings.
Accident by Judith Arcana
your lie drives through the night in a dark car
while here at home ice heaves under the road
there’s no blood, no broken glass, just
one headlight blind, the other a knife of light
(first published in Fireweed, 1998)
Barbecued linguistics for all,
Christopher
JULY POETRY E-NEWSLETTER TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Apply soon for Soapstone residencies for women
2. Daniel Skach-Mills reading from his book The Tao of Now at Barnes & Noble Vancouver July 8
3. Judith Arcana at Cover to Cover Books July 9
4. Poetry and Prose for the People reading series presents poets Tiel Aisha Ansari, Susan Denning and M at Barnes & Noble Lloyd Center July 15
5. Poetry workshops at the Portland Art Museum
6. WORDS submission guidelines (deadline July 31)
7. Poetry festival at Wave Books (Seattle) August 14-16.
1.
The application period will soon open for Soapstone residencies.
We will be accepting applications postmarked between July 1 and August 1, 2009 for residencies between November 2009 and November 2010.
Application forms can be downloaded from http://www.soapstone.org
Soapstone provides women writers with a stretch of uninterrupted time for their work and the opportunity to live in semi-solitude close to the natural world.
In addition to that rare but essential commodity for a writer—a quiet space away from jobs, children, and other responsibilities—Soapstone provides something less tangible but also invaluable: the validation and encouragement necessary to embark upon or sustain a long or difficult writing project.
Located in Oregon’s Coast Range, nine miles from the ocean, the retreat stands on twenty-two acres of densely forested land along the banks of Soapstone Creek and is home to much wildlife. The writers in residence enjoy a unique opportunity to learn about the natural world and join us in conscious stewardship of the land.
Soapstone is set up for two writers at a time, each with her own writing studio. From an applicant pool of 400 to 500, approximately thirty-five writers each year are awarded residencies of one to four weeks.
Soapstone offers residencies to writers working on fiction, poetry, drama, screenwriting, memoir, essay—every kind of literary writing. Academic, scholarly, journalistic, or research-related writing does not qualify. Our focus is on what is generally understood to be "creative writing," a term of art that does not mean to imply that other writing lacks creativity.
Soapstone
622 SE 29th Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
503.233.3936
retreats@soapstone.org
http://www.soapstone.org
2.
From Shawn Sorensen:
Daniel Skach-Mills will be reading from his book
The Tao of Now for our next Poetry Group on July 8th at 7 pm.
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Vancouver Plaza
7700 NE 4th Plain Blvd.
Vancouver, WA 98662
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