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 Mind gives birth to ego. Ego gives birth to wanting to become something. Complete in itself, Being doesn’t grasp at or push away anything. Can the air inhale more of what it already is? Can a bird flying freely divest itself of the sky? Be what you are, and all wanting ceases. Relinquish being something, and become everything. --Daniel Skach-Mills from The Tao of Now “Daniel Skach-Mills gives us wisdom as refreshing and new as this moment’s wind in the trees, wisdom as secure in tradition as the cardinal directions with which we name any wind’s path.” --Paulann Petersen I hope to see you the next second Wednesday, if not sooner. Poetically, Shawn Shawn Sorensen 3. From Judith Arcana: July's featured poet at Cover-to-Cover Books in Vancouver, WA at 1817 Main Street is Judith Arcana July 9th, Thursday, at 7pm Poets: Bring work to read for the always-welcoming open mic organized & mc'd each month by poet Christopher Luna http://juditharcana.com/index.php/arc/events/ Exhortation to Oregonians: Cross the Columbia River for poetry! Take public transportation or car pool to an independent bookstore! Eat Mexican food just a few steps from that bookstore! Go early to visit the new pedestrian bridge/park/art at Fort Vancouver! 4. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sage Cohen, sage@sagesaidso.com, 503.788.5967 Poetry and Prose for the People reading series is delighted to present poets Tiel Aisha Ansari, Susan Denning and M on Wednesday, July 15, 7:00 p.m. Where: Barnes & Noble 1317 Lloyd Center // Gift section Portland, OR 97232 503-249-0800 Tiel Aisha Ansari is a Sufi, martial artist, and computer programmer living in the Pacific Northwest. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in several print and online venues including Islamica Magazine, Mezzo Cammin, The Lyric, Raintown Review, and the VoiceCatcher anthology from Portland Women Writers. Her poetry has been featured on Prairie Home Companion and MiPoRadio. She is the author of the poetry collection Knocking from Inside, published by Ecstatic Exchange. You can visit her online at knockingfrominside.blogspot.com. Susan Denning's poems have appeared in New York Quarterly, Rattle, Perihelion, Hubbub, The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel, and elsewhere. Her poetry reflects her interests in natural and urban landscapes, human relationships, and linguistic play. She edits the online magazine Caffeine Destiny, and works at Literary Arts in Portland. M has served as an Associate Poetry Editor for the online magazine Stirring: A Literary Collection for the past one hundred years or so. More than a few editors have found her poems intriguing, and included them in their journals. She received her B.A. in Literature so long ago, she’s pretty certain her diploma has crumbled to dust. In addition to her work for Stirring, she is an Administrator of an online poetry critique website called Wild Poetry Forum, and serves as Co-Chairperson of the Portland Unit of the Oregon State Poetry Association (OSPA). She is currently working on a poetry manuscript that focuses on the twentieth-century Italian immigrant experience. 5. Join us for a new Poetry Workshop at the Portland Art Museum! MAC is pleased to partner with the Portland Art Museum to offer this exciting new program. Please join poetry instructor Joseph Bradshaw for an eye-opening workshop that explores the intersection where visual and literary art meet. Writers of all levels and traditions are welcome to participate. Poetry: Art becomes Muse Ages: 18 & Up How can we re-express a visual image through poetry? How can we transfer the lines and colors of, say, a painting into lines of verse? How do we re-portray a portrait through writing? We will explore these questions and more as we tour the various galleries of the Portland Art Museum, writing in response to visual artworks. We'll look at and respond to art in all media, from traditional to contemporary to folk, viewing each poem we produce on its own terms, through the lens of possibility. This class meets at the Portland Art Museum (1219 SW Park Avenue) in the Kinney Classroom promptly at 10am. Museum admission included in course fee. 298164 Sat. July 18, 10am-4:00pm $48.00 [1 class] What to expect Start the day with an exploration of great poems written in a tradition called "ekphrasis," which means "a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art." Then, after a guided tour of the Portland Art Museum, summon your muse and create your own work stimulated by the art that moves you. Finally, reconvene to share your creations in this supportive group environment. About the Instructor Joseph Bradshaw earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2008. He is the author of two chapbooks of poetry ("The Way Birds Become" and "This Ocean, or Oppen Series"), and regularly contributes reviews and criticism to Cultural Society and Rain Taxi. Currently, he lives in Southeast Portland and teaches at Portland State University and Pacific Northwest College of Art. Poetry: Art becomes Muse - Teen Focus Ages: 13-19 Can you awaken your senses through poetry? How many poems exist within a painting? How many paintings exist in a poem? We will explore these questions and more as we tour the various galleries of the Portland Art Museum, writing in response to visual artworks. In this special workshop for teen writers, every piece is viewed on its own terms through the lens of possibility, rather than judged according to some arbitrary measure of merit. Come discover yourself as an artist of words! NOTE: This class meets at the Portland Art Museum (1219 SW Park Avenue) in the Kinney Classroom promptly at 10am. Museum admission included in course fee. 298163 Sat.. Aug. 1 10am-4pm $25.00 [1 class] 6. WORDS A juried show of art inspired by words (or words inspired by art) Have you been inspired by a word, a phrase, a speech, or a song? Have you written a poem, story, or song inspired by a work of art? All media are welcome, including the written word. Angst Gallery is currently accepting submissions for a juried show exploring the power of words. Accepted work will be on display in Angst Gallery for the month of September 2009. Work submitted and accepted must be available from August 24 – September 27, 2009. Entry Deadline is July 31. Show runs September 4-27. Opening night, September 4, will feature a live collaborative project. Are you interested in collaborating to create such a piece? Contact Angst Gallery by Saturday May 30 to be connected with another artist. How to enter: Fill out attached entry form and include a $20 jury fee made payable to Angst Gallery. Include up to 3 images that best represent each piece. A maximum of 3 pieces may be submitted. Images may be photos, slides, or digital images on CDR. These will be returned if you include a self-addressed stamped envelope. For further questions please email leah.angstgallery@gmail.com Official rules and regulations Entry form must be completed and returned with the $20 fee. Work submitted must be ready to hang if selected. Entries must be received by July 31. Artists will be notified by August 14 if accepted. Work must be at Angst Gallery by August 24. All art must be delivered to Angst Gallery and picked up when the show ends. If art is being shipped, return shipping must be included. Art that is not picked up 30 days after the show ends becomes property of Angst Gallery and may be sold (unless prior arrangements are made). Artists will receive 60% of the sale price of their work that is sold during the show. Angst Gallery will collect a 40% commission. An artist reception will be held on September 4 from 5-9pm. Angst Gallery 1015 Main St Vancouver WA 98660 360.253.1742 www.angstgallery.com Name______________________________________________ Address____________________________________________ City__________________State_________Zipcode__________ Email Address________________________________________ Phone number_______________________________________ Title #1_____________________________________________ Title #2_____________________________________________ Title #3_____________________________________________ Angst Gallery 1015 Main St Vancouver WA 98660 360.253.1742 Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat 12-5pm (or by appointment) 7. From Judith Arcana: Liz Nakazawa, editor of the collection DEER DRINK THE MOON, is looking for haiku about food/cooking, and has asked folks to pass the word along ..... If you have work to show her, send to liznakazawa@gmail.com by end of July ........ Dear Friends, Neighbors and Readers of Wave Books, Greetings from Seattle. We are writing to you with the news of a special THREE-DAY POETRY EVENT coming from Wave Books this August. In association with the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, Wave Books is organizing and hosting three days of poetry, August 14th through 16th, featuring film screenings, a book arts presentation, art exhibitions, local bookstore discounts, and readings by Wave authors, in both the Henry Auditorium and the James Turrell Skyspace. THE WEEKEND IS LIMITED TO 150 TICKETS, so if you are interested in attending the event, we encourage you to register as soon as you can! Full information is available on the Wave Books website here: http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79. Please pass this information on to those who you think might be interested. TICKETS GRANT YOU ACCESS TO: READINGS both large and small, by a featured line-up of Wave authors -- including Joshua Beckman, Noelle Kocot, Dorothea Lasky, Anthony McCann, Richard Meier, Eileen Myles, Maggie Nelson, Geoffrey Nutter, Matthew Rohrer, Mary Ruefle, Dara Wier, Jon Woodward, Matthew Zapruder and Rachel Zucker; SCREENINGS OF RARE FILMS starring John Ashbery, Robin Blaser, Denise Levertov, Frank O'Hara, James Schuyler, and others; poetry book DISCOUNTS at participating local, independent bookstores; a BOOK ARTS PRESENTATION by Sandra Kroupa, Book Arts and Rare Book Curator; and the Henry Art Gallery and EXHIBITIONS, including exhibitions of work by Chio Aoshima, Jasper Johns, Ann Lislegaard; new video from China; and photographic work by Imogen Cunningham, Nan Goldin, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and others, from the Henry's permanent collection. TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE for $100/$75 for students. You can purchase directly online, or by mailing a check to Wave Books, 1938 Fairview Avenue East, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98102. For complete event details, and to purchase tickets, visit: http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79 We hope you will join us for this exciting event. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at Wave Books at: wavepoetryweekend@gmail.com. Thank you very much, and we hope to see you in August. Sincerely, Wave Books 1938 Fairview Avenue East, Suite 201 Seattle, Washington 98102 http://www.wavepoetry.com http://www.wavepoetry.com/catalog/79 http://www.henryart.org/