Thursday, January 13: Open Mic poetry reading hosted by Christopher Luna + a presentation by John Barber to celebrate “Autmun Trout Gathering,” an exhibit about Northwest counterculture icon Richard Brautigan, 7-9:30 pm at the Clark County Historical Museum

Richard Brautigan



On January 13, Vancouver poet Christopher Luna will host a special open mic poetry reading and celebration of the poet Richard Brautigan at the Clark County Historical Museum, the location of “Autumn Trout Gathering,” an exhibit on Brautigan that will close January 30. Luna’s monthly second Thursday poetry reading is currently touring various poetry-friendly venues in downtown Vancouver while Cover to Cover Books, which has been home to the series since January 2007, recovers from a fire that took place in October. This partnership between the local poetry community and the museum, brokered by Luna and CCHM Executive Director Susan Tissot, is an opportunity to bring new visitors to the museum while also exposing the vibrancy of the literary scene to the museum’s current patrons.

Although admission to the reading is free, Christopher Luna strongly encourages all in attendance to contribute a small donation to the museum, which has agreed to stay open nearly six hours past closing time for this event. The community is also encouraged to bring a favorite Brautigan poem to read in the open mic.

Richard Brautigan, born in Tacoma in 1935, left the Pacific Northwest in 1956 when he moved to San Francisco, where he rose to international prominence as the author said to best capture the spirit of the counterculture during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He is best remembered for his novel “Trout Fishing in America” (1967), his poetry collection “The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster” (1968), and his collection of stories “Revenge of the Lawn” (1971).

In his 1971 novel “The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966,” Brautigan envisioned a fictitious Carnegie library where anyone could deposit a copy of their self-authored book. Brautigan’s imaginary library inspired Todd Lockwood, a Brautigan fan in Burlington, VT, to start The Brautigan Library in 1995 to bring Brautigan’s vision to reality. For a number of years The Brautigan Library collected manuscripts but a lack of sustained funding forced it to close in 2000.

The January 13 reading will begin at 7:00 and will include a presentation by Washington State University-Vancouver professor John Barber, a personal friend of Richard Brautigan who developed and continues to maintain the Brautigan Bibliography and Archive (www.brautigan.net). This online narrative database is recognized to be the pre-eminent resource for information about Brautigan, his life, and writings. Additionally, Barber led the negotiations to move The Brautigan Library (www.thebrautiganlibrary.org) to Vancouver, where it is now a permanent, interactive exhibit at the Clark County Historical Museum.

A current exhibit at the Museum, entitled "Autumn Trout Gathering," celebrates the reopening of The Brautigan Library through never-before-seen photographs of Brautigan, multimedia, and various ephemera celebrating his literary career. Barber is a faculty member in The Creative Media & Digital Culture Program at Washington State University Vancouver.

“Autumn Trout Gathering” runs through the end of January 2011 and features photographs of Richard Brautigan by photographer Erik Weber, and posters and other memorabilia from Brautigan’s readings in San Francisco. The exhibit will also include video and sound installations created by WSU-V students and staff. Co-curators for the exhibit are Dr. John Barber and Jeannette Altman, both of WSU-V.

CCHM is now the permanent home of The Brautigan Library, a unique collection of more than 300 unpublished manuscripts from writers around the world and inspired by Washington-born author Richard Brautigan. The relocation of The Brautigan Library to Vancouver results from a partnership between CCHM and Washington State University-Vancouver’s Creative Media and Digital Culture (CMDC) Program to finalize arrangements with the estate of the late author and the Brautigan Library Foundation in Burlington, VT. According to Barber, “The Brautigan Library is not about publishing, or even literature. Instead it provides everyday writers a public shelf where their unpublished manuscripts, free of restrictions on content or quality, are available for anyone to read. It is a very public and democratic home for personal narratives in a digital age.”

CCHM is located in Vancouver’s 1909 Carnegie Library building. Regular museum hours are Tuesday – Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission fees apply. The museum also is open free from 5 to 9 p.m. the first Thursday of each month February – November for First Thursday Museum After Hours. A wheelchair accessible entrance to the museum is located on the east side of the museum building off 16th street.

Toni Partington and Christopher Luna on KBOO's Talking Earth Monday, December 20/ Verse in Person Open Reading with Doug Spangle December 22

TONI PARTINGTON AND CHRISTOPHER LUNA

Talking Earth

Monday Night

December 20, 10-11 PM Pacific Time

KBOO Radio, 90.7 FM

Portland, OR

Christopher Luna, Toni Partington, and David Madgalene

at the celebration for the release of their collaborative art book and poem

To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License

(http://tobenamed-artandpoetry.blogspot.com/)

Angst Gallery, Vancouver, WA

July 2010 

It Matters to Notice These Things

two enormous crows
mate in the sycamore out front
silently
shiny black wings extended

it’s one o’clock
on a Tuesday
warmest day since winter thaw
first day without socks

I want to be the crow
eat worms and
gum wrappers and
mate without privacy
on the front lawn

before I can back into the street
they’ve finished
lean together on the branch
first spring foliage
provides little seclusion
they could care less about these things

just off the curb
I sit stare
watch to see if intimacy exists
between them
between crows

humans are love scavengers
crows of emotion
we skim the surface
peck our way through the top layer of romance
unable to mine riches of the heart
with tools dulled by hurt
and a hard outer shell

I think about intimacy a lot these days
too much
I notice when couples don’t touch
wonder how love can possibly endure in this world

the biggest crow hops a branch
slow glide to center yard
caw, caws

stares me down

I want to be the crow
let him have my life
pay bills and
feel the weight of all this nonsense

imagine me
cawing in the neighborhood
shiny black wings extended
under afternoon sun.

Toni Partington, Wind Wing
2010

Toni Partington reads from Wind Wing

at Paper Tiger Coffee in Vancouver, WA

Photo by Anni Becker

Message from Barbara La Morticella, host of KBOO'sTalking Earth:
Toni Partington and Christopher Luna are at the center of a active and supportive literary scene in Vancouver, Washington. Life partners, they thrive off of each other’s creative energy, run a small press service together, and host a monthly reading and open reading series at Cover to Cover Books.

Toni is a poet, editor, visual artist, and life/career coach in Vancouver. Her poetry has been published in the The Cascade Journal, VoiceCatcher (editions 3 and 4), OutwardLink.net, Perceptions, and others. She is the author of two books of poetry, Jesus Is A Gas (2009), and Wind Wing (2010). She serves as Co-Editor forVoiceCatcher, an annual Pacific Northwest anthology of women writers. She is co-founder, with Christopher Luna, of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing and small press service.

Christopher Luna reads his poetry

at Paper Tiger Coffee in Vancouver, WA

Photo by Anni Becker

Christopher Luna is a poet, visual artist, and the editor of “The Work,” a monthly email newsletter featuring poetry events in Portland and Vancouver (http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com). He is also a columnist for Sage Cohen’s Writing the Life Poetic E-Zine (http://www.writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com). His books include tributes and ruminations (Dristil Press, 2000), On the Beam (with David Madgalene, 2005), Sketches for a Paranoid Picture Book on Memory (King of Mice Press, 2005), and GHOST TOWN, USA (This is Not an Albatross, 2008). His latest volume, To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License, is a poetic travelogue and art book created in collaboration with David Madgalene and Toni Partington(http://www.tobenamed-artandpoetry.blogspot.com). In early 2011 Big Bridge will publish the selected correspondence of Stan Brakhage and the poet Michael McClure, an important piece of Twentieth-Century art history that Christopher Luna edited at Brakhage’s request.

pavement pastoral

there is a determined melancholy
to the suicide dive of
autumn leaves
as they tear themselves
from the limbs of trembling trees
to spiral earthward like eels
caught in zoetrope flicker

Christopher Luna
November 1, 2010

Open Reading at Verse in Person

Wednesday night

December 22

6:30 to 8 PM

Verse in Person

Northwest Branch of the Multnomah County Library

2300 NW Thurman (corner of 23 & Thurman) Portland OR

Come early to sign up!

Take a break from the Christmas bustle to socialize with others who have other things on their mind on December 22 than spending money-- namely, sharing gifts of the spirit with a community of like-minded people. Whether you’re a novice or have volumes to your credit, come and let host Doug Spangle introduce you to the Northwest Library Community. Reading starts at 6:30; some and sign up any time after 6 to be sure to read. Bring a selection of poems; we’ll see how many we can get through.

"The Work" takes place at noon today/ Leah Jackson honors Christopher Luna's sefvice to the poetry community


Please join me at noon today for “The Work,” my monthly poetry workshop at Niche in Vancouver. If you haven’t stopped into Niche yet, you should know that it has quickly become the coolest place to hang out in the ‘Couve. Niche is located at 1013 Main Street, just north of the Kiggins Theater. Today we will use the work of Saul Williams, Grace Paley, William Stafford, Galway Kinnell, and Michael McClure as inspiration for our writing and discussion.


Thanks to everyone who attended Thursday night’s open mic poetry reading at Niche. We are fortunate to have the support of Leah Jackson as the Ghost Town Poetry tour continues. The lineup included a lively mix of old and new friends, including a few first-timers and Kiefer Peh, a rapper who I recently met at the open mic at Barnes and Noble Vancouver. One of the reasons that I am so glad that I met Kiefer is that there are still some out there who don’t believe that rap is poetry. I am grateful to Kiefer for helping us to set them straight.

I was surprised to see Mel Sanders, owner of Cover to Cover Books (http://covertocoverbooks.net/), who came out to support the women of the VoiceCatcher collective. Mel informed the crowd that while the bookstore is being rebuilt after a recent fire, she is taking orders through ABE Books (http://abebooks.com/). You can also send an email to mail@covertocoverbooks.net. So if you’d like to thank Mel for her years of service to the local poetry community, and help her get back on her feet, order your Christmas gifts through her.

Toni Partington did a great job of organizing and hosting the Voice Catcher 5 book launch. It was wonderful to hear from some of the writers and artists who are in the anthology, including a few women for whom Voice Catcher 5 is their first publishing credit. Thanks also to those VoiceCatcher editors and board members who were present.

After the reading, my friend and fellow community organizer Leah Jackson honored me by announcing her decision to name me the poet laureate of her businesses, Angst Gallery and Niche Wine and Art Bar. She made this decision to acknowledge my seven years of service to the local poetry community as a teacher, event organizer, mentor, and the host of the popular open mic reading series at Cover to Cover Books. Leah Jackson and I have organized several events together at both Sixth Street Gallery (where she was the director from October 2004 - October 2007) and Angst Gallery. These included a 50th Anniversary reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” which I arranged for 14 voices, July’s exhibit and performances celebrating “To Be Named,” the collaborative travel poem and art book I created with Toni Partington and David Madgalene, and “Words,” an exhibit that showcased text-based art.

Christopher Luna and Leah Jackson
at July's First Friday celebration for
To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License
an art book by Christopher Luna, David Madgalene, and Toni Partington
http://www.tobenamed-artandpoetry.blogspot.com/

Jackson has charged me with developing several projects, beginning with a contest seeking submissions for lines of poetry to be printed on a limited edition set of coasters for Niche. Please send no more than five lines of poetry to me via christopherjluna@gmail.com no later than February 1. The contest will be judged by Leah Jackson, Toni Partington, and myself. There will be ten winners, each of whom will have their lines printed on a coaster to be used in the bar.

It is my intention to use this opportunity to expand our service to the community, and to help those who are not writers understand why we love poetry so much, and why we find it essential.

Here is Leah Jackson’s statement about why she has decided to honor me in this way: “As the proprietor of Angst and Niche it is my honor to appoint Christopher Luna as poet laureate for my businesses for the year 2011. I have created this position to call attention to the art of poetry, a branch of the arts that can be easy to overlook. Christopher has the skill and the dedication to this art that will allow us to pursue poetry focused projects in Vancouver, the city that I choose to call home. In the following year, Christopher will work on three poetry-based projects. These projects will be funded by Niche. It is my hope that this is just the beginning of the exciting work that will be done. Thank you to Christopher Luna for accepting this position.”

Finally, here is the Vancouver Voice's announcement of my new position, poetically entitled "Laureate Luna:" http://www.vanvoice.com/article?articleTitle=laureate+luna--1291668880--562&ref=RlJPTXtBcnRpY2xlOkNhdGVnb3J5UG9zdEJyb3dzZXJ9VE97QXJ0aWNsZTpDYXRlZ29yeVZpZXdlcn1NRVNTQUdFe2FydGljbGVDYXRlZ29yeT13b3Jkc30=

Thursday's VoiceCatcher 5 reading featured in the Vancouver Voice

http://www.vanvoice.com/article?articleTitle=through+fire+and+art--1291668993--563&ref=RlJPTXtBcnRpY2xlOkNhdGVnb3J5UG9zdEJyb3dzZXJ9VE97QXJ0aWNsZTpDYXRlZ29yeVZpZXdlcn1NRVNTQUdFe2FydGljbGVDYXRlZ29yeT13b3Jkc30=

THE WORK POETRY NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2010

THE WORK

POETRY NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2010

Compiled and arranged by Christopher Luna

Greetings, datahounds,

Please stop into Angst this month to see a great group show featuring artists whose work appeared in the gallery this year including Eliza Lane, Chris Eagon, Kelly Keigwin, Pablito, Greg Bee, Erin Dengerink, Toni Partington and myself, among others. I have three pieces, including “Curandero,” a psychedelic portrait of Allen Ginsberg inspired by my reading of Peter Conners’ new book White Hand Society.



On Saturday, December 11, I will be teaching my monthly workshop at Niche (1013 Main Street, Vancouver). If you’d like to join us, please bring a poem to share. Thanks to Christy and Elizabeth for their participation last month.

On Monday, December 20, Toni Partington and I will appear on KBOO’s “Talking Earth” with host Barbara LaMorticella. Barbara has been a featured reader at Cover to Cover and is a longtime supporter of the Vancouver poetry community.

And of course, please don’t forget to join us this Thursday for a very special reading at Niche:

THE GHOST TOWN POETRY TOUR*

CONTINUES WITH A SPECIAL EVENT

TO CELEBRATE THE PUBLICATION OF

VoiceCatcher 5

Open Mic Poetry

hosted by Christopher Luna

7:00pm Thursday,

December 9, 2010

At a special location

Niche: A Wine and Art Bar

1013 Main Street, Vancouver

For more info contact: christopherjluna@gmail.com

http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com

http://www.nichewinebar.com

With our featured readers:

Jo Barney

Elizabeth Elfring

Lisa Maier

Kristin Roedell

And four of the artists whose work appears in the anthology:

Anni Becker

April Bullard

Jane Poole

Sara *

Featured reading hosted by

VoiceCatcher co-editor Toni Partington

VoiceCatcher editors Frances Bates, Kristin Berger, and Toni Partington at Wordstock

* While Cover to Cover Books rebuilds after a recent fire, Christopher Luna is taking the open mic series he founded in 2004 on tour to various poetry-friendly locations in downtown Vancouver.

AUTHOR BIOS

Jo Barney graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon and spent most of the next thirty years teaching, counseling, wifing, mothering, and, of course, writing. Her work has appeared in Apple Valley Review, Kalliope, Main Street Rag, The Sun, and both VoiceCatcher 1 and 2. Jo was also an editor for the Oregon School Counselor Journal. “Cleaning Up” is the first two chapters from a novel of the same name and is the most fun she’s had so far as a writer.

Elizabeth Elfring came to the Pacific Northwest almost twenty years ago and fell in love with the area and the people. She lives in Yacolt, Washington where she is teaching poetry as a part of The Cedar Creek Writers Group. Along with her family she grows Christmas trees, is a Lions Club member, and loves being a writer, homemaker, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and whatever else she feels like. She also enjoys being just a little crazy!

Lisa Maier’s love of poetry began in her grandmother’s attic, where she happened upon a dusty copy of Where The Sidewalk Ends. Her eight-year-old self was so enchanted by Mr. Silverstein’s use of words that she decided then and there to become a poet. She now lives on a mountain in Beaverton with her husband and two inspiring sons, and is currently working on her own poetry collection for children.

Kristin Roedell is a Northwest poet and retired attorney. Her recent work appeared in City Arts, Damselflypress, Eclectica, Soundings Review, Gutenberg and several others. She was the featured poet in Quill and Parchment in January 2010. Her chapbook, Seeing in the Dark, was published in 2009 by Tomato Can Press. She is co-editor of Cradle Songs: An Anthology on Motherhood, forthcoming from Quill and Parchment Press.

ARTIST BIOS

Nothing has been the same since Anni Becker left the life she once knew and discovered that she could make magic with a camera. Anni lives in Vancouver with her cats Greta and Danger Dan.

April Bullard lives with her husband aboard a boat on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. April says, “River life is unique in many ways. I photograph ordinary scenes, looking for a tiny piece of the magical that lets my imagination run free.”

Jane Poole won first place in the 2007 and the 2009 Battle Ground Art Alliance Spring Show. In 2007, she was invited by the North Clark Historical Museum to show 24 of her paintings of Amboy for the annual Territorial Days Celebration. Her first book, Adam's Astronomy: The Original Zodiac grew out of her love of nature, ancient history, foreign languages and the Bible.

Sara makes paintings and world religion icons in her home studio in Vancouver, WA. She paints to express something about women's spirituality, women's bodies, and women's perceptions. To Sara, the idea is what is paramount to a painting.

Toni Partington and Christopher Luna

Photo by Anni Becker

Christopher again: Printed Matter Vancouver, the editing and manuscript review business I co-founded with Toni Partington, is looking for new clients. Whether you’re just getting started and need advice and guidance, or would like help stepping up your game, we’d love to help: printedmattervancouver@gmail.com

Also, check out this article from Publishers Weekly about New York Journal of Books, the publication in which my review of “White Hand” will soon appear: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/45268-new-book-review-site-launches.html

Enjoy the holidays,
Christopher Luna

THE WORK

DECEMBER 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Portland Fiction Project fundraiser for Domestic Violence Awareness Dec. 8

2. Multnomah Arts Center Literary Arts Program Group Reading December 10 (Portland)

3. Figures of Speech reading with Paulann Petersen and Vern Rutsala at PSU Dec. 15 (Portland)

4. Paper Tiger Coffee Open Mic with featured reader David Mathews Dec. 16 (Vancouver)

5. Pre-order Matt Meighan’s new CD

6. Ed Coletti’s P3

SUBMISSION CALLS from VoiceCatcher, Uphook Press, and Snakeskin

1.

The Portland Fiction Project Presents

The BENEFIT of DOUBT

A Performance Fundraiser for Domestic Violence Awareness

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

Alberta Rose Theatre

$10 at the Door

Doors at 7:30, Show Starts at 8:00

Join local writers ALICE CLARK, GENEVA CHAO, GEORGE RACHEL, SHANNA SEESZ and SCOTT WARFE for this special performance fundraiser for Domestic Violence Awareness. Local playwright, author and activist RENEE MITCHELL will be performing a piece from her play Tangoing With Tornadoes, and local cellist KENDRA CARPENTER and the band FUTURE HISTORIANS will provide musical accompaniment. Also featuring dance troupe TRIP THE DARK.

All proceeds to benefit the YWCA and BRADLEY ANGLE.

The Project: Over the past five weeks of workshopping, our writers have written a DV-focused fiction piece each week inspired by a prompt (example: “Call one thing another’s name long enough, it will answer”), the best of these pieces to be performed at the Alberta Rose performance on December 8th.

About the Portland Fiction Project: The Portland Fiction Project was an experimental writing group that met weekly and explored suggested themes and specific words through short stories, publishing the result in its online publication at portlandfiction.net.

About Bradley Angle: Bradley Angle offers survivors of domestic and sexual violence options for safety, empowerment, healing and hope, while collaborating with our communities to create social change.

About the YWCA: The YWCA of Greater Portland changes lives by empowering women and their families to achieve safety, opportunity and independence. Yolanda House is their domestic violence shelter and resource center for survivors of abuse. Last year, Yolanda House served 145 women and children.

Tickets available at the door or by going to The Alberta Rose Theatre website.

2.
MAC Literary Arts Program
Group Reading

Instructors, students, & staff
past, present, future

reading from their work
poetry, fiction, nonfiction

Friday, December 10, 7:00 pm
Free admission

Multnomah Arts Center Gallery
7688 Southwest Capitol Highway
(503) 823-2787
http://www.multnomahartscenter.org/


3.
From Steve Williams and Constance Hall

December Events:

Dec. 12th at 5 p.m. Our monthly critique group meets at Looking Glass books in Sellwood. Bring 8-10 copies of a poem you’d like feedback on. Hope to see you there.

Our next Figures of Speech event is on Dec 15th at 7 p.m. and will be held at PSU – Smith Student Union in the Multicultural Center (Rm. 228). This will be a benefit for the Oregon Cultural Trust who provide funds for many cultural organizations statewide. Among those, the trust funds our Poet Laureate position currently held in such elegant fashion by Paulann Petersen. Paulann will be reading with Vern Rutsala which promises to be a memorable evening. We wish we had a camera showing Paulann’s happy dance when we told her she would be reading with Vern.There will be a special commemorative broadside available for $10 and all proceeds will be donated to the Oregon Cultural Trust. Kimberly Howard, the trust manager, will on hand to speak about the trust and how it works for each of us.But wait, there’s more! Michele Glazer will give opening remarks (Thanks again to Michele for sponsoring the room). Also, John Morrison and Cindy Williams-Gutierrez will be speaking about how Vern and Paulann inspired their own writing life.We also will have volunteers from VoiceCatcher working the donation and book tables and Carolyn Martin (VC Chairwoman), will say a few words about her organization.So make sure you put this one on your calendars. We have a big room and want to fill it up!

Bios:

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Vern Rutsala received his B.A. from Reed College and his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. He is the author of numerous poetry books. His previous book, The Moment’s Equation, was a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry. Among his awards are a Guggenheim fellowship, two National Endowment for Arts fellowships, the Richard Snyder Prize, and the Kenneth O. Hanson Award. Rutsala taught at Lewis & Clark College from 1961-2004.

Paulann Petersen is a former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University whose poems have appeared in many publications including Poetry, The New Republic, Prairie Schooner, and Wilderness Magazine. She has four chapbooks–Under the Sign of a Neon Wolf, The Animal Bride, Fabrication, and The Hermaphrodite Flower. Her first full-length collection of poems, The Wild Awake, was published by Confluence Press in 2002. A second,Blood-Silk, poems about Turkey, was published by Quiet Lion Press of Portland in 2004. A Bride of Narrow Escape was published by Cloudbank Books as part of its Northwest Poetry Series in 2006. Kindle was published by Mountains and Rivers Press in 2008. Her latest book, The Voluptuary, was recently published by Lost Horse Press.Her work has been selected for the web site Poetry Daily and for Poetry in Motion, which puts poems on buses and light rail cars in the Portland metropolitan area. The recipient of Oregon Literary Arts’ 2006 Holbrook Award, Paulann has taught a number of poetry workshops for colleges, libraries, and writers’ conferences, including Fishtrap, Oregon Writers’ Workshop in Portland (Northwest College of Art, Portland Art Museum), Mountain Writers Series, Oregon State Poetry Association, The Creative Arts Community at Menucha, Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College, and the Lifelong Learning Institute at Chemeketa Community College. She serves on the board for Friends of William Stafford, organizing the annual January William Stafford Birthday Events.

4.
From Dan Nelson

Hey there poetry fans,

Immense gratitude to everyone who promoted or attended our Poetry Night on the 18th. Those who didn't make it missed out on Steve and Constance enthralling us with their fabulous verse. It was a real treat to hear the First Couple of Portland poetry do extended reading and fun to watch the interplay between the two. By turns funny, clever, poignant, thoughtful and gut wrenching, they really layed it out there for us. Thank you so much, -M- and Steve. Plus our open mic readers made up for a lower than average turnout with inspired glimpses into a variety of lives. Hope folks didn't miss out because I foolishly said the reading was on the 25th rather than the 18th. I apologize for the misinformation glitch.

At 7pm on the Third Thursday of December, which is the 16th, (I checked a calendar this time) Paper Tiger (703 Grand blvd. in Vancouver, between Evergreen and Mill Plain about a mile east of I-5) will host David Mathews. I first heard David read at St. Johns Booksellers and was immensely impressed by the intelligence, wisdom, compassion and romance of his art.

David Matthews is a native of the South Carolina Midlands who resides in Portland , Oregon . Among his influences are the English Romantics, French Surrealism, Emily Dickinson, Gregory Corso, and Bob Dylan. Poems have appeared in Chattahoochee Review, Night Bomb Review, Quill and Parchment, Tryst, Blown Out: Portland's indie poets, Raising Our Voices: an anthology of Oregon poets against the war, and elsewhere. He is the author two small, self-published volumes: Notes to One Who Is Far from Here (2003) and A Portable Bohemia (2008). His blog House Red can be found on his website at http://www.matthewsmanofletters.com/ .

Hope to see and hear you all there. Be sure to bring a poem or two (sorry, 5 minute limit please) to read at our open mic. Enjoy great beverages and hang out with some of the finest creative writers in the Northwest.Here's a sample of David Mathews work to prime the pump.

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

Short poem:

The Unspoken Language

la Tour Eiffel
Apollinaire
triangles numbers consonants
naked Chagall paints
Russian soul novabright with Paris light
horses graze on blue rooftops
a wingèd fish embraces a clock
the man with one green hand plays a red violin
angel candle dream
nude on a couch and Christ on a cross
oh but what color Marc is the color of the spirit?
which letters belong to the unspoken language of love?

I don't have any certainty or clarity myself; it would be dishonest to give it to the characters of my movies. It's more honest to leave in the viewer a torment that can engender meditation, instead of offering a euphoric solution at any price. — Federico Fellini

5.
From Matt Meighan matt@mattmeighan.com



Hi,

I'm recording a new CD and I'm psyched about it! It's my first recording project in more than five years and my first studio CD ever.

I need to raise funds to pay for the studio, backup musicians, and CD manufacture, and you can help by pre-ordering the CD and/or making a contribution. I've set up a project on Kickstarter.com, where you see the details , pre-order the CD and/or pledge a contribution. I hope you'll take a look at it:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattmeighan/matt-meighans-new-cd

I've set up some rewards to say thank you for contributions; you can read about them on the site. If I raise my goal of $3,000 by Dec 14, the project will be funded - if I don't reach the goal, no one is charged and the project is canceled.

All pre-orders and donations, large or small, will be much appreciated and will help me get this CD out into the world!

You can also help by forwarding this email to anyone you know who may be interested.

If you're not familiar with kickstarter.com, it's a site to help people raise funds for projects, and is worth checking out in its own right. (If you prefer, you can pre-order or donate the old fashioned way, by sending a check in the mail - Matt Meighan, 5773 N. Commercial Ave, Portland OR 97217).

thanks much,
Matt

6.
from Ed Coletti edcoletti@sbcglobal.net



Hi readers, friends, family, enemies, new and old comers,

Some humor, pathos, politics and philosophy today that I suspect may even prompt a comment or two or fifty.

Enjoy,
Ed Coletti

http://edcolettip3.blogspot.com/

SUBMISSION CALLS

1.
Submission Window for
VoiceCatcher 6 Opens January 15

VoiceCatcher submission deadlines for 2011 are earlier than in previous years. Take note:

Writers: January 15 - February 28, 2011
Artists: March 1 - March 31, 2011

For updated guidelines, go to www.voicecatcher.org.

2.

UPHOOK PRESS seeks well-crafted, energetic, and unexpected poetry for our next anthology. We are open to most contemporary and experimental styles. Send us your best!

UPHOOK PRESS is especially interested in poets who enjoy performing their work. Selected poets will be invited to read in various cities.

Date for submissions is December13th 2010 to February 28th 2011

One to four poems pasted in body of email and sent, together with a short bio and full contact details, to submissions@uphookpress.com. No attachments unless asked for. Please include your name in the subject line. And let us know how you discovered Uphook Press!

No previously published work, translations, haikus, sentimental, or light verse. We suggest you take a look at hell strung and crooked, you say. say.- or come to one of our readings - to see the type of work we are interested in.

Simultaneous submissions are fine if indicated but inform us immediately at editors@uphookpress.com if accepted elsewhere. No multiple submissions.

Poets who have been accepted once by us, feel free to submit again. Poets who have been in two Uphook Press anthologies, we have a “one year break” policy.

United States based poets only please.

http://www.uphookpress.com/

WE LOOK FORWARD TO READING YOUR WORK!

3.

The February 2011 issue of the online poetry magazine Snakeskin, , will be a theme issue on food. Send up to six poems on the topic of food to guest editor Jessy Randall, (replace (at) with @). No previously-published poems. Simultaneous submissions are allowed. No attachments – poems should be in the body of the email. The deadline is December 15.

Sketches from Paper Tiger Coffee Open Mic Poetry Reading on Thursday, November 18 (by Christopher Luna)

Here are some sketches I made of the participants

in last Thursday's open mic poetry reading

at Paper Tiger Coffee in Vancouver, WA,

hosted by Dan Nelson

and featuring Steve Williams

and Constance Hall 

Thanks to Dan, Steve, Constance, Zach,

and all of the open mic readers

for another great night of poetry in the 'Couve!

-Christopher Luna

Dear Gilbert Sorrentino & Other Poems By Jack Lorts available now from Finishing Line Press

A POEM FROM THE BOOK:

(On Dan's cover painting)

Daniel Robinson's Morning View

I know canyons,
tho they be
the other
side the river,
shadows hiding
in distant brown,
a vineyard,
a winery perhaps,
sliding into the river
just west of
where the picture ends.

Shadows reflect
in water
the world beyond the river,
light from the east,
as always,
in early morning—
an arm extending
into the east/west flow,
blocking Siddhartha
who becomes
the distant brown.

A slender palisade
beckons in the distance,
to become one
with the sky,
with the river,
as clouds hide
the brightest blue.

The artist sits
atop Blaylock Ridge
looking across the river,
into distant brown.

Dear Gilbert Sorrentino & Other Poems, by Jack e Lorts will be published by Finishing Line Press March 4, 2011. This is a limited edition collection, priced at $14, plus $1 shipping, and pre-publication sales will determine the press run, so please reserve your copy now. To order, you may mail this completed form, along with payment, to Finishing Line Press at the address below, or you may visit www.finishinglinepress.com and click on "New Releases and Forthcoming Titles"

Please send me ______ copy/copies of Dear Gilbert Sorrentino & Other Poems by Jack e Lorts, for $14.00 each
(Shipping is only $1 per copy!).

Name _____________________________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip Code _________________________________________________________________

Finishing Line Press
PO Box 1626
Georgetown, Kentucky 40324

THE WORK POETRY NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2010

THE WORK POETRY NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER 2010

BY CHRISTOPHER LUNA

My monthly workshop continues on Saturday, November 13. We will listen to spoken word recordings, discuss poetry and the poet’s role in the community, and do some writing together. Let me know if you’d like to speak to a former participant of the workshop to determine whether it would be right for you. The workshop will take place in the newly opened Niche, a wine bar owned and operated by Angst Gallery Director Leah Jackson. Niche is located at 1013 Main, right next door to the gallery. The workshop costs $20 and will take place from noon to 2:30 on Saturday, November 13. Hope to see you there.

Kazim Ali

On November St. Johns Booksellers and I present Kazim Ali, poet and author of a great new book of prose poetry, “Bright Felon.” Joins us at 8622 Lombard at 2pm Sunday, November 21 for what is sure to be a great afternoon of poetry. See item 7 below for more info.

On November 30 I will proudly serve as guest host for surrealist superhero Dan Raphael’s reading at Barnes and Noble in Vancouver. Dan’s reading from his new book, “Impulse and Warp: The Selected 20th Century Poems” will be followed by an open mic. See item 1 below for more info on Dan’s upcoming readings.

Photos of the fire at Mojos and

Cover to Cover Books 

by Olinka Broadfoot 

October 11, 2010

On October 11, just as our monthly open mic poetry reading was about to begin, there was a fire at Mojo’s, the bar and grill next door to Cover to Cover Books. No one was hurt, and much of the bookstore’s inventory was saved; however, it will be several months before Cover to Cover Books (http://covertocoverbooks.net/) will be open for business. Our thoughts are with Mel Sanders, her employees, and her family during this difficult time. We eagerly await our return to the bookstore, but until then the Cover to Cover open mic will be touring the downtown area, visiting a different venue every month. Email me or consult my blog (http://christopherluna-poetry.blogpsot.com/) for updates on our Ghost Town Poetry Tour.

I’d like to thank Leah Jackson for allowing us to use Angst Gallery for October’s reading with Carlos Reyes. I’m proud to report that it was a great evening of poetry, with several new participants including Portland writers Mike G., Bob, and Jeff Ettlin, who entertained us with his hilarious Star Wars poems.

The first stop on our Ghost Town Poetry Tour will be The Stray Gallery, which is located at 1706 Columbia (between 17th and McLoughlin), just two short blocks west of the bookstore. I would like to thank Kori Sayer and Matt LeMieux for opening up their home to us. Because The Stray Gallery is a private residence, it is not handicapped accessible. However, we’d be happy to help people up the two steps that lead into the house.

You may want to bring a folding chair or two, as seating will be limited. Snacks and drinks are also welcome.

As always, the open mic will spotlight one of the area’s best published poets. Our featured reader for November is Penelope Scambly Schott.

Open Mic Poetry hosted by

Christopher Luna

7:00pm Thursday,

November 11, 2010

At a special location

The Stray Gallery

1706 Columbia, Vancouver

(between 17th & McLoughlin)

For more info call 360-910-1066

christopherjluna@gmail.com

Penelope Scambly Schott's newest book Crow Mercies (Calyx Press, $14.95) was awarded the Sarah Lantz Memorial Prize. As one critic wrote, "To read these poems is to fall in love (again) with poetry." Schott's verse biography of Anne Hutchinson, A is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth (Turning Point, $17.00) won the Oregon Book Award for Poetry in 2008. Along with the aforementioned, Schott’s Six Lips (Mayapple Press, $15.95) and Under Taos Mountain: The Terrible Quarrel of Magpie and Tia ($10.00) will also be available for sale at the reading. Anyone who buys one of these books will also receive a copy of a collaborative chapbook. In addition to writing, Penelope grades papers, paints, hikes with her girl gang, and spoils her family, particularly the lovely Ms. Lily Schott Sweetdog.

Excerpt of poem from Six Lips:

from "Counting the Body" section 6:

6. Six Lips

Six lips to sip the sublime,
two for the mouth and four for the vulva,
plump as succulents and shining with dew--
ah youth; ah, time.


Christopher again.

My thanks to Olin Unterwegner, Zachary Gray, Chris Stevens, and the staff at Paper Tiger Coffee and Northwest Shirts for hosting this year’s Culture Control event. Poets Alex Birkett, Jenney Pauer, Rick J., and Dan Nelson shared their well-crafted and thought-provoking words with an appreciative crowd from 5 to 6pm last Saturday. Remember that the art exhibit will be up for the rest of the month, including my apocalyptic tribute to the Godfather of Soul, “The Second Coming of the Sex Machine.” You can also see work by many local artists including Chelsea Rose, Olin Unterwegner, Pablito, and Toni Partington. Congratulations to Olin for a great event—planning and executing an all day concert in two venues is not easy.

I’m very grateful to Kate Dyer-Seeley and the Vancouver Voice for their favorable story on me and my role in the local poetry community. And special thanks to local photography genius Anni Becker for the head shot that accompanies the story: http://www.vanvoice.com/article?articleTitle=%27couv+connections%3a+some+things+are+better+live--1287421254--424


Please read my recent column for Sage Cohen’s “Writing the Life Poetic E-Zine” (link and article in item 9 below). Then take a look at my first review for the newly launched New York Journal of Books: http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/sarah%E2%80%94-fragments-and-lines. There is more info about the website in item 11 below.

St. Mark’s Poetry Project in New York has posted some great audio from some of their recent readings including David Shapiro, Laura Moriarty, my Kerouac School friend Cedar Sigo (see item 10 below for more info on his new book from City Lights), and filmmaker Jonas Mekas’s description of Allen Ginsberg’s death in 1997: http://poetryproject.org/multimedia/audio

Finally, check out “A Monk’s Tale,” Sam Hamill’s account of founding Poets Against the War: http://kagean.blogspot.com/2010/10/monks-tale.html

Smoke and fire won’t stop us
from slinging verbiage,
Christopher Luna

THE WORK

November 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Upcoming readings to celebrate Dan Raphael’s selected poems, “Impulse & Warp” (Vancouver and Portland)

2. The Studio Series Poetry Reading John Morrison and Jessica Lamb + Open Mic Nov. 14 (Portland)

3. Figures of Speech with Penelope Scambly Schott and David Axelrod at 100th Monkey Studios hosted by Steve Williams and Constance Hall Nov. 17/ Looking Glass Critique Group (Portland)

4. Steve Williams and Constance Hall + open mic at Paper Tiger Coffee Nov. 18 (Vancouver)

5. Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen’s upcoming readings to celebrate her new book, “The Voluptuary” (Portland)

6. Break Into Business Writing: A Workshop with Sage Cohen and PDX Writers Nov. 20 at Tabor Space (Portland)

7. Kazim Ali, author of “Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities” at St. Johns Booksellers Nov. 21 (Portland)

8. Moonstruck Chocolate Poetry Reading November 21 (Lake Oswego)

9. “How to Launch an Open Mic Poetry Reading” by Christopher Luna, from Sage Cohen’s “Writing the Life Poetic” E-Zine

10. Three Friends Reading Series is accepting proposals through December 3

11. New York Journal of Books Launch Announcement

12. City Lights Spotlight Series presents a new book by Cedar Sigo

13. Margin L, new poetry by Vernon Frazer

SUBMISSION CALLS

1.



Upcoming readings with Dan Raphael, in celebration of his new book, “Impulse & Warp: The Selected 20th Century Poems:”

Wednesday, 11/10, 7:00 @ Milwaukie Library’s pond house, just Dan reading for 45 minutes or so, followed by Q and A/discussion.

Tuesday, 11/30 7:00 @ Barnes and Noble Vancouver (7700 NE Fourth Plain Blvd., 98662)

Dan Raphael + open mic with guest host Christopher Luna

Barnes and Noble emcee Shawn Sorensen’s announcement: Barnes & Noble Vancouver is honored to host open mic icon DAN RAPHAEL for its last Tuesdays monthly Poetry Group. Poetry Northwest magazine voted Raphael one of the top 150 poets in Oregon's history. Come see why and read your own work during our open mic portion of the evening. Order Raphael's new greatest hits collection Impulse & Warp: Selected 20th Century Poems at www.bn.com or at the info. desk in the middle of our bookstore at least a week before the event. Barnes & Noble Poetry Group, Nov. 30th, 7-8:30 pm, 7700 NE Fourth Plain Blvd., 98662; more info. from regular host Shawn Sorensen, who will be at the 11/30 event: crm2679@bn.com. Special guest host: Christopher Luna.

2.
The Studio Series
Poetry Reading and Open Mic

This month, the Studio Series will feature
John Morrison and Jessica Lamb - see bios below

Sunday, November 14
7-9 pm
Stonehenge Studios
3508 SW Corbett Avenue, Portland 97239

Free and open to the public, The Studio Series is held monthly on second Sundays. For more information, please contact organizer and host Leah Stenson at leahstenson@comcast.net

3.
From Steve Williams and Constance Hall:

Our critique group meetings will be November 14th and December 12th, both at 5 p.m. at Looking Glass Books. Bring yourself and 8-10 copies of a poem.

On November 17th, we have Penelope Scambly Schott and David Axelrod at the Figures of Speech reading in the 100th Monkey Studio located at 110 SE 16th. Festivities start at 7 p.m. More info at www.figuresofspeechpdx.wordpress.com/about

The next evening (November 18th), Constance and I will be featured readers as a duo at a reading in Vancouver. The location is Paper Tiger coffee shop at 7 p.m. Address is 703 Grand Blvd. Directions and map available by clicking the above link 'paper tiger.' This is a well attended reading so come early to get a chair. :)

Our hearts go out to Mel at Cover to Cover books in Downtown Vancouver who is closed due to a fire in the restaurant next to her store. Chris Luna has up to date info. on the situation and where he will be moving his reading until Mel can get open again. Our last info. is that insurance is helping her out and she will be able to salvage 70% of her inventory. However, the process of cleaning the smoke out of books is not quick, plus the building needs repairs. The last estimate we heard is the store will re-open in Feb-March, 2011.

all for now

warmly,
s and c

4.
From Daniel Nelson

Welcome back, poetry fans,
Thanks to all the folks who promoted or attended last month's Poetry Night. It was a rousing success with a great time had by all. Special gratitude goes out to Ric Vrana for his inspired verse on being a not so ugly American in Central America, which made me want to buy a plane ticket south.

This month's 3rd Thursday, November 25th, at 7pm at Paper Tiger, 703 Grand Blvd in Vancouver, (between Evergreen and Mill Plain about a mile east of I-5) we will be featuring the dynamic duo of Constance Hall and Steve Williams. Steve lives and works in Portland, Oregon with a lovely woman who writes and edits much better than he, but refuses to admit it. Together they do literary community work for VoiceCatcher, OSPA, their own reading series (www.figuresofspeechpdx.wordpress.com), and a creative writing class as Regency Park Assisted Living Center. His chapbook, Skin Stretched Around the Hollow, was published by Rattlesnake press in 2007. You can find his work online at Stirring, Rose and Thorn, and most recently, two contest winning poems at www.scratchcontest.net. In addition, they own and operate an online critique forum at www.wildpoetryforum.com which has been operating with a world-wide membership since 1998.

Constance Hall writes under the penname M. Her work has appeared in Rattle, Harpur Palate, Pedestal, The Dirty Napkin, Babelfruit, and others – and will appear again in the Winter 2010 issue of Rattle. She has served for over a decade as an Associate Poetry Editor for an online poetry journal called Stirring: A Literary Collection. In addition, she’s an Administrator of an online poetry critique forum; Co-Chair of the Portland Unit of the Oregon State Poetry Association; Co-host of a monthly reading series/open mic called Figures of Speech; and Managing Editor/Board Member for VoiceCatcher, a non-profit collective that produces an annual anthology of Portland/Vancouver area women’s prose, poetry, and artwork.

Hope you will all join us and bring something to read during our open mic section showcasing the talents of some of the finest poets in the NW. Come on out an partake of great beverages and great minds. Here is a poem by M which will require any lover of great verse to attend our gathering to hear more.

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

Salt
by M

In this room down a hall
at the Hopewell House
every Wednesday
from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.,
the widowed have agreed to meet
to lick the salt block.
My name tag reads
Albino deer (recessive rarity): widow at 35.
Dun-colored Helen and Marie
mistake me for a sheep or a goat
as we draw our chairs into a circle
of circumstance. Muscles in their aged faces
twitch with the greed of suspicion.
In the larger world,
Jean and I would sit in adjoining streetcar seats,
read our newspapers,
and never share a headline.
Even Doris, who drags the remains
of a personal god at the bottom
of her purse, tucked next to non-prescription
reading glasses she bought on sale at Walmart,
shrinks from my pink eyes.
Louise has ten grandchildren,
three she and Harry were raising
because her daughter is, well, you know,
she doesn’t want to say. She won’t tell you either
that when Harry up and died like that,
some small part of her wished
he’d had the decency to take those kids with him,
but he never even took them to the park.
Betty lost a husband and found
a lump. Elsie says when the ambulance
comes to the Ridgewood Nursing Home,
they don’t turn on the sirens
for fear they’ll incite a riot
of dying. Ida says yeah, she knows.
She’s lost two of them that way. I nod.
Judith’s raised eyebrow asks
What could one with hooves so pale know of loss?
A marriage must be long
to be 40-years deep,
and grief is a black market business
best kept to themselves. If I taste it,
others will want it.
Young bucks will be dying in droves.
In war, in the streets,
in flaming buildings.
Or quietly in a bed next to me at night.
That sting in the wound, that particular tang
on the tongue, are theirs.
Keep me away from the salt.
Their old ones are sanctified,
their sorrow is sacred,
denial alive in the hide.

© 2009 M
Featured in the Winter 2009 issue of Rattle, Issue #32

5.
From Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen

My latest book of poems, THE VOLUPTUARY, has arrived from Lost Horse Press, and I'm set to give some readings to help launch it.

I hope you can come to one of these. Christine Holbert---the Lost Horse Press publisher, editor, and book designer---has made a beautiful home for these poems dedicated to Walt Whitman and my parents, Grace and Paul Whitman. (Yes, my birth name is Whitman...........)

I do hope one of these readings will find a spot on your busy fall calendar.

POWELL'S on Burnside
Thursday, November 18th, 7:30 pm

ANNIE BLOOM'S
Monday, November 22nd, 7:30 pm

BROADWAY BOOKS
Tuesday, November 23rd, 7 pm

LOOKING GLASS
Thursday, December 2nd, 7 pm

And please, as you think about shopping for gifts this holiday season, remember to support our local independent book stores. Recently, I've been buying book store gift certificates to give as gifts. As much as I like picking out a book for a friend, I also like the idea of that friend being able to make his or her own pick from the treasures our book sellers have on hand.

All the best,
Paulann

6.
Break Into Business Writing: A Workshop with Sage Cohen and PDX Writers

You can write for love AND for money--and each type of writing can benefit the other! This workshop for writers of all genres will offer all of the basics for how to get started as a copywriter--from finding clients to establishing a scope of practice to setting prices to building long-term relationships. Through a series of guided exercises, you'll plant the first seeds of your copywriting future and prepare for next steps. You'll leave informed about what it takes to break into copywriting for businesses and inspired to get started.

Date/Time: Saturday, November 20, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $40.
Location: TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont, Portland, Oregon

Learn more:
http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/10/break-into-business-writing-boost-your-income-and-creativity.html

Register:
https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e31hn0a6bc90168d&oseq=

7.

Kazim Ali, poet and author of

“Bright Felon: Autobniography and Cities”

2pm
Sunday, November 21

St. Johns Booksellers

8622 N. LOMBARD ST., PORTLAND

Contact:

Christopher Luna 360-910-1066

Nena Rawdah 503-283-0032



Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities

This groundbreaking transgenre work—part detective story, part literary memoir, part imagined past—is intensely autobiographical and confessional. Proceeding sentence by sentence, city by city, and backwards in time, poet and essayist Kazim Ali details the struggle of coming of age between cultures, and overcoming personal and family strictures. The text is comprised of sentences that alternate in time, ranging from discursive essay to memoir to prose poetry. Art, history, politics, geography, love, sexuality, writing, and religion, and the role silence plays in each, are its interwoven themes. Bright Felon is literally “autobiography” because the text itself becomes a form of writing the life, revealing secrets, and then, amid the shards and fragments of experience, dealing with the aftermath of such revelations. Bright Felon offers a new and active form of autobiography alongside such texts as Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee, Lyn Hejinian’s My Life, and Etel Adnan’s In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country.

Bio: Kazim Ali is the author of two books of poetry, The Far Mosque (Alice James Books), winner of Alice James Books' New England/New York Award, and The Fortieth Day (BOA Editions, 2008).


He is also the author of the novel Quinn’s Passage (blazeVox books), named one of "The Best Books of 2005" by Chronogram magazine;The Disappearance of Seth (Etruscan Press, 2009); Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities (Wesleyan University Press, 2009); and Orange Alert: Essays on Poetry, Art and the Architecture of Silence (University of Michigan Press, 2010).

He is an assistant professor of Creative Writing at Oberlin College and teaches in the low-residency MFA program of the University of Southern Maine. His work has been featured in many national journals such as Best American Poetry 2007, American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Barrow Street, jubilat and Massachusetts Review. He teaches at Oberlin College and the Stonecoast MFA program and is a founding editor of Nightboat Books.

http://www.kazimali.com/
http://www.youtube.com/PoetryisNews

Praise for Bright Felon

“Bright Felon will steal your heart and outrage your poetics. Part memoir, part trip book, part literary discourse, there is in it an urgent sense of a life lived in words. The tale is one of both innocence and experience. Rigorous, romantic, experimental, true, and yet mysterious, it is a book for the ages.”
—Laura Moriarty

“Kazim Ali writes in Bright Felon a prose shaped by the various cities he has lived and loved in. This is a book that it so much more than memoir or autobiography. It is embodied and questioning and it carries through its politics a grace and generosity."
—Juliana Spahr

8.
GIVING THANKS THROUGH WORDS

On Sunday, November 21 at 6:30 PM, four local authors will read from their manuscripts or books of poetry at Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe, 45 S. State Street in downtown Lake Oswego.

Featured are Greg Chaimov, author of EVERYTHING IS WATER, Vincent Fitzgerald, author of BATHLESS, Noel Hanlon, author of BLUE ABUNDANCE, and Shelley Reece, previous English department chairperson and editor of FIREWEED.

The program is hosted by Joan Maiers, writing instructor at Marylhurst University.

The program is free and open to the public.

Proceeds from Vince Fitzgerald's book will be donated to the local Parkinson's Resource Group.

Arriving by 6 PM is recommended for prompt beverage service and best seating.

9.
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs010/1100476723030/archive/1103754989972.html

How to Launch an Open Mic Poetry Reading
By Christopher Luna

Christopher Luna

in David Madgalene's film

"Cities of the Dead"

Don't know if your community is welcoming to the arts? Not sure how to discover who the likeminded folks are? One good way to find out is by creating an event which provides a space for poets to share their work.

When I founded my open mic poetry reading at Ice Cream Renaissance in late 2004, I was new to Vancouver, Washington. Although the series was well attended from the beginning, it took a few years before the larger community was aware of our existence. I moved the reading to Cover to Cover Books in January 2007, and things really took off.

Today, we consistently draw between 20 and 40 people every month. I have a loyal group of regulars, and draw new readers every month. Nearly every month I have the great privilege of introducing people who are reading their poetry in public for the first time. We also have about half-a-dozen people who come just to listen. This is particularly gratifying; it is often very difficult to convince non-writers to attend a poetry reading. With the support of the community, the Cover to Cover open mic is a successful series that continues to evolve.

Most of the work one has to do to create such an event takes place at the beginning of the process. Dr. Timothy Leary wrote of the importance of "set and setting" when embarking on a psychedelic exploration. Similarly, a poetry reading has the potential to expand one's consciousness and alter one's mood. Think about the tone you would like to set. What kind of atmosphere would you like to create? Will there be a time limit for each reader? Will each reading have a theme? Will you invite featured readers to present their work?

If you do not have a space of your own that would be suitable for a poetry reading, you must do a bit of research to find a venue. It is important to discuss your philosophy about the types of people and writing that may be featured with the owner of the space--because you don't want to waste a lot of time and energy planning an event for a business that does not share your perspective.

Once you have found a venue, you must decide how often the reading will take place. Do your best to choose a date that does not conflict with another reading in town. In my experience, monthly readings have more staying power than weekly readings, for a variety of reasons, one of the most important being that they're less exhausting for the organizer.

Also, open mics attract both experienced readers as well as new writers, and most people do not write fast enough to have new poems every week. This can lead weekly events to become boring or repetitive. With effective publicity and good word of mouth, a monthly reading can become a special event that people will look forward to all month.

Once you know where and when the event will take place, begin getting the word out. Create a blog or website for the event. Make postcards and flyers. Begin building a list of people who would like to receive email notices of such events; invite everyone who attends to sign up for future announcements. Research the local press and make a list of email addresses of newspaper and magazine writers and editors. Then keep in touch regularly with pertinent news about your events.

A poetry reading is a bit like tending a garden. You plant a seed, nurture it, and watch it grow.

* * * * *
Christopher Luna is a poet, editor, artist, teacher, and graduate of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Publications include Cadillac Cicatrix, eye-rhyme, Exquisite Corpse, and the @tached document. Chapbooks include tributes and ruminations, On the Beam (with David Madgalene), and Sketches for a Paranoid Picture Book on Memory. GHOST TOWN, USA, which features poems and observations of Vancouver, WA, is available through Cover to Cover Books and Angst Gallery, or from the author.

Email: christopherjluna@gmail.com
Blog: www.christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com

10.
From Melissa Sillitoe:

Hi boys and girls,

Good grief...it's already time to think about Winter Semester even as we continue to dream up love poems under Autumn leave and to write inspiring election-y lyrics. But hey, you've performed on our small yet sufficient stage before, and we haven't forgotten you.

As you know, all of us at Show and Tell are artists and volunteers who love to provide an informal and nurturing forum for emerging beginners, seasoned amateurs and consummate professionals alike. We produce events that are collaborative, affordable, unpretentious; we like events that mix poetry or prose with music and other mediums. We’re about art, caffeine, community and good times. We’ve created a huge archive of local artists performances.

And here's your chance to submit to Portland's only invite-yourself invited series. And here's the Three Friends Mondays format: You and two creative friends have 60 minutes to perform poems, stories, songs, etc. We provide a basic sound set-up and we podcast any original material. The stage is small, but it’s big enough to hold three performers, if needed. Three Friends Coffee House holds about 50 people.

Show and Tell Gallery is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit that is run by unpaid volunteers. Any money we bring in through donations or grants is spent on web hosting, publicity and batteries.

Show and Tell Gallery wants to be as inclusive as possible – we welcome all genres and mediums. You can say anything you want on our stage, as long as your words are not hateful towards any persons or groups of people. You can play any music you like, but please be aware that this small venue has a chill SE vibe.

We are interested from hearing from poets, short story writers, slam poets, musicians of all stripes, dancers, actors… however you call what it is that you do.

We are especially interested in booking shows that have a collaborative theme, such as poets and musicians who create something together, or perform some of the set as a pair or trio.

To apply: please tell us about you and your two chosen creative collaborators and how you plan to spend your 60 minutes of performance time. You’re encouraged to include links to your blog, band page, or include poems in the submission line. Email your proposal to showandtellevents@gmail.com – The deadline for January and February 2010 dates is Friday, December 3.

If your proposal is accepted, please be prepared to provide photos and biographical material for us to include in the website listing for your event.

We look forward to hearing from you, and meanwhile have fun making your art!

Hugs,
Melissa, Luke, Nikia, Christine and Wayne
Show and Tell Gallery

11.
new york journal of books
http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/

New York Journal of Books Launches to Fill a Gap

New York, NY, October 11, 2010 — Book lovers everywhere now have an exciting new resource for book reviews they can trust. The New York Journal of Books (www.nyjournalofbooks.com) launched on October 6 to meet the need for original online reviews of the same quality as disappearing print reviews.

“We intend to fill the gap that has resulted from the contraction, and in some cases the total elimination, of esteemed print book reviews,” says founder Ted Sturtz. “Unrestrained by page counts and printing costs, we are dedicated to delivering the most comprehensive detailed book reviews in North America written by credentialed reviewers whose knowledge, insight, voice, and measure of the written word permeate our book profiles.”

Thanks to the broad expertise of the NYJB’s team of reviewers, the free site features an eclectic selection of titles sourced from independent publishers as well as imprints of the largest publishers. To help readers make their book selections, reviews are enhanced with rich media, such as video, audio and book browsing.

Visitors to NYJB will also enjoy the immediacy possible only online. Going forward, reviews will be posted at midnight on the date a book is released. When users discover books they want to read, they’ll find that the ability to purchase is conveniently a click away for a truly one-stop experience.

NYJB Publisher, Lisa Rojany Buccieri, author of more than 100 books for children and young adults, lead author of Writing Children's Books for Dummies, and owner of Editorial Services of Los Angeles, noted “fierce attention to the editing and new reviewer selection process will ensure that, as the volume of reviews grows, the quality of reviews will be maintained.” She added, “At the same time, we also take great joy in the panorama of reviewers on our panel and their truly unique voices. They don’t simply judge books. They engage, inform, and even entertain our readers.”

Advertisers on the site have the choice of appearing on major landing pages to reach a broad audience, or appearing in specific genres (for example, romance or military) that reach a highly targeted demographic or enthusiasts and professionals (for example, cooking, wine, or technology).

For more info: media@nyjournalobooks.com

About NYJB Reviewers

Our more than 130 credentialed reviewers have published: 4,000+ book reviews, 500+ books, 500+ short stories, 20,000+ articles, 12+ screenplays and 24+ plays. They have received more than 75 literary and professional awards.

Meet a few:

• Kenneth Allard is a former army colonel, West Point faculty member and dean of the National War College. For almost a decade, he served as an on-air military analyst with NBC News and is the author of four books and an occasional contributor to The Daily Beast.

• Dorothy Seymour Mills is the author of Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession with Its History, Numbers, People and Places (McFarland, 2010). Her late husband was the acclaimed author of many baseball history titles, yet it was recently revealed that Dorothy was the actual author of much of the content of those books. As a result, Oxford University Press, for the first time in its history, changed the attribution of a scholarly work (actually three of them) to include Dorothy's name as an author.

• Andrew Rosenbaum has been a journalist for twenty years at Euromoney, Time, MSN Money, covering politics, business, and finance. He currently resides in France

• Jon Land is the bestselling author of dozens of books in the crime/thriller genre, including The Seven Sins, Strong Enough to Die and Strong Justice.

• Pól Ó Conghaile is a travel writer based in Ireland who has published in CondeNet, Guardian/Observer, Irish Independent, The Globe & Mail (Canada), The Irish Echo (US), Village Magazine and others. He has three times been named Irish Travel Journalist of the Year.

• Lezlie Patterson, is a syndicated romance novel reviewer for McClatchy newspapers.

• Vinton McCabe is the author of seven works of nonfiction on the subject of health and healing, including the now-standard tome Practical Homeopathy, The Healing Enigma, and most recently, The Healing Echo.

12.
The City Lights Spotlight Series is proud to announce the release of

Stranger in Town

by Cedar Sigo

Redolent of John Wieners, Philip Whalen, and Philip Lamantia, Stranger in Town is the second coming of the SF Renaissance.

SERIOUSLY UNDERDRESSED

by Cedar Sigo

Acid washed

Jeans, bitten down

Fingernails, I’ve been

Uptight all

This week wishing

Invisibility,

Scented tissue

I can tease

Into flowers, same

As ever My heart-
shaped collapsible

Locket is still

Missing & I miss

Wearing it open,

I remember a black

Fog inside so

Combed through, trapped

And willingly

Shining me on
 
"In this new century, there is without doubt further territory for poetry to enter into, and Sigo embraces what is currently available and holds out an offering for the future." —Patrick Dunagan

"Themes of love, ecstasy, darkness, and light are wrestled away from sentimental tourists and into the arms of Cedar Sigo, resident genius of this rare, honest romance." —Lisa Jarnot

"A reality made of poetry is all one could ask for, and here it is-created of skillful, elegant, lyric moments and lines." —Joanne Kyger

ISBN-13: 9780872865365
List Price $13.95
Buy it online for 30% off the cover price at www.citylights.com

13.
Margin L, poetry by Vernon Frazer: http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/margin-l/13042003

"“The roots of Vernon Frazer's textual poetry lie as much in the free jazz of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor and their successors as they do in language-centered poetry, Surrealism, Dada and abstract expressionism. In Margin L, Frazer's words and concepts play over the page until they create a sense that something has happened during each poem’s movement. The poems, however, leave their interpretation of what precisely has happened up to the reader.”

Featured writer in Counterexample Poetics: http://www.counterexamplepoetics.com/2010/10/vernon-frazer-featured-artist.html

BELLICOSE WARBLING blog update: NEW WORK, EBOOKS AND FELINO SORIANO

Portions of Conversational Assemblies by Felino Soriano. Highly recommended:
http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/portions-of-conversational-assemblies/12105086

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SUBMISSION CALLS

1.
Raft, a new spoken-word literary journal, is now online, at: www.raftmagazineonline.com Issue 1 features new work from: Scott Abels Niamh Bagnell Susan Powers Bourne Ric Carfagna Jan Carson Joel Chace Arkava Das Mark DuCharme Iris Jamahl Dunkle Bonnie Emerick Michael Farrell Adam Fieled Thomas Fink Vernon Frazer R. Jess Lavolette David Mohan Debrah Morkun Paul Nelson Francis Raven Chad Scheel Sam Schild Brian Seabolt Adam Strauss Mark Stricker Samuel Day Wharton Karena Youtz Raft is currently accepting new work for issue 2 (deadline: December 16, 2010). Best– Brian Seabolt Raft Magazine http://www.raftmagazineonline.com/

2.
Circlet Press is seeking submissions for its new ebook anthology LIKE A CUNNING PLAN, erotic trickster tales, edited by Michael M. Jones.http://www.circlet.com/?p=1670#more-1670

Everyone loves a good trickster, and every culture has that one guy/gal/deity who insists on breaking the rules, challenging expectations, pushing boundaries, and questioning social mores. Coyote. Puck. Loki. Heyoka. Anansi. Odysseus. Bugs Bunny. Relying on their wits and the foolishness of others, they’re often amoral, capricious, and whimsical, pursuing their own goals no matter what the cost to themselves or others and crossing boundaries that no one else would dare to. So what happens when a trickster decides to have a little carnal fun? Will it be a good-natured romp in the hay, or will someone get their come-uppance? Will they get away scot-free, or will someone learn a valuable lesson? Make it interesting, playful, thoughtful, and above all, sexy. Choose an established trickster, or make one up, retell an old favorite tale or tell us a new one for the modern era. Just make sure you’re not the one being tricked!

It’s all about well-played tricks, cunning plans, disguises and fast talk, lies and half-truths. It’s about having fun and occasionally outwitting oneself. It’s about wondering what the hell just happened, but realizing you had a good time. Stories will be inspected for that subtle ‘heart’ that makes a trickster tale more than an asshole getting his way. In the best Circlet tradition, stories will be sex-positive and open to all sexualities and genders. Trickster is, after all, voracious and omnisexual and open to experimentation (or to having the tables turned on him/her/them).

Submission Details:
Deadline for submission is December 15th. Our preferred length is approximately 3500 to 7500 words, but we will consider the range from 2000 to 10,000 words. All submissions must be made via email to Michael M. Jones at the following address: Tricksterantho@gmail.com

More details: Submissions sent to other addresses/other editors at Circlet Press will not be considered. Standard manuscript formatting rules apply even though sending as an attachment (MS Word .doc or .rtf preferred). Please note that this means your name, address, and email contact must appear on the manuscript itself and not simply in your email message. (If you’re not sure what standard short story manuscript submission format should look like, Google is your friend.)

No simultaneous submissions (that is, don’t also send your story elsewhere at the same time, and don’t send it to multiple Circlet editors, either), and no multiple submissions to the same book. One story per author per anthology, thanks.

All stories must include explicit sexuality and erotic focus. Romantic content is welcome, but in a short story remember to keep the details on the action and its effects on the main character’s internal point of view. Whether first person or third person, a strong, singular narrative voice is our preference (no ‘head hopping’ or swapping points of view within scene).

For more details on our editorial preferences, see the general submission guidelines on circlet.com. We highly recommend reading the guidelines, especially the “do not send” list, to increase your chances of sending us something we’ll love. Try to avoid cliches. Fresh and direct language is preferred to overly euphemistic. Sex-positive, please, no rape/nonconsensuality/ necrophilia or other purposefully gross topics. We do not publish horror. Originals only, no reprints. We purchase first rights for inclusion in the ebook anthology for $25, with the additional rights to a print edition later which would also be paid $25 if a print edition happens. Authors retain the rights to the individual stories; Circlet exercises rights to the anthology as a whole.

3.
The February 2011 issue of the online poetry magazine Snakeskin, , will be a theme issue on food. Send up to six poems on the topic of food to guest editor Jessy Randall, (replace (at) with @). No previously-published poems. Simultaneous submissions are allowed. No attachments – poems should be in the body of the email. The deadline is December 15.