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.