GHOST TOWN POETRY OPEN MIC
HOSTED BY CHRISTOPHER LUNA
AND TONI PARTINGTON
at COVER TO COVER BOOKS
7pm Thursday, July 14
and every second Thursday
COVER TO COVER BOOKS
6300 NE St. James Rd., Suite 104B
(St. James & Minnehaha)
Vancouver, WA
360-993-7777
all ages & uncensored since 2004
With our featured reader, Tommy Gaffney:
Tommy Gaffney
Photo by John Hogl
Tommy Gaffney was born and raised in Kentucky, somewhere between the projects and the trailer parks. He is the author of two collections of poetry and prose, Whiskey Days (2010) and Three Beers from Oblivion (2006). His work has appeared in such anthologies as The Night Bomb Review, The Drunk Poets Society Anthology; Volume 2 and The Broken Word Anthology; Volumes 1 & 2. He has performed at the Insomniacathon, Wordstock, Columbia Gorge Community College, KBOO radio, and hosted the annual Artists Night Out Spoken Word Festival at Artists Repertory Theater. In 2010, Tommy was nominated for the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Gaffney's favorite colors are John Deere Green and Joey Ramone Black. Nowadays, you can often find him wandering the streets of Portland, Oregon.
Banshee Time
by Tommy GaffneyHead for cover right around banshee time.
Dusk comes about like a fattened bottom lip,pouting.
The willows pull in their ears
while lightning bugs hunt down
little kids to taunt.
Sonnets crawl into the dog-houses out back,
boarding spiders and prey
now that the half-breeds are dead.
It’s hard to feel brave in open fields,
no corner to back yourself into.
If genes were balls,
maybe I’d be tougher by now
instead of scared of the dark.
Harrods Creek pulls down its blinds.
The county locks away the mowers for the night
while bluegrass winks at cartographers.
Crickets clear their throat
and banshees tip-toe the starting line.
