Happy New Year!
Here’s to a 2011 that’s filled with love, laughter, and learning. As we leave 2010 behind, I am grateful to my community, which has supported, nurtured, and inspired each other through a multitude of events, happenings, and new creations. I am also fortunate to live in a community in which the spirit of collaboration is alive and well. So I look forward to working with many of you as the new year progresses.
In December, I was humbled by local art maven Leah Jackson’s announcement that she was declaring me to be her poet laureate.
Here is an announcement about my new position from the Vancouver Voice: http://www.vanvoice.com/article?articleTitle=laureate+luna--1291668880--562&ref=RlJPTXtBcnRpY2xlOkNhdGVnb3J5UG9zdEJyb3dzZXJ9VE97QXJ0aWNsZTpDYXRlZ29yeVZpZXdlcn1NRVNTQUdFe2FydGljbGVDYXRlZ29yeT13b3Jkc30=
Jackson has charged me with developing several projects to serve the community, beginning with a contest seeking submissions for lines of poetry to be printed on a limited edition set of coasters for Niche.
Here are the submission guidelines which are very simple:
Please submit no more than 5 lines of poetry (excerpts are OK) by February 1.
Include contact info and a one-line bio.
Leah, Toni, and I will choose ten winners from the submissions we receive to be printed on her coasters. Each winner will receive a set of the coasters and the glory of knowing that their work will be read as someone engages in some serious merriment. Later this year the winners will also be invited to read their winning entries to an adoring crowd at Niche.
If you have never been to Niche, and would like to get a sense of the atmosphere so that your poem can reflect that, stop in for a drink. I think you will find that there is no place like it in town. The bar is located at 1013 Main Street, right next door to Angst. Both are just north of the historic Kiggins Theatre.
Another way to get a sense of what Niche is like is to join me there next Saturday, January 8 for my monthly workshop entitled, like this newsletter, “The Work.” Bring a poem to share. We will listen to and discuss various poets, and you will be given several opportunities to generate new work based on prompts inspired by the poems we read and hear. One theme of this workshop has always been the poet’s role in society, and so it is likely that we will talk about how we fit into this community. The workshop begins at noon and ends around 2:30. The cost is $20.
Please take a look at this announcement from local poet Darlene Pagan about her soon-to-be-released chapbook, and consider helping her increase her pre-sales before the 14th:
“Darlene Pagán’s chapbook, Blue Ghosts, is being published in March 2011 with Finishing Line Press (http://www.finishinglinepress.com/NewReleasesandForthcomingTitles.htm). From a mother dealing with a sick child to the visage of a roadside altar with fresh roses year round for nearly a decade, the poems point to empathy and love as the weights to balance loss. The final press run number is tied to the number of pre-sales before January 14th so buy now to support local poetry.”
Charles Olson
Charles Olson’s “Projective Verse” essay completely changed the way that I approach composing poetry. I respect Olson for so many reasons, and one of those is The Maximus Poems, an epic investigative poem that he spent much of his life creating. On the afternoon of January 14, I will be among those who will celebrate the centennial of Olson’s birth with a marathon reading of The Maximus Poems. See item 4 for more details.
William Stafford
I am proud to be hosting a special reading in honor of William Stafford at the Vancouver Library on January 22. We will be joined by Oregon Poet Laureate and Friend of William Stafford Paulann Petersen, FWS Board member Arnie Dyer, and Dorothy Stafford, the wife of the late William Stafford. The program will also include a showing of Every War has Two Losers, a film about Stafford’s peace work. See item 8 for more details. Item 8 also includes an announcement for the Stafford reading at Vancouver Barnes and Noble on January 25. Send me an email if you would like to see the full schedule of Stafford events.
The Ghost Town Poetry Tour continues with a very exciting reading to celebrate the poetry of Richard Brautigan. The Clark County Historical Museum (CCHM) has graciously agreed to open its doors to us so that we can continue on with our monthly series and have a look at their wonderful exhibit, “Autumn Trout Gathering.” We will also have a presentation by WSU-Vancouver professor John W. Barber, a friend of Brautigan’s who is also the curator of www.brautigan.net, an astonishingly thorough website dedicated to Brautigan’s life and work. See item 2 for more information.
We hope to see you there:
CELEBRATE THE POET
RICHARD BRAUTIGAN
Open Mic Poetry
hosted by Christopher Luna
7:00-9:30pm Thursday,
January 13, 2011
At a special location
Clark County Historical Museum
1511 Main St.
Vancouver, WA
360-993-5679For more info contact: christopherjluna@gmail.com
http:// www.cchmuseum.org
Although admission to the reading is free, all in attendance are encouraged 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.
Finally, thanks to everyone who attended last month’s wonderful reading at Niche to celebrate the launch of VoiceCatcher 5, an annual anthology dedicated to writing and art by Northwest women. I am also grateful to the members of the collective who attended the event, and to VoiceCatcher co-editor Toni Partington for hosting this part of our monthly open mic event. Also a big thank you to Leah Jackson for allowing us to use the bar for our event. VoiceCatcher’s submission window is now open. See the submission calls at the end of this newsletter for more details.
Spread the word far and wide in 2011,
Christopher Luna
THE WORK
JANUARY 2011
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. VOX A Spoken Word chorus for William Stafford at Stonehenge Studios (Portland, OR) January 9
2. Richard Brautigan reading + open mic at the Clark County Historical Museum (Vancouver, WA) January 13
3. Dirty Queer Open Mic January 14
4. A marathon reading of Charles Olson's The Maximus Poems (Portland) January 14-16
5. Schedule for winter's literary arts courses at Multnomah Arts Center (Portland)
6. Cindy Williams Gutierrez and Dave Jarecki + open mic at Figures of Speech January 18
7. Rick J. + open mic at Paper Tiger Coffee (Vancouver) January 20
8. William Stafford Reading at the Vancouver Community Library January 22/William Stafford Reading with Don Colburn and Jon Seaman + open mic Vancouver Barnes and Noble January 25
1.
VOX: A Spoken Word Chorus
In celebration of William Stafford's birthday month
The Studio Series:
Poetry Reading and Open Mic
This month's reading will feature VOX: A Spoken Word Chorus, directed by Eric Hull. In celebration of William Stafford's birthday month, VOX will perform poetry by Stafford and audience members are invited to share his poems at the open mic.
Director Eric Hull on VOX: I started VOX about three years ago. Since then we have given 7 concerts and more than 40 performances. I want explore the way poetry sounds. I am not a musician or a singer. I am a talker. I try to put the most stimulating words I can find together with the most engaging voices I can find and listen to see what comes from it. I hope that my exploration of poems is sometimes like an exploded-view drawing of an engine, one in which you see all the parts and how they fit together to do what the machine needs to do.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
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 additional information please contact host and organizer Leah Stenson at leahstenson@comcast.net.
2.
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.
3.
from Dirty Queer Open Mic
info@dirtyqueer.com
January 14th is the dirty queer 4 year anniversary!
this month:
it's our anniversary!!! four beautiful, sexy, smart, brave, loving, creative, resourceful years ... and many more to come.
we've got a special format for the anniversary celebration:
6-7 is open mic
7-7:30 is intermission (with tasty treats!)
7:30-8:30 is more open mic
9-11 is photobooth and dance party
sign ups will start at 5:30, and i *highly* encourage you to use not only your words, but also your dance moves, your improv, your gender performance, your secret magic skills and more. c'mon, portland, show me what you've got hidden under those layers of creativity and perversion ...
we had over 233 people last year for the anniversary, and these days we're averaging 120+ for the events, so come early if you want to sit down!
we'll have tasty treats at intermission from new seasons, vergnetti's coffee, yogio, dog house pdx, urban grind and flying pie pizza!
http://www.newseasonsmarket.com/
http://www.vergnettiscoffee.com/
http://yogio.weebly.com/
http://thedoghousepdx.weebly.com/
http://urbangrindcoffee.com/
http://www.flying-pie.com/
and, if you'd like to feed your fellow freaks, show off your hot(pad) skills, or otherwise tempt the tastebuds of a roomful of dirty queers, please feel free to bring along some food to share. all food will be served at intermission, and we've no way to heat or cool it, so keep that in mind, please. (labeling things would also be cool.)
door prizes from mint/820, the grilled cheese grill, she bop and belinda carroll comedyl!
http://www.mintand820.com/
http://www.grilledcheesegrill.com/
http://www.sheboptheshop.com/
http://www.belindacarrollcomedy.com/
sex q&a about heather corinna
boot blacking by scout, the 2010 nw community boot black title holder
dirty queer buttons and 'hand to mouth' cd's for sale
special additions this year: photobooth by bloodhound photography, and a dance party w/ dj dreck wolf!
Get caught in the legendary Bloodhound Photobooth and let local photographer Ally Picard make you look like the gorgeous creatures you are. Dreck Wolf is a junglist and speakerfreak at heart and loves bass, bass and more bass. Count on Dreck Wolf to hit you with villainous beats of bmore, sissy bounce and gay crunk as well as old-school, underground and world hiphop of all genres...in short, everything you need to leave your ass on the floor!
http://www.bloodhoundphotography.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bloodhound-the-Wolf/143098259057210?ref=ts
as always, the money from the door at dirty queer goes to support in other words - the nation's last surviving non-profit feminist bookstore in the united states. show your support for this vital resource center however you can, and get involved!
http://www.inotherwords.org/
sign ups for the open mic will be first come, first serve as always - we may not be able to get to everyone on the list if we run out of time.
4.
From James Yeary and David Abel:
A marathon reading of Charles Olson's The Maximus Poems
Dear friends,
On January 14th, 15th and 16th of 2011, in commemoration of his 100th birthday, Spare Room in Portland, Oregon, will host a three-day marathon reading of Charles Olson's book-length epic, The Maximus Poems. We will read Volume 1 on the 14th, the second volume (IV, V, VI) on the 15th, and Volume 3 on the 16th.
Olson centennial events and conferences have also been held this year in Vancouver, British Columbia; Gloucester, Massachusetts; and Buffalo, New York. Olson was a teacher at Black Mountain College, the experimental arts school which also counted John Cage, Robert Creeley, and Robert Rauschenberg among its teachers and students.
Readers include: Jesse Morse, Jennifer Bartlett, Zachary Schomburg, Dan Raphael, Laura Feldman, Michael Weaver, James Yeary, David Abel, Alicia Cohen, Sam Lohmann, Jaye Harris, Donald Dunbar, John Hall, Susan Rankin, Rodney Koeneke, Endi Bogue Hartigan, Lisa Radon, Linda Austin, Tim DuRoche, Pat Hartigan, Mere Blankenship, Joseph Mains, Jamalieh Haley, Drew Swenhaugen, David Weinberg, Christopher Luna, Paul Maziar, Jacqueline Motzer, David Weinberg
The readings will take place at the following times and locations:
January 14th: 4-9pm
Switchyard Studios
109 SE Salmon St
January 15th: 2-7pm
galleryHOMELAND
2505 Southeast 11th Avenue
January 16th: 2-7pm
YU
800 SE 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97214
(entrance on SE 10th Avenue at SE Morrison Street)
For a compendium of Olson resources, including links to recordings, interviews, essays, and other documents, see the Olson pages at SUNY Buffalo's Electronic Poetry Center (http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/olson/) and the Poetry Foundation (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/charles-olson).
5.
Registration is now open for this winter's literary arts courses at Multnomah Arts Center:
Writing & Reading Short Stories -- Jon Ross
Reading & Writing Poetry: Revision -- David Abel
Memoir Writing: The Literature of Memory I & II -- Lyssa Tall Anolik
Right Brain Writing -- Donna Prinzmetal
Creative Writing for Families -- Amy Minato
See below for full descriptions.
For more information, or to register, call 503-823-2787, or go to www.multnomahartscenter.org, where you can download a complete catalogue of fall courses.
Writing & Reading Short Stories -- Jon Ross
Do you have a story to tell? An imaginary friend who seeks real life on the printed page? A truth that can only find expression as fiction? Whether you have great ideas for stories but no idea how to start telling them, or drafts of stories you've written that don’t quite feel finished, this workshop is for you. Together, we’ll explore how language, character, and narrative structure work in each other’s writing as well as in published works. Each student will present at least one short story for workshop. Writers of all stripes and stature welcome. Monday 7:00 - 9:00 pm January 24 - March 14 [7 classes]
Reading & Writing Poetry: Revision -- David Abel
In this workshop, we’ll look at how poetry works, as writers and as readers. We’ll write in response to
exercises, and in response to what we read; we’ll read closely one another’s work, and the work of other poets both familiar and not. We’ll pay particular attention to revision, exploring various approaches to this crucial process; students will pursue the poems that they write through multiple and distinct versions, expanding and focusing their sense of the possibilities of their own writing. Anyone interested in writing poetry, and motivated to write every week, is welcome
Tuesday 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm January 11 - March 15 [10 classes]
Memoir Writing: The Literature of Memory I -- Lyssa Tall Anolik
Memory is not logical or tidy, but it is infinitely interesting. Learn how to take the details that make up your life and turn them into memoir, poems, or even fiction. We will engage in the free-writing process using prompts to trigger and unlock the stories hidden within you. We’ll address and put aside the inner critic, so that you may engage your creative process in a safe and encouraging environment. No writing experience necessary. All levels welcome.
Thursday 10:00 am - 12:30 pm January 13 - March 10 [9 classes]
Memoir Writing: The Literature of Memory II -- Lyssa Tall Anolik
This continuation class will build on the writing process and steps explored in previous classes. We'll hone and strengthen your writing voice and revision skills and focus on the group critique process in a safe and encouraging environment. Process discussions and writing exercises will help you shape works-in-progress and give you the tools to plan and manage both large and small memoir projects. Prerequisite: previous writing class or permission from the instructor.
Thursday 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm January 13 - March 10 [9 classes]
Right Brain Writing -- Donna Prinzmetal
You don’t have to be a writer to produce powerful and imaginative creative work. Through a series of
enjoyable, illuminating exercises, right brain energy is channeled into the making of creative vignettes, word portraits, poetry, and short stories. The right brain’s connection to sensation is also explored as you learn to make your writing come alive through image, metaphor, voice, and surprising language. Dreams, music, painting and poetry are used to provide inspiration. Experienced poets and prose writers as well as those who have never written before are welcomed.
Wednesday 7:00 - 8:30 January 26 - March 16 [8 classes]
Creative Writing for Families -- Amy Minato
Discover each other through a new lens while polishing writing skills in a supportive atmosphere, and learn how to encourage writing in your home. Create family valentines, write a collaborative story about a favorite event, journal together or on your own, invent new names and titles for family members, write about a pet or vacation, or compose a poem describing what makes your family unique. Fun and informal. Families that write, stay tight! One parent required to attend. Register three family members and the fourth is free.
Friday 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm January 21 [1 class]
Saturday 10:30 am - 12:00 pm January 22 [1 class]
6.
From Steve Williams and Constance Hall
This coming Sunday, Jan 9th at 5 p.m. is our monthly critique group at Looking Glass books. All are welcome, just bring 8-10 copies of a poem you'd like some feedback on from the group.
This just in. Constance has been invited to read at the Rattle release reading in Santa Monica on January 16th. So we're off to L.A. to find some warmth (it will probably be raining lol). If you're in L.A. and would like to attend, info is at the Rattle web site (rattle.com).
Our December Figures of Speech reading with Vern Rutsala and Paulann Petersen went very well. We were able to raise over $1,300 for the various organizations in attendance including $770 for the Oregon Cultural Trust. Thanks to all of you (85 in attendance) who came out and gave.
Steve and Constance
Figures of Speech reading series at the 100th Monkey Studio. 110 S.E. 16th St. Portland. Directions pls. call 503-232-3457
Figures of Speech
100th Monkey Art Studio
110 S.E. 16th Ave., Portland
7pm
Featuring Cindy Williams Gutierrez and Dave Jarecki
Join us back at the Monkey on January 18th as we do our part in celebrating William Stafford’s birthday. Our featured readers will bring Stafford poems and their own work to share. For our open mic. bring your own work with an eye to Stafford and how your poem resonates with his life, philosophy and work. As always, poetry prompts, book table and cookies. Hope to see you then.
Steve and Constance
Poet-dramatist Cindy Williams Gutiérrez collaborates with artists in theatre, music, and visual art. Her collection, the small claim of bones, is forthcoming from Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe (Arizona State University). Poems and reviews have appeared in Borderlands, Calyx, Harvard’s Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Portland Review, Rain Taxi, and UNAM’s Periódico de poesía. Her CD, “Emerald Heart,” features her Aztec-inspired poetry accompanied by pre-Hispanic music. Three of Cindy’s plays have been produced by the Miracle/Milagro Theatre Group and the Insight Out Theatre Collective in Portland, Oregon. Other recent collaborations include an exhibition of her work in People, Places and Perceptions: A Look at Contemporary Northwest Latino Art at the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Washington.Cindy earned an MFA from the University of Southern Maine Stonecoast Program. She teaches creative writing through Writers in the Schools and at her home in the hinterlands of Oregon City.
Dave Jarecki owns Breakerboy Communications, a writing firm that helps businesses, individuals and non profits communicate through the written word. He is the author of Backwards on the Train (2009, Imperfect Press), a chapbook of 11 poems. Jarecki is a 2010 Fishtrap Fellow, and has recently been a featured reader with Mountain Writers and at Wordstock Literary Festival. He and his wife Courtney are expecting their first baby in the spring.
7.
From Dan Nelson:
Happy New Year, Wordsmiths,
Thanks to everyone who attended or publicized our December reading, featuring the sensitive, literary, heartfelt and compelling imagery of David Matthews, who was a delight in so many ways. Thank you David.
On January 20th at 7pm at Paper Tiger Coffeehouse,(703 Grand Blvd in Vancouver) we will be featuring rick j. rick is very active in the Portland poetry scene and hosts events at 3 Friends , about which I'm sure he will inform us. rick's vivid and striking imagery combine with a fluid and rythmic and very energetic style to provide a compelling experience for the lover of fine verse.Here is rick's bio and a poem sure to induce a craving for more;
Rick J
i was born in boston massachusetts & grew up in a multi-ethnic city on the outskirts of boston. i ran indoor & outdoor track and played inner-city street basketball. i joined the army after barely graduating one of the worst public highschools in new england (my teachers went on strike just to get paid) to become a tanker. i ended up serving in germany for three years where i worked as an executive assistant, radio operator, and tracked personnel carrier driver, monitoring various wargames near the "front." afterwards i attended college at the university of maine, orono where i intended to major in journalism but instead majored in potsmoking and beer drinking until i was called back into the army for desert storm, though never deployed. i dropped out of college and drove across the country in a beat up plymouth horizon to check out the northwest music scene and lived in portland for seven years. i got involved in local poetry here through the open mic at cafe lena and studied radical leftist politics, buddhism, advaita vedanta, yoga, ayurveda, jazz and taught myself how to blow bamboo flute. i eventually left to explore intentional communities around the united states, visiting twin oaks and the lama foundation, and living at sunrise ranch and yogaville, where i took the yoga teacher training and taught hatha yoga, in addition to seriously studying astrology in the hope of becoming an astrological counselor. i left in 2000 and traveled some more, visiting ganas community in staten island new york before returning to sunrise ranch. eventually, i moved to madison, wisconsin as an experiment in locational astrology which indicated that madison was ideally located for who i am and what i wanted to do at that time. i worked at a used bookstore and a library for five years and continued my studies. i remained in wisconsin for much longer than i would have liked because i was diagnosed with cancer and had to have surgery, and then radiation therapy. after a period of time, a lump appeared at the bottom of my throat, which was found to be a third stage tumor just above my heart, for which i did several months of extremely intense chemotherapy. after being pronounced cancer free by my doctor after a year and a half, i moved back to portland to resume writing and reading poetry.
slipping from vintage to obsolete
downtown wind brisks me toward
this evening's christmas party,
marching around these nearly
not neighborhoods, constructed
for rushing, crowds of too tall
buildings defend the imagined
purity of a sky turned inside out
complexes of single living spaces
warehouse the too loosely attached,
and nebulously strung, barely together,
the rectangular formality of the architecture,
insistently impersonal, cloaks us in
concrete, steel & glass-
as i cross the overpass bridge,
dotted with shrubs of civility
here where the monumental scale
describes how we knive our way through-
i find myself a stranger here
not because i'm alone, but
because i'm a soft thing among
all these hard jagged edges-
when i recognize an old friend on the corner,
a battered phone booth, i didn't realize
they were almost gone until
they were almost entirely gone-
hiding in public, but plucked away,
one by one, like an old man or woman
still determined to be out among us,
though obviously not for long,
as i suddenly comprehend how
present they'd always been, loyal
like an attendant, silently graying away,
and not just available for making a call
but offering a glass tent, however flimsy
or transparent, from the cold or the crowd,
or even the harsh wind of your own mind,
the phone booth could be a temporary
womb we could crawl back into
when we had been severed too long,
available for anyone to connect,
for a quarter or two, but now
nearly gone, now that we carry
our own umbilical cords
but no longer have the time-
i smile as i walk by but
feel a little sad
for that one less thing
that we no longer share
We also have an open mic during the event so bring something to read and join some of the best poets in the PNW for great beverages and thoughtful and thought provoking poetry on the Third Thursday of every month.
Dan Nelson
360-334-1129
nelsondaniel59@yahoo.com
8.
Friends of William Stafford
Present an Annual Celebration of the Poetry and Life of William Stafford
With our special guests Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen, Arnie Dyer, and Dorothy Stafford
Hosted by Christopher Luna
Plus a screening of the documentary Every War Has Two Losers
Please bring a favorite William Stafford poem to share.
Saturday, January 22
2-4 pm
Vancouver Community Library
Library Hall (downstairs)
1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd.
Vancouver, WA 98663
360-695-1566
Dorothy Stafford is a former teacher from Lake Oswego, OR and the wife of the late poet William Stafford.
Paulann Petersen is Oregon’s Poet Laureate. She 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 full-length books include The Wild Awake (Confluence Press, 2002), Blood-Silk (Quiet Lion Press, 2004), A Bride of Narrow Escape (Cloudbank Books, 2006), and Kindle (Mountains and Rivers Press, 2008). Her latest book, The Voluptuary, was recently published by Lost Horse Press. Paulann serves on the board for Friends of William Stafford, organizing the annual January William Stafford Birthday Events.
Arnold Dyer is a board member for Friends of William Stafford.
Christopher Luna is a poet and visual artist. He is the co-founder (with Toni Partington) of Printed Matter Vancouver and the host of the popular second Thursday open mic poetry reading at Cover to Cover Books. For more information about Christopher, including “The Work,” his monthly newsletter about poetry events in Vancouver and Portland, visit:
http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com/.
Film description (from www.everywar.com): Haydn Reiss’s film Every War Has Two Losers is based on the journals of William Stafford, a conscientious objector in World War Two and National Book Award winner. Despite being told that war is inevitable, Stafford disagreed. He saw war as a choice – a human choice – and only one of the ways nations can respond to conflict. Using Stafford's eloquent poetry and prose, the film invites the viewer to reflect on their own ideas regarding war and how individual witness can contribute to a more peaceful world.
Featuring an outstanding cast of writers/activists including Coleman Barks, Robert Bly, Maxine Hong Kingston, Michael Meade, W.S. Merwin, Naomi Shihab Nye, Kim Stafford and Alice Walker. Narration by Academy Award winner Linda Hunt. Voice of William Stafford by Peter Coyote. Directed by Haydn Reiss (Rumi: Poet of the Heart).
Barnes and Noble Vancouver Poetry Group Hosts Annual Stafford Celebration!
We celebrate William Stafford, the Pacific Northwest's most beloved and celebrated poet. We'll have a round-table discussion, host local guest authors Don Colburn and Jon Seaman, and end with an open mic. Bring a Stafford-inspired poem to read!
Tuesday January 25, 2011 7:00 PM
Vancouver Barnes and Noble
Vancouver Plaza
7700 NE 4th Plain Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98662
360-253-9007
SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
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.
Rain Taxi Announcements
announcements@raintaxi.com
Dear Friends,
Winter is here and so is the new Rain Taxi! This issue features interviews with William Gibson and Lewis Hyde, reviews of books by Lynda Barry, Adonis, Eileen Myles, Dave Eggers, Aleister Crowley, August Strindberg, and more! PLUS: acclaimed photographer Alec Soth, Poets on Prozac, and still more! Check out the table of contents here.
Rain Taxi proudly announces the latest chapbook in its Brainstorm Series:
Chapter 28 by Richard Hell
A riveting, no-holds-barred, sexually explicit excerpt from Richard Hell's forthcoming autobiography, I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp. Chapter 28 is a conceptually complex meditation on the music-era sex life of one of punk's originators and leading provocateurs. Cover drawing by Richard Hell and Christopher Wool. 28 pp., saddle-stitched. For more information, GO NOW to the web!
