Whidbey Island Poet Sheryl Clough and open mic at Cover to Cover Books Thursday, August 12

Open Mic Poetry

hosted by Christopher Luna

7:00pm Thursday, August 12, 2010

& every second Thursday

Cover to Cover Books

1817 Main Street, Vancouver

McLoughlin Blvd. & Main Street

“always all ages and uncensored”

For more info call 360-514-0358

or 360-910-1066

Sheryl Clough is a poet, essayist, editor, and aspiring publisher. She lives on Whidbey Island, where she finds a rich supply of writing material in the native plants, animals and wild weather.

Sheryl received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she designed and taught UAF’s first writing course linked to environmental literature. Her poems, stories and essays have appeared in Spindrift, Explorations, Storyboard, Sierra, Travelers Tales, Soundings Review and others. Sheryl won the Grand Prize in the 2008 Spirit of Writing competition for her poem “Upon Hearing That the Last Native Eyak Speaker Has Died.” Sheryl’s sea kayaking adventure story “Icebergs in My Dreams” was published in the Seal Press anthology Solo: On Her Own Adventure ($15), now in its third printing.

Recent travels in Ireland have inspired the creation of Sheryl’s chapbook-in-progress, In the Hollow of the Millstone; she will read selections from this book as well as other works from her travels and meditations on nature. Sheryl will also have copies of Soundings Review for sale ($6.50 current issue; $5.00 past issues).

Kauai Flora

#1

Petals pale as moonlight floating on surf --
Lavender throats funnel your fragrance.
Under trade winds lifting palm fringes high,
Marled bark scales your winter limbs.
Essence of royals, blooms woven as leis.
Ringed round your throat, gold creeps
Inward, a circle of sun beating time
Against an ever-crashing tide.

#2

How does it happen, this
Insane riot of color, this orange
Blaze flung face forward
Into a world pale as washed sand?

So little time; such a strong story
Can only be conveyed by this:
Understanding Orange, the rebel
Statement shouted toward the sun.

- Sheryl Clough

Statements from current students, Anne Waldman, and Lisa Birman regarding recent events at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics

Friends and fellow poets. I post the following to help keep the community informed. The Kerouac School changed my life, and solidified my path as a community organizer and ambassadior for poetry. In two years, I learned what it might have taken 5 or more years to pick up on the outside. Naropa, The Kerouac School, its visiting and year-round faculty and students have kept "outrider" and experimental poetry in the public consciousness since 1974. It would be a shame to see it go. Please do what you can to stay informed (see the links at the end of this post) and suppoort the students and faculty as they go through this difficult time.

The work of activity demons like Anne Waldman, Lisa Birman, and the late Allen Ginsberg have provided an inspirational model for poetry as a way of living and an important element of spiritual practice. Thanks to Bill Brown and Akilah Oliver for their efforts as these events have come to light. The students, faculty, and staff have my complete support. Let me know if there is anything I can do.

Onward,
Christopher Luna
Vancouver, WA
MFA Writing and Poetics
The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics
1999

DEAR FRIENDS: PLEASE READ THIS STATEMENT FROM STUDENTS AT THE JACK KEROUAC SCHOOL OF DISEMBODIED POETICS


Dear Beloved Community,

In the last year, students have watched the legacy of Naropa deteriorate. As of June 15, twenty-three beloved staff, who have devoted several years to Naropa University, were laid off. Included in these layoffs were administrative directors for each department as well as the sole diversity coordinator at the University.

The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics fears for the heart and soul of our beloved institution. The school was founded in 1974 by Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Its mission as a private, non-sectarian liberal arts college is inspired by a unique heritage which honors contemplative thought, critical and creative practice and freedom, and academic integrity. Naropa is more than a school; it is a community that has always been a place of honesty and visionary leadership. Unfortunately, we, the current students of the Jack Kerouac School, fear the current administration may not be aligned with the core values of Naropa.

Naropa is in dire straits. As a result of the recent review of the University by the accreditation board, we are now required to fulfill the following directives within the next two years:

First, the entire school is going through a budget reduction and academic reorganization. A committee called the Faculty Executive Working Group (FEWG) has been formed for the purpose of creating plans to restructure the University in order to accommodate the budget cuts. The five model plan, which would likely be the least compromising for the Jack Kerouac School and the Writing and Poetics Department, would incorporate The Jack Kerouac School as part of the Writing and Poetics Department. The four model plan would dissolve the Writing and Poetics Department into an overarching creative arts program. This would mean that the Jack Kerouac School would no longer have its own budget and as a result would be subject to complete control by a “general” dean of the entire arts department.

Students have not being informed of the above changes or consulted as to what would best serve the student body and sustain the vibrant legacy of Naropa University. We have the right to transparency. We have the right to be involved. Why is Naropa leaving us in the dark? Without answers from the University, we are left with rumors and questions. Those who do not know what truly makes Naropa the place we love are flagrantly dismissing and excluding us from the information and decision-making processes.

Thus, We Who Love Naropa demand the following:

1) That the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics retains all ideals and values that the student body wishes to preserve, many of which appear on the official website.

“Our programs emphasize traditional and experimental approaches to creative writing in Poetry, Prose and Translation within a variety of genres. Literature courses and the thesis requirement of a final manuscript also emphasize the development of critical writing.

All classes are taught by active, published writers, giving a practitioner's insight into literary art. Our curriculum includes opportunities for students to learn how to teach their craft, exercise performance skills, and develop as practicing writers in the world.

The Kerouac School educates students as skilled practitioners of the literary arts. Its objectives include embracing a disciplined practice of writing, and cultivating a historical and cultural awareness of literary studies.

The Kerouac School is distinct among academic writing programs because of the lively and diverse community of writers who trace their genesis and inspiration from a wide range of aesthetic and social movements, including postmodernism, Buddhist and contemplative teachings, the l-a-n-g-u-a-g-e school of poetry, the New York schools of poetry, the Black Mountain school of poetry, the Berkeley and San Francisco Renaissance, the Black Arts movement, the Beat movement, Surrealism, Dada and the Harlem Renaissance. One tradition that is emphasized is the Outrider lineage—a heritage of counter-poetics operating outside the academic mainstream.”

(http://www.facebook.com/l/c978fNv6x_VxvS8syCozMq_l_1A;www.naropa.edu/academic/graduate/writingpoetics/)

If budget constraints require a consolidation of the Writing and Poetics department and the Jack Kerouac School, the legacy and spirit of the Jack Kerouac School (which was an important part of the Foundation of Naropa University) must be retained without changes.

2) Increased transparency of school finances, including but not limited to the following documents:

a) Budgetary plans for recent, past, and future goals.

b) The FEWG Faculty Committee Report detailing what changes would be the least drastic alternatives.

3) Access to all ideological restructuring plans. (For instance, are Stuart Lord, Naropa President, and all other administrators aligned with the mission and spiritual values of Naropa?)

4) A voice in all decisions surrounding the restructuring process.

5) That the Diversity Advocate position to be reinstated.

6) Increased student participation in the University’s operation, including but not limited to the presence of a student-run committee at all faculty and administrative meetings pertaining to any major departmental, university, administrative, faculty, financial and academic decisions. Included in this demand is the formation of a Student Finance Board.

As we descend into a realm of Transformation, from language to social and environmental structures, Naropa has been iconic in the metamorphosis of some of the most brilliant and cultivating minds in academic history. The Jack Kerouac School has molded and trained many successful writers in a close-knit community retaining a love for language and the written word. We owe this school our support and love and it is our duty to see it stand, strong and stoic, for our school’s future. We refuse to continue being pushed to the sidelines, forced to watch this deterioration unfold.

Our Voices will be heard on Friday!

Stay tuned...

The Committee
Thecommittee1974@gmail.com

Message from Anne Waldman and Lisa Birman

Dear Community & Friends of the Jack Kerouac School:

Lisa Birman and I are writing to you from the Summer Writing Program Office. We know that the Naropa environment has suffered because of the recent downsizing of Naropa staff at large. 23 staff members, though no one from Summer Writing Program or Writing & Poetics, were laid off in June. The community has suffered tremendously as these individuals were part of our world and community. We all have questions and concerns. Our hearts and support go out to those individuals.

However, there are some clearer answers now, and we are more than willing to address your grievances as much as we can. Students are gathering these days to address and protest their concerns, which center on issues of transparency, student involvement in university-wide decisions, diversity issues, and the well being of the campus and all who are engaged here. We are all going through this process together and we support this deep engagement on the part of the students. We acknowledge the financial sacrifice and contributions our students make to this environment. They have prepared a respectful statement of concerns. We are urging them to be accurate and to check facts and details.

We know that the Higher Learning Commission (which grants accreditation) in a visit to the University has made strong critiques and recommendations concerning the way Naropa works with its budget. The situation as it has been is not sustainable for a school this size. A group of university-wide faculty (FEWG) has been working to make proposals concerning a re-structuring of the school that would not go into effect most likely until the fall of 2012. One of the proposed models is that the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics would hold all its wings together (MFA, Low-residency MFA, BA, Summer Writing Program and Writing Center, Print Shop). We think that is likely. We have been told in a meeting with the Office of Academic Affairs yesterday (July 1) that the Summer Writing Program 2011 will retain its current structure, although there will be some budget cuts.

There also appears to be some misunderstandings about the current structure of the Kerouac School. In its current incarnation, The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics consists of two departments: The Department of Writing and Poetics (which houses the MFA in W&P, the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing, and the BA in Writing and Literature) and the Department of the Summer Writing Program. The Kerouac School also has various other responsibilities and interests, such as the Kavyayantra Printshop (primarily under the purview of W&P), and the Audio Archive (the content of which is primarily SWP events and classes). Under the proposed new structure, both W&P would stay under the umbrella of the Kerouac School, possibly joined by the Naropa Writing Center.

One of the problems, as we see it, has been a silence around the layoffs, although there have been some “healing circles” and meditation sessions. It seems there are legal issues of confidentiality. And we are trying to understand those implications ourselves. The uncertainly of Naropa’s future has also been a huge issue, we are both feeling more confident now as we ourselves seek answers from the NU Administration. The school has always been a ground of struggle and sacrifice. I have been here every summer since 1974, and Lisa — an MFA graduate — has been in her role 10 years! We can certainly attest to the upheavals of the past.

But we want you to know that The Kerouac School community has been sharing a terrific pedagogical and creative summer together; every panel, lecture, reading, and discussion has been of the highest quality — all of us have been present. The caliber of student work — readings, panels, and discourse — is excellent. The guest faculty have been stellar, their engagement, as well, is incredibly inspiring. We have a week to go, which will highlight themes of performance, collaboration, and small press publishing. Our protest is part of our practice.

We want you to know that we are here, that we support and acknowledge our students, that we are up and running, and that the SWP staff, Reed Bye, interim Chair of the W&P Department, and Naropa administrative staff and trustees are willing to meet with students to clarify and listen to concerns. We are part of a larger world and culture that is going through tremendous change, paradigm shifts of all kinds. We will all have to do with less and continue to cultivate our empathy and compassion and our artistic paths. We exist amidst huge waves of suffering as the oil spill continues to gush and harm many sentient beings and the vegetal world, as war rages, as financial cuts are made that affect everyone. It is our duty to stay awake and to provide feedback in our own communities. The writing community here at Naropa has always been an activist one, and a spiritual one. We honor this lineage.

“And while I’m here I’ll do the work. And what’s the work? To ease the pain of living — everything else, drunken dumbshow” - Allen Ginsberg

“The ground of imagination is fearless” -Diane di Prima

With gratitude and respect,
Anne Waldman Lisa Birman
Co-founder, KSDP Director, SWP
Chair, Artistic Dir, SWP Faculty, Low-Res MFA
Core Faculty, W&P

PLEASE ADD THESE SOCIAL NETWORKING RESOURCES FOR IMMEDIATE UPDATES

BLOG
http://savetks.tumblr.com/

TWITTER
http://www.twitter.com/savetks

FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SAVE-TKS/135691433116582?v=wall

THE WORK JULY 2010: David Madgalene returns to the 'Couve for a series of readings from "To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License"

Poets and poetry boosters,


The day has finally arrived for David Madgalene to return to the ‘Couve. David is simply one of the greatest performers, poets, and novelists I know. We met as students at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, and have maintained a friendship and correspondence since then. David is the one person who really gets the big picture of what I am trying to do with my work. He and his wife, Judy, are here for a series of readings to celebrate our new book, “To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License,” a limited edition art book which we created in collaboration with Toni Partington. I hope that you will join us for one or all of these special events, the first of which is TONIGHT.

To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License

by David Madgalene, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington

To Be Named is a one-of-a-kind, limited edition art book created collaboratively by poets David Madgalene, Toni Partington, and Christopher Luna. The text is a series of poetic travelogues written during Christopher Luna’s yearly visits to California from 2005 to 2009. Each poem was written in collaboration with other people he visited or with whom he traveled. The cover of each book is an album cover that has been altered, painted, and/or collaged upon by all three artists. Other poets and artists who appear as characters or voices in the book include Michael McClure, Michael Rothenberg, Eric Padget, Eileen Elliott, Judy Irwin, Ed Coletti, and Mark Eckert. Christopher, Toni, and David will be giving a series of readings from the book in July, and the covers will be on display at Angst Gallery throughout the month. David’s wife, Judy Irwin will accompany him on keyboards. Please join us at one of the following events to celebrate the release of To Be Named:

5-9pm July 2, 2010

First Friday Opening Reception for

To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License

Poetry and art by

David Madgalene, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington

with musical guest Judy Irwin

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA

Poetry and music sets at 5:30, 6:30. and 7:30

Book covers to be displayed throughout the month of July

7pm Thursday July 8, 2010

Open Mic Poetry hosted by Christopher Luna

Featuring David Madgalene (with music by Judy Irwin)

Cover to Cover Books

1817 Main Street, Vancouver

McLoughlin Blvd. & Main Street

“always all ages and uncensored”

For more info call or 360-910-1066

David Madgalene and Judy Irwin

7 pm Saturday July 10, 2010

St. Johns Booksellers

8622 N. Lombard, Portland

For examples of the book covers and information about how to purchase a copy of To Be Named, visit: http://tobenamed-artandpoetry.blogspot.com/

Here is a short story by David Madgalene that was recently published in Jack magazine: http://www.jackmagazine.com/jack/?cat=63

Christopher Luna reading from his old copy

of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"

Photo by Anni Becker 

The amazing Anni Becker recently took head shots of both me and Toni. You can check it out at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kermitlover/sets/72157623906038977/

The set also includes shots of our dog, Teak, Local painter and gallery owner Olin Unterwegner, and my studio.

Printed Matter Vancouver will soon begin taking submissions for a new anthology of poems from the open mic at Cover to Cover Books in Vancouver. See details below.

Congratulations to my pal Sean Patrick Hill on this review of “The Imagined Field,” his first book of poetry:
http://thelinebreak.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/sean-patrick-hills-the-imagined-field/

Here is another review of Sean’s book from Elimae: http://www.elimae.com/2010/07/RevHill.html

Here’s to a great month filled with poetry and art,
Christopher Luna

THE WORK JULY 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Walt Curtis Benefit and Birthday Events July 1-6 (Portland, OR)
2. The Studio Series: Poetry Reading with Penelope Scambly Schott and Constance Hall and Open Mic July 11 at Stonehenge Studios/Ross Island Café (Portland, OR)
3. Pushcart Party and Open Mic at Barnes and Noble Vancouver July 13
4. Eileen Elliott at Paper Tiger open mic July 15 (Vancouver, WA)
5. Portland Poetry Slam with featured reader Jack McCarthy July 25 at Backspace (Portland, OR)

SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

1.
Birthday Benefit for Walt Curtis July 2-6, 2010

A proclamation being released by Portland Mayor Sam Adams states, “civic-minded friends are uniting to stage benefit performances, film screenings, and an auction of fine-art and literature to launch the Curtis Legacy Initiative to reestablish his personal studio and residence, and consolidate his regional and international reputation.”

July 2 Walt Curtis Birthday Bash — 8 pm til 1 am Dante’sFri Viva Las Vegas & her band 1 SW Third Avenue Body Vox—dancers downtown Portland Uprising—OBT dancers 503 226 6630

Leapin’ Louie Lichtenstein 21+—$10 Brush Prairie—country rock (with Zia McCabe of the Dandy Warhols)

Courtney Taylor Taylor—(of the Dandy Warhols)

More acts TBA Freaky Outy—dj

July 6 Mala Noche in 35 mm — 9 pm screening Cinema 21
Tues 616 NW 21st Avenue
regular admission

Mayor Sam Adams is declaring
July 1-7, 2010 Walt Curtis Week

Sponsors: Gus Van Sant, Paulann Petersen, Brian Booth, Mark & Angelina Woolley, Chris Monlux, Penny Allen, Viva Las Vegas, David Milholland, James Honzik, Chantelle Hylton, Brian Lindstrom, Tom Cramer, George Touhouliotis, Phil Wikelund, Tres Shannon (Voodoo Doughnut), Chris Haberman

Coming Sept or Oct: Auction of donated art, books, travel et al…location and date TBA

Out of the Ashes: Walt Curtis Revisited

David Milholland © 2010

Portland’s unofficial Poet Laureate Walt Curtis, born in Olympia, Washington (July 4, 1941) and raised in Oregon City, popped into the public eye during his years at Portland State University. This ofttimes shy bard channeled a dramatic élan vital, outspoken against the Vietnam War and fully in tune with the raw-boned humanity and remarkable natural world that make this place unique.

During that era, PSU rebirthed dozens of individuals who have long sustained creative careers— filmmakers, musicians, artists, actors [Storefront Theatre and many iterations], and authors galore—the very roots of Portland’s style nonpareil. Reed and Lewis and Clark Colleges contributed talent to the mix. As today, folks came from near and far to share the vibe and expand it.

Walt is a declaiming poet, on his best days mesmerizing an audience, be that in smoky bars, concert halls, or the great outdoors. Through the decades he crafted a personal mythos through The Talking Earth, his 40-year-running KBOO spoken word show, appearances alongside Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Ken Kesey and such, and as host of poetic hoo-has in dozens of venues, many long-gone.

Reed dropout Norman Solomon joined Walt in creating Out of the Ashes Press, a venture each used to move very distinctive personal work into print. Walt’s poetry flowed from him like honey from the hive. His publications range from the newsprint The Roses of Portland, deemed subversive by Oregon Journal columnist Doug Baker, through Mad Bomber’s Notebook and The Erotic Flying Machine, to his near-breakthrough Rhymes for Alice Blue Light from Lynx House Press of Amherst, Massachusetts.

His explosion onto a larger stage is the novella Mala Noche, first a special issue of Mississippi Mud, now in French and Italian translations. Filmmaker Gus Van Sant drew on its tangled tale of gay love to launch his career with the low-budget feature Mala Noche, progenitor of several quirky masterworks. Walt’s seize-the-day persona dramatica appears in the film, as he had earlier in Penny Allen’s Property and Paydirt, and has more recently in Bill Plympton’s Peckerneck Poet and Sabrina Guitart’s Salmon Poet.

Over the decades, Walt amassed deep information about the region’s literature and creative culture, writing major stories on Hazel Hall, John Reed, Charles Erskine Scott Wood, Joaquin Miller, and Homer Davenport in Clinton St. Quarterly and Multnomah Monthly, along with cultural observations, splashy revelations, and poetic flagellations in dozens of periodicals of every stripe.

Walt co-founded Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission with Brian Booth and David Milholland, itself now a legacy in its 3rd decade. His high-profile career in letters was honored by Literary Arts in 1991 with its 5th Stewart A. Holbrook Award for “significant contributions to Oregon’s literary arts.”

On the side, he has forged a major métier on canvas and wood, wielding a paintbrush in the same bold fashion he’s written verse and prose—bright, uninhibited, egregious. Represented for years by Mark Woolley, Walt’s paintings are highlights in dozens of prestigious collections throughout the region.

Now this generous man needs our help—it’s time to give back to a true Oregon original.

As Great NW Bookstore on SW 1st Avenue went up in smoke on Sunday, May 2, 2010, Walt was there. He had recently moved into the venerable building, its wing designed by iconic architect A.E. Doyle. The blaze, which toasted the life business of his host Phil Wikelund, destroyed much of Walt’s creative work.

But his spirit is beyond incineration. As a proclamation being released by Portland Mayor Sam Adams states, “civic-minded friends are uniting to stage benefit performances, film screenings, and an auction of fine-art and literature to launch the Curtis Legacy Initiative to reestablish his personal studio and residence, and consolidate his regional and international reputation.”

Envision Walt Curtis as a phoenix, as foretold by Out of the Ashes Press or this 40-year-old poem recreated immediately following the near pyre. Walt was singed but all escaped unscathed.

The Dream Burns Away
by Walt Curtis—1970, 2010

At the edge of the dream
there’s a curl of smoke and flame.
It’s a love letter sent
long ago. The lovers
are lost in the phantom of time.
Nothing remains,
except ashes and the rain.

Please join a stellar cast for Literary Extravaganza and Moore, Thursday, July 1 at Berbati’s Pan (8 pm – 1 am); Walt Curtis Birthday Bash, Friday, July 2 at Dante’s (8 pm – 1 am); and a Mala Noche screening from a prime 35mm print, Tuesday, July 6 at Cinema 21 (9 pm). Your ticket purchases and generous donations will put Walt back on his feet as he scours the “ashes and the rain” while his career is reborn.

Your presence will be sincerely appreciated and you will be entertained. Look for the auction this fall. ∞

ɤ ɕ ɚ ɝ ɤ ɕ ɚ ɝ ɤ

At a distance, tied up, or travelling—tax-exempt donations of any size are appreciated. Either:
take in a check or cash to any Wells Fargo Branch and deposit it in the Walt Curtis Fund; or
mail your check made out to Walt Curtis Fund to:
Rose City Branch, Wells Fargo, 4233 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97213

2.
The Studio Series: Poetry Reading and Open Mic will feature Penelope Scambly Schott and Constance Hall on Sunday, July 11, 2010 at Stonehenge Studios/Ross Island Café, 3508 SW Corbett Avenue, Portland 97239 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Penelope Scambly Schott has worked as a college professor and has given readings and taught workshops all over the country. She has published a novel, five chapbooks, and seven books of poetry. The verse biography A Is for Anne: Mistress Hutchinson Disturbs the Commonwealth won the Oregon Book Award for Poetry 2008. Her most recent books are Six Lips and a chapbook Under Taos Mountain: The Terrible Quarrel of Magpie and Tia.

Penelope has been awarded fellowships by the New Jersey Council on the Arts, The Fine Arts Workcenter in Provincetown, Massachusetts, The Vermont Studio Center, and The Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico. Her newest manuscript Crow Mercies won the Sarah Lantz memorial prize and will be out this fall from Calyx Press.

Constance Hall (penname: M) has served for over a decade as an Associate Poetry Editor for the online journal, Stirring: A Literary Collection, and as an Administrator of the online poetry critique website, Wild Poetry Forum. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals including Rattle and Harpur Palate. She also serves as the Co-Chair of the Portland Unit of the Oregon State Poetry Association, and as Managing Editor/Board of Directors member for VoiceCatcher, a non-profit collective that publishes an annual anthology of Portland area women’s poetry and prose.

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.
Victorious Viewer of Verse,

If you're a fan of poetry at any level, you've probably heard of the Pushcart Prize. For the most part, it's very difficult to get nominated, and much, much harder to win. The victorious ones make it into one of the most important, highest quality publications this nation has to offer - the Pushcart Anthology.

We'll be talking about, reading from and celebrating at least two anthologies: The 2010 Pushcart Prize, which features poetry and short stories, and The Pushcart Book of Poetry: The Best Poems from Thirty Years of The Pushcart Prize (2009), which features poetry from dozens of lesser known and also famous voices, like Denis Johnson, Robert Pinsky, Jean Valentine (my favorite poet), Lucille Clifton and Vern Rutsala. We'll also feature some of the great lit journals and magazines that nominate for the Pushcart.

Join us on our new 2nd-Tuesdays date - July 13th - at 7 pm. We'll have authors read from and comment on the Pushcart, an open mic at 7:45, and always feature the area's largest selection of poetry titles and free coffee & tea.

Got something to say or enjoy about the Pushcart? Come on by.

For Poetry,
Shawn

Click on this to view the anthologies: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2679

Shawn Sorensen
Community Relations Manager
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Vancouver Plaza
7700 NE 4th Plain Blvd.
Vancouver, WA 98662
tel: (360) 260-3854
fax: (360) 253-5414


http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/

4.
From Dan Nelson:

Howdy folks,

Many thanks to everyone who helped make June's reading our best yet. There was a fantastic range of poetic styles and moods displayed for a large and enthusiastic crowd. Everyone from newcomers to oldtimers seemed to bring their A-game, unlike the Celtics, a debacle I'm glad to have missed. Special heartfelt gratitude to Christi Krug for sharing her difficult memories with such pathos and humor. Rare talent that, to invoke laughter and tears in the same sentence.

For Poetry Night at Paper Tiger's 3rd Thursday in July I'm delighted to have Eileen Elliott. For the few folks who haven't had the privilege of knowing Eileen and her fine work, Eileen Davis Elliott was born to the Great Plains, polished by the winds of the world and continues to be fine-tuned by daily experience. She writes of seeking and sometimes finding, of sinning and sometimes redemption. Her book Prodigal Cowgirl reflects journeys and partial resolutions. Her second book Miles of Pies is well under way. She is a mixed media artist and continues to travel since her recent retirement as a psychologist.

Book available: Prodigal Cowgirl, $15.

Again, muchas gracias to all who attended or promoted our event and I hope to see all of you Thursday, July 15 at 7pm at Paper Tiger, 703 Grand Blvd, (between Evergreen and Millplain, big sign on the east side of the street) in Vancouver, Wa. Here's a slice from Eileen's miles of pies sure to whet your appetite.

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

Poem excerpt:

THE NEWS FROM TOWN

A full pack of timberwolves
howling over winter snow
was only a whisper
by comparison

My grandmother dropped to her knees
in the three-day-old snow
pulled her apron over her head
and let loose a scream
the lump of dread and fear
she'd swallowed back for months

when she saw the war-time chaplain
come up to the kitchen door
before he could ask her to sit down

5.

Portland Poetry Slam

with featured reader Jack McCarthy

July 25th @ 730pm

Backspace 115 NW 5th Ave in downtown PDX.

SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

1.
Call For Submissions

Printed Matter Vancouver is proud to announce the submission period for a poetry anthology of previous and current participants in the second Thursday open mic at Cover to Cover Books (http://www.covertocoverbooks.net/) in Vancouver, WA. This collection is scheduled for release in January 2011.

Submission Guidelines:
The Stuff You Need To Know:

 Poems will be accepted beginning July 15 through August 31, 2010. Submissions will close at midnight, August 31st.

 To be considered for the anthology you will have read your work at the poetry series held the second Thursday of each month at Cover To Cover Books in Vancouver, WA.

 Submissions will be accepted via Email only.

 Please submit a maximum of three (3) poems.

 Simultaneous submissions are permitted. We ask that you email us right away if your work is accepted elsewhere.

 If we accept your poem(s) for publication, the editors may have suggestions for edits or format changes to prepare the work for publication. Whenever possible the editors will work with the author to review suggested changes. Authors will have the final decision on the edits. The editors are unable to guarantee publication of your work if they feel the edits are necessary and the author disapproves of the changes.

 Authors whose work appears in the anthology will receive one copy of the book. Additional copies will be available for purchase.

 Printed Matter Vancouver retains first American rights to all pieces published in the collection. From there, rights revert back to the authors.

Poem Format:

 Poem(s) must be in Times New Roman, 12-point font with one-inch margins.

 Include your name at the top left of each page.

 Poems should be single-spaced.

 Poems should not exceed 4 pages each.

 Poems should be saved as a Microsoft Word Document.

 Save each poem as a separate document.

What To Email:

 Type “Printed Matter Submission” in the subject line of the Email.

 Include in the body of the Email:

-The title(s) of your poems.

-Contact information: name, address, email, and phone (home and cell).

-Include each poem(s) as a separate attachment.

-Include all attachments in one email.

EMAIL SUBMISSION TO: printedmattervancouver@gmail.com

2.
From J. Glenn Evans:

KENNETH REXROTH – The Signature of All Things
The occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth

A new DVD released by Hen House Studios in Venice, California. Curated by Michael C. Ford, the DVD is a feast of memories of poets, their friends and two members of the Rexroth family who also read from the works of Kenneth Rexroth. The passion and feelings of the poet are mirrored through the voices of the participants. Several of them gave credit to Kenneth as a personal mentor. His widow, Carol Tinker, and his daughter, Mariana Rexroth, a spark of fire off the old genius in her performance, were there. Michael C. Ford did a marvelous job hosting this fast-moving, entertaining and engaging program. The program is a panorama of a passing scene of poets and memories that would have been lost had this wonderful high quality DVD not been produced. Our thanks to Hen House Studios and to Michael C. Ford for its production.

The DVD features Morgan Gibson, Kerry Tomlinson, Lewis MacAdams, Philomene Long, Eloise Klein Healy, Aram Saroyan, Bonnie Tamblyn, Sprague Grayden, Bob Brandts, James Cushing, Doren Robbins, Uri Hertz, Ruben Guevara, Carol Tinker, Brad Dourif, Mariana Rexroth, and Michael C. Ford

Hen House StudiosIcopelin@gmail.com(310)823-4492www.HenHouseStudios.comKenneth Rexroth – The Signature of all ThingsDVD $21.99

3.
from Victory Lee Schouten/RS Gallery victory@robschoutengallery.com

Hi All,

If you caught the first two Brave New Word's 2010 events: Poetry & Music of Ancient Mexico with
Cindy Williams Gutiérrez & Gerardo Calderón in March and this past Saturday's launch party & reading for Nashira Priester's new book Mystic Glyphs from Onyx Larynx, which also featured jazz artist Julian Priester and Cuban poet Jorge Enrique González-Pacheco, you know these are "do not miss" events.

Below is the schedule for the rest of 2010. However we may well add a few more as the spirit moves us and the funds appear! We all loved Jorge Enrique González-Pacheco's poems so much we may need to fit him into this year's schedule too! We'll keep you posted.

If you would like to support BNW checks can be made out to: "BNW / Greenbank Farm". Mail donations to:
BNW
765 Wonn Road, Bld. C - #103
Greenbank, WA 98253

Brave New Words 2010

July 17
"Finding Water, Holding Stone"
James Bertolino & Anita K. Boyle

James Bertolino¹s poetry has been appearing internationally in books, magazines and anthologies for over 40 years. Bertolino¹s poetry has been recognized nationally by the Book-of-the-Month Club Poetry Fellowship, the Discovery Award, a Hart Crane publication award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, two Quarterly Review of Literature book awards and, the Jeanne Lohmann Poetry Prize for Washington State Poets. Ten volumes and fifteen chapbooks of his poetry and prose have been published. He holds an MFA from Cornell University and taught creative writing at Cornell, Washington State, University of Cincinnati and Western Washington University. He has since retired and lives on five rural acres with Anita K. Boyle near Bellingham, Washington.

Anita K. Boyle graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in Art (graphic design, illustration) and English (creative writing). She is a director of the Whatcom Poetry Series: The Poet As Art, and the publisher/editor of Egress Studio Press. She was a winner of the 2004 Red Sky Poetry Theatre statewide competition, and is included in the anthology Red Sky Morning. Boyle received a Willard R. Espy Literary Foundation residency in Oysterville, WA during October 2003. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications. Her chapbook, Bamboo Equals Loon, was published in 2001. She also writes collaborative poetry with James Bertolino. Their poems have been published in literary magazines, as well as the collaborative poetry anthology, Saints of Hysteria (Soft Skull Press, 2006), and in two chapbooks, Pub Proceedings and Bar Exams.

http://readwritepoem.org/blog/2010/02/22/read-write-interview-james-bertolino-and-anita-boyle/

-----------------------------------------------------------

July 24/25 Loganberry Festival
Interactive Art/Poetry Installation
A. K. Mimi Allin

A.K. Mimi Allin has produced numerous installations for groups such as LitFuse, Studio-Current, The Urban Wilderness Project. In 2006 she gave a year-long public performance, "The Poetess at Green Lake", for which she sat outside for 9 hours every Sunday, at a small wooden desk, offering intimate poetry exchanges. She¹s produced magazines in matchbooks and has read poetry through a hole she melted in a 300-pound block of ice. Allin fuses poetry with visual and performance art.

-----------------------------------------------------------

September 18
"Music Maker"
Matt Gano

Matt Gano is a nationally known poet, writer, and performance artist residing in Seattle, Wash. He was a member of the National Poetry Slam team for Seattle in 2004 and 2005, and remains one of the top performing artists in the national and international poetry circuit.

Matt works as a full-time teaching artist with local arts organizations such as Seattle Arts and Lectures: Writers in the Schools and Arts Corps. In addition, he is the arts-in-education facilitator and a writing mentor for Youth Speaks, Seattle¹s nationally renowned youth poetry program. His published work includes chapbooks "Art Barker" and "Welcome Home," as well as "I Eight The Infinite," a self-titled poetry LP and a live recording entitled "A Giant¹s Pulse." Matt Gano returns to Seattle in 2010 after teaching Spoken Word poetry and Creative Writing as Artist in Residence at Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong School of Creativity.

-----------------------------------------------------------

October 16
"Moonlight in the Redemptive Forest"
Michael Daley & Felicia Gonzalez

Felicia Gonzalez was born and raised in Cuba. An alumna of Hedgebrook Writers Retreat, she is a recipient of a 2007 Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship. In 2006, she was awarded an individual artists grant from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for the chapbook, Recollection Graffiti.

Michael Daley was born in Boston, and is a graduate of UMass with an MFA from the University of Washington. He¹s worked as a laborer, taxi driver, waiter, tree-planter, editor, Poet-in-the-schools, and high school English teacher. The author of three books of poems, a book of essays and several chapbooks, his work has appeared in numerous literary journals , and on Garrison Keilor¹s Writer¹s Almanac. In 2001 he received a Fulbright grant to live in Hungary for a year. Twice the National Endowment of the Humanities has awarded his work, as has the Seattle Arts Commission, Bumbershoot, and the Fessenden Foundation. This year Pleasure Boat Studio published Michael's newest collection of poetry Moonlight in the Redemptive Forest He received a grant from Artists Trust to produce the book¹s accompanying CD, Frankie the Milkman¹s Song & Other Poems.

-----------------------------------------------------------

November 20
Native American Violinist & Storyteller
Swil Kanim

Swil Kanim is a world class virtuoso violinist who advocates self-expression to create stronger community. He intertwines his music with storytelling, poetry, and audience interaction. His original compositions are mesmerizing and inspiring to all ages alike. While quickly becoming the most popular Native American Violinist, Swil Kanim is also a key-note speaker and notable actor; he starred as "Mouse" in Sherman Alexie¹s highly acclaimed movie The Business of FancyDancing. A Lummi tribal member Swil Kanim lives in Mt. Vernon, WA.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Brought to you by Brave New Words the spoken word production group of Greenbank Farm, a qualified 501 C-3 not-for-profit. info@bravenewwords.org

Brave New Words
Spoken Word Productions
For More Information Contact:
Victory Lee Schouten, ED

Phone: 360.331.7099 or 360.222.3070
765 Wonn Road, Bld. C, #103
Greenbank, WA 98253

Brave New Words operates under the auspices
of Greenbank Farm, a qualified 501 C-3.

4.
Call For Submissions: Worldwide Hippoetry
2010 June 25

We’re looking for essays, poetry, possibly fiction and photography for a collection to be published in a book entitled Worldwide Hippoetry 2010.

We’re looking for essays, poems, photographs and other cool stuff from those not afraid to think outside the box or question authority and the status quo.

We’re looking for writing that reflects the values of love, peace, worldwide and personal, and searches for solutions to the problems that plague our world and provide answers and reflections on the state of our world. One good way to see what we are looking for is to review the writing on the site at worldwidehippies.com.

In short your submissions should reflect the values, or somehow relate to the world views expressed on worldwidehippie.com, which has been stated as follows:

Changing the world, one mind at a time.

Worldwide Hippies is your most trusted network of independent news and views on the web.

Our goal is to create a dialogue between as diverse a group of people as possible to promote peace, civility and understanding. Our enemies are ignorance and intolerance. Our weapon is information.

We want to expose the tomfoolery of human civilization for what it is, and celebrate the individuals who make the world a better place.

We encourage positive activism. We do not condone any illegal activity, nor do we take any responsibility for the statements or actions of contributors to this website.

We retain the right to call foul whenever we want. And have some fun along the way. – Cowboy Dre.

All submissions should be sent to lead editor Diana May Waldman.

Deadline for submissions is July 30, 2010. Publication date is Fall 2010.

SAVE THE JACK KEROUAC SCHOOL OF DISEMBODIED POETICS

Please take a look at the message below from fellow Kerouac School alum Bill Brown. We must stand together to ensure that the school continues to be a center for forward thinking writing and speech.

WE ARE IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE JACK KEROUAC OF DISEMBODIED POETICS. Ask me to send you a PDF. Make Tee-shirts etc. PASS IT ON!


"I'm with you in Rockland." - Allen Ginsberg, HOWL

We have our Mind-slogan!! If you are in solidarity for the continued support and plan of The Kerouac School, please repost this as your status update.

We do not know the details, but evidently budget cuts have made 23 long time Naropa support staff fired without notice and program cuts are happening across the board.

Without details we can only wait and watch from afar.

I spoke to Lisa today and Akilah yesterday, while a meeting en-masse with current KS students was happening. Whatever is, is by all indications - student led. In our day, it was the same - we ran the initiatives to make a Naropa Student Union, Student Union

The Kerouac School is Naropa's FLAGSHIP program, not Buddhist Studies, not Transpersonal Psych, nothing compares to it in the WORLD-AT-LARGE. This can be seen as a time of change, but The FUTURE students and CURRENT students need help and support from us, the people that this school has effected and nurtured into who we are in the real world.

Economics is a real world effect, and decisions are tough. Without negativity we can stand firm that we have benefited from our education at The Kerouac School and continue to benefit. That the 100 year project is intact and should remain so. That this is the 21st century, and there are technological means to create extended opportunities for the school's principle means and execute this means in the world.

That we are here as potential faculty, mentors, go-tos - that we are FAMILY in the Duncan sense of Rites of Participation. The Kerouac school is in some way our home, Anne and Allen our parental body in spirit and we will not stand down to see anything extinguish the torch we have been given to carry.

WE are with you in Rockland, Kerouac School, we are WITH YOU!

Bil Brown
Alum, The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, 1994
co-founder, Prazska skola poetiky/Prague School of Poetics, 1998-2001

Coming Soon: To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License, an art book by poets David Madgalene, Toni Partington, and Christopher Luna

Poets David Madgalene, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington perform throughout July to celebrate the release To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License, a limited edition art book

To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License is a one-of-a-kind, limited edition art book created collaboratively by poets David Madgalene, Toni Partington, and Christopher Luna. The text is a series of poetic travelogues written during Christopher Luna’s yearly visits to California from 2005 to 2009. Each poem was written in collaboration with others he visited or with whom he traveled. The cover of each book is an album cover that has been altered, painted, and/or collaged upon by all three artists. Other poets and artists who appear as characters or voices in the book include Michael McClure, Michael Rothenberg, Eric Padget, Eileen Elliott, Judy Irwin, Ed Coletti, and Mark Eckert. Christopher, Toni, and David will be giving a series of readings from the book in July, and the covers will be on display at Angst Gallery throughout the month. David's wife, Judy Irwin will accompany him on keyboards Please join us at one of the following events to celebrate the release of To Be Named:

5-9pm July 2, 2010

First Friday Opening Reception for

To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License

Poetry and art by

David Madgalene, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington

with musical guest Judy Irwin

Angst Gallery

1015 Main Street

Vancouver, WA

Poetry and music sets at 5:30, 6:30. and 7:30

Book covers to be displayed throughout the month of July

 7pm Thursday July 8, 2010

Open Mic Poetry hosted by Christopher Luna

Featuring David Madgalene (with music by Judy Irwin)

Cover to Cover Books

1817 Main Street, Vancouver

McLoughlin Blvd. & Main Street

“always all ages and uncensored”

For more info call or 360-910-1066

David Madgalene and Judy Irwin

7 pm Saturday July 10, 2010

St. Johns Booksellers
622 N. Lombard, Portland

For more examples of the book covers and information about how to purchase a copy of To Be Named, visit: http://tobenamed-artandpoetry.blogspot.com/

They are going like Mama’s hotcakes and these bona fide collectors’ items will only increase in value as time goes by! There were only fifty copies made and already four have been stolen by little gray art and poetry speculators from another planet!!!!

Market Day Poetry Series Tomorrow, June 19: Poets Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore at St. Johns Booksellers

Market Day Poetry Series

Curated by Dan Raphael

Every Saturday from June through September

a block from the St. Johns farmer’s market

Saturday, June 19

12 – 1 pm

Poets Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore

Hosted by Christopher Luna

St. Johns Booksellers

8622 N. Lombard Street

Portland, OR

Bios and poems

Peter Ludwin will be reading from his first full length poetry collection, A Guest in All Your Houses (Word Walker Press 2009, $14). A review of the book is available here: http://www.lochravenreview.net/2010Spring/doss.html

For the past nine years he has been a participant in the San Miguel Poetry Week in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he has workshopped under renowned poets such as Mark Doty, Tony Barnstone, Forrest Gander, Linda Gregg, C.D. Wright, Patricia Goedicke, Alfred Corn and C.K. Williams, to name a few. In 2007 he received a Literary Fellowship from Artist Trust, an adjunct of the Washington State Arts Commission. He was the 2007-2008 Second Prize Winner of the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Awards, and during the same year he was also a finalist for the Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award. He is a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee.

His poems have appeared in many journals, among them Antietam Review, Briar Cliff Review, California Quarterly, Coal City Review, Common Ground Review, The Comstock Review, Concho River Review, Connecticut River Review, Cottonwood, Flint Hills Review, Front Range, The Fourth River, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Hurricane Review, Interdisciplinary Humanities, Karamu, Kyoto Journal, Lake Effect, Lullwater Review, Mad Poets Review, Midwest Quarterly, Peregrine, Permafrost, The Prague Revue, Quercus Review, Red Wheelbarrow, River Oak Review, The Rockford Review, Slant, Small Pond Magazine of Literature, The Raven Chronicles, South Carolina Review, South Dakota Review, Whiskey Island Magazine and Writers Without Borders.

He currently has work forthcoming in Cider Press Review, RiverSedge, Tribeca Poetry Review, Willard & Maple and Wisconsin Review.

He has been a featured reader in Washington, Oregon, California, South Dakota, Minnesota and in the Czech Republic. In 1996 he read over the radio during the Cleveland Bi-Centennial. He has twice read for the Distinguished Writers Series in Tacoma, Washington. In the fall of 2009 he read for the John R. Milton Writer’s Conference at the University of South Dakota, and featured with noted poet and fiction writer Frank Gaspar at Whittier College in Los Angeles. He also has a background in folk music, and plays acoustic guitar and autoharp. He has both taught and performed at the Pacific Northwest Folklife Festival.

Forest Camp, Pahvant Range, Utah
by Peter Ludwin

From up here I could summon wolves
to circle my sleeping bag, I could
call down the moon on my tongue.

The sun on the red cliffs behind me,
the stream roaring through rabbitbrush
while cottonwoods dance in the wind—

these tell me, like the handwriting
that condemned Belshazzar, that I
have been judged and found wanting.

I must stay here, in mind if not in body.
I must cultivate the heart of a whisper,
of the artichoke buried in spines.

It’s late in the harvest season,
and I must gather enough of me up
to make it through the winter.

Eileen Davis Elliott was born to the Great Plains, polished by the winds of the world and continues to be fine-tuned by daily experience. She writes of seeking and sometimes finding, of sinning and sometimes redemption. Her book, Prodigal Cowgirl ($15), reflects journeys and partial resolutions.

Her second book Miles of Pies is well under way. She is a mixed media artist and continues to travel since her recent retirement as a psychologist.

Excerpt from Canis Lupus
by Eileen Elliott

We sing our choruses in yelping voices
cadences from long-gone times
now faded into whispers
made near-inaudible by passing years

And the cracking of long bones in our jaws is electric
like the borealis
on deep snow


Gail Moore was a voiceless poet most of her life. She finally began writing in 1990 after a vision of a strange animal emerging from a cave and shaking off wool. She lives in Newport, Oregon, and after a long love affair with the rain, misses the sun and wants to go home to LA.

Gail was the recipient of the Pacifica Foundation Award for Best Poet of 2001 and the Dorothy Daniels Honorary Writing Award competition in 2000. She is the author of two books: Poems on the Half Shell ($14) and Post Card Poems ($10).

Spillage
by Gail Moore

In the house of mistakes
I grafted your name into the future.
Your name was shadow. My name was dust.

Sibilant or still, I slid down the dry wall;
I joined you in the court of redress as
we had spilled our best over the edge of time.

Your face melted into an astonishing silence.
I find you only in sleep or in the leftover
parts of myself.

I have rattled the door of your mind
but you do not answer.
Still, your name sleeps on my floor.

A message about the Gulf Coast disaster from Michael Rothenberg, editor of Big Bridge

Dear Friends of Big Bridge,

My apologies for writing you all on issues that are not related to Big Bridge. But we have come to a moment in our existence as a species in which "propriety" is less and less meaningful.

As you all know Big Bridge has always been vocal on political and social issues and so the time has come for us to speak out against OIL!

Many of our friends living in the Gulf Coast are seeing their lives destroyed forever. An entire ecosystem appears doomed. The impact is global.

Everyday it seems more certain that we are witnessing the worst man-made environmental holocaust in history and I feel we must be heroic in our actions to make something positive out of this horror.

Over the last few weeks, I have focused attention to my facebook communications, posting as many articles and pieces of information on the "spill" as I can, hoping that the spread of information will make a difference in how we do things. I have organized three events, fundraising benefits for The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, http://www.labucketbrigade.org/ , a non profit environmental health and justice organization tracking the impact of the BP oil spill and prevaenting the impact from being "swept under the rug." Two events in Petaluma, June 27(poetry and music fest) and July 10th (an art auction), and another event in Pacifica, CA (poetry and music and art auction) on August 7. For details please contact me.

It is time to make a real change. Not just leave it to government to show us the way. Please, get out in the street, wave signs, write friends, spread the word, organize!! We are into a new age. Stop Oil! Stop Global Warming! Stop Corporate Ownership of the Planet! There is no time left to waste.

If you have news that you want to get around please send it to me or join me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/michael.rothenberg. If we are not "friends" yet, I would be happy to add you. Again forgive me for using Big Bridge mailing list to send this message but I could not hold back.

My sincere best in these sad and terrifying times. Hope lies in real change not in promises!

Yours,
Michael Rothenberg
Big Bridge, http://www.bigbridge.org/

Images from "Skin," featuring poetry and art by Toni Partington and Christopher Luna, at North Bank Artists Gallery

Toni and I would like to thank all the friends who came out to support our opening reception Friday at North Bank Artists Gallery including Erin Dengerink, Anni Becker, Greg Bee, Sara and Eric Sawyer, Shawn and Donna Sorensen, Christopher Williams, Kori Sayer and Matt, Sherrill Roberts, Cosimo Giovine, Rainy Knight, Olin Unterwegner, Lee Powell, Cara Cottingahm, Christine Eagon, Leah Jackson, Michelle Venclik, Kelly Keigwin, Lauren Perez and her visiting cousins, and Eileen Elliott. Eileen was kind enough to read her poem "THE HEART AS A REGENERATIVE ORGAN," which I recently turned into a broadside that is on display in the show. I'd also like to thank Erin Dengerink, who allowed me to display our collaboration based on my poem "YOUR SISTER, YOUR MOTHER, YOUR LOVER, YOUR FRIEND."

600 people came through over the course of the evening. We were overwhelmed by the positive response we received. We are particularly grateful to those hearing or seeing our work for the first time who took a moment to express their thoughts. If you were not able to join us, the show will be up until the end of the month.

Finally, I would like to thank Anne John for inviting us to show our work in the gallery, and to Kathi Rck and Terri Elioff for their assistance in the days leading up to the show.

Here are some images from the exhibit as well as the spoken word portion of the reception.

Art by Erin Dengerink, Christopher Luna, and Toni Partington

Christopher Luna reads his work near THE MATADOR

The amazing Anni Becker's photo of Christopher Luna

reading his poetry at the First Friday opening of "SKIN"

at North Bank Artists Gallery, Vancouver, WA 

Local artist Greg Bee and his friend Paul listen as Toni reads her poetry 

Kori Sayer and Matt check out the show

Thanks again to everyone who came out to show their support for our poetry and art.

Christopher Luna and Toni Partington

THE WORK: JUNE 2010 Poetry newsletter compiled by Christopher Luna

THE WORK JUNE 2010

POETRY NEWSLETTER BY CHRISTOPHER LUNA

Toni Partington and I have been invited to participate in the North Bank Artists Gallery’s exhibition entitled “Skin.” Our poetry and art will be on display throughout the month of June. Please join us tonight between 5 and 9pm for an opening reception and poetry reading to celebrate. North Bank is located at 1005 Main Street. And don’t forget to check out the other great galleries and vendors at First Friday and Craft in the Village.

To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License

An Art Book

by Christopher Luna, David Madgalene, and Toni Partington

 
In July, Toni and I will be joined by Windsor, CA poet David Madgalene as we present “To Be Named,” a new 200+ page book that features five years worth of collaborative poetic travelogue written by the three of us with the help of a cast of thousands. The cover for each book will be a one-of-a-kind, extremely limited edition album cover that has been altered by all three of us. Many thanks to Leah Jackson for allowing us to debut this project at Angst. More details to follow! David will also be reading at Cover to Cover Books.

There is plenty of poetry to hold you off until then.

Open Mic Poetry

hosted by Christopher Luna

7pm Thursday, June 10, 2010

& every second Thursday

Cover to Cover Books

1817 Main Street, Vancouver

McLoughlin Blvd. & Main Street

“always all ages and uncensored”

For more info call 360-514-0358

or 360-910-1066

With our featured reader, Kristin Berger:

Kristin Berger lives with her husband and two young children in Portland, Oregon, where she serves as an Associate Editor of VoiceCatcher. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, For the Willing (Finishing Line Press, 2008, $12), and her non-fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Kristin’s poetry and essays have appeared in CALYX, New Letters, and The Pedestal Magazine among other publications, and currently in Mothering Magazine and Cup of Comfort for Mothers.

For more about Kristin, visit her website at http://www.kristinberger.wordpress.com/.

***********************************

Two days after Kristin’s reading, I will once again be facilitating The Work, a monthly workshop at Angst Gallery. The workshop will take place Saturday, June 12 at noon. This will be our last workshop until September, so don’t miss it!

**************************************

I am very excited to be participating in Dan Raphael’s Market Day Poetry Series in St. Johns again this year. On June 19 I will be hosting Peter Ludwin, Gail Moore, and Eileen Elliott. Please join us. Here is Dan’s announcement about the series:

dan raphael will be reading Saturday, June 5th, noon, with Rick J and Mary Slocum at St Johns Booksellers, 8622 n lombard. this is the first of 17 readings to be happening same time same place every saturday until 9/25, which just coincidentally is the run of the St Johns Farmers Market, half a block away, from 9-1, It’s a good place to visit, with several good places to eat and drink around, cathedral park, the st johns bridge, etc.

6/12 is hosted by Christine Broller Spangle
6/19 is Christopher Luna w/ Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore
6/26 is Melissa Sillitoe w/ J M Harris and Celestial Concubine

For more info on the reading I will be hosting on June 19, see item 8 below.

I think you’ll enjoy “Frenzied Sweetness,” my recent interview with Michael Rothenberg and David Meltzer for Rain Taxi Review of Books. We talked about Michael Rothenberg’s “CHOOSE” and his and David’s recent multi-city, multimedia ROCKPILE ON THE ROAD tour:

http://www.raintaxi.com/online/2010spring/rothenberg-meltzer.shtml

Finally, a few shout outs.

Here is an article about Tacoma’s new poet laureate, Tammy Robacker, who will be coming to Vancouver to read for us this summer:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/30/1206288/lessons-from-tacomas-poet-laureate.html

The Columbian recently acknowledged two of the newest and most exciting art venues in the “Couve, The Space and The Stray Gallery:

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/may/30/other-places-to-see-art/

Rock on this summer,
Christopher Luna

THE WORK
June 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Final chance to participate in one of Sharon Wood Wortman’s Bridge Walks (Portland)


2. Sage Cohen readings in June and an invitation to submit to "THE LIFE POETIC iPOEM CONTEST"


3. Children’s Poetry with Susan Blackaby at Barnes & Noble Vancouver June 9


4. Carolyne Wright at King’s Books (Tacoma, WA) June 11


5. The Studio Series: Poetry Reading and Open Mic featuring Paulann Petersen and Carl Adams 7-9 pm, June 13 at Stonehenge Studios/Ross Island Café (Portland)


6. Figures of Speech Series: Sid Miller and Alison Apotheker at 100th Monkey (Portland) June 16


7. Christi Krug + open mic at Paper Tiger Coffee (Vancouver, WA) June 17


8. Market Day Poetry Series with Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore June 19 (Portland)


9. Tacoma Poet Laureate Tammy Robacker at Tacoma Public Library June 24

10. SAVE THE GULF MUSIC AND POETRY FESTIVAL with David meltzer, Sharon Doubiago, Neeli Cherkovski, Geri DiGiorno, Terri Carrion, Pat Nolan, Bill Vartnaw, Katherine Hastings, Michael Rothenberg, Zack Fortune, David Madgalene and Sonoma County Poet Laureate Gwynn O'Gara June 27 (PETALUMA, CA)


SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

THE WORK

JUNE 2010

Compiled by Christopher Luna

1.

Sharon Wood Wortman is retiring from leading the bridge walks she has done for Portland Parks & Outdoor Rec since 1991 so that she can spend more time on other things, including being with her 11 grandchildren. So catch one of these before they are no more. .

FOUR PORTLAND BRIDGE, POETRY, AND MUSIC WALKS ANNOUNCED FOR 2010

Contact: Nancy Harger, Portland Parks - 503 823-5127
or Sharon Wood Wortman 503 222-5535 sharon@bridgestories.com

Sharon Wood Wortman, author of The Portland Bridge Book, and leader of waterfront bridge walks for Portland Parks & Outdoor Recreation since 1991, announces four guest performers for the 2010 bridge walking series:

Saturday, June 5 - Poet Sage Cohen
Saturday, July 24 - opening day of PDX Bridge Festival 2010 - Poet Paulann Petersen (Oregon's newest Poet Laureate)
Saturday, August 7 - closing of PDX Bridge Festival 2010 - Musician Mary Flower
Saturday, September 18 - Poet David Hedges http://david.hedges.name/

Sage Cohen, author of Writing the Life Poetic, and The Productive Writer (both published by Writer's Digest Books), will be the featured poet for the June 5 walk.

About a mile long and easy-paced, each walk includes a tour of the Oregon Dept. of Transportation’s Traffic Management Operation Center and the tower and bascule pit of the Morrison Bridge. See eight bridges in all.

Registration not required. Begins at 8:30 a.m. at the corner of NW Second & Everett (steps of the Northwest Natural Building). Ends with lunch (extra $) in Chinatown. $16 for adults, $10 for children.

Supporting the Divine, by Sharon Wood Wortman

A kiss is like a cantilever bridge—
Two lips meeting in the middle,
Air jumping up and down
(vortices exciting the molecules);
tension and compression
at such an angle two hearts
can safely walk hope across
no matter how many miles
or old the ground.

2.

Sage Cohen and Christopher Luna
at Cover to Cover Books

in Vancouver, WA

POETIC ADVENTURES WITH SAGE COHEN IN JUNE

Portland bridge and poetry walk
Saturday, June 5, starting at 8:30 a.m.
Starts at the corner of NW Second & Everett (steps of the NW Natural building)
Ends with lunch (extra $) in Chinatown.
$16 for adults, $10 for children

Learn more: http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/05/join-me-for-a-bridge-and-poetry-walk-on-saturday-june-5-.html

Free poetry workshop at the Chinese Garden
Monday, June 7, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30
Lan Su Chinese Garden
Scholar's Study (Celestial Hall of Permeating Fragrance)
239 Northwest Everett Street (@NW 3rd)
Portland, OR 97209

Learn more: http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/05/join-me-for-a-free-workshop-at-the-chinese-gardens-on-june-7.html

SUBMIT TO "THE LIFE POETIC iPOEM CONTEST"

Submission deadline: July 4, 2010

Sage Cohen invites you to submit up to three, unpublished poems that represent "the life poetic." She'll be choosing 365 for inclusion in a "Life Poetic" iPhone app that features a poem a day. Enter to win prizes valued at more than $400!

Get all the details: http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/04/youre-invited-to-submit-to-the-life-poetic-iphone-poetry-contest-.html

"THE LIFE POETIC iPHONE CONTEST" OFFERS A NEW FORUM FOR POETS AND POETRY LOVERS

Poet and author Sage Cohen is seeking submissions for a new poem-a-day iPhone application. Offering 365 poems that explore "The Life Poetic," this virtual anthology will let viewers easily read poems on their iPhone and then share them by text or email.

Poets interested in appearing in this anthology are invited to submit up to three poems to "The Life Poetic iPoem Contest" by July 4. In addition to publication opportunities, prizes include a free class, manuscript review, and many books -- with an award value of $350+.

All contest details and submission guidelines can be found here:

http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/2010/04/youre-invited-to-submit-to-the-life-poetic-iphone-poetry-contest-.html

Sage Cohen is author of Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry (Writer's Digest Books, 2009) and The Productive Writer: Tips and Tools for Writing More, Stressing Less and Creating Success (Writer's Digest Books, 2010). She blogs at http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com.

3.

"Strand by strand a spider strings
Her scaffold stalk to stem,
And when a passerby drops by
Midflight, she draws him in…"

Would you like to witness some great poetry for children? Poetry appealing to literature lovers of all ages?

We welcome local poet Susan Blackaby for a reading of her beautifully written and illustrated book Nest, Nook and Cranny. Nest, Nook and Cranny is broken into different sections - Desert, Wetland, Woodland, etc. and contains work that's visually appealing, with a large variety of metaphors that also provides a great way to learn about our natural world. It’s intented for kids ages 8-12 but would make a good gift to anyone.

This is a rare event for our Poetry Group regulars - and their children and grandchildren.

Barnes and Noble Vancouver 2nd Wednesdays Poetry Group
Wednesday, June 9th
Critique Group in café: 6 pm
Author Reading in back corner: 7 pm
Open Mic in back corner: 7:45 pm
7700 NE Fourth Plain Blvd., 98662

You’re Invited,
Shawn Sorensen (crm2679@bn.com)
Community Relations Manager
Barnes and Noble Booksellers
Vancouver Plaza

7700 NE 4th Plain Blvd.
Vancouver, WA 98662
tel: (360) 260-3854
fax: (360) 253-5414

http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/

4.

The City of Tacoma and Puget Sound Poetry Connection Presents

Carolyne Wright

Distinguished Writer Series

Friday, June 11, 2010 @ 7:00 p.m.

at Kings Bookstore, 218 St. Helens Ave, Tacoma

Open mic to follow featured reader--So come read a poem with us!

*To learn more about local poetry readings, writer workshops, local lit events and lots of poetry publication opportunities, join Puget Sound Poetry Connection on our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=88695587874&ref=ts
or our webpage: http://pugetsoundpoetryconnection.art.officelive.com/default.aspx

5.

The Studio Series: Poetry Reading and Open Mic will feature Paulann Petersen and Carl Adamshick at its first event on Sunday, June 13, 2010 at Stonehenge Studios/Ross Island Café, 3508 SW Corbett Avenue, Portland 97239 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The readings by the featured poets will be followed by a 20-minute intermission before an open mic begins at 8:00 and continues until 9:00. During the intermission there will be an opportunity to sign up to read during the open mic and the café will serve food and drink, including alcoholic beverages. The café is not usually open on Sunday nights but it will be open on second Sundays from 6:00 to serve café fare such as burgers and gourmet sandwiches for those who wish to have a light meal before the event. Free and open to the public, The Studio Series will be held monthly on second Sundays. For more information, please contact organizer and host Leah Stenson at leahstenson@comcast.net.

Directions to the Studio Coming from the south, take the Corbett Exit on I-5. Turn left off the exit ramp onto Corbett and head downhill to the Studio, which will be on your right. If you are coming from the

north, take Macadam to Boundary. Make a right on Boundary. Go one block and make a right onto Corbett. Continue on Corbett past the blinking red light at Hamilton and head downhill to the studio on your right.

Paulann Petersen’s books of poetry are The Wild Awake (Confluence Press), Blood-Silk (Quiet Lion Press), A Bride of Narrow Escape (Cloudbank Books), which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and Kindle (Mountains and Rivers Press). A fifth full-length book, The Voluptuary, is scheduled to be published by Lost Horse Press in late 2010. A former Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and the recipient of the 2006 Holbrook Award from Oregon Literary Arts, she serves on the board of Friends of William Stafford, organizing the annual January Stafford Birthday Events.

Carl Adamshick is the winner of the Walt Whitman Award selected by the Academy of American Poets. His book Curses and Wishes is due out in the spring of 2011 by LSU Press. He has published poems in American Poetry Review, The Harvard Review, and The Missouri Review.

6.

At Figures of Speech this month we have Sid Miller and Alison Apotheker (see below). Also, as usual, open mic., writing prompts, books, cookies and a new art show at the 100th Monkey. So mark your calendars, key into your phones, your computers, your personal electronic devices, Wednesday June 16th at 7 p.m. The 100th Monkey is located on the east side at 110 S.E. 16th. 503-232-3457 for directions.

And don't forget our monthly critique group at Looking Glass Books in Sellwood on the second sunday of every month at 5 p.m. We hope to see you and 10 copies of your poems on June 13th. So come on by for a couple hours, say hi to Charlie (the best book store dog ever) and have a good time with the group.

http://www.the100thmonkeystudio.com/
http://www.lookingglassbook.questoffice.net/
http://figuresofspeechpdx.wordpress.com/

Thx again for supporting the community, looking forward to seeing you all soon.

warmly,
Steve and Constance

Bios:

Sid Miller's first two full length poetry collections were published in 2009,Nixon on the Piano (David Robert Books) and Dot-to-Dot, Oregon (Ooligan Press). This coming fall he will be the writer-in-residence atthe Sitka Center for the Arts. He is the founder and editorof the Portland based independent press, Burnside Review..

Alison Apotheker's poems have been published in many literary magazines,including Alaska Quarterly Review, Mid-American Review, and PrairieSchoooner. Her work has received the C. Hamilton Bailey fellowship fromOregon Literary Arts, twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and wasrecently featured on the NPR radio show, "The Writer's Almanac."Her first book of poems, Slim Margin, was released in 2008

7.

From Daniel Nelson

Greetings and celluloid mutations wordsmiths,

Many thanks to all who supported our last reading in word or deed. For those who missed it Tommy Gaffney delighted us with his hilarious and meaningful poems from a life rooted in dirt but soaring into space. Thank you again Mister Gaffney. For June we will have, in addition to a pride of local literary lions, the fine verse and wry pathos of Christi Krug. Christi Krug's poetry has appeared in print and online in The Fossil Record, sixlittlethings, the Aroostook Review, Salal Journal, Umbrella, and Bumbershoot. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in qarrtsiluni, VoiceCatcher, Halfway Down the Stairs, Colored Chalk, sub-scribe, Defenestration and elsewhere. Awards include Inscape Best of Nonfiction, Whidbey Island Poetry, and Oregon Christian Writers Fiction. As a writing coach, Christi teaches "Wildfire Writing" at Clark College and independently. She is a northwest native who has sampled several cities and believes Vancouver, Washington to have the finest quality rain anywhere.

Hope you all will come out and join us on Thursday, June 17 at 7pm at Paper Tiger, 703 Grand Blvd. in the 'Couve.

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

8.

Market Day Poetry Series

Curated by Dan Raphael

Every Saturday at noon from June through September

a block from the St. Johns farmer’s market

Saturday, June 19

12 – 1 pm

Poets Peter Ludwin, Eileen Elliott, and Gail Moore

Hosted by Christopher Luna

St. Johns Booksellers

8622 N. Lombard Street

Portland, OR

Bios and poems

Peter Ludwin will be reading from his first full length poetry collection, A Guest in All Your Houses (Word Walker Press 2009, $14). A review of the book is available here: http://www.lochravenreview.net/2010Spring/doss.html

For the past nine years he has been a participant in the San Miguel Poetry Week in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he has workshopped under renowned poets such as Mark Doty, Tony Barnstone, Forrest Gander, Linda Gregg, C.D. Wright, Patricia Goedicke, Alfred Corn and C.K. Williams, to name a few. In 2007 he received a Literary Fellowship from Artist Trust, an adjunct of the Washington State Arts Commission. He was the 2007-2008 Second Prize Winner of the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Awards, and during the same year he was also a finalist for the Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award. He is a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee.

His poems have appeared in many journals, among them Antietam Review, Briar Cliff Review, California Quarterly, Coal City Review, Common Ground Review, The Comstock Review, Concho River Review, Connecticut River Review, Cottonwood, Flint Hills Review, Front Range, The Fourth River, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Hurricane Review, Interdisciplinary Humanities, Karamu, Kyoto Journal, Lake Effect, Lullwater Review, Mad Poets Review, Midwest Quarterly, Peregrine, Permafrost, The Prague Revue, Quercus Review, Red Wheelbarrow, River Oak Review, The Rockford Review, Slant, Small Pond Magazine of Literature, The Raven Chronicles, South Carolina Review, South Dakota Review, Whiskey Island Magazine and Writers Without Borders.

He currently has work forthcoming in Cider Press Review, RiverSedge, Tribeca Poetry Review, Willard and Maple and Wisconsin Review.

He has been a featured reader in Washington, Oregon, California, South Dakota, Minnesota and in the Czech Republic. In 1996 he read over the radio during the Cleveland Bi-Centennial. He has twice read for the Distinguished Writers Series in Tacoma, Washington. In the fall of 2009 he read for the John R. Milton Writer’s Conference at the University of South Dakota, and featured with noted poet and fiction writer Frank Gaspar at Whittier College in Los Angeles. He also has a background in folk music, and plays acoustic guitar and autoharp. He has both taught and performed at the Pacific Northwest Folklife Festival.

Forest Camp, Pahvant Range, Utah
by Peter Ludwin

From up here I could summon wolves
to circle my sleeping bag, I could
call down the moon on my tongue.

The sun on the red cliffs behind me,
the stream roaring through rabbitbrush
while cottonwoods dance in the wind—

these tell me, like the handwriting
that condemned Belshazzar, that I
have been judged and found wanting.

I must stay here, in mind if not in body.
I must cultivate the heart of a whisper,
of the artichoke buried in spines.

It’s late in the harvest season,
and I must gather enough of me up
to make it through the winter.

Eileen Davis Elliott was born to the Great Plains, polished by the winds of the world and continues to be fine-tuned by daily experience. She writes of seeking and sometimes finding, of sinning and sometimes redemption. Her book, Prodigal Cowgirl ($15), reflects journeys and partial resolutions.

Her second book Miles of Pies is well under way. She is a mixed media artist and continues to travel since her recent retirement as a psychologist.

Excerpt from Canis Lupus by Eileen Elliott

We sing our choruses in yelping voices
cadences from long-gone times
now faded into whispers
made near-inaudible by passing years

And the cracking of long bones in our jaws is electric
like the borealis
on deep snow

Gail Moore was a voiceless poet most of her life. She finally began writing in 1990 after a vision of a strange animal emerging from a cave and shaking off wool. She lives in Newport, Oregon, and after a long love affair with the rain, misses the sun and wants to go home to LA.

Gail was the recipient of the Pacifica Foundation Award for Best Poet of 2001 and the Dorothy Daniels Honorary Writing Award competition in 2000. She is the author of two books: Poems on the Half Shell ($14) and Post Card Poems ($10).

Spillage
by Gail Moore

In the house of mistakes
I grafted your name into the future.
Your name was shadow. My name was dust.

Sibilant or still, I slid down the dry wall;
I joined you in the court of redress as
we had spilled our best over the edge of time.

Your face melted into an astonishing silence.
I find you only in sleep or in the leftover
parts of myself.

I have rattled the door of your mind
but you do not answer.
Still, your name sleeps on my floor.

9.

NEW TACOMA POET LAUREATE ROBACKER GIVES PREMIERE READING JUNE 24 TACOMA, WA --Urban Grace: the Downtown Church is excited to present poet Tammy Robacker for a premiere reading to celebrate being named 2010 Soul of the City Tacoma Poet Laureate on Thursday, June 24 at 7 p.m. at the Tacoma Public Library—Main Branch. This event is free and open to the public.

After thoughtful deliberation, a panel of five local judges chose Robacker’s application for its excellence in poetry, commitment to the Tacoma arts community, and strength in leadership. Judges included current Laureate Antonio Edwards, former Laureate William Kupinse, Emily Noelle-Ignacio, Grace Livingston, and Holly Senn.

“Tammy Robacker has been a consistent and productive artist on the poetry scene of Tacoma for several years. When I heard that that judges had chosen her to be our next Poet Laureate I thought it was an excellent choice,” said Tad Monroe, Pastor at Urban Grace: A Downtown Church. “Tammy has worked hard to forge strong relationships within the diverse and eclectic world of Tacoma poets. Finally, her work speaks for itself. She is a fine crafter of words without sentimentality or cliche and she explores the widths and depths of the human experience from the funny, to the painful, to the socially conscience and the spiritual. She can make you laugh and she can make you cry and at the end of the day; what else is there?”

At the June 24 premiere reading, special guests will also be joining Robacker to celebrate poetry, Urban Grace’s poet laureate program, and her introduction to the local community. Both former Soul of the City Poet Laureates Antonio Edwards and William Kupinse will be reading their work in honor of the event. Also, three of this year’s 2010 Poet Laureate contest candidates, Brittany Short, Deborah Renee Crespo, and Pamela McCauley, will share poetry they submitted for application to the competition. Robacker has also invited Puyallup High School senior, Maddison Hamel, to open her premiere with a special poem recital. Hamel was the winning 2010 Poetry Out Loud competition finalist in Pierce County this year.

As Poet Laureate, Robacker will perform once a month at Urban Grace, by request at Urban Grace events, as well as lead two FREE public poetry workshops in Tacoma for the community. Over the next year, Robacker will also participate actively by supporting poets, poetry and literary arts education in the local community, and hosting monthly poetry writing workshops. If you are interested in working with Robacker or having her read for your school, organization or event, please visit her website: www.tammyrobacker.com and send her a personal request. If you would like more information about the Soul of the City Poetry Competition or the Poet Laureate position, please email Nicolette Paso, Urban Grace Program Associate at npaso@urbangracetacoma.org, call 253.272.2184 x106, or visit http://www.urbangracetacoma.org/

10.

From: Michael Rothenberg

SAVE THE GULF
MUSIC & POETRY FESTIVAL


A Benefit for The Louisiana Bucket Brigade
SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2010 2:00 — 5:00 p.m.
The Phoenix Theater, 201 Washington St., Petaluma 707-762-3565http://www.thephoenixtheater.com/

POETS INCLUDE: DAVID MELTZER, JUDY GRAHN, SHARON DOUBIAGO, NEELI CHERKOVSKI. Also: Geri DiGiorno, Terri Carrion, Pat Nolan, Bill Vartnaw, Katherine Hastings, Michael Rothenberg, Zack Fortune, David Madgalene and Sonoma County Poet Laureate Gwynn O'Gara

MUSIC BY ANNE CAROL and
PETALUMA'S FABULOUS HIGH CLASS!

ADMISSION: $5 — $5,000! NO ONE TURNED AWAY

All proceeds go to The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, a non-profit 501(C)3 environmental health and justice organization tracking the impact of the BP oil spill and preventing the impact from being "swept under the rug". Donations are tax-deductible. Checks accepted.
www.labucketbrigade.org
oilspill.labucketbrigade.org

SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

1.

From: Michael Rothenberg
Date: Sun, May 16, 2010 at 2:31 PM
Subject: LONG LIVE NEW ORLEANS!!! BIG BRIDGE TRIBUTE

Complete New Orleans Tribute Issue

Dear Friends of Big Bridge,

We are pleased to announce the final Supplement of Big Bridge's Epic Tribute to New Orleans. When we set out to offer this tribute to the magical and great City of New Orleans we had no idea it would take two years and three installments. Gratitude to Jack Krick and Mary Sands Woodbury for webmastering us through this enormity. And thank you for your patience in allowing this tribute to evolve. There is no shortage of wonders to be found within!

Love to you all! And LONG LIVE NEW ORLEANS!!!

BIG BRIDGE
http://www.bigbridge.org/

Complete New Orleans Tribute Issue

2010 SUPPLEMENT

FEATURES

Photographing the Ninth Ward
Images of New Orleans After Katrina by John Rosenthal

Diane di Prima
A Retrospective Collection of Essays

Home Again, Home Again
A Memoir by Ron Loewinsohn

Perfiles de la Noche / Profiles of Night
Mujeres poetas de Venezuela/Women Poets of Venezuela
A Selection from the Bi-lingual Anthology
Original complete text selected and translated by Rowena Hill
Co-edited by Pen de Venezuela and bid and co.
Selection for online edition by Terri Carrion

Poetry by

María Auxiliadora Álvarez, Edda Armas, Enriqueta Arvelo Larriva,
María calcaño, Laura Cracco, Ida Gramcko, Patricia Guzmán, Veronica Jaffe,
Maritza Jiménez, Rowena Hill, Martha Kornblith, Luz machado, María Isabel Novillo,
Cecilia Ortiz, Hanni Ossott, Yolanda Pantin, Emira Rodríguez, Margara Russotto,
María Clara Salas, Elizabeth Schön, Blanca Strepponi, Ana Enriqueta Terán,
Alicia Torres, Elena Vera, Carmen Verde Arocha, Miyo Vestrin

FEATURE POETS

Wendy Babiak Jim Christy Hans Plomp Robert Priest

FEATURED ARTISTS
Ed Coletti Jeff Crouch Diana Magallon and Jeff Crouch John Martone Spencer Selby

FICTION
edited by Vernon Frazer

Tom Bradley Seth Phelps Stefani Christova Jordan Zinovich
Jefferson Hansen Joe Clifford Christopher Brookhouse Andy Stewart

REVIEWS
Allan Graubard reviews Gherasim Luca
Paul Martinez Pompa reviews Francesco Levato's translation of Tiziano Fratus
Jack Foley reviews Katherine Hastings
Roberts French reviews Anne Valley-Fox
Art Beck reviews Neeli Cherkovski
Steve Dalachinsky & Yuko Otomo review Gerald Nicosia
Billey Rainey reviews Stephen Bett
Wanda Phipps reviews a performance by Delirious Dances

An Interview with Choreographer Edisa Weeks
Interviewer: Wanda Phipps


2.

From: Victory Lee Schouten/RS Gallery
Date: Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 3:22 PM
Subject: Brave New Words 2010 Events!

Hi All,

If you caught the first two Brave New Word's 2010 events: Poetry and Music of Ancient Mexico with Cindy Williams Gutiérrez & Gerardo Calderón in March and this past Saturday's launch party & reading for Nashira Priester's new book Mystic Glyphs from Onyx Larynx, which also featured jazz artist Julian Priester and Cuban poet Jorge Enrique González-Pacheco, you know these are "do not miss" events.

Below is the schedule for the rest of 2010. However we may well add a few more as the spirit moves us and the funds appear! We all loved Jorge Enrique González-Pacheco's poems so much we may need to fit him into this year's schedule too! We'll keep you posted.

If you would like to support BNW checks can be made out to: "BNW / Greenbank Farm". Mail donations to:

BNW
765 Wonn Road, Bld. C - #103
Greenbank, WA 98253

Brave New Words 2010


June 12
Launch Party and Reading for new award-winning book:
"The Habit of Buenos Aires"
Lorraine Healy

Lorraine Healy is a poet, writer, and photographer living on Whidbey Island, Washington. The winner of several national awards, including the Hackney Prize, she has been published extensively both in the U.S. and her native Argentina. Her poem "An Artifact of Light" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2004 soon after it appeared in her first chapbook, The Farthest South, published by New American Press in 2003. Her first full-length manuscript, The Habit of Buenos Aires, has won the Patricia Bibby First Book Award and will be published by Tebot Bach Press in 2010.

July 17
"Finding Water, Holding Stone"
James Bertolino and Anita K. Boyle

James Bertolino¹s poetry has been appearing internationally in books, magazines and anthologies for over 40 years. Bertolino¹s poetry has been recognized nationally by the Book-of-the-Month Club Poetry Fellowship, the Discovery Award, a Hart Crane publication award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, two Quarterly Review of Literature book awards and, the Jeanne Lohmann Poetry Prize for Washington State Poets. Ten volumes and fifteen chapbooks of his poetry and prose have been published. He holds an MFA from Cornell University and taught creative writing at Cornell, Washington State, University of Cincinnati and Western Washington University. He has since retired and lives on five rural acres with Anita K. Boyle near Bellingham, Washington.

Anita K. Boyle graduated from Western Washington University with a B.A. in Art (graphic design, illustration) and English (creative writing). She is a director of the Whatcom Poetry Series: The Poet As Art, and the publisher/editor of Egress Studio Press. She was a winner of the 2004 Red Sky Poetry Theatre statewide competition, and is included in the anthology Red Sky Morning. Boyle received a Willard R. Espy Literary Foundation residency in Oysterville, WA during October 2003. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications. Her chapbook, Bamboo Equals Loon, was published in 2001. She also writes collaborative poetry with James Bertolino. Their poems have been published in literary magazines, as well as the collaborative poetry anthology, Saints of Hysteria (Soft Skull Press, 2006), and in two chapbooks, Pub Proceedings and Bar Exams.

http://readwritepoem.org/blog/2010/02/22/read-write-interview-james-bertolino-and-anita-boyle/

July 24/25 Loganberry Festival
Interactive Art/Poetry Installation
A. K. Mimi Allin

A.K. Mimi Allin has produced numerous installations for groups such as LitFuse, Studio-Current, The Urban Wilderness Project. In 2006 she gave a year-long public performance, "The Poetess at Green Lake", for which she sat outside for 9 hours every Sunday, at a small wooden desk, offering intimate poetry exchanges. She¹s produced magazines in matchbooks and has read poetry through a hole she melted in a 300-pound block of ice. Allin fuses poetry with visual and performance art.

September 18
"Music Maker"
Matt Gano

Matt Gano is a nationally known poet, writer, and performance artist residing in Seattle, Wash. He was a member of the National Poetry Slam team for Seattle in 2004 and 2005, and remains one of the top performing artists in the national and international poetry circuit.

Matt works as a full-time teaching artist with local arts organizations such as Seattle Arts and Lectures: Writers in the Schools and Arts Corps. In addition, he is the arts-in-education facilitator and a writing mentor for Youth Speaks, Seattle¹s nationally renowned youth poetry program. His published work includes chapbooks "Art Barker" and "Welcome Home," as well as "I Eight The Infinite," a self-titled poetry LP and a live recording entitled "A Giant¹s Pulse." Matt Gano returns to Seattle in 2010 after teaching Spoken Word poetry and Creative Writing as Artist in Residence at Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong School of Creativity.

October 16
"Moonlight in the Redemptive Forest"
Michael Daley and Felicia Gonzalez

Felicia Gonzalez was born and raised in Cuba. An alumna of Hedgebrook Writers Retreat, she is a recipient of a 2007 Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship. In 2006, she was awarded an individual artists grant from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for the chapbook, Recollection Graffiti.

Michael Daley was born in Boston, and is a graduate of UMass with an MFA from the University of Washington. He¹s worked as a laborer, taxi driver, waiter, tree-planter, editor, Poet-in-the-schools, and high school English teacher. The author of three books of poems, a book of essays and several chapbooks, his work has appeared in numerous literary journals , and on Garrison Keilor¹s Writer¹s Almanac. In 2001 he received a Fulbright grant to live in Hungary for a year. Twice the National Endowment of the Humanities has awarded his work, as has the Seattle Arts Commission, Bumbershoot, and the Fessenden Foundation. This year Pleasure Boat Studio published Michael's newest collection of poetry Moonlight in the Redemptive Forest He received a grant from Artists Trust to produce the book¹s accompanying CD, Frankie the Milkman¹s Song & Other Poems.

November 20
Native American Violinist and Storyteller
Swil Kanim

Swil Kanim is a world class virtuoso violinist who advocates self-expression to create stronger community. He intertwines his music with storytelling, poetry, and audience interaction. His original compositions are mesmerizing and inspiring to all ages alike. While quickly becoming the most popular Native American Violinist, Swil Kanim is also a key-note speaker and notable actor; he starred as "Mouse" in Sherman Alexie¹s highly acclaimed movie The Business of FancyDancing. A Lummi tribal member Swil Kanim lives in Mt. Vernon, WA.

Brought to you by Brave New Words the spoken word production group of Greenbank Farm, a qualified 501 C-3 not-for-profit. info@bravenewwords.org

Brave New Words
Spoken Word Productions
For More Information Contact:
Victory Lee Schouten, ED
Phone: 360.331.7099 or 360.222.3070
765 Wonn Road, Bld. C, #103
Greenbank, WA 98253

Brave New Words operates under the auspices of Greenbank Farm, a qualified 501 C-3.

3.

Call For Art Opens
It's time to submit... your creativity!

PDX Bridge Festival, in partnership with Portland City Art, is pleased to announce our 2010 Call For Art!

We are looking for artists of all types—painters, sculptors, photographers, collagists, installation artists, film makers, performers, and musicians—to take part in this community-sourced, citywide celebration of the bridges. Using “Bridge” as a thematic or metaphorical element of your work is encouraged, though it is not required. The “Bridge” theme may include—but is not limited to—bridging communities, bridging styles, bridging time periods, concepts, politics, perspective, mediums, etc. In other words, we are open to all quality works of art and performance, and leave it up to you to explain the bridge link.

Art will be exhibited at PDX Bridge Festival in a variety of traditional and non-traditional venues, including Olympic Mills Commerce Center, City Hall, Pioneer Place Mall, East Bank Esplanade, and at galleries throughout the city.

To submit your art for consideration at PDX Bridge Festival, please visit the submissions page on our website (http://portland-bridge-festival.com/callforart/index.html). If you have questions, please direct additional inquiries to submit@pdxbridgefestival.org.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: June 16th, 2010!