The Work Poetry Newsletter July 2025
CALL YOUR SENATORS: TELL THEM TO VOTE NO ON THE SO-CALLED "BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL" TAX SCAM TO BENEFIT BILLIONAIRES: (202) 224-3121
Join me on July 12 at the Arts Hub for my first drop-in poetry workshop at our new location: https://printedmattervancouver.com/2025/05/21/the-work-poetry-workshop-moves-to-its-new-home-at-the-arts-hub-on-july-12-birdhouse-books-migrates-to-ronald-records/
I am still looking for a few writers to join my Thursday afternoon memoir writing workshop (July 10 – August 28) at Niche Wine Bar in downtown Vancouver. In July and August we will write to prompts based on Hidden in the Valley by Barbara J. Moore, the amazing story of how the author's "then seventy-six -year old mother was rescued alive in the Wallowa Mountains.... [after spending] fourteen days in the valley of the shadow of death with a mother bear and her cubs."
You can learn about all of my creative writing workshops on the Printed Matter Vancouver website.
Please read Miranda Martin's beautiful words regarding what Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic has meant for her.
I have really enjoyed M. Klein’s workshop. Check out this announcement regarding the next round: To Light a Candle is a poetry workshop by mail. Summer Session registration is open from June 29th to July 13th. This session includes 6 poems by 5 poets, and 28 prompts. Featured poets include Ed Skoog and Janis Harrington (a recent feature at Ghost Town Open Mic.) Learn more about To Light A Candle on M. Klein's instagram @stone.spiral or on her website: kleinmk.squarespace.com/candle.
Congratulations to D.C. Klein, who received First Place in the Poetry category of the Bostwick-Gallivan Award for his poem "Evidence Tagged Six". The Bostwick-Gallivan Award is given to students of Clark College in recognition of excellent writing written in Clark's creative writing classes. D.C. was nominated by his Advanced Poetry Writing Professor, Jesse Morse.
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic emcee Morgan Paige, Charles Potts, and Kristin Berger appeared on a recent episode of KBOO’s Talking Earth hosted by dan raphael:
https://kboo.fm/media/127756-talking-earth-061625-potts-paige-berger
Garden of the Good flowers (Ghost City Press) is M. Klein's second collection of poetry. As of 6/30/25, it is available to download for free (with the option to donate directly to the author), on Ghost City Press's website. More info in the newsletter below.
Check out the Washington State Queer Poetry Anthology, edited by past Washington State Poet Laureate Arianne True.
Tommy Gaffney is one of the most badass, bighearted poets we've got. Buy his book, Whiskey Days, published by Josh Gaines's Thoughtcrime Press.
I am very excited about Ulric Cowley’s new book. Here is some more information about the book including ordering information: The Labyrinth in the Egg by Ulric Cowley is a collection of poetry, a play, and journal entries. The book is a phenomenological excavation of the self. Ulric uses myth and autobiographical experiences to map out the terrain of his consciousness, finding connection with the self and the world at large. It is a book that covers loss, addiction, self discovery, renewal, hope, and a kaleidoscope of images and sensory impressions. It is an attempt at an enunciation of the vowels that can capture the divine or transcendent experience; a peering through the veil if you may. You can purchase the book by reaching out to Ulric at his email ulriccowley@gmail.com or on Instagram: Ulric_The_Dionysian. The chapbook is fifteen dollars and if you wanted it shipped it would be twenty dollars. Reach out to Ulric and he will get it to you ultimately no matter what even due to lack of funds.
Congratulations to Maggie Chula on the publication of Clothes To Go Out In, “a chapbook of haibun, a hybrid form combining prose with haiku. These thirty-one vignettes weave together a tapestry of my life—from clothes for all occasions to a collage of memories, experiences, and emotions that have shaped my identity.”
I’m really looking forward to seeing work by Marila Guilliams and Russell Ford at the grand opening of Aqua Gallery at Terminal 1 on Vancouver’s Waterfront:
Thanks as always to Jacob Salzer for the following links:
Americans of Conscience: https://americansofconscience.com/06-13-2025/
Haiku Poet Interviews: https://haikupoetinterviews.wordpress.com/
In June, I'm grateful I got to interview a remarkable poet, Lorraine A Padden:
https://haikupoetinterviews.wordpress.com/2025/06/02/lorraine-a-padden/
Haiku Commentary Blog: https://haikucommentary.wordpress.com/
THE WORK
POETRY NEWSLETTER
JULY 2025
JULY 6: Youth Uptown Poetry (Ages 19 and under) at Metallion Café (Vancouver, WA)
JULY 7: Maryrose Larkin, Jen Coleman, and Sue Landers at Passages Bookshop (Portland, OR)
JULY 9: Incite: Queer Writers Read Featuring JP Perrine, Grey Traynor, and Eliot Feenstra at Literary Arts (Portland)
JULY 10: Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic Featuring Amber Marie at Art At The Cave (Vancouver)
JULY 12: Poets in Conversation: Cindy Williams Gutierrez and Paulann Petersen at Chaparral Books (Portland)
JULY 13: The Studio Series Poetry Reading & Open Mic Featuring Ellen Waterston and John Martin at
Ross Island Grocery & Café (Portland)
JULY 17: Ken Yoshikawa and Alone Featuring Company at Annie Bloom's Books (Portland)
JULY 23: Poetry Street PNW Featuring Jesse Morse plus open mic at the Camas Public Library (Camas, WA)
SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST: New chapbook from M Klein, Poetry Moves Submission Call, 2025 Passing of the Laurel Ceremony
JULY 6
Youth Uptown Poetry
Ages 19 and under
When: First Sunday Monthly
Time: 5p-6:15p
Where: Metallion Café, 1906 Main St, Vancouver, WA 98660
Contact: Rachel Hunter, 360-750-5693
NEXT OPEN MIC: SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2025
Youth Uptown Poetry encourages local youth to share their voices and written word in a
safe and supportive environment. All youth 19 and under are welcome to attend and
share. All ages are welcome to join and listen. Family friendly and reoccurring every first
Sunday of the month.
Hosts: Rachel Hunter, Jacob Salzer, & Elmo Shade
GENERAL GUIDELINES
Youth Uptown Poetry creates a safe and inclusive platform for all readers
Generative writing from prompts & readings, as well as table discussions
Bring writing instruments & notebooks for each meeting
Read your original work or favorite poems
JULY 7
Spare Room and Passages Bookshop present a reading by
MARYROSE LARKIN
JEN COLEMAN
SUE LANDERS
Monday, July 7
7:30 pm
Doors open at 7:00 pm; no late entry
Free admission
Passages Bookshop
1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR 97209
503-388-7665
Upcoming Spare Room readings
(at Passages Bookshop, except where noted)
7/27 Airfoil Revival Chapbook Launch:
David Abel, Sam Lohmann, & Chris Daniels
8/2 (at Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Avenue)
Moose & Squirrel: Poets' Theater
Maryrose Larkin is the author of several books, including The Identification of Ghosts (Chax) Marrowing (Airfoil), and The Monsters Topic Sentence (The Magnificent Field). A desert anchorite and Portland exile, Maryrose was a founding member of the Spare Room reading series. Maryrose keeps her friends close and her muses closer.
Jen Coleman is author of We Denizens (Furniture Press Books) and Psalms for Dogs and Sorcerors (Trembling Pillow Press). Jen met Sue Landers while they both earned MFAs from George Mason University in Virginia in the 1990s and then Jen followed Sue to New York. Jen met Maryrose when Jen moved to Portland in 2008 and was instantly a fan. Today, Jen is working on a volume of poems called because you asked and playing ukulele with the Stumptown Jug Thumpers.
Sue Landers is a Brooklyn-based, Philly-bred poet and pedestrian, and the author of four poetry collections. Her new book, What to Carry Into the Future (Roof), emerged from riding every New York City subway line from end to end. Her poems have appeared in Poem-A-Day, The Brooklyn Rail, The Offing, and elsewhere. From 2018-2021, she served as the executive director of Lambda Literary. More at suelanders.com.
Passages Bookshop
NEW MAILING ADDRESS
1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660
Portland, OR 97209
503-388-7665
fine, rare, and unusual
books and graphic art
poetry, avant-garde art
fine printing, artist's books
www.passagesbookshop.com
JULY 9
Incite: Queer Writers Read
Wed, July 9
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm PDT
Literary Arts
716 SE Grand Ave
Portland, OR 97214
Vinnie Kinsella, Jennifer Perrine, Eliot Feenstra, Grey Traynor
Incite: Queer Writers Read is a curated, bimonthly reading series for Queer writers. Incite’s hope is to create conversation, connection, and greater understanding both within the Queer community and with other communities. Hosted by Vinnie Kinsella and Jennifer (JP) Perrine.
The featured readers for July are JP Perrine, Grey Traynor, and Eliot Feenstra. The theme is “Play.”
Vinnie Kinsella: Vinnie’s love for books began in the second grade, when he worked with his fellow students to write and illustrate a story about the adventures of an ice-cream-loving giraffe. Since then he has worked as a writer, editor, book designer, publisher, workshop presenter, and college instructor. He is the editor of Fashionably Late: Gay, Bi, and Trans Men Who Came Out Later in Life and the author of A Little Bit of Advice for Self-Publishers.
Jennifer (JP) Perrine is the author of five award-winning books of poetry: Beautiful Outlaw, Again, The Body Is No Machine, In the Human Zoo, and No Confession, No Mass. Their other recent work appears in Best Small Fictions, A Mouth Holds Many Things: A De-Canon Hybrid Lit Collection, and Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, and Poetry. A two-time winner of Arts and Culture Diversity and Inclusion Awards from the Asian American Journalists Association, Perrine lives in Portland, Oregon, where they cohost the Incite: Queer Writers Read series, perform stand-up comedy, and work as the equity and racial justice program manager for Metro Parks and Nature.
Eliot Feenstra (he/they) is a long-time community organizer, facilitator, performer, teacher, poet, and gardener. He grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and lived and worked in rural southwestern Oregon for over a decade before recently relocating to Portland. He has co-founded multiple collaborative projects including Versailles (a queer land project), Whirlwind (24-hour play festivals), and RiverStars (a school-based devised theater initiative). Eliot holds an MA in performance studies from York University and a BA in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Chicago. He manages projects for Oregon’s Kitchen Table, leads facilitation trainings with Oregon Humanities, and serves as the co-chair of the governance committee for the Queer Data Project, a statewide research project with the LGBTQIA2S+ community in Oregon.
Grey Traynor is a transfemme, nonbinary writer who has been published in Time Out San Francisco, Beacon Quarterly, Gold Man Review, Doubleback Review, BULL, and ouch! collective. They will be attending the Tin House Workshop (Summer 2025) and can be found on Instagram @greytraynor and at www.greytraynor.gay
JULY 10
Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic
Featuring Amber Marie
Hosted by Christopher Luna and Morgan Paige
7 pm
Thursday, July 10
Art At The Cave
108 E Evergreen Blvd
Vancouver, WA 98660
https://artatthecave.com
ANTI-RACIST, LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY, PRO-SCIENCE, ANTI-FASCIST,
PRO-CHOICE, ALL AGES, AND UNCENSORED SINCE 2004
https://printedmattervancouver.com/
$5 Suggested donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds
Donations can be made in person or through Christopher Luna’s CashApp account (ChristopherLuna9).
Amber Marie is a writer, maker, and performing artist who thrives at the intersection of these art forms. She both curates and designs original fashion and art for her traveling dark bohemian shop, The Beatnik Bazaar. She has designed and published books of poetry and short fiction, busked typewriter poetry for years, and continues to push the boundaries of performance art and written word. She seeks to get poetry "off the page" through experimentation and play.
Send an email to printedmattervancouver@gmail.com or visit
to register to receive The Work, Christopher Luna's monthly newsletter featuring news and events for poets in Vancouver, WA, Portland, OR and surrounding areas.
The Ghost Town Poetry community respectfully encourages you to support Niche Wine Bar, whose owner, Leah Jackson, provided a home for the reading series from 2015-2020. Stop by their new location at 900 Washington, Suite 130 Vancouver, WA 98660: https://nichewinebar.com.
JULY 12
Poets in Conversation: Cindy Williams Gutierrez and Paulann Petersen
Saturday July 12, 2:00 PM
Chaparral Books
5210 S Corbett Avenue
Portland, Oregon
across from Elephants Deli
https://www.chaparralbooks.com/
JULY 13
The Studio Series Poetry Reading & Open Mic
July 13, 2025 (Sunday) 7:00 PM
Ross Island Grocery & Café, 3502 S Corbett Avenue, Portland 97239
Featuring Ellen Waterston and John Martin
2024 was a banner year for poet and author Ellen Waterston who, that year, received Soapstone’s Bread and Roses Award, Literary Arts’ Stewart H. Holbrook Award, and was named the eleventh Poet Laureate of Oregon. She has dedicated herself to writing and advocating for the literary arts in the high desert region of Oregon, all the while continuing to write poetry and nonfiction works that have evolved into essential reading about Oregon and the West. She has published five literary nonfiction titles, including, most recently, We Could Die Doing This (2024) and Walking the High Desert (2020), and four poetry titles. Her fifth poetry title, As Far As I Can Anthem (working title), will be published December 2025. Waterston is the founder of the Writing Ranch and of the annual Waterston Desert Writing Prize. For more information visit www.writingranch.com
John Martin is the author of the poetry collection, Hold This, published by Concrete Wolf Press in 2017. In 2006, Iota Press published his chapbook, The Nick of Time. His poems have appeared in America Magazine, High Desert Journal, Parody, and Manzanita Quarterly. While living in Central Oregon he wrote articles for newspapers and periodicals, and he has taught poetry in workshops, schools and a prison. He now lives in Walla Walla, Washington.
The Open Mic is open to all audience members. Participants can sign up before the start of the reading or during the break. In the interest of time, Open Mic readers are asked to limit their reading to three minutes.
View clips of featured poets reading at the Studio Series on Instagram @poet_landia and on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1281329966139780/
The Ross Island Grocery and Café is a cozy space with capacity for 40 or so people. Tables are available, so people who arrive early can enjoy a light supper (i.e., a sandwich, salad or burger) while waiting for the reading to begin. If we run out of table space, folding chairs are available. A mic will enhance the readings. There is plenty of unrestricted parking on the streets around the Café.
Questions? Please contact host Leah Stenson at leahstenson@comcast.net.
JULY 17
Poetry Reading: Ken Yoshikawa and Alone Featuring Company
Thursday July 17, 2025
7:00pm - 8:00pm
Annie Bloom's Books
7834 SW Capitol Hwy
Portland, OR 97219-2466
(503) 246-0053
Annie Bloom's Books welcomes local poets Ken Yoshikawa and Alone Featuring Company for readings from their collections. Ken Yoshikawa is the author of Monster Colored Glasses, and Alone Featuring Company's brand new chapbook is Winter Bird. Ken will also be reading selections from Chinese poet Belle Ling's new collection from Tupelo Press, Nebulous Vertigo. Belle was originally scheduled to headline this event but has canceled her American tour due to border safety concerns.
About Ken Yoshikawa's Monster Colored Glasses: Monster Colored Glasses is a timeless quest to transcend into adulthood unfolding in our tumultuous crux of history. Through his quest the poet and reader both will scale the broken branches of a family tree, brave the burrows of abandonment, abuse, and racism, and traverse morasses of toxic masculinity all in search of understanding, acceptance, and a greater kindness for ourselves and others. To read these pages leads to many treasures, but while the rewards may be great, be warned: here there be monsters.
Ken Yoshikawa (he/him) is a Japanese American actor, poet, and playwright based in Portland, Oregon. Ken is a resident artist at The Historic Alberta House and an alumnus of the Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble's (PETE) Intensive Creative Process (ICP) program. He has completed two playwriting commissions: We Wrote This With You In Mind for Shaking the Tree Theatre and From a Hole in the Ground for Corrib Theatre, the latter of which earned him a finalist nomination for the Oregon Book Awards. Beyond his artistic pursuits, Ken loves to watch anime, practice astrology, take walks in the trees, and be with friends.
About Alone Featuring Company's Winter Bird: Winter Bird is the embodiment of Alone Featuring Company's migration from the decay of ideals and expectations…to their rebirth of self. The poems cover many topics, including parental mental illness, separation, generational trauma, and racial anguish, until finally nesting us in resiliency.
Alone Featuring Company is a spoken word artist hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since childhood, they have been enamored with Button Poetry, Write About Now and all things slam poetry. They are the current Grand Slam Champion (2025) and will be representing Slamlandia at the Bigfoot Regional Slam in July. They got to represent Portland Poetry in 2024 and do not plan to stop anytime soon. You can check out their new Chapbook Winter Bird and their work on Instagram at @AloneFeaturingCompany.
JULY 23
Please join us for Poetry Street PNW at the Camas Public Library.
Wednesday, July 23, Featuring Jesse Morse with co-hosts Susan Dingle and Julie Sparling.
Time: 6:15pm - 7:45pm Location: Camas Public Library, Camas, WA map
All ages welcome and all voices heard. All participants are invited to sign up to read one original piece or a poem written by someone else. Due to time constraints, we suggest poets read either 1 poem, or for 3 minutes, whichever comes first!
SUBMISSION CALLS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
Garden of the Good flowers (Ghost City Press) is M. Klein's second collection of poetry. As of 6/30/25, it is available to download for free (with the option to donate directly to the author), on Ghost City Press's website https://ghostcitypress.com/2025-summer-series/garden-of-the-good-flowers
Blurbs:
"M will break your heart and then skip it across the water. Interwoven and understated … M’s sophomore chapbook feels like silent camaraderie, like watching an older sister move through the world as a mystery. Confessional poetry works best when it makes you feel like you’ve spilled all your secrets, too, by the end of it all–and that’s exactly what Garden of the Good flowers does with fragments like held my / breath’s hand. My god, one of the most vivid and tender collections I’ve read in years." - Romy Rhoads Ewing, author of Please Stay (Bottlecap Press)
“Sensory in every moment, the poems in M. Klein’s Garden of the Good flowers luxuriate in a bed of tactile, rich imagery. The chapbook winds a hedge maze of details as “filigree memories” emerge throughout the collection’s sparse, contemplative free verse, enveloping the reader in the mist of a narrative arc that is equal parts sublime and haunting.” — nat raum, author of NAT RAUM BURNS IN HELL! and fruits of the valley
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEW POEMS SOUGHT FOR C-TRAN BUSES
Poets invited to submit poems for "Poetry Moves" program
VANCOUVER, WA — The nonprofit Artstra is accepting submissions for Season 15 of its 'Poetry Moves' program in collaboration with C-Tran, for a new group of poems to be showcased on C-Tran buses
beginning October 2025. The program welcomes poets of any age living in the greater Vancouver-Portland regional area served by C-Tran and surrounding counties. This includes residents of Clark, Cowlitz, Skamania, Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties. A maximum of two poems may be submitted, each of which must not exceed seven lines and must be the poet’s original work. Nine poems
will be selected by 2024 Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize winner Allisa Cherry, who will generously provide a tenth poem of her own to complete the Season 15 collection. All poets selected will receive a $100 honorarium.
More information including detailed guidelines and submission form can be found at artstra.org/submit-poetry. The deadline for submitting poems is August 31.
Poetry Moves is a program of Artstra in collaboration with C-Tran, providing poetry on bus channel cards in all C-Tran buses. Every year ten new poems by local and regional poets or student poets are selected. All buses in the C-Tran fleet display two different poem cards. Learn more at artstra.org/poetry-moves.
As an arts advocacy independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Artstra’s vision is to champion a robust arts community in southwest Washington. Artstra’s mission is to be a catalyst for building out the arts infrastructure in the region with the objective of creating a cohesive and united arts community. Learn more at artstra.org.
2025 PASSING OF THE LAUREL CEREMONY
Celebrate the start of new Washington State Poet Laureate Derek Sheffield’s term by viewing the “Passing of the Laurel” event, featuring readings and remarks from Sheffield, past poets laureate, and other poets.
Derek Sheffield is the 2025-2027 Washington State Poet Laureate. Hailing from the Wenatchee Valley, Sheffield is the author of Not for Luck, selected for Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize, and Through the Second Skin, runner-up for the Emily Dickinson First Book Award. He is the co-editor of Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, Poetry, which won a 2024 Washington State Book Award. The first in his family to attend college, Sheffield is now on the English faculty at Wenatchee Valley College and is the poetry editor of Terrain.org. When he’s not crafting poems, Derek is teaching his beloved Northwest Nature Writing class, where he has shared his passion for the outdoors with students for the past 20 years.
“I write because the words of others saved me in the long blue silence of my childhood,” he says, “and making poems for me has come to be about living more deeply and widely.”
The Poet Laureate program is sponsored by Humanities Washington and The Washington State Arts Commission/ArtsWA, with the support of Governor Bob Ferguson. The video is available courtesy of NCWLife.
FINALLY
Thanks, as always to Julia Gaskill for this calendar of Portland-area poetry events:
