Wordlights: Saturday Poetry Evenings

Wordlights Saturday poetry evenings presented by NovaPDX, Rocking Frog Cafe and hosted by Igor Brezhnev.

On Saturday July 13th, we’ll have a feature from Kate Leddy, two mini features from Nikki Burian & Ken Yoshikawa, and a short set poetry open mic!

OUR FEATURE: Kate Leddy

Kate Leddy is a writer and mental health activist from Portland Oregon. She was born and raised in New York and still has strong opinions about bagels. Kate represented Portland at the 2018 Individual World Poetry Slam as well as the 2018 National Poetry Slam. She is thrilled to be on this years Portland Poetry Slam team again, heading to regionals this July! Kate’s first chapbook “Homesick Season” explores nostalgia for people, places, and states of mind. This summer she will be going on tour with her wonderful friend and talented poet, Bri Gowdy! Kate enjoys ice cream sandwiches, a good cry, and excitedly pointing out the two constellations she knows. You can find more at kateleddy.com

MINI FEATURES FROM: Nikki Burian & Ken Yoshikawa

Nikki Burian
Nikki Burian is a queer performance poet born and raised in Iowa. They represented Portland in the 2018 National Poetry Slam and Individual World Poetry Slam and have been featured on SlamFind and in Woke Monozine. Their current work focuses on deep love, bridging the gap between performer and audience, and experimentation with textures. They believe in accessible art, being nice, and tattoos for no reason.

Ken Yoshikawa
Ken Yoshikawa is a shin-issei/first generation half-Japanese American poet-actor from Portland, OR. He has been active in the Portland Poetry Slam community since 2014. In his theatre career he’s appeared at the Portland Center Stage in Mojada, A Medea in Los Angeles, and at the Portland Playhouse in You for Me for You. Some notable roles include Arjun in Chitra, the Girl Prince, (NW Children’s Theatre), Chimney Sweep/Ensemble in Mary Poppins (NW Children’s Theatre), and Malvolio/Antonio in Twelfth Night (Oregon Adventure Theatre). Most recently he played H in Grit, a one-act show that toured Washington State middle and high-schools educating youth about Japanese Incarceration. Ken graduated from Reed College with a B.A in Theatre Arts. He is releasing his first spoken word album Quiver. Currently he is working on a full length book of poetry and on an autobiographical poetic solo play called The Art of Fly Swatting. He loves blue chicken taco trees and resents punctuation and grammar at his convenience. You can get Ken’s new album at yoshikawaken.bandcamp.com.

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Sign-ups start at 5:30, show starts at 6PM. On second and fourth Saturdays each performer in the open mic gets 5 minutes, there are only 8 slots available and the list order is randomized.

Come share your words and join us for a night of open mic, a great feature and get nourishment & libations from Rocking Frog Cafe (home of the best donuts)! 🙂

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Rocking Frog Cafe is an independently run, local gem in the lower Belmont District of southeast Portland. Nestled in a lovely early-century Craftsman-style bungalow, we offer a comfortable place to study, eat and socialize. Find out more about The Rocking Frog at rockingfrogpdx.com.

NovaPDX is a talent and production company based in Portland, Oregon. We organize and host performance and educational events, showcasing local and visiting musicians, poets and comedians. Our mission is to create spaces where talent thrives. Learn more about us at novapdx.org.

Your host, Igor Brezhnev is a poet, an author, an artist and a book designer among his other sins. He is roaming the West Coast thinking up new art, books and helping shape creative projects. You can find out more about Igor at igorbrezhnev.com