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Don Colburn

Broadway Books 1714 NE Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

Portland poet Don Colburn returns to Broadway Books at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 24th, to read from his newest collection of poems, Mortality with Pronoun Shifts, winner of the 2018 Cathy Smith Bowers Chapbook Contest. Colburn has produced five poetry collections, including four chapbooks. A longtime reporter for The Washington Post and The Oregonian, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. He has an MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson College. His first chapbook, Another Way to Begin, won the Finishing Line Press Poetry Prize, and his full-length collection, As If Gravity Were a Theory, won the Cider Press Review Book Award. Other writing honors include the Discovery/The Nation Award, residences at The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo, and three Pushcart…

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Free

Readers Choice Book Club

Books Around the Corner 40 NW 2nd Street, Gresham, OR, United States

To celebrate National Poetry Month we will discuss The Witch Doesn't Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace. The witch: supernaturally powerful, inscrutably independent, and now--indestructible. These moving, relatable poems encourage resilience and embolden women to take control of their own stories. Enemies try to judge, oppress, and marginalize her, but the witch doesn't burn in this one. Available at a 15% discount to order if you plan on attending the book club.

Free

Poetry – Toni Lumbrazo Luna, Christopher Luna, Claudia F. Savage

Another Read Through 3932 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Toni Lumbrazo Luna’s Wind Wing is a poetry collection inspired by the lives of women. These poems provide a glimpse into life on the edge of mental illness, courage, transition, and discovery. The women inside this book have faced the impossible. Message from the Vessel in a Dream is the first full-length volume of poetry by Christopher Luna, Clark County, WA’s first poet laureate (2013-2017) and the founder of Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic. The book contains work spanning 20 years, and favors prose poetry and collage poems assembled and arranged using found material. The book is dedicated to Carlos Santana, the guitar virtuoso and eponymous “vessel” who gifted Luna with the only line of poetry he has ever received from a dream. Claudia F.…

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Free

Verselandia! 2019

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 1037 SW Broadway, Portland, OR, United States

This city-wide event features students from Parkrose, Roosevelt, Metropolitan Learning Center, Benson, Lincoln, Gresham, Franklin, Madison, Wilson, Jefferson, Grant, and Cleveland high schools competing for poetic glory. Verselandia! is the Grand Slam for the winners from individual school slams hosted by public high school library media specialists. Following the same rules as national poetry slams, students must perform original work without props, costumes, or music in front of a panel of judges and a live audience. Using a scale of one to ten, Verselandia judges will rate both the performance and the writing of each student. Five students with the top scores will walk away with great prizes, but only one will be a champion. Please note that high school students may use adult language…

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$10 – $70

Roger Dunsmore, Jenni Fallein, and Isan Brant

Mother Foucault's Bookshop 523 SE Morrison St, Portland, OR, United States

Join us on Friday, April 26 at 7 pm for an evening of poetry with Roger Dunsmore, Jenni Fallein, and Isan Brant in celebration of Roger’s new book, On the Chinese Wall: New & Selected Poems 1966-2018. Roger Dunsmore taught Humanities, Wilderness Studies, and American Indian Literature at the University of Montana (Missoula & Dillon) from 1963-2013.  He trained teachers for the largest Indian high school in the U.S. on the Navaho Reservation, 1988-89, and was faculty exchange fellow between UM and Shanghai International Studies University in 1991 & 97.   Earth’s Mind: Essays in Native Literature was published by U of New Mexico Press, 1997.  Blood House, his second volume of poems, 1987, was selected by the Yellowstone Arts Center, Billings, for their Regional Writer’s Project…

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Free

Garden Series: An Afternoon of Poetry with Joni Renee

Lan Su Chinese Garden 239 NW Everett St, Portland, OR, United States

Please join us at the Lan Su Chinese Garden for a poetry reading and Q&A with local poet Joni Renee Whitworth. Joni will read selections from her upcoming collection, Party Time, and from her first book, Your Full Real Name. Lush accounts of intimate meals, queer pastoral youth, neurodivergence, loss, and more come together in her debut collection of poetry that honors nature, family, and the body. Vulnerable and perceptive, Renee's poetry takes readers through vivid dreams and memories of an Oregon childhood. Your Full Real Name is a frank and compelling collection. About the author: Joni Renee Whitworth is an artist and writer from rural Oregon. She has performed at The Moth, the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts in Costa Mesa, California, the…

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$10

Peach Blossom Poetry Series: Joni Renee Whitworth

Lan Su Chinese Garden 239 NW Everett St, Portland, OR, United States

Chinese gardens in China and Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland are filled with poetic inscriptions: as text, calligraphy, engravings and plaques. Inspired by the culture of literature in Chinese gardens, prolific poets share their work with garden visitors every Saturday in April at 3 p.m. Included with Lan Su membership or admission; no registration is required. April 6 A. Molotkov April 13 Clemens Starck April 20 Stella Jeng Guillory April 27 Joni Renee Whitworth About the Presenters: Born in Russia, A. Molotkov moved to the US in 1990 and switched to writing in English in 1993. His poetry collections are The Catalog of Broken Things, Application of Shadows, and Synonyms for Silence (Acre Books/Cincinnati Review, 2019). Published by Kenyon, Iowa, Antioch, Massachusetts, Atlanta, Bennington and…

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$10

Read the Landscape Poetry Contest & Gathering

Lan Su Chinese Garden 239 NW Everett St, Portland, OR, United States

We invite students in Grades 9 - 12 to submit an original poem to be entered to win a $100 cash prize and a chance to read at Lan Su Chinese Garden, one of Portland’s greatest cultural landmarks. Lan Su Chinese Garden celebrates the Scholar's Arts every April. The Scholar’s arts include music, calligraphy, painting, and poetry. Poetry is an important aspect of Lan Su and Chinese culture and we are excited to hold our first youth poetry contest and poetry gathering on Saturday April 27, 2019 from 6 - 8 p.m. Included with day-of Lan Su admission or membership. Submission Deadline: April 5, 2019. Learn more and download an application at lansugarden.org/readthelandscape

Free – $10.95

The People’s Poets (Open Mic)

Woodlawn MIC 1425 NE Dekum St, Portland, OR, United States

We are back!!! We call ourselves "The People's Poets" because our goal is to amplify voices of color while providing a safe place for displaced communities in Portland. While we welcome and encourage everyone to attend and support, we exclusively reserve the open mic as a platform for writers of color! 2$ suggested donation. Light refreshments provided. About Blacque Butterfly Darlene Solomon-Rogers aka Blacque Butterfly is a spoken word artist, singer, songwriter, entertainer and activist. Her love for the arts has allowed her to explore several layers of her calling. Be it spoken word, motivational speaking, singing, theater or event planning or promoting she has allowed the Creator to use her ministry to inspire others to follow their calling. Blacque Butterfly is a native Oregonian,…

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Free – $2

Corporeal Writing Online – Soma & Sense w/ Brigid Yuknavitch: 4/28/19

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

STARTS: 4/28/19 WHERE: Online, for 6-weeks LEADER: Brigid Yuknavitch COST: $350 Soma and Sense These experiments are in writing process. Each follows symbols you encounter through your sensing body. Somatic experiences hold imagery and stories. We all have different modalities that are strongest in our imaginations and psyches. Our individual and collective poetics can show up in the ways we dream. One sense may be stronger for you than another, like smell or taste, and carry your memory and imagination far (as Marcel Proust explored). Some senses are earlier than others like smell and hearing. Shamans journey and experience extraordinary reality in different sensory modalities. Some people hear a voice to write, and others find their process in images, or rhythms. And, working in more…

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$350
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