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Wordlights

Rocking Frog Cafe 2511 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR, United States

Wordlights is a poetry, spoken word and music showcase, presented by NovaPDX & Rocking Frog Cafe, and hosted by Igor Brezhnev. We will have features from three poets—Ken Yoshikawa, Sage Lilac & Kate Leddy, as well as a showcase of 10 performers. 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…

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Free

An Armful of Words: Celebrating the Belmont HMart

High Low Art Space 936 SE 34th Ave, Portland, OR, United States

(This is a remake for it to be a public event!) Hi Portland Fam! To celebrate the opening of the Belmont HMart, the folks at High/Low Art Space and I are organizing an AAPI literary reading! Come enjoy an Armful of Words with a handful of writers!! There will be light snacks purchased direct from the HMart! There will be more art on the walls, like this amazing tiger by Conner Choi. Plus work by Seungdo Hyun. This is a space for building community, art, and solidarity. Bring your friends! Friday May 24 6pm Suggested donation $0 - $10 High/Low Art Space 936 SE 34th Ave

Free – $10

Wordlights: Saturday Poetry Evenings

Rocking Frog Cafe 2511 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR, United States

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…

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Free

Wordlights Poetry ft. Ken Yoshikawa

Rocking Frog Cafe 2511 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR, United States

Wordlights Saturday poetry evenings presented by NovaPDX, Rocking Frog Cafe and hosted by Igor Brezhnev. On Saturday, December 21st, we'll have a feature from Ken Yoshikawa celebrating the release of Ken's book Monster Colored Glasses (Lightship Press, 2019) and a long set poetry open mic! OUR FEATURE: 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 spoken word community since 2014. In his theatre career he’s appeared at Artists Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, NW Children’s Theatre, Oregon Adventure Theatre, and Portland Playhouse. Ken graduated from Reed College with a B.A in Theatre Arts. In 2019 he released his first spoken word album Quiver (Lightship Press), and performed his autobiographical poetic solo play…

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Free

Slamlandia January Literary Arts Show ft. Ken Yoshikawa

Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street, Portland, OR, United States

Join us on JANUARY 9TH for a Thursday Poetry Open Mic and Slam! This is a qualifying slam to get into our semi finals for our Grand Slam later this year. Doors and sign-ups are at 6:30 PM Get there on time to get a spot in the open mic or slam! Show begins at 7:00 PM Literary Arts 925 SW Washington Street Portland, OR 97205 This show is all ages. Please see our Accessibility and Safer Space info below. No door admission. We will have a feature from the fantastic Ken Yoshikawa! Ken Yoshikawa is a half-Japanese third culture American poet-actor from Portland, Oregon. He has been active in the Portland spoken word community since 2014. In his theatre career he’s appeared at Artists…

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Free

Monster Colored Glasses, Poetry with Ken Yoshikawa

Japanese American Museum of Oregon 121 NW 2nd Ave, Portland, OR, United States

Poet Ken Yoshikawa will read from his newly published book, Monster Colored Glasses a bilingual narrative exploring personal issues of trauma, vulnerability and personal transformation while addressing social responsibility themes. Ken Yoshikawa is half-Japanese, and a poet-actor from Portland, Oregon. He is an active voice in the spoken word community and his acting has been seen in diverse performances in local theatres. Ken’s powerful use of words are featured in his first autobiographical poetic solo, The Art of Fly Swatting, which was performed off-Broadway in NYC at the Pan Asian Repertory Festival in 2019 and his poems have appeared in Nailed Magazine, Letters from the Void, Hapa Mag and Discover Nikkei. The evening includes a reception, book signing, and poetry readings by Ken and guest…

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$3 – $5

OAT Open Mike

Oregon Adventure Theatre 4834 N Lombard Street, Portland, OR, United States

Hello friends! Oregon Adventure Theatre is hosting an Open Mic at the Peninsula Odd Fellows Lodge on February 8th at 6pm. Come bring your musical instruments, your poetry, your friends. Strut your stuff and celebrate each other's talents! The event will be hosted by singer-songwriter Ryan Westwood. The featured performers of the evening will be Ken Yoshikawa, who recently published his first book of poetry Monster Colored Glasses with Lightship Press and Ryan Westwood who wrote 4 songs in January he can't WAIT to share with you. At 5:45 signups will start, and anyone can sign up for a 5-10 minute slot to perform. Never performed before? Been killing it at venues all around town? Either way, we would absolutely love to host your talents…

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Free

Slamlandia Digital Open Mic ft. Gabbi Jue

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Slamlandia is hosting another digital poetry open mic. This open mic - only poetry, no music please - will take place on November 19th. We'll be hosting this event with the help of Literary Arts. You can access our Zoom link in advance. Here is the link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcud--orjgvHdBjpiy4eJC_JNr32N0yoSrF With Portland Book Week underway, this month's show will, along with a feature, have a showcase of local Portland poets. We'll have short readings from Risa Mykland, Jane Belinda, Stephen Meads, Bella, and Ken Yoshikawa! Because we'll be having a showcase, this month's open mic will have limited spaces. If we have more people sign up than available slots, we'll do a lottery for who gets to read. Sign ups for the open mic will…

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Free
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