This week's Market Day Reading features Ric Vrana’s triumphant return to Portland, Alicia Lajeunesse's Market Day Poetry debut, and the world premiere of David Matthews' new poem "On the Approach of My Sixtieth Birthday."

Ric Vrana is a poet of place and ideas and just now is adjusting to a move and a new job in real life. His literary work has appeared in anthologies, poetry mags, and zines, and he has been buzzing around the open mic scene for a long time. He is the author of Brain Screams, Semi-Ambivalent Middle-Aged Male Lament #25, and Postales desde Costa Rica.

David Matthews is a native of the South Carolina Midlands, resident of Portland, Oregon, poet, runner, and unaffiliated intellectual. He draws on diverse traditions to fashion poems that at their best convey a sense of something akin to what the Romantics referred to as the sublime and the Surrealists termed the marvelous. "Matthews heaves his heart against the bulwarks, sets his siege engines of verse a-going into the fathomless ludicrous nonsensical void."—Wade Dinius

Alicia Lajeunesse is an East Coast transplant who finds herself weed whacking the path of poetry in a West Coast city that recruits overeducated, underemployed young Americans drowning in the debts of previous generations "dreams." Silver lining? There are seemingly endless amounts of organic material to frolic in. She hopes you will join her.

The Market Day Poetry Series is now in its 4th year of bringing the best of the Northwest's spoken word art to St. Johns.  Series coordinator Dan Raphael recruits a different host each week, who in turn invites guest readers.  Each week is a different and unique experience, created by a different group of writers.

This week's host is prize-winning novelist Joanna Rose, joined by Donna Prinzmetal, Andrea Hollander, Maggie Chula and Penelope Schambly Schott.  Be ready for a reading that will expand your mind--these women writers have over 100 years of collected writing and publishing experience between them, and work in a range of very different forms and styles.

Join us to partake of great writing, visit the Farmers' Market, and see the best of what St. Johns has to offer!

The Market Day Poetry Series brings 17 weeks of fresh, juicy spoken word to St. Johns Books.  Series coordinator dan raphael recruits a different local writer to host each week's reading--and each host recruits other writers to read with them, for a series in which no two readings are ever the same.

This week's cohosts are Christopher Luna and Toni Partington.  Christopher is the coordinator of the Cover To Cover poetry series and publisher of The Work, an e-newsletter connecting writers and artists throughout the Northwest.  Toni is a contributing editor of the VoiceCatcher series of anthologies of work by Northwest women writers, as well as the author of Wind Wing, a collection of recent poetry.

April Bullard resides with her husband aboard their houseboat near Vancouver, Washington. She admits to 50 years of age, over 30 years of marriage, mother of 3, grandmother of 2, navy veteran, and a fondness for absinthe. She creates work inspired by living cradled on the Columbia River as an artist, photographer, poet, and musician. Her work continues to be exhibited in numerous galleries, and businesses in the Vancouver/Portland area. Her paintings have a home at Cover to Cover Books & Espresso, in Vancouver, WA. Published cover art includes: Cover of Darkness (May 2011 and Jan 2012), Potter's Field 4, Aoife's Kiss (Dec 2011), and parABnormal Digest #3, all from Sam’s Dot Publishing. Published author credits include parABnormal Digest #2 and #3, Shelter of Daylight Autumn 2011, and two pieces forthcoming in Cover of Darkness June 2012, all from Sam's Dot Publishing. For more info, visit: http://www.aprilbullard.com/

Rob Gourley: Educated in Antioch College and Central Washington University, my employment career has consisted of 17 years as Teacher/Counselor in Washington schools and another 17 years as Locator/Surveyor in an auto processing company at Port of Portland intermodal transportation facilities, where I operate a Teklogix scanner or sometimes install software upgrades via G-scan equipment.  As for the craft of poetry, I was fortunate to have studied under the guidance of professors Milton Goldberg and Nicholas Crome, to have participated in an afternoon seminar session given by Gary Snyder, and to have meditated with supervision of zen master Bishop Nippo in the early 70s. During recent years my avocation has been listening/performing in various open-mic events of the Portland metro area.  I’ve followed deer trails upstream in the following watersheds: Rivanna River (VA), Little Miami R. (OH), Puget Sound & Columbia R. (WA). After the canoe was stolen, I sold the paddles.

Jim Martin: Have you ever had a thought that wouldn’t be tamed? I have, and it won’t leave me alone. I’m a retired biologist and teacher, who spends his time with family, volunteers at animal shelters, does advising and board work in science inquiry education, dances tap and ballet, writes and reads poetry at open mikes, and makes and exhibits photographs. And thinking about who we are and why.

Jenney Pauer is a graduate of Southern Methodist University, where she studied theater and English literature. After serving four years in the United States Army as a Korean linguist, she obtained a Secondary English Education degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before moving to the Pacific Northwest with her dog and cat in 2008, she taught high school English along the border of Arizona and Mexico. Recently, Jenney co-wrote a short film, Nico's Sampaguita, accepted into the 27th Annual Asian Pacific Film Festival in Los Angeles, and soon to be released by Sacred Fire Films in San Francisco, California. Serenity in the Brutal Garden (Printed Matter Vancouver, 2012) is her first book.

Welcome back to the Market Day Poetry Series, now in its fourth season of bringing the freshest, juiciest, tastiest poetry to St. Johns!  Join us each week during St. Johns Farmers' Market season for readings hosted by different Northwest writers.

Series coordinator dan raphael hosts the opening day of the series, featuring Laura Winter and  Amy Temple Harper.  We'll kick things off with Farmers' Market treats and specials on books--join us for fun and beauty at the beginning of another great summer.

photo courtesy dan raphael

In Improspectives: Applying Improv Comedy Techniques to Life and Business, Curtis Frye reveals the secrets that professional improv comedians use to entertain audiences around the world. Drawing on insights from over 1,100 performances as well as notes from artistic directors of improv troupes, business communication experts, and game theorists, Frye clearly explains how to apply improv techniques to situations you face every day.

As Frye notes in the preface:
After reading this book, you will be better prepared to take on challenges in the personal and business facets of your life. As you gain skill and confidence, you will apply these principles effectively and learn even more as you go.  Frye starts by describing how performers prepare to improv; play characters; listen, process, and react to offers madeduring a scene; play the games within the games; build an effective team; and create and evaluate improv performances.
Along the way, he discusses specific ways you can apply these techniques to business and life. At the end of the book,  you’ll find an Appendix with a series of improv games you can play to help energize your groups.

Curtis Frye is the author of more than two dozen books, including Microsoft Excel 2010 Step by Step, Microsoft Excel 2010 Plain & Simple, and Privacy-Enhanced Business. He graduated from Syracuse University with an honors degree in political science and started his professional career as a member of the technical staff at The MITRE Corporation in McLean, VA. During his time in the DC area, he performed with a local improv group. After moving to Portland, Oregon, in 1995 to pursue his writing career, he joined ComedySportz Portland. Since then, he has performed in more than 1,100 shows with the professional cast. Curt also appears as a solo performer and keynote speaker.

Longtime bookseller Marty Kruse has served literary communities from San Francisco to Seattle; promoted poetry slam locally and nationwide; and was a founding organizer of ILWU Local 5, the Powell's booksellers' union.  If you visit St. Johns Books often, you've probably met him.  He's the tall guy with the glasses, the really knowledgeable one who can almost always put the right book in your hands.  Marty has shared support, inspiration, and skill with St. Johns Booksellers since before we opened (including the design of our beautiful monogram with the St. Johns Bridge).  He has been living with cancer for the last 2 years, which is a lot of work for him and his family--so we're inviting all his communities to show their appreciation and support at a special performance by one of the most honored poets in Slam. We're so excited, we're opening on a Monday for this event!

Ms. Spelt is the stage name of Angus Adair.  He is one of the founders of the Vancouver Poetry Slam and is the only Canadian to ever earn Poetry Slam Inc.'s Spirit of The Slam Award for outstanding contribution to the North American poetry slam community. He is also the only Canadian to ever appear in PSI's Legends Showcase. He is the first and only Canadian to ever be host city director for a major PSI tournament, The Individual World Poetry Slam 2007.  He has been published in 4 anthologies the latest of which, Aim For The Head (Write Bloody Press), recently received a good review in The New York Times. He has been seen performing his work in the Universal Pictures film Love Happens and has been on 4 Vancouver Poetry Slam Teams, including the 2011 team.  He has remained a consistent distinct and powerful voice in the performance poetry community since he first entered it in 1998.  

Longtime bookseller Marty Kruse has served literary communities from San Francisco to Seattle; promoted poetry slam locally and nationwide; and was a founding organizer of ILWU Local 5, the Powell's booksellers' union. If you visit St. Johns Books often, you've probably met him. He's the tall guy with the glasses, the really knowledgeable one who can almost always put the right book in your hands. Marty has shared support, inspiration, and skill with St. Johns Booksellers since before we opened (including the design of our beautiful monogram with the St. Johns Bridge). He has been living with cancer for the last 2 years, which is a lot of work for him and his family--so we're inviting all his communities to show their appreciation and support at a special performance by one of the most honored poets in Slam. We're so excited, we're opening on a Monday for this event!

Ms. Spelt is the stage name of Angus Adair. He is one of the founders of the Vancouver Poetry Slam and is the only Canadian to ever earn Poetry Slam Inc.'s Spirit of The Slam Award for outstanding contribution to the North American poetry slam community. He is also the only Canadian to ever appear in PSI's Legends Showcase. He is the first and only Canadian to ever be host city director for a major PSI tournament, The Individual World Poetry Slam 2007. He has been published in 4 anthologies the latest of which, Aim For The Head (Write Bloody Press), recently received a good review in The New York Times. He has been seen performing his work in the Universal Pictures film Love Happens and has been on 4 Vancouver Poetry Slam Teams, including the 2011 team. He has remained a consistent distinct and powerful voice in the performance poetry community since he first entered it in 1998.

Guest reader Reuben Nisenfeld will compose instant poems on request, for a donation to the cause. Reuben is a native Portlander and thus easily persuaded into clever acts of deviancy and child like wonder. He is a writer and performer and in various eras has ran the Portland Poetry Slam, founded Plazm magazine, taught children to fear theater, and currently performs improv with Brainwaves and Brody Theaters. He is the proud author of several prose/poetry combo platters: Gigolo Of Misfit Toys, Too True To Be Good, the children's book spoof "What's Happening To My Money," and is currently shopping a novel, and by shopping he means sending PDFs to a closed email for Dave Eggers. Reuben has raged for and against the machine with Marty Kruse for years and loves him deeply.

Guest reader Michelle Frost lives in Portland, Oregon where she writes about anything except rain. Her poems and book reviews have appeared in Yoga Journal, Portland Parent Magazine, and Arizona Woman Today. Currently, she is editing a collection of poems to be published by Minor Characters Press (Phoenix, Arizona). Her smallest poems are online at 4and20poetry.org.

Guest reader Ansel Appleton claims he used to catch chickadees in his hands. Ansel is a poet and storyteller who splits his time between Montague City, Massachusetts and Portland, Oregon. A former competitor for the Boston Cantab team and original member of the Hampshire College Slam Collective, he has appeared on the finals stage of the Individual World Poetry Slam and the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. Periodically dropping off the face of the planet, he has surfaced as a cook at the Occupy Wall Street encampment, a carnival switchblade salesman, and an anonymous small-town bartender. Ansel has shared stages with artists as varied as Jim Carroll, Eugene Mirman, and the Country Players' production of A Few Good Men. In addition to performing, he also DJs and helped curate the Oubliette, a community art space in Portland.

Suggested donation: $5 per person

All door proceeds and a portion of bookstore sales from this event will be forwarded to Marty's family.

Photo of Angus Adair courtesy Nora Nathoo.

Join us for a celebration of the days when easy travel was the stuff of science fiction, and don't forget to dress in your steampunk best for a costume contest judged by our author guests! Prizes will be offered for Best Character, Most Historical, and Judges' Favorite costumes.

Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention is by husband-and-wife team Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, a follow-up to their acclaimed book Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel. The couple has been collaborating in print since 1989, when they created the groundbreaking science fiction comic Heartbreakers, an action series that explores the personal and political ramifications of cloning. Their 2005 graphic novel Heartbreakers Meet Boilerplate stars Anina as the main characters and was nominated for an Eisner Award for Paul’s innovative art. In 1998 they launched their web site, www.BigRedHair.com, which became the birthplace of Boilerplate.

Paul is a multimedia artist and recovering television personality. He combined his skills in illustration, photography, and model-making with his love of history when he created Boilerplate, the Victorian-era robot. Paul also co-created Chronos, a time travel series from DC Comics, and is internationally renowned as an authority on nineteenth-century automatons. With Anina at his side, he has lived with the Apache in traditional fashion, sailed the Pacific on a square-rigged brig, and walked the sands of the Roman Coliseum.

Anina, first published at age 15, has written five Heartbreakers graphic novels and edited everything from Star Wars comic books to Supreme Court briefs. It’s a good thing she loves to travel, because her career has taken her from Chicago, where she cut her teeth at First Comics; to Dark Horse Comics in Oregon, where she collaborated with renowned author Harlan Ellison; and to Denmark, where she handled Mickey Mouse tales for multimedia giant Egmont. Anina also teaches writing workshops for students of all ages.

Paul and Anina were raised in Chicago and have known each other since before the Internet existed. They now reside in Portland, Oregon with their weimaraner, Bowie.

Frank Reade: Adventures in the Age of Invention (Hardcover)

By Paul Guinan, Anina Bennett

$24.95

ISBN-13: 9780810996618
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harry N. Abrams, 2/2012

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ON THE HEELS of The Book of Shadows; New and Selected Poems (Lost Horse Press, 2009) comes Pomegranate, Sister of the Heart. In his fifth full-length collection, poet and translator Carlos Reyes offers a lyrical and sometimes surreal vision of our world. The edgy tone of this collection represents a departure from his earlier work, but the omnibus quality of this book offers something for everyone. The poems “Terror in the Garden” and “Fifthlogic” set the tone of the book, defining the image of a pomegranate, first in its suggestion of violence (the Spanish for pomegranate is grenada, for grenade), then in its more benign aspect as a sister to the heart. The themes run the gamut from the bizarre to the sublime: “Blood” paints the image of a nude man hanging on the gallows with a frightful erection; “Mussolini’s Children” recalls yet another hanging; “In the Shadow of Sacre-Coeur” evokes the striking beauty of a Paris neighborhood. Political themes flavor these poems, from the anti-war sentiments in “Some Thoughts I Have at the Oregon Steel Mill,” recalling the bombing of Dresden; to environmental concerns such as water in “Down the Path from Imerovigila” and the footprint we leave on the earth in “Arizona Nocturne.” This collection balances the darker themes with lyrical and light moments: the poet sings of the tropics (“Song for a Caribbean Afternoon”), goes to Paris to visit Beckett and Baudelaire (“The Montparnasse Cemetery”), and stops in Spain to have the last dance with Antonio Gaudí (“Fame, I Want to Live Forever”).

PRAISE FOR THE POETRY OF CARLOS REYES

Carlos Reyes’ poetry is as clear and strong as his social conscience. One is always struck by his sen­sual and sensory qualities: the touch, taste, feel, color of things, and his ability to capture a mood, a world, in a handful of lines.

—Carolyn Kizer

About the Author(s)

Carlos Reyes

Poet and translator Carlos Reyes lives in Portland, Oregon when he is not traveling. He travels a lot, and whether he journeys to Panama, Spain, Alaska or Ire¬land, those experiences inspire and inform his poetry. In 2007 he was honored with a Heinrich Boll Fellowship, which gave him time to write on Achill Island in Ireland. He has had fellowships to Yaddo and the Fundación Valparaíso (Mojácar, Spain). He was poet-in-resident in 2009 at the Lost Horse Ranger Station in Joshua Tree National Park, and recently writer-in-residence at the Island Institute in Sitka, Alaska.

Isabel is a single, twentysomething thrift-store shopper and collector of remnants, things cast off or left behind by others. Glaciers fo llows Isabel through a day in her life in which work with damaged books in the basement of a library, unrequited love for the former soldier who fixes her computer, and dreams of the perfect vintage dress move over a backdrop of deteriorating urban architecture and the imminent loss of the glaciers she knew as a young girl in Alaska.

Glaciers unfolds internally, the action shaped by Isabel’s sense of history, memory, and place, recalling the work of writers such as Jean Rhys, Marguerite Duras, and Virginia Woolf. For Isabel, the fleeting moments of one day can reveal an entire life. While she contemplates loss and the intricate fissures it creates in our lives, she accumulates the stories—the remnants—of those around her and she begins to tell her own story.

"Smith’s debut unspools in delicate links of linear thought...." --Publishers' Weekly

Alexis M. Smith grew up in Soldotna, Alaska, and Seattle, Washington. She received an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College. She has written for Tarpaulin Sky and powells.com. She has a son and two cats, and they all live together in a little apartment in Portland, Oregon.