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.