Two Portland poets, Laura Feldman (left) and Gale Czerski (right), perform at St. Johns Booksellers
Every Saturday until the end of September, St. Johns Booksellers in North Portland hosts noon poetry readings featuring two or more poets. Owner Nena Rawdah runs a fine independent bookstore, and has coordinated the reading series through the St. Johns Farmers Market Arts Committee and Portland poet and impresario Dan Raphael (who has brought our city other reading series, including "Poetland," a poetic urban extravaganza featuring eighty plus poets reading at cafes, bookstores, and bars, all in one day).
We dropped in at St. Johns Booksellers on August 8th and caught Portland poets Laura Feldman and Gale Czerski, who created a half-hour long impromptu "tone poem" by blending Feldman's meditations on the river with Czerski's scraps of wisdom ("The mystical can never be codified.") interwoven with fragments from Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." The Whitman quotations were written on art cards and passed through the audience. This improvisational collage created a deep, meditative atmosphere, with the meandering river as its central theme. It was a beautiful celebration of our location, near the St. Johns Bridge and the Willamette River. Both authors have chapbooks out but this event was more about the celebration of creative writing and thinking than about promoting books. Young and old seemed to enjoy the event. Very refreshing.
St. Johns Booksellers is North Portland's full-service, independent bookstore, featuring new and used books in a multitude of categories. Nena, who has worked at other bookstores, including Annie Bloom's Books, is the proud owner. She's extremely friendly and can help you with all your book needs. Her website is: www.stjohnsbooks.com.
Before these short Saturday noon readings, you can stroll through the nearby St. Johns Farmers Market, with its many booths of fresh produce and flowers as well as a sound stage with live music. In front of you is the majestic, indeed breath-taking, St. Johns Bridge spanning the Willamette River.
Future shows in August, all noon to 1PM, at St. Johns Booksellers, 8622 N. Lombard Street :
August 15: Tommy Gaffney, Astrid, and Ric Varna
August 22: Casey Bush, Nancy Flynn, and Patrick Bocarde
August 29: (poets from out of town) margareta waterman, Ezra Mark, Joseph Federico, and Brian Cuteani
September poets will be announced at a later date.
Bring your pen and notebook and you may be moved to write something yourself. We found the performance on August 8th delightfully improvisational and conducive to getting our creative juices flowing.
If you enjoyed this article you may enjoy other articles about the Portland literary scene at: www.examiner.com/x-16045-Portland-Writing-Examiner
Author photo by Roger Tobin, copyright 2009.
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