Lightship Press and CoHo Productons Present WORDLIGHTS POETRY SHOWCASE AND CURATED MIC

Lightship Press and CoHo Productons present WORDLIGHTS POETRY SHOWCASE AND CURATED MIC, A Quarterly Poetry Event, January 24, 2023, Apr. 4, Aug. 11, Nov. 11, 2023 from 7-9 PM.

Lightship Press and CoHo Productions have teamed up this year to present a quarterly poetry showcase and curated mic. In each two-hour show, the company brings you three established poet features and eight poets on the curated mic. The showcase is hosted by Lightship Press co-founder and longtime host of the Wordlights Poetry series, Igor Bjorn Brezhnev, bringing thought-provoking poetry to the CoHo stage. Delve into some of the best poetry in Portland, and stay tuned for touring poets each season.

In January of 2023 they will be celebrating the work of Lightship Press poets Christopher Luna, Sam Rose Preminger, and Red O'Hare, presenting their new poetry books published in November of 2022.

An evolution of the open mic, the Curated Mic is here to offer a professional stage where emerging and established poets can share their new work. Each quarter, eight poets will be invited up to this mic and get to perform alongside Featured Readers. They encourage poets to submit a single poem that they want to perform and publish. Accepted poems will be scheduled for an upcoming performance and will be published in a end-of-year printed anthology. All accepted submissions are automatically considered for Broadside Prizes. Please visit the Submissions Page for additional details.

ABOUT BROADSIDE PRIZES

Best Written Poem
Before each show, a panel of established poets will select The Best Written Poem from the Curated Mic submissions. This poem will be published by Lightship Press as an illustrated broadside and 50 copies of this print will be awarded to the winning poet on the day of their performance.

Best Performed Poem
During each show, features and the audience will have a chance to select the Best Performed Poem. The winner will be announced at the next show and the winning poem will be published as an illustrated broadside with 50 copies awarded to the poet, made available at the next show.

As regular participants in the Portland poetry scene, friends and founders Igor Bjorn Brezhnev and Sam Preminger recognized far too many talented poets unable to produce books or earn any reasonable income as artists. While grateful to share the city with many wonderful publishers, it seemed that none were designed with supporting working authors in mind-and so the idea for Lightship Press was born: a press dedicated to publishing, promoting, and advocating for living artists.

Igor took the initial steps, founding Lightship Press in 2019 with Sam as a contributing editor. In the first year, the press successfully published six poetry collections, in addition to hosting countless community events to support these contributors. All the books produced were sold directly by the poets, ensuring these artists retained the greatest possible share of the profits, and plans began to expand the press's reach in the years ahead. But then the pandemic happened. In the interests of safety and self-care, Lightship went into a state of deep hibernation for two years.

In 2022, Igor and Sam returned with renewed vigor, re-launching Lightship Press with greater hope and bigger ambitions. Together, they've decided to resume book production, imagining a new model of publishing designed to favor authors, and aspiring towards creating a critical community resource for working writers. A successful Kickstarter campaign in 2022 empowered them to publish three books by local poets, and in 2023, Lightship Press is hard at work on a fourth book, producing the Wordlights Poetry Showcase to further opportunities for poets in the greater Portland area.

Founded by Igor Bjorn Brezhnev and Ken Pico, Wordlights started as a poetry showcase at the Rocking Frog Cafe on March 30th, 2019. Over 100 folks crowded into a tiny coffee house in Southeast Portland to listen to Ken Yoshikawa, Kate Leddy, Sage Lilac, Chris Gonzalez, Ken Pico, Julia Gaskill, Stephen Meads, Alex Nova, Bri Gowdy, Sam Rose Preminger, Brooklyn Baron, and Igor Bjorn Brezhnev perform their poetry.

MEET THE Q1 POETS

Christopher Luna (he/him) is a poet, editor, teacher, writing coach, and artist who served as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Clark County, WA from 2013-2017. Luna has an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. He is the co-founder, with Toni Lumbrazo Luna, of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing service and small press for Northwest writers. He and Morgan Paige co-host the LGBTQ+ friendly, all-ages and uncensored Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in Vancouver, WA, founded by Christopher in 2004. Christopher Luna's books include Exchanging Wisdom: A Guide for Parents of the Autonomous (The Poetry Box, 2021 with Angelo Luna), Message from the Vessel in a Dream (Flowstone Press, 2018), Brutal Glints of Moonlight, and The Flame Is Ours: The Letters of Stan Brakhage and Michael McClure 1961-1978 (Big Bridge). Connect with Christopher on his website: www.christopherlunapoetry.com or follow him on Instagram at @christopherjluna or on Facebook at facebook.com/christopherlunapoet.

Sam Rose Preminger (they/them) is a trans-nonbinary Jewish writer and publisher. Having completed an MFA at Pacific University, they now serve as the Editor-in-Chief of NAILED Magazine, co-founder of Lightship Press, and regularly work one-on-one with poets as an editor and advisor. Their debut collection, Cosmological Horizons, was released from Kelsay Books in Summer of 2022 and a second collection, Our Streets, will be released Fall of 2022. They live in Portland, OR, where they've acquired too many houseplants. Connect with Sam on their website: www.sampreminger.com.

Red O'Hare (she/her) is a West Coast-based Jewish-American Poet. She was born during the Reagan administration to the child of Jewish immigrant Carnies and of stalwart Presbyterian missionaries. She believes in boots and ghosts. Her dog is named after a Doctor Who character, but you have to guess which one. Red has been writing and performing poetry since she was 15 years old in California's San Fernando Valley. She's competed in poetry slams but has never won, has been featured at Wordlights, The Last Stand at Wildwood Saloon, The Nest, Portland Poetry Slam, Ghost Town Poetry, and The Crow's Nest, to name a few. She has also performed at Studio Morey, Fused Creative's show Leave Me On Read, Telltale PDX's show This Is What We Need, The Brewery Artist's Lofts, The Anna Broome Room, and KBOO Radio's Talking Earth poetry series, hosted by Dan Raphael. Red's spoken word album is available at redohare.bandcamp.com. Connect with Red on her website: www.redohare.com or follow her on Instagram at @mizredohare or on Facebook at facebook.com/mizredohare.

MEET THE HOST

Igor Bjorn Brezhnev (he/him) is poet, multidisciplinary artist, publisher, and book designer, among his other sins. Igor is the author of two full-length poetry collections and numerous chapbooks. He is a co-founder of Lightship Press, a small press in Portland, Oregon dedicated to publishing poetry. He also hosts Wordlights Poetry Showcase and Plotting Poetry Podcast, and on occasion, performs poetry with The New Name Band. You can support his poetry and community work on his Patreon at patreon.com/igorbrezhnev. Find more information about Igor at igorbrezhnev.com.

All performances take place live at COHO THEATRE 2257 NW Raleigh St. , Portland, OR 97210. (503) 220 - 2646. One-show tickets are all Pay-What-You-Can. Season subscriptions here.

For 27 years, CoHo Productions' mission has been to broaden perspectives, cultivating empathy through vibrant and intimate productions. CoHo nurtures and supports Portland area theatre artists through a model of theatrical co-production, championing exceptional local artists who share their passionate work with an engaged audience, deepening the theatrical landscape of the community.

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