Peach Blossom Poetry Series

Inspired by the culture of literature in Chinese gardens, Lan Su Garden presents a series of poetry readings every Saturday in April at 3:00 p.m.

Chinese gardens in China and Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland are filled with poetic inscriptions: as text, calligraphy, engravings and plaques. Poetry in a Chinese garden is as important as a lawn in a Western garden!

Inspired by the culture of literature in Chinese gardens, four prolific poets will share their work with garden visitors every Saturday in April at 3:00 p.m. There will be an additional reading on Sunday April 26th at 3:00 p.m. Free with Lan Su membership or admission; no registration is required.

About the Presenters
April 4th – Toni Partington
Toni Partington lives and works as a poet, editor, visual artist, and writing coach in Vancouver, Washington. Toni has a B.A. in Social Work and an M.A. in Humanities with a focus on literature and literary editing. She is the author of two books of poetry, Jesus Is A Gas (2009), and Wind Wing (2010). Her poetry has been published in numerous journals including The Cascade Journal, VoiceCatcher (editions 3 and 4), OutwardLink.net, and Perceptions. She was Co-Editor for the 2011/2012 VoiceCatcher anthology of women writers. Toni’s poem in the category, Mountains, was selected for the Tranquil Relief Through Nature poetry contest sponsored by Kaiser Permanente for their new Portland hospital. Toni is co-founder and editor of Printed Matter Vancouver, an editing and small press service.

April 11th – David Abel
Poet and editor David Abel is the proprietor of Passages Bookshop, which has just moved into new quarters in the Towne Storage Building in Portland’s Central Eastside. At the same location, he co-curates monthly exhibitions at The Gallery with Adam Davis and Kate Schaefer of Division Leap, and offers editorial services and teaches writing through the Text Garage. His recent books of poems include Float (Chax Press), Tether (Barebone books), and Carrier (c_L Books); he is also the author of many artist’s books, most recently While You Were In (disposable books) and dual coup (press-press-pull). With Sam Lohmann, he publishes the Airfoil chapbook series, and from 2002–12 he published twenty-four issues of the free broadside series Envelope. Over the past decade he has devised more than thirty performance, film, theater, and intermedia projects, both solo and with a wide range of collaborators; he also organized the exhibitions Chax Press: Publishing Poetics for PNCA and Object Poems for 23 Sandy Gallery. He is a founding member of the Spare Room reading series, now in its thirteenth year, and an inaugural Research Fellow of the Center for Art + Environment of the Nevada Museum of Art. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

April 18th – Tim Applegate
Tim Applegate’s poems, short stories and essays appear in the Florida Review, the South Dakota Review, The Meadow, Lake Effect, and many other journals. He is the author of the collections At the End of Day (Traprock Books) and Drydock (Blue Cubicle Press). He lives in the Willamette Valley of western Oregon.

April 25th – Elizabeth McLagan
Elizabeth McLagan’s poems have been published or are forthcoming in journals including The Southern Review, Poetry Northwest, 32 Poems, Beloit Poetry Journal, Third Coast, Willow Springs, Zone 3, and on the website Verse Daily.  The autumn 2009 issue of The Bitter Oleander featured her poems and an interview.  Poems have won an AWP Intro award, the Frances Locke Memorial Award and the Bellingham Review’s 49th Parallel Award. Her collection of poems, In The White Room, was published in 2013.

April 26th – Mariko Kitakubo *Please note: This reading takes place on Sunday.
Mariko Kitakubo is a tanka poet, translator, and performer. She currently resides in Tokyo and has given performances and readings in the U.S., Canada, Australia and France since 2002. Her books include I want to tell you with the words of waves (1999), When the Music Stops (2002), Will (2005), On This Same Star (2006), and Cicada Forest (2008). She has also produced a CD entitled Messages. Mariko accompanies her readings with a rain stick, Tibetan bells, and a Japanese musical instrument called a hamohn.