Arts & Media❯Readings❯Poetry

Portland Art Museum invites the community to join a Free First Thursday event, offering free admission to the museum for all, plus a Live Wire event as part of the Literary Arts Portland Book Festival. Visitors can take in the afternoon gallery pop-ups, the evening show, or both!

4:30 – 6 p.m. — Free, pre-show, pop-up performances will take place throughout the Museum’s galleries. Performers are poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle.

Free First Thursday tickets can be reserved online one week in advance and are also available at the door.

7 p.m. — Enjoy a fully seated, ticketed Live Wire taping hosted by Luke Burbank with announcer Elena Passarello, featuring a blend of interviews, comedy, and music performed live for the audience, then edited into an episode for broadcast to over 200 public radio stations nationwide. Performers are poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle. Doors will open at 6:30pm.

GA Tickets are $15. Preferred Seating is $40. Discounts available to Portland Book Festival passholders.

Dessa is a singer, rapper, and writer who fell in love with language as a toddler—and just never got over it. Now, she works in fields that traffic in words: she’s recorded rap bangers as part of the fiercely independent Doomtree collective, released a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; contributed to The New York Times and National Geographic Traveler; delivered a TED Talk on the intersection of romance and neuroscience that’s notched more than 4 million views; hosted 2 seasons of behavioral science podcast Deeply Human (BBC/American Public Media); and published a memoir recounting most of the above called My Own Devices (Penguin Random House).

Mac Barnett, the 2025–2026 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, is a New York Times bestselling author of stories for children. Mac’s books have won many prizes, including two Caldecott Honors, three New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book Awards, three E. B. White Read Aloud Awards and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, as well as several international prizes. He lives in Oakland, California. His latest book, illustrated by X. Fang, is Tom Nancy: The Sheep Who Swapped Brains with a Boy. From two of the most exciting picture book makers today comes a hilarious trickster tale and Freaky Friday switcheroo story: a sneaky, cheeky sheep named Tom Nancy has a brain swap proposal for an innocent farm boy named Felix that will change both of their lives forever. Laugh-out-loud, subversive, and totally unexpected.

Ed Park is the author of the novels Personal Days and Same Bed Different Dreams. He is a founding editor of The Believer, and has worked in newspapers, book publishing, and academia. His writing appears in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Profound, wily, and beautifully wrought, his new book Three Tenses: A Transmission from the Nineties is a meeting of memory and myth, confession and obfuscation, coalescing to offer a singular picture of creativity in action.

The princess of Portland comedy, best known for her breakout performance on the popular Netflix special Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda, Mx. Dahlia Belle has been compared to a Swiss Army knife—different tools to extract sharpness, softness, vulnerability, hope, and wicked wit. She’s been declared one of “11 Trans Comedians… Funnier Than Dave Chappelle” by Out Magazine, repeatedly featured on NPR, and has written for Cosmopolitan Magazine, The Guardian, The Stranger, and Portland Mercury. Her live performances have included NW Black Comedy Festival, Upper Left Comedy Festival, SF Sketchfest, and an awkward conversation with John Waters and Piers Morgan. In the upcoming live taping of her comedy special Affirmed at Polaris Hall on November 22nd, Mx. Dahlia Belle delivers 60 new minutes of stand-up to celebrate and affirm being human in the modern world through a combination of the wholesome and mundane, anecdotes about house cats, liscivious foibles of the LGBT community, and an unapologetic account of her personal journey with gender-affirming care, all delivered with her trademark free form wit.

Free First Thursdays at the Museum and PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater aligns with the revitalization of the long-standing Portland art galleries’ tradition of opening their doors for openings, receptions, and events on the first Thursday of each month. In recent months art and culture organizations have joined to bring back this popular activity, including the Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in the North Park Blocks.

Generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.

Celebrate Día de los Muertos at M&M Marketplace with two days of culture, music, food, and family fun. Join us on Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1 from 2 PM to 7 PM for a free community celebration in Hillsboro.

Enjoy live music, traditional altars, Calenda, Calaveritas Literarias, a Concurso de Catrinas, food, shopping, and family entertainment. Bring your family and friends as we come together to honor loved ones and celebrate Día de los Muertos traditions.

Dates: Saturday, October 31 and Sunday, November 1
Time: 2 PM to 7 PM
Location: M&M Marketplace, 346 SW Walnut St., Hillsboro, OR 97123
Admission: Free

¡Acompáñanos con toda la familia para celebrar nuestras tradiciones, recordar a nuestros seres queridos y disfrutar un fin de semana especial en comunidad!

Live Wire joins forces with the Portland Art Museum for an afternoon of roving performances ahead of an evening recording of the program. The event coincides with PAM's monthly Free First Thursday and the Portland Book Festival's expanded programming. Performers will include poet and rapper Dessa, bestselling children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle.

Free pop-up performances will take place throughout the Museum’s galleries, giving visitors a chance to catch live performances and storytelling while moving through the PAM spaces. Completely free through PAM’s Free First Thursday general admission. Also, enjoy a fully seated, ticketed Live Wire taping hosted by Luke Burbank with announcer Elena Passarello, featuring a blend of interviews, comedy, and music performed live for the audience, then edited into an episode for broadcast to over 200 public radio stations nationwide.

Visitors can take in the afternoon gallery pop-ups, the evening show, or both.

For over two decades, Railroad Earth has captivated audiences with gleefully unpredictable live shows and eloquent and elevated studio output. The group introduced its signature sound on 2001’s The Black Bear Sessions. Between selling out hallowed venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO, they’ve been responsible for launching signature festivals Hangtown Music Festival in Placerville, CA and Hillberry: The Harvest Moon Festival in Eureka Springs, AR. Sought after by legends, the John Denver Estate tapped them to put lyrics penned by the late John Denver to music on the 2019 vinyl EP, Railroad Earth: The John Denver Letters. Beyond tallying tens of millions of streams, the collective has earned widespread critical acclaim from David Fricke of Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, Glide Magazine, and NPR, who assured, “Well-versed in rambling around, as you might expect from a band named after a Jack Kerouac poem, the New Jersey-built jam-grass engine Railroad Earth has let no moss grow under its rustic wheels.”

Started in 1999 and organized by writer Willa Schneberg, this annual event features readings by prominent Oregon Jewish poets and writers. The writers in the 2026 program span a range of genres, including fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and essays. Each author will share selections from their work.

We are delighted to welcome Gavin Van Horn, editor of the new anthology Sensoria: Attending to the Wonder and Vitality of Nature to Broadway Books. He will be joined by poet Brittney Corrigan, one of the contributors to the anthology.

A stunning gathering of creative nonfiction, research, and poetry, Sensoria transports readers into compelling stories and ethical reflections that stretch the limits of the moral imagination, calling attention to the wondrous ways in which humans and other-than-human beings experience and perceive the world. By exploring the sensorium among all forms of life endowed with different kinds of consciousness and communicative abilities, this volume highlights ecologically and socially diverse ways of touching the world with mind, and touching mind with the world.

Tina Chang reads from her new poetry collection Lion at Portland Art Museum in the Native American Art gallery (Level 2, Room 215), paired with Sara Siestreem, fastened to the rock (blood, sweat, and tears).

In Lion, Tina Chang mines personal and collective memory to explore safety and danger, visibility and invisibility as an Asian American woman. Throughout the collection, Chang responds to multi-hyphenate women artists, including Haena Yoo, Hồng-An Trương, Astria Suparak, and a collective whose work paid tribute to the life of Christina Yuna Lee, a young woman who was killed during the height of anti-Asian hate crimes. Responding to art across various media—text, illustration, painting, video, and sculpture—Lion sparks cross-disciplinary dialogue on Asian American perspectives, surveillance, and the myth of the model minority.

As the aftermath of the pandemic is examined, so too are the structures of bias, racism, and violence that continue. The collection’s title explores the word’s cultural history, composite Chinese iconography, and lion-centered explorations of strength and mastery. Lion traverses the closeness and distance between the racialized self the world views and the perceived self who endures and survives.

“An urgent exploration of Asian American identity from a poet with a ‘fearless imagination.’”–Tracy K. Smith, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Nick Dumas leads on mandolin and vocals, bringing the soulful foundation he learned from his dobro-playing grandfather in Washington State, now living in Wisconsin. Nick is a former member of Grammy-nominated Special Consensus and a three-time IBMA award winner. Nick has performed across the globe and recently released his solo album "Details" on Nashville's Skyline Records. Nick now has three new singles released on Skyline Records from a soon-to-come project, all of which have made it to #1 on the bluegrass airplay charts. When not touring with the trio or his own band, "Nick Dumas and Branchline," Nick teaches mandolin lessons at home and with The Fiddler's Farm Band in WI. He also co-founded the well-known Northwest bands "Northern Departure" and "North Country Bluegrass".

Chris Luquette showcases his virtuosic guitar work alongside vocals, drawing from his 11 years with the celebrated Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen. This multi-instrumentalist has shared stages with Jerry Douglas, Emmylou Harris, and The Steep Canyon Rangers, earning multiple IBMA awards and a Grammy nomination along the way. Originally from Seattle's vibrant music scene and now based in New York City, Chris brings an eclectic musical palette that spans from traditional bluegrass to world music influences. Chris is a co-founder of Northern Departure along with Nick.

Andrew Knapp anchors the trio with his exceptional bass playing and rich vocals. He is one of the premier bassists to come out of the Pacific Northwest. Andrew can also be seen with Seattle-based bluegrass band The Warren G. Hardings, as well as Nick Dumas and Branchline. As a classically trained jazz bassist, he has performed with nationally recognized artists such as Kenny Garrett and Terence Blanchard, toured Europe and Brazil, and played on ships for Carnival Cruise Lines. Also, a graduate of the Whitworth University Jazz program. He is one of the best in the business.

Slamlandia is a poetry open mic and slam that meets every month at Literary Arts, on the third Thursday. This mic provides a creative, fun, and welcoming space for all literary communities in Portland. We encourage poets new and old to come share their work. We strive towards a safe space for poets to read their own poetry, witness others, and participate in community.

Hosted by Julia Gaskill. November’s featured poet will be announced soon.

Join Mary Miller Doyle and friends for a presentation of Wonder Is a Lovely Place to Be: 365 Days of Wit, Wisdom, and Irrepressible Imagination by Brian Doyle and Mary Miller Doyle. Drawing from both beloved and previously unpublished Brian Doyle works, this collection of essays, poems and sketches invites readers to notice holiness woven through ordinary, everyday moments.

Mary Miller Doyle and John and Cindy McPhee will read passages from Wonder is a Lovely Place to Be and retired Lake Oswego Public Library director Bill Baars will host. We'll also be serving apple and marionberry pie, Brian's favorite flavors.

Brian Doyle (1956-2017) was the author of many books, including the novels Mink River and The Plover; The Grail, his account of a year in a pinot noir vineyard in Oregon; and The Wet Engine, a memoir about his infant son’s heart surgery and the young doctor who saved his life. He edited Portland Magazine at the University of Portland.

This program is supported by the Friends of the Lake Oswego Public Library. Participation is free, and no registration is required. Please note, seating is limited due to the size of the space. Seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.A livestream will be available.

Lake Oswego Public Library is located at 706 Fourth Street, Lake Oswego. For more information, contact Alicia Yokoyama at 503-534-4228 or [email protected]

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Live Wire teams up with the Portland Art Museum during First Thursday and the Portland Book Festival. From 4:30 to 6 p.m., complimentary pop-up performances roam the museum galleries, no ticket needed. At 7 p.m., host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello lead a seated, ticketed taping with poet and rapper Dessa, children’s author Mac Barnett, Pulitzer Prize finalist Ed Park, and Portland comedian Mx. Dahlia Belle. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.. Portland Book Festival passholders get 10% off.

Told entirely by two performers, a poet and a musician, Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s An Iliad remixes Homer’s tale, bridging the ancient with the contemporary. In turns humorous and tender, violent and harrowing, An Iliad is a vital examination of the human compulsion towards war, a passionate interrogation of the toll war has on our humanity, and a testament to the power and potential of storytelling.

Celebrate the release of A Thousand Flames, the debut poetry collection by Corey S. Pressman. Corey S. Pressman's debut collection, A Thousand Flames, offers poems of secular devotion in which a bird feeder can stand as the axis mundi and the bees have a god of their own. Across twelve sections, they travel from a Rockland County childhood to a hilltop in the fog, and as far back as the rooftops of Neolithic Çatalhöyük. Each poem asks you to slow down and stay a little longer than expected.

"Corey Pressman is a magical human - magical art, magical writing. His finely made poems are bells of vision and clarity to help us 'stay the same changing.'" - Naomi Shihab Nye

Oregon Jewish Voices 2026 November 5, 2026 Admission: $10 general admission, $5 for members with code on back of membership card Location: OJMCHE Auditorium Share × " class="share-btn"> Share on Facebook &text=Oregon Jewish Voices 2026" class="share-btn"> Share on Twitter Email Thursday, November 5 | 7pm start time, doors open at 6:30pm Started in 1999 and organized by writer Willa Schneberg, this annual event features readings by prominent Oregon Jewish poets and writers. The writers in the 2026 program span a range of genres, including fiction, poetry, playwriting, and nonfiction. Each author will share selections from their work. About the Speakers Ayelet Amittay is a poet and psychiatric nurse practitioner in Eugene, Oregon. Her first book, The Eating Knife , is an extended Midrash on the Akedah—the binding of Isaac. It was published by Fernwood Press in 2025. Her chapbook, Therapy Room , won second place in the 2024 3-Day International Chapbook Contest. Ayelet’s poems appear in Gulf Coast , Michigan Quarterly Review , Rattle , Critica Press , Tupelo Quarterly , Pleiades , and others. She received fellowships from the Yiddish Book Center and the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing . Find her at www.ayeletpoet.com or on Instagram @ayeletpoet. Rachel Attias is a writer, educator, and editor based in Portland. Her writing has appeared in n+1 , Porter House Review , X-R-A-Y, and more, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. She holds an MFA from Oregon State University, and teaches writing at Portland Community College and around the Pacific Northwest. She is also part of Art/Lab’s 2026 Fellowship Cohort, which empowers Portland-area Jewish artists and culture bearers. Her writing is concerned with present and ancestral relationships, our changing natural world, memory, time, and everyday absurdity. Find Rachel at www.rachelattias.com . Daniel Isaiah Elder Daniel Isaiah Elder writes fiction and nonfiction. He was awarded a 2026 Susan Kamil Emerging Writers Prize and received a Lambda Literary Emerging LGBTQ Writer fellowship, as well as an Art/Lab fellowship for Jewish writers. He works as a bookseller at a small independent bookstore, and at Lidia Yuknavitch’s alternative workshop organization, Corporeal Writing. His essays and fiction have appeared in The Rumpus, Catapult, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Witch Craft Magazine, and many more. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his partner and their blended family

Super-Deluxe Fiddle, Banjo, and Song

Through twenty years and a couple of thousand shows together in bands such as The Foggy Hogtown Boys and The Lonesome Ace Stringband, John Showman and Chris Coole have developed a deep and instinctual musical bond. Their music lurks in a truly unique space, somewhere on the outskirts of old-time, bluegrass, and folk. The songs of John Hartford, Hank Williams, Dock Boggs, and The Band share space with the fiddle tunes of Eck Robertson and Ed Haley. The duo's original songs and tunes take in all these vistas and paint something both personal and timely.

They have performed across North America and Europe at festivals such as Merlefest, Rockygrass, Greyfox, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Mariposa, Wintergrass, The Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, and The Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum. In addition to the five Lonesome Ace albums, John and Chris have released two duo albums - " Afield" a collection of old-time fiddle tunes, and "Much Further Out than Inevitable - A Tribute to Some Music of John Hartford."

"Powerful musicians, playing and singing some powerful music" - Bluegrass Unlimited

"Danceable, poppy, and soulful, it's old-time that's modern and timeless, both" - Bluegrass Situation

(Roddy Campbell, Penguin Eggs Magazine)

Develop your writing in a welcoming, creative environment alongside friends and local best-selling YA author Jamie Pacton. This is time to write, share ideas, ask questions, and meet other teen writers!

Music in the country style, including western & western swing, cowboy & country blues, country folk, bluegrass, rockabilly, hillbilly, Americana, and honky tonk. hosted by Robert Parish, Wayne and Kathy Johnson, Wayne Selzer, Mary Rondthaler, and Gary Baysinger. 1st Saturday - Robert Parish along with son Graham play sets featuring particular artists as well as sets with a variety of artist. 2nd Saturday, Wayne and Kathy - Variety of country, western, western swing, country folk, country blues, bluegrass, rockabilly and Americana. 3rd Saturday - Will Selzer - Blends all types & styles of country music from 50+ years, rooted in mid-20th century, men and women artists equally. The goal is to entertain our listeners and to have fun. 4th Saturday - Mary - Bringing a musician’s ear to the collective with a focus on older country and Western swing from the ‘30s to the ‘70s, always with a good dose of women artists. 5th Saturday - Gary - Countrypolitan Blues - A mix of eastern philosophy and western swing; the yin, the yang, and the do-si-do. Past shows available on the program page at https://kboo.fm/program/swing-n-country.

Book Bar is a five-day pop-up bar, café and cultural clubhouse in the heart of downtown Portland during Portland Book Festival week. Stop in for drinks, food, conversation and a rotating lineup of literary-inspired performances, pop-ups and unexpected happenings.

On Wednesday night, 45th Parallel Universe presents a celebration of Allen Ginsberg, featuring live readings of Howl and other works accompanied by live jazz.

The evening brings together voices from Portland’s literary, music, theater and radio communities for a tribute to one of the most influential figures in American poetry, and to Howl, which Ginsberg first read publicly in Portland while studying at Reed College.

Featured participants include Gregory Scholl, Robert McBride, Fred Child, Alexis Hamilton and additional special guests.

Monthly on every first Tuesday

We want your BOLD stories!

Come to our monthly open mic to share your latest work in progress or previously published piece. We welcome short stories, personal essays, poetry, slam, and other spoken word art forms.

10% off for performers!

BOLD is a safe place. We strive to uplift stories by and about people from underrepresented and diverse communities. We do not tolerate hate speech of any kind.

See you there!

Join us for Transformations: Wood / Metal / Stone / Sundry, from Raven Chronicles Press's celebrates the discovery of, and connection with, found objects that hide within landscapes of urban decay and nature. Objects that, when revealed, stand as testaments to time, place, and the transformative effects of nature and the elements. Editor Scott Martin, local poets dan raphael and Allison Green, plus other readers.

This is our last meeting of 2026! Because our meeting this month falls the week of Thanksgiving, we'll do a casual and fun potluck in person with some sort of writing game (to be determined).

Please bring some food to share. The library will provide the game.

A monthly, prompt-driven freewriting gathering welcomes writers of every genre and experience level. Guided by author and poet Jone Rush MacCulloch, the session starts with a creative prompt, offers focused time to write, then invites anyone who wishes to share their work. It is a friendly space to connect with other writers, approach the page with curiosity, and see where inspiration leads. Jone is the author of Tilt, a novel in verse, and facilitates writing salons and events online and at Cup of Tea.

Join us for a poetry reading presented by Spare Room, featuring Ariel Resnikoff and Ivan Sokolov.

Ariel Resnikoff's recent works include Raisin in Every Bite (Furniture Press, 2022), A Paradise of Hearing (The Swan, 2021), and Unnatural Bird Migrator (The Operating System, 2020) which was awarded an Anne and Robert Cowan Writers Prize. His newest poetry collection, Poems with Friends and Ghosts, is forthcoming from Chax Press in 2027. With Pierre Joris, he is also the co-editor of In Between, Keep Moving: A Pierre Joris Reader (Contra Mundum 2026). Ariel is a translator of Yiddish, Hebrew and Spanish poetry and prose, and his own writing has been translated into German, French, Russian, and Mandarin, among other languages. In 2025 he was a visiting writer and translator in China at Central China University in Wuhan and the University of Fudan in Shanghai. Ariel lives in El Cerrito, California – the little hill – with his partner, the artist Rivka Weinstock and their kiddo. With E. Tracy Grinnell, he co-directs Litmus Press and Ether Sea Projects.

Ivan Sokolov is a poet, translator and critic from St. Petersburg, Russia, currently based in Portland. Author of five books of poetry in Russian, he also translates the international avant-garde, from Gertrude Stein to Paul Celan. His Russian version of Ron Silliman's "You" and a translation of Richard Foreman's "Samuel II" were recently published. Sokolov's translations from contemporary Russian writing are available in World Literature Today and the Back Room. His own work has been featured in a Deep Vellum anthology Verses on the Vanguard.

Join us for a reading and celebration of Paul Maziar’s Junebug. The evening with feature musical guests Kelli Schaefer and Drew Grow.

When asked for eight words to describe Junebug, Maziar channeled Agent Cooper: “Everyday, once a day, give yourself a present.” But did he mean the present? Either way, Junebug is a gift.

Junebug situates Paul Maziar’s latest acts of listening and attending, transmission and transcription. He’s built a modular space suggestive of both the theatre and the gallery, performance and (inter)play. The aphoristic title sequence hones sharp accessibilities — we find words available to us, for our limbs and limbics to hold, hurrumph, to slap our knees and share. A mysterious dramatis personae pervades Junebug’s expanse across the mental maps Maziar graphs as he organizes streets of words and questions what their design might reference. We encounter, among others, Toulouse-Lautrec, Agnes Martin, Eva Hesse, Jack Whitten, Colette, Robert Walser. Who are all these characters in Maziar’s parade? Maybe there’s some insight in the final serial sequence, “Hives,” which states that “The real thing is inside of what everything appears as.” The real in Junebug asks us to admire the distance between the surface and the subject. We already have the right tools.

Charles North: From short poems to prose poems to the wonderful fragments collected in its title poem, Paul Maziar’s writing revels in imaginative discontinuity. Junebug is smart, witty, surprising—and inspiring—throughout.

Merrill Gilfillan: These works step up in the name of Poetry and its heartwood, its ever-salvational “What’s on the river today?”

Tetra Balestri: Maziar manages to resurrect a conversation started sometime in the early to mid-20th century that cuts through the present-day pandemonium with polish and swagger. Junebug is a pair of pants worth trying on.

Simone Kearney: Reading Paul Maziar’s Junebug, I feel the tightrope walker’s high-wire balance between the forces of levity and gravity, the contexts of interior and exterior, the concocted and the perceived, thought and overheard speech. These poems make me wonder how it is that we move through the world, which is also a moving-through language.

I’m reminded that language bears a strange mystery. It’s always received and always being made at the same time; it’s a material we inherit and get to play with. In Maziar’s work, overheard phrases and sayings arrive solidified, brick-like things. The language resembles the fragments of familiar tunes — an echo, or memory of one — appearing as the freshest, strangest thing newly imagined.

I feel the intimacy and elusiveness of unspoken thought in the poems: words not yet uttered, still inside the mind. This makes me feel the dynamics of inside and outside that are part of the human drama. Am I looking at something the poet is looking at, or am I inside his head? Maziar lets us inhabit uncertainty. This is living language just being breathed, catapulted from lips, cemented into freshly-thought speech.

Junebug lets me delight in the way language can tend to trip over itself: “I’d rather stimulate than simulate”; “a certain vigor (or vinegar?).” Decontextualized, speech is absurd, funny, strangely moving: “I’m not going anywhere until I see a horse.”

What emerges is a tour de force composed of song, slogan, slip of the tongue, reverie, note, advertisement, fragment, nonsense, musing, hiccup, rupture, tidbit, epiphany. “The only faith he had was in the confusion of his experiences,” Maziar writes, suggesting that one thing we can do amid such confusion is continue to place words onto the page — in relation to ourselves, to others, to images, and to other words. And those words keep coming to meet us: flat, full, flowing, tired, zippy, and ready for more.

Kelli Schaefer's latest record, Even Still, could be the soundtrack to a modern gothic, a playlist for a trudge through a muddy forest or the accompaniment to a subconscious mantra. She demonstrates deftness in refusing to confine herself to a single genre. Schaefer excavates her past while planting herself deeper into the avant-garde, offering a fresh take on the age-old singer-songwriter trope, delivering haunting melodies over swirling woodwinds, piano, classical guitar, and upright bass.

The Pacific Northest's beloved troubadour, musician/artist Drew Grow (Slang, Modern Kin, Pastor's Wives) is back with new songs and a new stripped down method. Spotted playing solo shows around Portland this summer, he is out on his own, debuting new music and packing a wall of little guitar amps. It's new digs for the artist. Drew's solo approach, raw and exposed, is even more striking than the bands of his past. His powerful voice still ringing through as ever, magnetic and arching over the solo guitar and twisted old amps. The sound is momentous and vulnerable, seeming to come from a deeper place. What have you brought us?

A $10 ticket supports our musical guests, Kelli Schaefer and Drew Grow.

Readings from Transformations: Wood/Metal/Stone/Sundry (Raven Chronicles, 2026). Transformations celebrates the discovery of, and connection with, found objects that hide within landscapes of urban decay and nature. Objects that, when revealed, stand as testaments to time, place, and the transformative effects of nature and the elements. Readers include Dan Raphael, Allison Green, Nora Martin, and Scott Martin.

Formed by musicians with a passion for the Northwest outdoors, Jawbone Flats takes its name from the ghost town of the same name nestled deep in the Opal Creek Wilderness of Oregon. Since 2008 JBF has traveled throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Northern California playing an eclectic blend of original and cover songs drawing from the influences of bluegrass, country, alternative country, blues, and rock music led by five alternating lead singers backed by lush harmonies. Interlocking melodies from B-bender Telecaster and acoustic guitars, mandolin, harmonica, and pedal steel guitar are woven into the solid rhythmic fabric of fretless bass and drums to produce a wonderfully entertaining, irresistibly danceable, and downright “flatifying” sound.

Weekend matinees play from 1-3 pm, free, all ages. Oct 3 (Sat): Blue Pine - Americana/alt-country rock band Oct 4 (Sun): Tuba Django - playing in the style of Django Reinhardt with a twist of Tuba! Oct 10 (Sat): Thunder Ridge - straight-ahead bluegrass Oct 11 (Sun): Ashley Seaton & the TK Swing All-Stars - Portland’s hottest jazz ensemble Oct 17 (Sat): Marilee Hord‘s Bluegrass Matinee (subbing for Josh Cole) - good, old-fashioned bluegrass Oct 18 (Sun): Kung Pao Chickens - the finest in Django-esque Roma jazz Oct 24 (Sat): Filthy Skillets (bluegrass matinee) - putting their own twist on traditional bluegrass Oct 25 (Sun): Sleepy Lagoon - Pete Krebs, Doug Sammons (Midnight Serenaders) playing 20s/30s jazz, Hawaiian, and exotica with vocal harmonies Oct 31 (Sat): The Sixties (Frank "Buzz Holland" Goodman & Joe Chiusano) - laying down the grooves of that golden era Nov 1 (Sun): Ashley Seaton & the TK Swing All-Stars - Portland’s hottest jazz ensemble Nov 7 (Sat): Blue Pine - Americana/alt-country rock band Nov 8 (Sun): Sweet Preserves - traditional acoustic New Orleans jazz Nov 15 (Sun): Kung Pao Chickens - the finest in Django-esque Roma jazz Nov 21 (Sat): Josh Cole‘s Bluegrass Matinee - good, old-fashioned bluegrass

BOLD is thrilled to host The Body Has Teeth: A Reading and Conversation with Amy Baskin, David Loring Nash, Anthony DiPietro, and Summer Stewart.

Four writers enter the dark from different doors. Anthony DiPietro’s poems move through gay love, sex, and the strange repetitions of desire. Amy Baskin gives Lilith—the first woman, cast as a demon—her fierce voice. Summer Stewart’s poems and essays expose the scripts written onto women’s bodies and lives. In David Loring Nash’s Northwoods, witchcraft, revenge, and human folly wait just beyond the treeline. Join them for a reading, followed by a conversation led by Summer Stewart.

Chatter PDX is a performing arts series in Portland inspired by the success of the innovative Chatter series in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which has captivated audiences for over 15 years. Chatter PDX brings a unique blend of music, spoken word, coffee, and reflection to Portland's vibrant cultural landscape. Chatter performances take place weekly and offer audiences the opportunity to hear a wide variety of classical chamber music and spoken word, performed by local artists. Coffee and mingling with the audience and performers before and after the show are an essential part of the Chatter PDX experience.

Each week, join a unique program of music and poetry.

Monday Mic Night is an open mic event. Bring whatever you’d like to share—music, poetry, a soliloquy, a painting, even a magic trick. All ages and talent levels are welcome. Non-performing audience members are welcome too.

This event is free, all ages, and open to the public.

Date: Monday, November 9
Time: 7-9pm (Signups start at 6:30pm)
Location: Sherwood Center for the Arts, Maera Boughey Theatre
22689 SW Pine Street, Sherwood OR 97140

More information at our website: Monday Mic Night | Sherwood Center for the Arts

The Cover to Cover programis an eclectic mix of fun events organized by community partners across the metro area that expands Portland Book Festival. This additional programming is aimed at going beyond the scope of a traditional reading or author panel. Past events have included a mock burial, tea ceremonies and poetry karaoke.

Grab a friend, and make space on your bookshelf for PBF Cover to Cover, taking place in bars, coffee shops, restaurants, venues, parks, and more spaces throughout Portland metro.

Artichoke Community Music class hosted by Megan Cronin, $175 for seven sessions, drop-ins $30 per session. This class will be held at Taborspace, an off-site location. This class is for beginner-ish and intermediate violin and fiddle players who want a chance to play their favorite songs with others in a supportive setting. At the start of this series the instructor will present 10 tunes in the genres of folk, jazz, bluegrass, Irish, blues, pop and/or classical. Students will vote in three of these tunes to work on over the course of the term. Financial Hardship Discount Available Wondering if you are at the right aptitude for this class? If you can work through some or most of the Suzuki Violin Book One, then you will be totally fine in this class (just google "Suzuki Violin Book One PDF" to check it out). You’re welcome to pay the instructor directly at your first class to avoid service fees. Contact Megan via email when you register for a drop-in date, if you plan to pay in-person or if you have any other questions about the class. More information & registration: megancroninmusic.com/violin-fiddle-democracy Website: https://www.megancroninmusic.com/ Feel free to contact the instructor for more information: musiclessonsbymegan(*at*)gmail.com Refund Policy: Refunds up to 7 days before event

In collaboration with Big Mood Books, we're honored to host the chapbook launch for Adesina Brown!

Join us for a poetry reading from Householding with Tom Blood, Shannon Baird, and Brian Hebb.

Tom Blood is the author of the sky position which was awarded the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Published the raccoon, dot dot, the act, if ever then always, exp, and exp3. He also performs as the lead vocalist in the bands rob walmart, Tom Blood and Jordan Dykstra and Dream Center. Tom is Published in journals in NY, SF, Portland, London, Seattle and elsewhere. He believes the only purpose in life is to communicate love.

Shannon Baird is a Portland native, real estate broker, and award-winning designer whose work reflects a longstanding appreciation for architecture, art, and the character of place. With more than 24 years in real estate and as the founder of SBaird Design, she brings a distinctive perspective to the relationship between people, homes, and the stories they hold.

Shannon conceived the idea for this collection of poetry, originally written to accompany actual real estate listings. What began as an unconventional approach to presenting homes evolved into a book celebrating the character, atmosphere, and individuality of the places we inhabit.

Working closely with book designer Fredrik Averin, Shannon guided the creative development and design of the publication. The collection features poems primarily by Tom Blood, with additional contributions from Shannon Baird and Brian Hebb. Charlotte Moore wrote the foreword and afterword, and Rory Sparks produced the foil-stamped covers.

The book reflects an appreciation for the ways poetry can reveal something beyond the physical details of a property—offering a more personal evocative perspective on the meaning of home, a subject of perennial longing.

Brian Hebb is a failed capitalist, former journalist and chronic penman for hire, furnishing other people’s ad copy and speeches with his favorite daydreams. For these sins, and others less relevant, he is at work on his first novel, The Last Days of Fake Bears, and a short story collection, Target Audience. He lives with his wife in Portland, Oregon where fleeting glimpses of their dead pets are most persistent.

Some of the best bands start with a plan. Others start with a few musicians, a couple of beers, and a shared love of bluegrass.

Meadowlark String Band was born right here at Tomorrow’s Verse Taproom, where its members first connected through our weekly Bluegrass & Brews jam. What began as Tuesday night pickin’ sessions grew into a band built on musical chemistry, friendship, and a love for making music together.

Rooted in the communal spirit of bluegrass, Meadowlark String Band is a perfect example of what happens when musicians come together, share a few tunes, and let the music take them somewhere new.

From our weekly jam to the Tomorrow’s Verse stage, we couldn't be happier to see this band take flight!

$5 cover

About a month ago, we lost our beloved fellow musician Jere Hudson. Jere was a true light in every gathering, and he will be sorely missed. We are planning a jam in his honor, where we will play some of his favorite tunes. Cajun, old-time, bluegrass, folk, Irish: anything goes. All are welcome. Also please note that we need to buy any alcohol at the venue.

Join us for the Mountain Writers Series readingswith:
Gerald Costanzo & Michele Glazer

Gerald Costanzo’s Badlands: First Poems, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 1973, and in 1974, In the Aviary, won the Devins Award. Other of his poetry collections include Nobody Lives on Arthur Godfrey Boulevard (BOA, 1992), The Laps of the Bridesmaids (Bits Press, 1992), and most recently, Regular Haunts (Nebraska, 2018). Founder of the Carnegie Mellon University Press (1972), Costanzo served as Director of the Press, also teaching writing and literature courses at Carnegie Mellon University, until he retired in 2024. Costanzo has edited numerous anthologies, among them Three Rivers, Ten Years: An Anthology of Poems from Three Rivers Poetry Journal, and American Poetry: The Next Generation. He has received two N.E.A. Creative Writing Fellowships as well as two Pushcart Prizes for his poetry. He divides his time between Mt. Lebanon, PA and a home on the Oregon Coast.

Michele Glazer is the author of four books of poetry, most recently, fretwork (Iowa, 2021). Others include On Tact, & the Made Up World (Iowa, 2010); Aggregate of Disturbances (Iowa Poetry Prize, 2004); and It Is Hard to Look at What We Came to Think We’d Come to See (Pittsburgh, 1997; AWP Award). She has published poems in The New Yorker, Boston Review, and Lo-Ball, among others. Glazer was the founding director of the MFA Creative Writing program at Portland State University and has been a visiting professor at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and at the University of Montana as the Richard Hugo Chair in Poetry. She lives in Portland.

Each month, embark on a journey where you showcase your talents. Whether you are a singer/songwriter, a poet, or a solo instrumentalist, here's your opportunity to shine on the stage. Feel free to start a jam as well. The stage is yours.

Get ready to take the stage, cheer on local creatives, and soak up an unforgettable evening of art, music, poetry, and community. The space into a vibrant hub of expression with a monthly Open Mic Night—and you’re invited. Whether you’re an experienced performer or just itching to share something new, the mic is yours. Singers, songwriters, poets, instrumentalists, comedians, storytellers, and more—everyone is welcome to sign up for a chance to shine. Sign-ups begin at 6:00 p.m., and the show kicks off around 6:30 p.m. with short (~10 min) performance slots.

Hosted by Joshua Bennett. All ages, all abilities welcome—bring friends, family, and neighbors.

Whether you’re strumming your guitar, reciting your latest poem, sharing a story, or simply enjoying the show from the crowd, this night is about connection, performance, and inspiration.

Chatter LateWORKS is a late-night series that explores modern, experimental, and avant-garde trends within contemporary classical music. Hear local composers alongside rarely heard masters from the past 75 years in a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere inspired by our Sunday morning performances. Doors open at 7pm, show at 8pm; beer, wine, and refreshments are available for purchase at Hallowed Halls Tiki Bar.

Featuring spoken word performance by Hieu Minh Nguyen.

All performances 6-8 pm (unless otherwise extended), free, 21+ Oct 20 (Tue): The Pagan Jug Band - a delightful mix of jug, blues, country, bluegrass and hokum Oct 21 (Wed): The Get Down Funk Collective [extended to 9 pm] - infectious blend of funk, soul, R&B, and jazz Oct 23 (Fri): Michelle Alany & The Mystics - soulful interpretations of traditional and original sephardic, balkan, and israeli songs infused with her tasty Austin-blues stylings Oct 24 (Sat): Bad Assets [extended to 9 pm] - rowdy country-rock with blazing Telecaster guitar Oct 25 (Sun): Freak Mountain Ramblers - off-beat, edgy, weird, wonderful Oct 26 (Mon): Portland Country Underground - a bunch of old friends hanging out and playing roots and country music they love. Oct 27 (Tue): Jackstraw - bluegrass, honky-tonk, and rock ‘n roll Oct 28 (Wed): Rhapsody in Red [extended to 9 pm] - excellent female-fronted Grateful Dead cover band Oct 29 (Thu): Lewi Longmire & The Lookouts - Lewi Longmire (guitar) and Sydney Nash (bass) will be bringing in Micah Kassell (drums- Scott Law Band) and perhaps other guests Oct 30 (Fri): Supernatural Beavers - rock ‘n‘ roll, blues, psych, and outlaw country Oct 31 (Sat): The Electric Stomp - solidly earthy Americana and folk-rock with a touch of island breeze Nov 1 (Sun): An Evening of Jimmy Boyer Music [extended to 10 pm] Nov 2 (Mon): The Waysiders - a new brand of classic country all their own Nov 3 (Tue): Lost Creek Bluegrass Band - two parts traditional bluegrass, one part old-time fiddle tunes, and a splash of honkytonk Nov 4 (Wed): QuEasy Gumbo [extended to 9 pm] - the Quick and Easy Boys with Steve Kerin Nov 5 (Thu): Lewi Longmire & The Left Coast Roasters - rowdy roots rock and roll with a classic heart! Nov 6 (Fri): The Family Band - country-fried and southern roots-rock Nov 7 (Sat): The Resolectrics - rock & soul power trio Nov 8 (Sun): Freak Mountain Ramblers - off-beat, edgy, weird, wonderful

Following Writers Night, local poet Kathleen opens the stage for live readings and poetry. Share something you wrote during Writers Night or bring poetry you have been saving for the right venue. The open mic offers a space to express what is on your mind.

This is an open access session, so there’s no need to book in advance, you’re welcome to just turn up. At our weekly singaround, you can perform a song to the rest of the group, just as you would in a regular folk club, or you can just join and listen to some live music. Tunes and poems are welcome too. When it’s your turn to perform, everyone else is muted on Zoom so that everyone can hear you. Phoenix Folk Ltd exists to promote participation and performance in folk and acoustic music, song and dance across the North East of England. We aim to be a friendly face of folk music, to help keep alive the great traditions of folk music and to encourage talent and personal musical development. If you’d like us to record your performance so that you have a copy to keep, then we’re very happy to do so. We’re always willing to offer advice to help you to get the best sound quality when performing online, so do get in touch if you have any questions.

Develop your writing in a welcoming, creative environment alongside friends and local best-selling YA author Jamie Pacton. This is time to write, share ideas, ask questions, and meet other teen writers!

Every Tuesday, something pretty special happens at Tomorrow's Verse Taproom. Musicians pull up a chair, listeners grab a pint, and for a couple of hours the room turns into the kind of community space that's getting harder and harder to find. No stage, no spotlight, no barriers—just people sharing songs, stories, and a love of live music.

Whether you play, listen, or just enjoy being around good people, Bluegrass and Brews is a place to connect. Discover your new favorite musician, catch up with neighbors, and support a group of local pickers who keep traditional music alive, one tune at a time.

Pull up a chair. Order a pint. Stay awhile. The music's better when the room (or courtyard) is full.

Modern Old-Time Music for the Bluegrass and Folksong Jamboree