ESTHER SHORT — Move over Samuel Green (Washington State Poet Laureate) and make way for Christopher Luna, Downtown Vancouver Poet Laureate for 2011.
Luna, local poet, was bestowed this honor by Angst Gallery owner Leah Jackson. She wanted to acknowledge Luna’s seven years of service to the local poetry community as teacher, event organizer, mentor and host of the open mic reading series at Cover to Cover Books.
While Jackson specifically bestowed the honor on Luna for her two businesses — Angst Gallery and Niche Wine and Art Bar — the entire community will benefit, as well. Jackson said she created the position to call attention to the art of poetry, a branch of the arts easily overlooked.
Luna’s most recent project was hosting an open mic poetry reading at the Clark County Historical Museum celebrating poet Richard Brautigan. Now, to fulfill one of the definitions of “poet laureate” maybe Luna should write a poem for Mayor Leavitt’s State of the City address.
