Six nationally acclaimed poets. One rare Portland evening.

Brad Aaron Modlin, Emmett Wheatfall, Georgia Popoff, Christopher Luna, John Rosenwald, and Ann Arbor - along with host Brian Rohr - each bring their own unique voice, a lifetime of craft, and a deep generosity to the page. On this evening, they share the same stage: reading, reflecting, and reminding us why poetry matters. Six distinct voices. One room. An evening of language that will stay with you.

This is a public event, open to all. You are welcome here.

All six poets are Guest Teachers at The Stafford Challenge Conference, June 18–21 at Lewis & Clark College. Click here for more info.

ASL interpretation provided.

This evening is presented by The Stafford Challenge and Wild Poet Events in partnership with Oregon Humanities and Lewis & Clark College. Books will be for sale, and a book signing with poets will follow the program.

Meet the Poets

Brad Aaron Modlin

Brad Aaron Modlin writes because he likes talking to strangers. His work appears in the 2025 Pushcart Prize Anthology; Poetry Unbound; The Slowdown, and A Ritual to Read Together: Poems in Conversation with William Stafford. His book Everyone at This Party Has Two Names is available from Black Lawrence Press. He has received support from The Banff Centre for the Arts, The Sewanee Writer’s Conference, & The Nebraska Arts Council. The Reynolds Endowed Chair of Creative Writing at University of Nebraska, Kearney, he teaches undergraduates & in the online master’s program.

Emmett Wheatfall

Emmett Wheatfall lives in Portland, Oregon where he is a two-time nominate for Oregon Poet Laureate, and is the recipient of the 2024 Oregon Poetry Association Patricia Ruth Banta Award. He is the author numerous collections, including Contradictions from an Uncertain Silence , As Clean as a Bone, and Our Scarlet Blue Wounds. In 2020, Corban University produced a nine-part documentary titled Emmett Wheatfall: A Brief History highlighting Emmett’s life and poetry.

Georgia Popoff

Georgia A. Popoff is a writer, editor, arts-in-education specialist, and a program coordinator for the YMCA of Central NY’s Writers Voice, where she teaches poetry and creative nonfiction. Georgia is a past Poet Laureate of Onondaga County, NY, and a 2024 Poet Laureate Fellow of the Academy of American Poets. She is the series editor for the University of Michigan Press Under Discussion book series on contemporary poets. Her most recent book is Living with Haints (Tiger Bark Press, 2024).

Christopher Luna

Christopher Luna served as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Clark County, Washington from 2013-2017. A graduate of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, he founded the anti-fascist, anti-racist, pro-science LGBTQ+ friendly, all ages and uncensored Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic in 2004. His most recent book is Voracity (Lightship Press, 2022).

John Rosenwald & Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor and John Rosenwald bring over seventy years of combined poetry, teaching, and editorial experience from their work with the Beloit Poetry Journal, alongside distinguished careers as educators, writers, and translators. Based in Farmington, Maine, Ann has published poetry and photography internationally, while John, a longtime professor and four-time Fulbright scholar, is the author of multiple books, including a noted translation of Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke. Together, they have also served as Foreign Experts at major universities in China, helping develop programs in Western literature, and were awarded honorary doctorates for their contributions to literature and education. They working intimately with Robert Bly to help launch the Great Mother Conference in 1975, and still help it thrive to this day.