Talking Earth Anthology:   Poems by Ric Vrana    Ric Vrana appears regularly in numerous venues and open mics in the Portland poetry scene and his work has been published in several local anthologies and zines.  His early days of stand-up poetry were done in Seattle where he found himself at the beginning of the long running Red Sky Poetry Theater in the early 1980s.  He fell in with a bad crowd, and after a long slog through graduate school became a professor of Geography in Portland.  After some disagreeable business with the dean, however, he found himself a job where he works as a planner, and, upon being called back up to be an adjunct in another part of the university, continues to te

Talking Earth Anthology:   Four poems from Sometimes Subversive by Robert A. Davies.  Now in his 80s, Robert Davies maintains the perpetually fresh approach to his work of the true artist.  His five collections of poetry have ranged from poems about his acre of land in the tiny forest town of Timber to poems about caring for AIDS patients, war, and urban inequalities.  In his latest book, Sometimes Subversive,  published in 2009,  he casts a wise eye on the society around him and on the most essential people and events of his own life. 

Talking Earth Anthology:   Marc Beaudin.  Marc Beaudin is the poetry editor of the online journal CounterPunch and the co-owner of Elk River Books in Livingston, Montana.  His latest book is The Moon Cracks Open: A Field Guide to the Birds and Other Poems.  He also edited an anti-war anthology, Jihad bil Qalam: To Strive by Means of the Pen, for the mid-Michigan activist group, Tri-City Action for Peace. Marc believes that anarchy is the only true democracy, all patriotism is fascism, and that Brahms’ “Violin Concerto in D Major” is more powerful than all the guns, bombs and oil pipelines in the world.

 Talking Earth Anthology:   Dave Jarecki

Dave Jarecki owns Breakerboy Communications, a writing firm that helps businesses, individuals and non-profit organizations communicate through story. He facilitates writing workshops throughout the Greater Portland area. His fiction, non-fiction and poetry have appeared in a number of journals and publications. He and his wife Courtney live in NE Portland with their baby daughter, Lazadae,  and Dave has been writing a lot about parenthood.

Talking Earth Anthology:  Judith Arcana

Judith Arcana is a writer, teacher and activist who has taught literature, writing and interdisciplinary topics in women’s studies in high schools, colleges, libraries, living rooms, a state prison and a county jail. She holds a PhD in Literature, an MA in Women's Studies, an Urban Preceptorship in Preventive Medicine and a BA in English. A native of the Great Lakes region, she lives now in the Pacific Northwest.

Talking Earth Anthology:   Poems by M.F. McAuliffe

M.F. McAuliffe  is a writer, editor, and photographer who made

her US publishing debut in Damon Knight's Clarion Awards. 

Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Overland, The Adelaide Review,

Talking Earth Anthology:  Harold Johnson

Harold Johnson was born  in Yakima and is a lifelong resident

of the Pacific Northwest.   He graduated with degrees in English

and art from the University of Portland and PSU,  and taught English