About The West Coast Poetry TourThe first performance of the West Coast Poetry Tour was in the summer of 2014 at a Luv Hub event in Los Angeles. The tour has returned to LA and added dates and impromptu performances in San Diego, Ashland, Eugene, Portland, Olympia and Seattle as well as in Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Performing for audiences large and small, in private homes, in store appearances, community studios and public universities. |
About Karen Hery |
Karen Hery studied poetry and communications at UC San Diego in the late 80’s, worked at several radio stations and settled into Silicon Valley in the 90’s. As a volunteer with at risk youth, she was invited into Maiko Drum and Poetry group where from 2002-2006 she created performance poetry pieces for school groups, community celebrations, and fund raisers in the Bay Area and Salinas Valley. Karen has lived in Portland Oregon since 2006. She currently helps steward two communal households, one in Portland and one in Vancouver housing artists, healers and craftspeople from all walks of life. She travels throughout the West Coast annually offering poetry performances from San Diego to Seattle and beyond. Karen is the founder of the Swap and Play movement centered in Portland and featured in Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)’s Clever Voices, Clever Choices program. She founded the Know Your Neighbors Foundation that raised money for inner SE Portland youth programs while supporting valuable local businesses. She and her partner, Walker O'Rourke have helped steward the leadership team of the adult social and educational group, Sex Positive Portland, and its founding non-profit organization, Sex Positive World |
About Performance Poetry |
Like a lap dance for the soul, performance poetry is an intimate, inspiring experience that tickles and tantalizes as it inspires and enlivens. The poetry tour brings performance poetry into the spotlight and carries a bit of magic into unexpected places. Just as someone can read a script or perform a play and the later is much more full bodied, a poem can be read from the page or performed more magically with movement and expression as spoken word.
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