Second Tuesday Poetry Reading with Nicca Ray and Michelle Cernuto

The Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center features authors Nicca Ray and Michelle Cernuto for the August installment of Second Tuesday Poetry. Join us for a great mix of poetry, ghost fiction, and punk rock memoir on Tuesday, August 10 at 7 pm on Zooom. Hosted by Stella Beratlis with open mic following the featured readers.
NICCA RAY
Nicca Ray’s poetry collection, BACK SEAT BABY, was recently published by Chris D.’s Poison Fang Books. In the forward, Ann Magnusun writes, “Plumbing the depths of uncertainty and loneliness, Ray finds gold in the collective swamplands of our souls.” The poet, Charles Plymell, calls Back Seat Baby the “High Noon of poetry.”
Nicca Ray’s memoir RAY BY RAY: A DAUGHTER’S TAKE ON THE LEGEND OF NICHOLAS RAY (Three Rooms Press, 2020) has been called “harrowing, beautifully written and near-impossible to put down” by Shelf Awareness and “a daring revelation of strength and survival, told unflinchingly, bravely, with empathy, sympathy and ultimately an understanding of a great artist who is almost impossible to fathom,” by Ronee Blakely, actress, singer and Academy Award nominee.
Nicca is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a 2020 Acker Award recipient.
MICHELLE CERNUTO
Michelle Cernuto is the author of the recently published YOU USED TO KNOW ME, a fictional coming-of-age account of growing up in Las Vegas in the 80s.
“A mash note from beyond the grave to a lost Vegas. 1980s punk teen dysfunction… a melancholic travelogue through a spiritual wasteland. The self-effacing murder victim gives us a matter-of-fact, blow-by-blow commentary as she haunts both her friends and her predator in a suburban, desert dystopia…. We see ominous harbingers of Death rushing headlong towards us, much like an out-of-control carnival ride…locked into one final, endlessly accelerating rollercoaster to oblivion. There’s no getting off, and the effect is harrowing and masterful.– Chris D. (author of No Evil Star, Dragon Wheel Splendor and Other Love Stories of Violence and Dread, Mother’s Worry, et.al.; singer/songwriter of the bands The Flesh Eaters and Divine Horsemen)
“A vivid recollection of a crazy time in the crazy place of the American Southwest…a transitional time before entire cities were turned into theme parks. Magically real, her story echoes the truth of the women I grew up with, who fought an oppression they could feel empirically but not always articulate with street smarts and sheer guts. And then there are the ghosts…” – Victor Krummenacher (of bands Camper Van Beethoven, Monks of Doom and The Third Mind)

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Summer Poetry Workshop “Time Travel Through Poetry”

In this workshop we will explore the past and future through poetry.  Our history, science, mythology, and,  most importantly, our imaginations will be our guides. Facilitated by Karen Baker, this free poetry writing workshop will begin at 1:00pm Pacific Time on Saturday, July 31, 2021. “A poem is the most efficient form of time travel”  –Kevin Young, poetry editor of the New Yorker and new director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Topic: Poetry Workshop, Time Travel   Zoom Meeting
Time: Jul 31, 2021 01:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
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Poetry Book Club

Join host Gary Thomas for a discussion of The Wild Fox of Yemen by Threa Almontaser, published by Graywolf Press (2021) and winner of the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets in 2020, selected by Harryette Mullen. 5 copies of the book are available (while they last) to check out at the Modesto Library (1500 I Street.)

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Coffee, Tea, and Poetry

Join host Salvatore Salerno for Coffee, Tea, and Poetry on July 10th at 8:00am Pacific Time. Share some poems from a recent book of poetry you’ve read or are reading. You can even share your screen ahead of time to show us a poem or two as you read.

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Salvatore Salerno, Modesto Poet Laureate

Congratulations to MoSt board member Salvatore Salerno, Modesto’s ninth Poet Laureate!

Screen shot of Poet Laureate Salvatore Salerno reading his poem at Modesto City Council Meeting, 6/22/21
Modesto Poet Laureate Salvatore Salerno reading a poem at City Council Meeting on June 22, 2021
Salvatore reads his poem starting at 7:39.