Youth Poet Laureate: Speak Your Silence poetry open mic

Speak Your Silence is a reading on December 16, 2023 at the Turlock Library in remembrance of Sandy Hook (Dec. 14 is the Sandy Hook Day of Remembrance).

Speak Your Silence, a student-led campaign organized by Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate Faith  Delgado, is intended to address and combat all types of violence that occurs in the schools. Youth poets are invited to share their stories and/or experiences in the form of poetry, slam poetry, speeches, spoken word, etc. This can be about sexual or physical violence, any kind of bullying, and/or your experience of how the school handled it. work on the topic of school violence. For middle- and high-schoolers; original work please.

Feel free to contact Faith at faithd@mostpoetry.org for any questions about the event!

MoSt Poetry Book Club

“The late W.S. Merwin might as well have been called Merlin, for the seemingly magical changes of his work during his long career.  The poems in Present Company are like impressionist or even abstract paintings.  If you scan them quickly, they will seem to be out of focus, but if you read more slowly, stopping and lingering, your patience will be rewarded by their beauty.”

Poetry Out Loud – Informational Meetings on Zoom

Bring Poetry Out Loud to your school!
Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry Recitation Contest for high
school students that starts at the school level with students
memorizing and reciting poems. School winners move on to the
county contest run by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center in early
February 2024. The finalist there goes on to the state contest in
Sacramento in March, 2024.
Please attend one of these informational Zoom meetings to find out
more: Wednesday, October 25 at 2:45 and at 3:45. (Same meeting,
two different times for your convenience.)
https://us02web.zoom.us/i/87048923866?
pwd=TGxabEoOUiNDMzdLUTRYViBHYzZIZz09
This link can also be found at www.mostpoetry.org, the website of
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center. Contact us with any questions.

Spoken Word Workshop at the Turlock Library with Faith Delgado

Join Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate Faith Delgado as she leads a workshop for teens on spoken word poetry and performance. In the Community Room at the Turlock Library, 1-3 pm. For more info, please contact Faith at faithd@mostpoetry.org or the Turlock Library: (209) 664-8100.

Second Tuesday featuring Melchor Sahagun & Tina Marie Curiel-Vega

We’re super excited to invite everyone to November’s Second Tuesday reading at the Intermission in downtown Modesto. Not only do we get to experience poetry in an amazing new space in our community, but also we celebrate Sorry I’m Late, the first collection from Stockton poet Melchor Sahagun, erstwhile and beloved Queen Bean Poetry Night host. Joining him as featured poet is author and activist Tina Marie Curiel-Vega, cofounder of the existir collective whose most recent zine Trying to Fix Destiny just came out. Stay for the open mic following the featured readers.
MELCHOR SAHAGUN – Melchor Sahagun is a human being from the human city of Stockton, CA, who has spent most of the last three decades writing, singing, joking, rapping, acting, and otherwise participating in various human endeavors.

He’s spent his human years as a poet, musician, author, comedian, playwright , performer, and skateboarder; mentoring other humans in the written and performing arts, coaching slam teams, hosting events, and advocating for the arts in the greater human community– a group he connects with through several forms of human interaction.
Though he’s been writing poems for nearly thirty years, Sorry I’m Late is his first collection. He apologizes for the wait.
TINA MARIE CURIEL-VEGA – Tina Curiel is a Xicana and Boricua almost-native Central Valley poet and artivist currently living in Modesto, California with her three cats and as many books and records as possible. Her poetry explores her family history, dealings with incarceration and the criminal legal system, activism, addiction, and hope.
Both authors will have copies of their pubs for sale. Hoping you can join us to bless these new books of poetry and share ALL the poetry love.