Words Worth Speaking: Brandon Leake and Angela Drew

The MJC Library & Learning Center and the MJC Black Student Union invite you to a poetry event at the East Campus L & LC.

Featuring performers Brandon Leake and Angela Drew.

Bring a poem to read + submit your work to the WWS zine.

Brandon Leake is an award-winning spoken word poet, artistic educator, and motivational speaker from Stockton, CA. His creative blend of art, charisma, and passion tailored to his own unique personal narrative has taken him across the world as a speaker and performer. Brandon has performed in New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, and 36 states around the country for his Dark Side Tour which promotes his first published poetry chapbook and his album Deficients: A Tale From My Dark Side, a project rooted in transparency and healing. Brandon is also the founder and CEO of Called To Move – CTM, an arts organization whose mission is to aid youth in self-actualization and personal development through poetry. Through Called to Move, Brandon had led youth workshops around the world and in his hometown of Stockton.

Angela Drew is a teacher, mother, poet, and spoken word performer who has loved the rhythm of words for as long as she can remember. Born in Berkeley, CA, she began writing at age eight and has always understood that words have the power to soothe, stir, or solidify connection. Thus, her lifelong love affair with storytelling began. Angela has performed at various venues throughout the Modesto, Sacramento and Bay Areas, including Modesto Junior College, Modesto’s inaugural “Ill List Poetry Slam” at the State Theater, the Gallo Center for the Arts, in a Sankofa Community Theater production of The Journey—The African American Experience, and at various other venues. Her recent poetry is included in COLLISION VI, the February 2020 exhibit at the Mistlin Gallery which features poet-photographer collaborations

Collision VI: Intersection of Photography and Poetry

COLLISION VI: At the Intersection of Poetry and Photography

Join us on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 pm for artists reception and reading at the Mistlin Gallery. Featuring 17 poets, 17 photographers, and 2 painters who merged their talents to create singular work or art consisting of words and images.

Poets:
Gillian Wegener
Sara Coito
Josslyn Turner
Linda Scheller
Angela Drew
Theresa Rojas
Lynn Hansen
Melchor Sahagun
Dan Schmidt
Vielka Solano
Karen Baker
Stella Beratlis
Cristina Sandoval
Sheila Landre
debee lloyd
Lillian Vallee
Sal Salerno

Photographers:

David Schroeder
Rebecca Harvey
Miguel Trejo
Bill Harris
Em McLaren
Shirley Stevens
Carolyn Huff
Noah Wilson
Lorraine Nilson
Krystle Lisek
Dan Souza
Adrian Mendoza
Heath Vanderpol
John Wynn
Alyn Brereton
Peter David Lee

The COLLISION VI exhibit runs from Feb. 4 – 28.

COLLISION VI is a production of FotoModesto, sponsored by FocusOn, a not-for-profit corporation.

Second Tuesday Series featuring Josh McKinney & Lisa Dominguez Abraham

Braid fresh flowers into your hair and perform pagan rituals as we ponder the newly-hatched world of SPRING.

Or you could just come to this poetry reading!

Join Modesto poet laureate Stella Beratlis as she presents featured poets Josh McKinney and Lisa Dominguez Abraham.

Joshua McKinney’s most recent book of poetry is Small Sillion (Parlor Press, 2019). His work has appeared in such journals as Boulevard, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and many others. He is the recipient of The Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize, The Dickinson Prize, The Pavement Saw Chapbook Prize, and a Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Writing. He is coeditor of the online ecopoetry zine, Clade Song. He teaches at California State University, Sacramento.

Lisa Dominguez Abraham’s poems have appeared in journals such as Southern Review, North American Review and Poetry East. Her collection Mata Hari Blows a Kiss won the 2016 Swan Scythe Chapbook Contest, and her book Coyote Logic came out from Blue Oak Press in February 2019. She works at Cosumnes River College.

Bring a poem to share during our open mic following the featured poets’ readings. Since it’s almost spring, let’s explore the themes darkness and light.

Applications open for City of Modesto poet laureate position

The current poet laureate term will expire July 1st.  If you would like to apply to be poet laureate for the City of Modesto or know someone who would be a great choice, please check the information at the City of Modesto Poet Laureate page.

City of Modesto Poets’ Corner Contest for 2020

The Parks, Recreation and Neighborhoods Department and the City of Modesto’s Poets’ Corner Committee are pleased to offer an Annual Poets’ Corner Contest.  The contest is open to all Stanislaus County residents and offers two categories for poetry entries:

  • Any kind of poetry on any subject, rhymed or unrhymed.  Free verse and form welcome.  Group of three haiku accepted as one entry.
  • Special Kindness and Connection” How do we help to heal the divisions between people, ideas and beliefs?  How can we be kind, or make connections with each other, even when being compassionate is inconvenient, uncomfortable or even dangerous?”

For guidelines and entry information, please visit City of Modesto Poets’ Corner.