Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center

Second Tuesday Poetry with Soul Vang and Gary Thomas
2025-04-08 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Gary Thomas & Soul Vang
Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Where: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center
Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener
SOUL VANG
Soul Vang is the author of three collections of poetry: Of Tigers and Wars (Sahtu Press, 2024); Song of the Cluster Bomblet (HER Publisher, 2024); and To Live Here (Imaginary Friend Press, 2014).
Poet, educator, and U.S. Army veteran, Vang received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from California State University, Fresno, and is an editorial member of the Hmong American Writers’ Circle (HAWC).
Vang’s writing has appeared in Academy of American Poets (poets.org), Water~Stone Review, Abernathy Magazine, Asian American Literary Review, Fiction Attic Press, In the Grove, The Packinghouse Review, Southeast Asia Globe, and The New York Times, among others.
His awards and honors include the 2014 Imaginary Friend Press Poetry Prize and the 2015 Horizon Artist Award from the Fresno Arts Council.
About TO LIVE HERE
To Live Here is a triumph: a pure and graceful portrait of the poet from Sky Mountain and the Dragon River, as a young man in the United States Army, and as a parent and poet in Fresno. Part emotional cartography and pure mastery of the craft, this vital glimpse into the Hmong American experience is a heart, a history, and a gift of hard-earned wisdom. Each poem is an artifact, a piece of art, and an important addition to American literature. This is poetry built to last. You will not forget it. –Lee Herrick, Fresno Poet Laureate
GARY THOMAS
Gary Thomas grew up on a peach farm outside Empire, California. Prior to retirement, he taught eighth grade language arts for thirty-one years and junior college English for seven. His poems have been published in The Comstock Review, MockingHeart Review, Atticus Review, River Heron Review, Barzakh, Blue Heron Review, Split Rock Review, Book of Matches, and Hole in the Head Review, among others, in the anthology More Than Soil, More Than Sky: The Modesto Poets, and in Tule Review 2024. He is a founding member of the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center (MoSt) and of the Stanislaus County writing group known as The Licensed Fools. A full-length collection, All the Connecting Lights, was released in August 2022 from Finishing Line Press. His latest poetry collection, O Yes We Breathe, was published in November 2024 by Manzanita Writers Press.
ABOUT O YES WE BREATHE:
In his new collection, O Yes We Breathe, Gary Thomas seamlessly weaves days-gone-by boyhood pastoral with the post-pandemic political and spiritual present. Moving between poems, I was transfixed by the gentle music within these pages. “I am beholden to beauty that breathes any way it can-” As inhale, Thomas’ keen eye for detail sharpens the blade of these poems on the sandstone grit of his father’s lessons on life. As exhale, Thomas delivers poignant and tender incantations summoning the deeper, higher self. “If all we ever have is what we trade invisibly in our hulls of flesh and fluidity, we can learn to care for what we have. We can partake our full portion as family. We can breathe easy.” Each poem is a circle within itself “still working with some astonishment,” rippling outward, a whole world. This collection: “Let it light the corners.”
-Kai Coggin, Poet Laureate of Hot Springs, Arkansas, author of Mother of Other Kingdoms and Mining for Stardust

Stanislaus Cty Youth Poet Laureate Reading & Open Mic with Zoe Byron
2025-04-19 12:00 - 13:30 | Nick W. Blom Salida Regional Library Branch, 4835 Sisk Road, Salida, 95368, United States
Join Zoe Byron, 2024-2025 Youth Poet Laureate of Stanislaus County, as she reads poems in celebration of National Poetry Month. Be sure to bring a poem or two to share at the Open Mic, following Zoe’s reading. They don’t have to be poems you’ve written! Just come have some fun with us.
At the Salida Library, April 19 at noon.

Nature Poetry Reading and Walk: Dos Rios State Park
2025-05-03 09:00 - 11:00 | Dos Rios State Park, 3559 Shiloh Rd, Modesto, CA, 95358, United States
NATURE POETRY READING AND WALK
DOS RIOS STATE PARK

Saturday, May 3, 2025 – 9:00-11:00 a.m.
Hosted by Sal Salerno, member of Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and state park volunteer.
Share your own nature poetry or poems on nature from other authors. The reading (9:00 a.m.)will be at the tables by the parking lot, followed by an optional hike (10:00) around the oxbow pond.

Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Tama Brisbane & Rosa Lane
2025-05-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Rosa Lane (Maine, East Bay) & Tama Brisbane (Stockton)
Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Where: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center
Limited open mic; sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener & Stella Beratlis

Rosa Lane
Rosa Lane, poet and architect, was found to be the youngest girl to have built a house. She was 11 years old when she built her 1st home, which is featured in a book entitled Making Ourselves at Home: Women Builders and Designers (Papier Mache Press, 1995). But Lane’s primary love is poetry. She is the author of four poetry collections: Called Back (Tupelo Press, 2024); Chouteau’s Chalk (University of Georgia Press, 2019); Tiller North (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2016); and Roots and Reckonings, a chapbook published by Granite Press East under a grant from the Maine Arts Commission.
Most recently, her work was selected as the Best of Poetry for the 2024 Geminga Prize, winner of the 2023 Morton Marcus Memorial Poetry Award, runner-up for the 2023 River Heron Poetry Prize, and named finalist for the 2023 Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition (Cork, Ireland) and the 2023 Australian Book Review‘s Peter Porter Prize (Melbourne) among other awards.
Lane’s latest poems have appeared in Catamaran, Crosswinds, Five Points, Nimrod, RHINO, River Heron Review, Southword, Third Coast, and elsewhere. She splits her time between the North Bay and coastal Maine, her native home where she lives with her wife. Website: www.rosalane.com

About CALLED BACK
“Rosa Lane’s Called Back breaks through the membrane that separates us from Dickinson’s time. Here, we enter Dickinson’s world brand new with the vigor of research re-imagined, obsession expressed with prolific inventiveness and mounting urgency, and language that astonishes in its apt, abundant, and irresistible embrace of sound. This is a book fearless in its approach and lavish in its accomplishment.”
– Rebecca Kaiser Gibson, author of The Promise of a Normal Life: A Novel

Tama Brisbane
TAMA L. BRISBANE is the City of Stockton’s Poet Laureate Emerita. She served four historic terms
from 2015-2023, presenting well over 300 times, including the inauguration of the city’s first Black
Mayor, Michael Tubbs. Her debut Laureate project helped engineer Stockton’s return to All-American
City status with an innovative spoken word presentation incorporating dozens of multigenerational,
multiethnic voices. Her performance as Guest Poet at The King Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church in
Atlanta led Martin Luther King III to say to her, “your words matter.” She remains in constant demand as
a keynote speaker and spoken word artist.
Tama is also President of With Our Words LLC, and a Program Director with Concrete Development Inc.
In her capacity as a literary and performing arts consultant, she develops curricula, programs, and events
across the United States and around the world. The impact of her words and her works have positively
shifted creative and cultural landscapes in Stockton and beyond.
“Mama T” is a published author, a Susan B. Anthony Award Winner for Creative Arts, a Black Women
Organized for Political Action Honoree, a University of the Pacific Woman of Distinction, an Action on
Behalf of Children Honoree, and a founding member of the National Black Poet Laureates Group. Her
tireless efforts on behalf of youth – particularly youth of color and from marginalized communities – have
been celebrated and recognized by both houses of the California Legislature, by the United States House
of Representatives, and the United States Senate.
Tama is grateful to her Creator for her earthly assignment. She takes inspiration and guidance from her
two favorite quotes. The first is from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “The salvation of humanity lies in the
hands of the creatively maladjusted.” The second is attributed to an Eastern proverb: “If you sit on the
bank of the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by.”

Youth Poet Laureate Send-Off Reading & Open Mic: Zoe Byron
2025-05-17 13:00 - 15:00 | Oakdale Library, 151 South First Avenue, Oakdale, CA, 95361, United States
Please join us as we bid a fond farewell to 2024-2025 Youth Poet Laureate Zoe Byron, whose tenure as youth laureate is complete at the end of May. She’s the second ever Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate and has done a beautiful job representing the voice of youth through her poems.
This final reading will take place at the Oakdale Public Library, 151 S. First Avenue, Oakdale CA 95361. Please bring a poem to share at open mic! Reading starts at 1:00 p.m. in the Community Room just inside the front entrance.

Welcome 2025-2026 Youth Poet Laureate: Reading & Reception
2025-05-31 13:00 - 14:00 | Modesto Junior College West Campus, 2201 Blue Gum Avenue, Modesto, CA, 95358, United States
We’ll be celebrating our incoming youth poet laureate, Valentina Zeff, at a reading/reception at Modesto Junior College’s Science Community Center. Come listen to a few poems, meet youth poets, and learn about the youth poet laureate program.
Valentina Zeff is a sixteen-year-old poet from Modesto, California who is currently enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program at Modesto High School. Zeff has been writing free verse and ballad poetry since her freshman year of high school.
Zeff is active within her community and school through social and environmental activism, extracurricular projects, and volunteering. She was selected to be a member of the Park’s Youth Committee (April 2024-current), Modesto Youth Commission (October 2024-current), and student representative for Modesto High School’s Student Senate for both ninth and tenth grade. During the 2023-2024 Speech and Debate season, she was a top finalist for Original Spoken Word Poetry at State Qualifications. She is also the founder and Co-President of Modesto High School’s Book Club where she leads discussions on novels and poems of interest. Additionally, she is the Secretary and head layout editor/designer of the Panther Press, Modesto High School’s monthly newspaper.
Please welcome our incoming Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate, Valentina Zeff!
The Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate program is administered by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center (MoSt Poetry) with partners MJC Library & Learning Center & MJC School of Language Arts & Education, Stanislaus County Office of Education, Stanislaus County Library, and Stanislaus Library Foundation.

City of Modesto Poets' Corner Reading & Reception
2025-06-01 13:00 - 15:00 | McHenry Museum, 1402 14th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
The Parks, Recreation and Neighborhoods Department and the City of Modesto’s Poets’ Corner Committee are pleased to offer an Annual Poets’ Corner Contest.
Contest Winners
Poets will be invited to read their winning poems on Sunday, June 1, 2025 at 1:00 P.M. at the McHenry Museum, followed by light refreshments.
Winning poems will be printed in a booklet that will be placed in the Poets’ Bookshelf, which contains published works by local writers and will be kept at the McHenry Museum. Each winner will receive a copy of the booklet.
Winners will be notified by email (or mail, when email is unavailable.)
For more info go to https://www.modestogov.com/558/Poets-Corner-Contest

Second Tuesday Poetry with Aideed Medina and Russell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga
2025-06-10 19:00 - 20:30 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Fresno’s newest Poet Laureate and spoken word artist Aideed Medina with Tracy poet, teacher, and spoken word artist Russell Reza-Khaliz Gonzaga

Date: Tuesday, June 10, 2025Time: 7:00 pm PSTWhere: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center

Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener

Russell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga
Russell Reza-Khaliq Gonzaga has hosted and organized events and workshops including the Sierra Poetry Festival, the Center Camp Spoken Word Stage at Burning Man, and the weekly ELYSEUM Writers Workshops at Harbin Hot Springs. Russell is Poet Laureate Emeritus of Lake County (2012-2014) and has represented San Francisco for three years at the National Poetry Slam. As an Arts Educator, he has worked with several organizations including YouthSpeaks and WritersCorps. He is also the recipient of the Certificate of Honor from the Board of Supervisors and a Mayor’s declaration of “Russell Gonzaga Day” in San Francisco. Currently, Russell is Poetry Editor for The Fabulist, hosts the monthly Word Bubbles Open Mic in Tracy CA, and is caretaker for his beloved Auntie Rosie.

Aideed Medina

Aideed Medina is Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, award-winning spoken word artist and playwright, and is the author of 31 Hummingbird: A Suite of Poems (Editorial Xingao, 2023) and Segmented Bodies (Prickly Pear Press, 2024). Her poetry and prose have been featured in many publications, including Fresno State’s Club Austral Literary Magazine, Chicano Writers and Artists Association Journal, La Bloga, Poets Responding, Split This Rock, and Nueva York Poetry Review, among many others, as well as in compositions for the 559 Mural Project and Fresno Grand Opera’s Opera Remix. Aideed is also a California Naturalist, and practices “flor y canto” as part of her poetic process and exploration of California’s natural history. This past April, Aideed was appointed Fresno’s seventh poet laureate. She will serve through March 2027.

MoSt Poetry Summer Workshop "Writing Prose Poems: Breaking Free of the Line Break"
2025-06-21 13:00 - 15:00 | Salida Public Library, 4835 Sisk Road, Salida, CA, 95368, United States
SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2025
1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
SALIDA PUBLIC LIBRARY
4835 SISK ROAD, SALIDA, CA 95368
As the downtown Modesto library undergoes extensive renovations, the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center (MoSt) will be kicking off its annual summer workshop series this year at a new location, the Salida Public Library.
Participants will be given the opportunity to read several outstanding examples of the form by noted practitioners and discuss them and how those pieces differ from other types of poetry. As usual, though, the bulk of the time will be dedicated to having attendees begin crafting their own prose poems that afternoon. As always, we would love to hear what’s been written during the session, but only if you feel comfortable doing so.
We look forward to seeing you that day!!

Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Sherre Vernon and Paula Sheil
2025-07-08 19:00 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Sherre Vernon (Merced) and Paula Sheil (Stockton)
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Where: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center
Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener
Paula Sheil
Paula Sheil is a Professor of English at San Joaquin Delta College. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Raymond College and a Master of Arts in Writing from New College of California. She founded, with friends, Tuleburg Press in 2012 and The Write Place in 2017.
She taught elementary education, moved on to arts administration, and then journalism before joining the faculty at Delta. In the 1990s, she ran an open mic that prompted her interest in publishing. She and the late Julia Holzer published ¡ZamBomba!, a poetry quarterly that was read from Seattle to San Diego, until 2000. At Delta, Sheil started the Writer’s Guild and Artifact, the college literary magazine.
Her work has been published in too many small journals, magazines, and newspapers to mention. She’s prouder yet of the poets and writers she has published and remains committed to empowering and amplifying the voices of Stockton and San Joaquin.
Sherre Vernon
Sherre Vernon (she/her/hers) is the award-winning author of Green Ink Wings, The Name is Perilous, and Flame Nebula, Bright Nova. Sherre has been published in journals such as Tahoma Literary Review and The Chestnut Review, nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes, and anthologized in several collections including Fat & Queer and Best Small Fictions.
We welcome these poets, both new to the Second Tuesday series!

Free Poetry Workshop: Paint Chip Poetry at the Library
2025-07-19 13:00 - 14:30 | Salida Public Library, 4835 Sisk Road, Salida, CA, 95368, United States
Join Stella Beratlis at the Salida Library on July 19, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. in a cool, fun, and relaxed environment to try out a variety of poetry prompts inspired by the descriptive language of paint chips. All ages invited.
Feel free to bring your own extra paint chips to add to the prompt possibilities.

Second Tuesday Poetry: Modesto Poet Laureate Angela Drew + Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate Valentina Zeff
2025-08-12 19:00 - 20:30 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Modesto Poet Laureate Angela Drew with special guest Valentina Zeff, Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate
Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Where: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center
Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener
ANGELA DREW
Angela Drew is a mother, dancer, author, poet, and self-proclaimed linguistic artist who has loved the rhythm of words for as long as she can remember. Born in Berkeley, California, she began writing at age eight, and has always understood that words have the power to soothe, stir, or solidify connection. She has played with the magic of storytelling ever since. Angela is the winner and first-place slam champion of Modesto’s 2021 ILL List 16 Poetry Slam. She has performed her spoken word poetry at an array of venues, just to name a few: Yoshi’s Jazz Club, Oakland, California; Gallo Center for the Arts and the State Theater, Modesto, California; Brickhouse Art Gallery, Sacramento, California, and Apache Cafe, Atlanta, Georgia–a landmark poetry lounge that is home to some of Atlanta’s finest creatives.
She is the author of ElderBerry Wine, a children’s book written in poetic verse that celebrates the beauty and majesty of our elders, and the richness they bring by simply being a part of our lives. Join Angela on her poetic journey on all social media platforms. Her book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers.

VALENTINA ZEFF
Valentina Zeff is a sixteen-year-old poet from Modesto, California who is currently enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program at Modesto High School. Zeff has been writing free verse and ballad poetry since her freshman year of high school.
Zeff is active within her community and school through social and environmental activism, extracurricular projects, and volunteering. She was selected to be a member of the Park’s Youth Committee (April 2024-current), Modesto Youth Commission (October 2024-current), and student representative for Modesto High School’s Student Senate for both ninth and tenth grade. During the 2023-2024 Speech and Debate season, she was a top finalist for Original Spoken Word Poetry at State Qualifications. She is also the founder and Co-President of Modesto High School’s Book Club where she leads discussions on novels and poems of interest. Additionally, she is the Secretary and head layout editor/designer of the Panther Press, Modesto High School’s monthly newspaper.

MoSt Summer Poetry Workshop - The Journey Itself is Home: Haibun as Travel Journal
2025-08-16 13:00 - 15:00 | Salida Public Library, 4835 Sisk Road, Salida, CA, 95368, United States
Haibun——the blending or braiding of prose poetry and haiku——has been a vehicle to reflect upon and write about human journeys——external and internal——since the days of the 17th Century Japanese poet Bashō. Join MoSt board member Gary Thomas as we consider and make some sense of the journeys we take in life. Writing supplies will be provided, but feel free to bring your favorite pen, pad, tablet, and/or travel photos!
As always, this MoSt Summer Poetry Workshop is free and open to the public. We hope to see you from 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 16th at the Salida Public Library, 4835 Sisk Road, Salida CA.

MoSt Poetry on Saturday featuring Joshua McKinney & Cecil Morris
2025-08-30 14:00 - 15:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
Please join host Gary Thomas at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, August 30, 2025 at Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock, CA for a poetry reading featuring Joshua McKinney and Cecil Morris. There will be light refreshments and an open mic following the featured poets. This event is free and open to the public.

Joshua McKinney’s fifth book of poetry, Sad Animal (2024), was the recipient of the John Ridland Poetry Prize from Gunpowder Press. His work has appeared in such journals as Boulevard, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and many others. He is co-editor of the online ecopoetics journal, Clade Song.

Cecil Morris taught high school English for 37 years in Roseville, the small northern California city where he grew up. At Work in the Garden of Possibilities is his debut poetry collection. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, Morris has poems in The 2River Review, Ekphrastic Review, Hole in the Head Review, Lascaux Review, Rust + Moth, Sugar House Review, and elsewhere. He and his wife, the mother of their children, divide their year between their California hometown and the cool Oregon coast, where they walk the beach and marvel at the sea and tide pools and joyful romping dogs.

Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Samantha Tetangco Ocena and Moira Magneson
2025-09-09 19:00 - 20:30 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Samantha Tetangco Ocena and Moira Magneson, El Dorado County’s newest poet laureate
Date: Tuesday, Sep 9, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Where: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Orangeburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center
Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener
Samantha Tetangco Ocena
Samantha Tetangco Ocena is a Filipino-American writer and teacher. Her poetry collection, Hope You Blend In: Studies In Color & Light (Broadstone Books, 2024), was a finalist for the 2023 National Poetry Series. A multi-genre writer, her poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, most notably, The Sun, Tri-Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Zone 3, Gertrude, Foglifter, and Cimarron Review, among others. Sam has served as editor-in-chief for Blue Mesa Review, president of the AWP LGBTQ Writer’s Caucus, and was co-director of Plume: A Writer’s Companion, where she co-hosted Plume: A Writer’s Podcast. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico and is an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of California Merced.
ABOUT HOPE YOU BLEND IN: STUDIES IN COLOR & LIGHT
In this fierce debut, poet Samantha Tetangco wields “words like flint” to reveal the world we live in, from the apocalyptic world of California wildfires where “our backyards became / this hell / we have created” to the real world in which the queer brown body becomes “an open wound.” But these poems also remind us of the ordinary magic left to us: breathing in a lover’s scent, planting tulips, and even the beauty of weeds blossoming “so small & sweet / they always go unnamed.” Meticulously crafted and political in the best ways, this book brims with sharp beauty and reminds us what it is to be human.
–Lisa D. Chavez, author of In an Angry Season
​Samantha Tetangco’s gaze is so sharp in this collection of poems, that a single shift in tense can pierce a hole in the wall of contemporary rhetoric. We who “taught the matches / how to strike” are given an aperture to view our own participation in history. Beyond holding witness, these poems provoke action. Are we—sharing a home, a country, a planet (on fire!)—actually in this together or are we just pretending? You will be known by what you choose: will you be a bearer or a borer of fruit?
–Benjamin Garcia, author of Thrown in the Throat

Moira Magneson

Over the years, Moira Magneson has worked as a river guide, artist’s model, truck driver, television writer, editor, and community college writing instructor. A Northern California native, she lives in the Sierra foothills where she has spearheaded many art actions and initiatives, including El Dorado County’s Poetry Out Loud Competition, Veterans’ Voices, Barbaric Yawp, and Black Lives: An American Overture. In 2024, she was the resident poet for ForestSong, a community arts project exploring solastalgia, biophilia, and resilience in the face of wildfire devastation. And just recently, she was named El Dorado County’s Poet Laureate 25-27. Magneson is the author of A River Called Home: A River Fable, an illustrated novella (Toad Road Press, 2024). In the Eye of the Elephant is her first full-length collection of poems.

ABOUT IN THE EYE OF THE ELEPHANT
Moira Magneson’s In the Eye of the Elephant is an extraordinary collection of poems. I’ve rarely seen a book so exquisite in its centering of the natural world or in its honoring of the animal within us as well as those animals alongside us. Yet these poems are also dazzling and explosive in their reckonings with personal family wreckage, and so deeply moving, so deeply consoling in both their private and public grieving. Magneson writes, “I praise Earth as it is, its holy cup my heaven.” What a timely balm this book will be to its readers, and what a treasure of visionary human compassion they will find.
—David St. John, author of Prayer for My Daughter
I am drawn to Moira Magneson’s poems for the grime and gristle of their language—“elisions and plosives swept / piecemeal and stained // off the slaughterhouse floor”—for storytelling that stares pain in the face and delivers a hard-earned, unexpected beauty that is possible because of a clear-eyed placement in the natural world. This world is not romanticized but instead made wondrous through images that invite readers to consider their own station in the wild. In the Eye of the Elephant is rewarding on numerous levels; I’ll come back to it again and again.
—Albert Garcia, author of A Meal Like That

MoSt Summer Poetry Workshop "Poetry in Full Colors - Poesía a Todo Color"
2025-09-13 13:00 - 15:00 | Salida Public Library, 4835 Sisk Road, Salida, CA, 95368, United States
MoSt Summer Poetry Workshop at the Salida Library September 13, 2025 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Poetry in Full Colors -a workshop -Creating your Pallet of Expression in Colors
Come write with Janette Jameson and Vielka Solano, board members of MoSt Poetry.
We will use words such as blue, green and brown to accentuate the emotions, tone and messages in our poems or prose. Colors such as red, orange and yellow will also be invited to declare themselves in joy and sadness.
Bring a favorite pen and your pad or notebook and meet with others who write with a variety of experience.
Supplies for writing will also be provided.

MoSt Taller de Poesía de Verano en la Biblioteca de Salida Septiembre 13, 2025 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Poesía a Todo Color – un taller – Creando tu Paleta de Expresión en Colores
Ven a escribir con Janette Jameson y Vielka Solano, miembros de la junta de MoSt Poetry.
Usaremos palabras como azul, verde y marrón para acentuar las emociones, tono y mensajes en nuestros poemas y prosa. Colores como rojo, naranja y amarillo también serán invitados a declararse en alegría y tristeza.
Trae tu pluma favorita y tu libreta y conoce a otros escritores con varios niveles de experiencia.
Útiles para escribir también estarán disponible.

Autumn Nature Poetry Reading & Walk at Dos Rios State Park
2025-10-11 09:00 - 11:00 | Dos Rios State Park, 3559 Shiloh Rd, Modesto, CA, 95358, United States
AUTUMN NATURE POETRY READING AND WALK
Saturday, October 11, 2025 – 9:00-11:00 a.m.
DOS RIOS STATE PARK
3559 Shiloh Road
Modesto, CA
Join us at the base camp of the oxbow pond for our third nature poetry reading and walk. Park visitors are invited to bring a few of their favorite poems on nature, written by themselves or by other writers, that they can share. Hosted by Sal Salerno, local poet and park volunteer. The reading will be followed by a 10:00 a.m. optional walk on the Pond Loop Trail, led by State Park staff.

Second Tuesday Poetry presents FIVE FOR TEN: Five Central Valley Poets
2025-10-14 19:00 - 20:30 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry: Five for Ten, featuring five Central Valley poets:

Casey Giffen
Daley Perry
Cynthia Barstad
Paloma Contreras
Melchor Sahagun III

Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Where: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center
Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener
CASEY GIFFEN:
A retired teacher of 40 years, Casey enjoys creating on-demand poems on his manual, Smith-Corona typewriter. His poetry has been published in Modesto Poets’ Corner Contests, Penumbra, and the Hughson Chronicle. Acts of Becoming is his second poetry collection.
PALOMA CONTRERAS:
Paloma Contreras is a Mexican, bilingual poet and educator. Most of her writing is autobiographical and deals with themes of loss.
MELCHOR SAHAGUN III:
Melchor Sahagun III is a poet and corny romantic who lives in Stockton. His collection, Sorry I’m Late, was published by Tuleberg Press.
DALEY PERRY:
Daley Perry is a Central Valley native who lived in Tennessee for 15 years before (very happily) returning home in 2019. She loves writing angsty poetry that explores themes of spirituality, smashing the patriarchy, pop culture, and loving our bodies.
CYNTHIA BARSTAD: Cynthia Barstad, an early childhood educator for 30 years before she retired, has shared her words with her family, friends, and strangers for years. She has been published in Stanislaus Connections along with her granddaughter Jenissa, who shares Cynthia’s passion for words.

Author Bio Workshop & Youth Poet Laureate Q & A
2025-10-25 13:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
Mini Author Biography Workshop & Youth Poet Laureate Q & A
Valentina Zeff, current Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate, answers your questions!
Join us on Saturday, October 25, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. as Youth Poet Laureate Valentina Zeff shares tips on how to write an author bio. This is great to have when you’re submitting poems to anthologies and poetry journals, entering poetry contests, and when you’ve been asked to feature at a poetry reading.
Feel free to drop in and meet Valentina and learn about the Woven Words: Teen Voices from the Central Valley Anthology and how you can submit poems for that.
Zoom Meeting Link

Second Tuesday Reading featuring Marisol Baca & Gillian Wegener at Bookish
2025-11-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Please join us at Bookish Modesto as we feature two tremendous Central Valley poets: Gillian Wegener and Marisol Baca.
Marisol Baca teaches English, Literature, and Creative Writing at Fresno City College. She teaches Honors in the Leon S. Peters Honors Program, and she also teaches as a part of the RAIN program (Resources for American Indian Needs). Baca is the author of a book of poems called Tremor, and she was named Fresno’s first woman and first Chicana/Latinx Poet Laureate (2019-2021). Marisol’s poem about the naming of Fresno has been designated the city’s official poem.
Gillian Wegener is the author of one chapbook and two full-length collections of poetry: Lifting One Foot, Lifting the Other (In the Grove Press, 2001), The Opposite of Clairvoyance (2008), and This Sweet Haphazard (2017), both from Sixteen Rivers Press. She is also the founding president of Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center, a previous Poet Laureate for the City of Modesto (2012-2016), and a two-time recipient of the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize. She is a long-time educator in Oakdale and has lived in Modesto longer than she’s lived anywhere else.
The reading starts at 7:00 at Bookish Modesto. With open mic following featured poets.

MoSt Poetry on Saturday featuring Lucille Lang Day and Carl Landauer
2025-11-22 14:00 - 15:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
Please join host Gary Thomas at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2025 at Carnegie Arts Center (250 North Broadway Ave., Turlock, California) for a poetry reading featuring Lucille Lang Day and Carl Landauer. There will be light refreshments and an open mic time following the featured poets. This event is free and open to the public.

Lucille Lang Day is the author of four poetry chapbooks and seven full-length collections, most recently Birds of San Pancho and Other Poems of Place. She has also edited three poetry anthologies and published two children’s books and a memoir. Her work appears in more than 200 magazines and anthologies, such as The Cincinnati Review, The Hudson Review, River Styx, The Threepenny Review, Scientific American, ZYZZYVA, and Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology. Her many honors include the Blue Light Poetry Prize, two PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Awards, the Joseph Henry Jackson Award, and eleven Pushcart Prize nominations. She is founder and publisher of a small press, Scarlet Tanager Books. https://lucillelangday.com

Carl Landauer taught history at Yale, Stanford, and McGill and is currently a contributing editor for Poetry Flash and a visiting scholar with UC Berkeley’s Institute for South Asia Studies. His poetry has appeared in Kenyon Review, Exacting Clam, and Poetry Flash. His writing on poetry and cultural history has appeared in Beat Scene, The American Scholar, Salmagundi, Confrontation, Renaissance Quarterly, German Studies Review, and Poetry Flash—as well as a critical analysis of Project 2025 published by Public Seminar. He is currently writing a long series of poems he calls “refracted ekphrases,” each of which focuses on a movie that is adapted from literature.

Second Tuesday - MoSt Member Potluck/Open Mic
2025-12-09 18:00 - 20:00 | The Dragonfly Art for Life, 1210 J Street, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Join us for our December reading at The Dragonfly- Art for Life for a joyful open mic and potluck for members of Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center.
We’d love to have you there! It’s not too late to join MoSt–you can join at the door, even.

Mini Workshop for Teen Poets: How to Write a Tiny Poem
2025-12-13 13:00 - 13:30
Woven Words Tiny Poem Contest: Teen Voices from the Central Valley, presented by MoSt Poetry’s Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate program, is now open for submissions from Stanislaus County high school students grades 9-12.
Poets are invited to submit 1-3 very short poems (3-5 lines). The contest is free and open to anyone living in or attending high schools in Stanislaus County.
The author of the winning poem in each of the five categories wins $50. Poets are also invited to submit poems to the anthology without connecting them to the contest themes. The contest deadline is January 31, 2026. Stanislaus County YPL Valentina Zeff will weave the short submissions together to create one book-length poem, to be published as an anthology and distributed to participants.
Zeff will be conducting a mini-workshop on writing a tiny poem and will discuss the contest on Saturday, December 13, 202, at 1:00 pm on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81498958531
The Stanislaus Youth Poet Laureate program is presented by MoSt Poetry in partnership with SCOE, Stanislaus County Library, MJC’s School of Language Arts & Education and the Library & Learning Center, and the Stanislaus Library Foundation.

Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Tara Rico & Juan Luzuriaga
2026-01-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Inaugural Poet Laureate of Manteca Tara Rico and San Luis Obispo poet Juan Luzuriaga
Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Where: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center
The reading is free; drinks, snacks, and books are available for purchase at Bookish. Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener
Tara Rico
Tara Rico (she/her/ella) is a local writer, advocate, performer, and educator. She is the City of Manteca’s first Poet Laureate; her work can be found in collections such as the Tuleberg Press anthology The Fire Within: Labor, Art, and the Human Spirit.
Tara is also the founder of MAS Improv 209 and POETICAS Institute, a new nonprofit committed to bringing written, performing, and other creative art to the Central Valley and under-resourced communities.
Tara is an actor and comedian who has performed recently at the Pam Kitto Black Box Theater of Stockton, Modesto’s Prospect Theater, and at the Central Valley Gender Health and Wellness Center’s “Kings, Queens, and Comedians” drag show of 2024.

Juan Luzuriaga
Juan Luzuriaga was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and immigrated to the U.S. at 16 in 2000. He studied Neuroscience at Rutgers University and English at UC Merced. He teaches poetry in prisons, at Cuesta College, and California Poets in the Schools. He has been a featured panelist at UC Merced, Cuesta College Central Coast Writers’ Conference, Litfest and more, and he is a featured panelist at the 2026 San Francisco Writers Conference Poetry Summit.
He has been published in Acentos Review, San Diego Poetry Annual, Monterey Poetry Review, Cholla Needles, Poetry Breakfast, Matchbox Magazine, and in the anthologies Silence Is Consent, To Be Completely Honest, and Method Writers Speak. His collection, Chimborazo Whispers, is forthcoming from Blue Light Press.

Mini-Workshop for Teens: Write a Tiny Poem - Contest Deadline Jan. 31
2026-01-17 13:00 - 14:00
Mini Workshop & Youth Poet Laureate Q & A
Valentina Zeff, current Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate, answers your questions!
Teens are invited to join Valentina on Zoom on one (or both!) of these two dates: Saturday, January 17 and Saturday, January 24, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. Valentina shares great tips on how to write a tiny poem for the Woven Words Teen Contest.
Then you can easily submit your poems to our contest! Deadline for that is January 31, 2026.
Feel free to drop in and meet Valentina and learn about the Woven Words: Teen Voices from the Central Valley Anthology.

January 17 Zoom Meeting
January 24 Zoom Meeting

Write a Tiny Poem Workshop Postponed until February--date TBA
2026-01-31 13:00 - 14:00
Mini Workshop & Youth Poet Laureate Q & A

Zoom workshop has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstance. Please return to this page to see future workshops during the month of February!
WOVEN WORDS Youth Poetry Contest deadline extended: February 28, 2026.

Valentina Zeff, current Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate, answers your questions!

Join us on Saturday, January 24, 2026 January 31, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. as Youth Poet Laureate Valentina Zeff shares tips on how to write a tiny poem for the Woven Words Teen Contest.

Then you can easily submit your poems to our contest!

Feel free to drop in and meet Valentina and learn about the Woven Words: Teen Voices from the Central Valley Anthology and how you can submit poems for the contest.

Poetry Out Loud Competition Feb. 3
2026-02-03 18:30 - 20:30 | Prospect Theater Project, 1214 K Street, Modesto, CA, United States
The public is invited to attend the Stanislaus County Poetry Out Loud contest on Tuesday, February 3 at the Prospect Theater Project.
Through this program, high school students across the country participate in a dynamic poetry recitation competition that is designed to improve their public speaking skills, help build confidence, and teach them about literary history and contemporary life.

Poetry Out Loud is a fun and dynamic way to introduce students to poetry.
Poetry Out Loud builds self-confidence and helps develop social and emotional maturity.
The thrill of competition encourages students to do their best and support their peers.
Poetry Out Loud creates lifelong lovers of poetry and creative writing.
Poetry Out Loud offers an opportunity for all types of students to succeed.

Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center, in partnership with the Stanislaus Arts Council, is the local organization organizing and hosting the county-level contest. The winner (plus one alternate) move forward to the California Poetry Out Loud contest.

Second Tuesday Feb. 10 - William O'Daly and Linda Marie Prather
2026-02-10 19:00 - 20:30 | Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center is pleased to present Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Linda Marie Prather and William O’Daly
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Where: Bookish Modesto, 811 W. Roseburg Ave, in the Roseburg Square shopping center
The reading is free; drinks, snacks, and books are available for purchase at Bookish. Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet); sign up at the event. Hosted by Gillian Wegener!
WILLIAM O’DALY
William O’Daly, co-founder of Copper Canyon Press, is a poet and translator whose published works include eight books of translation of the late-career and posthumous poetry of Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda and Neruda’s first volume, Book of Twilight — all published by Copper Canyon Press. Book of Twilight was a finalist for the Northern California Book Award in Translation of Poetry for 2018. His most recent book of poems, The New Gods, was published by Beltway Editions in September 2022.
In addition to The New Gods, he is the author of four books of poems. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, recipient of the American Literary Award from the bilingual Korean American journal Miju Poetry and Poetics, and four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his poems, translations, essays, and reviews have been published in numerous journals and as part of multimedia exhibits and performances.
About The New Gods
“We need to sit on the rim/ of the well of darkness/,” Pablo Neruda wrote, “and fish for fallen light/ with patience.” In the poems of The New Gods, William O’Daly sits with us beside this well, each stunning metaphor shaping world after world of possibility. Here the dark currents of bitterness and grief, arrogance and war give way to the sweetness of a daughter’s questions or the shiver of a Sierra lake. From the charred rubble of Iraq to the snowy Andes of Neruda’s exile, O’Daly’s deep music guides us beyond the “machinery of destruction” into a new Parnassus where “every word blossoms erotic,” where heron, waterfall, moonlit pools, and sea all burn with the “inexhaustible light” of beauty and desire, and we “recognize this burning as our own.”
~ Terry Ehret, author of Lost Body and Night Sky Journey
LINDA MARIE PRATHER
Linda Marie Prather has been widely recognized, winning honors in both, poetry, and visual art. She has been featured in More Than Soil, More Than Sky/The Modesto Poets, Stanislaus Connections, and KCBP, and KQBM radio, Two Roads/A program of Art & Science, Poets Corner, A Circle of Voices, Penumbra, Poetry of the Sacred, The Story Teller, and others. She is a two-time nominee for a Pushcart Prize and was the recipient of the Pegasus Award from California Federation of Chaparral Poets. Linda co-edits the poetry quarterly, Song of the San Joaquin, and is an Arts and Letters member of the National League of American Pen Women.
Her latest and ninth book of poetry Everyday Mercies was released in 2025 and is available on Amazon.`
About Everyday Mercies
Everyday Mercies is a contemplative collection of poems that finds meaning in the often overlooked ordinary. From the quiet glory of morning light to the surprising resilience found in seasons of uncertainty, these poems invite us to pause and ponder the mercies granted us anew every morning.

UPDATED: Poetry at the Carnegie featuring Jesse Wolfe and Stella Beratlis
2026-02-21 14:00 - 15:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
PLEASE NOTE: Due to a necessary scheduling change, Jesse Wolfe will read with Stella Beratlis on 2/21/26. Cleo Griffith will be a featured reader at a future date to be determined. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Please join host Gary Thomas at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 21, 2026 at Carnegie Arts Center (250 North Broadway Ave., Turlock, California) for a poetry reading featuring Jesse Wolfe and Stella Beratlis. There will be light refreshments and an open mic time following the featured poets. This event is free and open to the public.
Jesse Wolfe is a poet, scholar, and English Professor at CSU Stanislaus, where he has taught since 2006. His debut poetry chapbook, En Route, was published in 2020 by Cathexis Northwest Press, who will also publish his new volume, Breathe Again: A Polyphony, in 2026. He is the author of two scholarly books about modernist literature and the history of intimacy. He is currently working on a third scholarly book about African American modernism and ideas of progress.

Stella Beratlis is the author of Dust Bowl Venus. Her first collection Alkali Sink was a nominee for the 2016 Northern California Book Award in Poetry. Her poems have appeared in Harbor Review, California Quarterly, and In Posse Review. among others, and in the anthologies The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems from the San Francisco Bay Watershed and California Fire and Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology. She was Modesto’s poet laureate from 2016-2020 and works as a librarian at Modesto Junior College.

Write a Tiny Poem: Workshop with Youth Poet Laureate Valentina Zeff
2026-02-28 13:00 | Zoom
Tiny Poem Workshop With Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate Valentina Zeff. All are welcome!
Learn how to write a tiny poem + enjoy a Q&A with the Youth Poet Laureate. Find out how to submit your poems to the contest. The Woven Words Tiny Poem Contest is FREE and open to teens who live in or attend high school in Stanislaus County. The contest is a publication opportunity–the entries will be woven into a larger poem and published in a book, and we will celebrate together a bit later in the spring!
PLUS YOU CAN WIN PRIZES–top poem in each theme wins $50. Note: all poems will be accepted for publication. Please see contest guidelines for details.
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85093492645
