July Book Club: FELON by Reginald Dwayne Betts
2023-07-24 17:30 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Please join at the Modesto Library to discuss Felon: Poems by Reginald Dwayne Betts. Copies of the book are available at the check-out desk of the Modesto Library, courtesy of Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center. Facilitated by Tina Marie Curiel-Vega.

Second Tuesday Poetry Reading with Molly Fisk & Ingrid Keriotis
2023-08-08 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Please join us for a poetry reading featuring Molly Fisk and Ingrid Keriotis with an open mic to follow.
RSVP with the link below.

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Aug 8, 2023 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIud-yorzMjG9Nu0FHzh0Uy7TVpsE81x9PiAfter registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Poetry on Saturday Reading featuring Connie Post and Francesca Bell
2023-08-12 14:00 - 16:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
MoSt’s Poetry On Saturday Reading
August 12, 2023 2:00 p.m. PST
Carnegie Arts Center (250 North Broadway Avenue, Turlock, California)
Join host Gary Thomas for the latest edition of MoSt’s Poetry On
Saturday readings in person on August 12 at 2:00 p.m. at the Carnegie
Arts Center in Turlock. Our featured readers are Livermore poet laureate
emeritus Connie Post and Marin County poet laureate Francesca Bell
(both with new books out!) followed by our Open Mic time after the
featured poets. This event is free and open to the public, and light
refreshments will be provided.

Connie Post served as first Poet Laureate of Livermore, California. Her
work has appeared in Calyx, Comstock Review, One, Cold Mountain
Review, Slipstream, Spillway, River Styx, Spoon River Poetry Review,
Valparaiso Poetry Review, and Verse Daily. She has two full-length
books from Glass Lyre Press, entitled Floodwater and Prime Meridian.
Her most recent book, Between Twilight, is from New York Quarterly
books, and she has a recent chapbook, Broken Metronome, about her
brother’s journey with Parkinson’s.

Francesca Bell is the author of Bright Stain, a finalist for the Washington
State Book Award and the Julie Suk Award, and What Small Sound,, and is

the translator of Max Sessner’s Whoever Drowned Here, all from Red Hen
Press. Her work appears in B O D Y, ELLE, Los Angeles Review of Books,
New England Review, North American Review, Mid-American Review, and
Rattle. She is the former poetry editor of River Styx, the translation editor
of Los Angeles Review, and the poet laureate of Marin County. She lives
with her family in Novato, California.

Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate Reading and Reception
2023-08-26 14:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
Please join us to celebrate our finalists for the Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate contest 2023-2024. Meet our finalists, Janelle Yulo of Modesto and Zoe Byron of Oakdale, and our Youth Poet Laureate Faith Delgado. With readings and refreshments.
At The Loft, 3rd floor of the Carnegie Arts Center,
Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate program is a partnership between Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center, Stanislaus County Library, Stanislaus County Office of Education, MJC’s School of Language Arts and Education, and the Stanislaus Library Foundation.

Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Chloe Martinez and Emma Trelles
2023-09-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Hosted by Stella Beratlis
Date: Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Time: 7:00 pm PST
RSVP for Zoom link
Open mic signup; 3 mins per reader please.
Please join us this month as we feature poets Emma Trelles and Chloe Martinez on Zoom. Emma Trelles, author of Tropicalia, is the immediate past poet laureate for Santa Barbara, a CantoMundo fellow and Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellow. Chloe Martinez, author of Ten Thousand Selves, is a scholar and poet who also serves as associate director of programming at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse at Claremont McKenna College. Her poems and translations have been widely published and have received numerous awards and honors.
Chloe Martinez
Chloe Martinez is a scholar of South Asian religions and a poet. She lives in Claremont, CA with her husband and two daughters. She is the Associate Director of Programming at the Center for Writing and Public Discourse at Claremont McKenna College, as well as Lecturer in CMC’s Department of Religious Studies.
She is a graduate of Barnard College, where she was a Mellon Mays Fellow, and received the MA/PhD in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara. Her research and teaching interests include creative writing; religions of South Asia; medieval North Indian devotional movements; poetry and autobiography in South Asia; and South Asian American religious worlds. Her research has appeared in journals including The Medieval History Journal and South Asia​, and has been funded by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, AIIS, and SSRC-Mellon Mays.
She is also a graduate of Boston University’s Creative Writing MA and the MFA for Writers at Warren Wilson College, where she was a Holden Scholar. The author of the collection Ten Thousand Selves (The Word Works, 2021) and chapbook Corner Shrine (Backbone Press, 2020), her poems and translations have appeared in Ploughshares, POETRY, The Common, AGNI, Prairie Schooner and elsewhere, and have been nominated multiple times for a Pushcart Prize, as well as for Best New Poets and Best of the Net. Her translations have won the Robert Fitzgerald Prize and the Anne Frydman Prize. She is a visiting editor at Beloit Poetry Journal and the poetry editor of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.
See more at www.chloeAVmartinez.com
About The Ten Thousand Selves

“Martinez understands the power of story to transmute experience into knowledge, and the power of poetry to question story’s power. Her scope is global, her vision historical, and her voice—by turns tender, sardonic, full of rage or humbled awe—is eloquently contemporary. Here is a book that presses back against reality. ‘Not a story, not an image. It is a map.'” —Suzanne Buffam, author of A Pillow Book
“…the selves in these beautifully wrought poems are wide-eyed in their wisdoms and whole-hearted in their songs. In poem after poem, they show the myriad possibilities in our extraordinary and surprising lives.” –Adrian Matejka, author of Somebody Else Sold the World

MoSt's 10th Anniversary Fundraiser w/ CA Poet Laureate Lee Herrick & Stan Cty Youth Poet Laureate Faith Delgado
2023-09-23 14:00 - 17:00
Join us on the afternoon of Saturday, September 23, 2023 for an afternoon of wine, hors d’oeuvres, and readings by California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick and Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate Faith Delgado.
Your ticket supports poetry in Stanislaus County, including monthly reading series in Modesto and Turlock; sets of poetry books for area schools; Poetry Out Loud; poetry readings at senior communities; free poetry workshops and poetry book discussions at the Modesto Library; the Youth Poet Laureate program; poetry on the spot at events across the county; annual workshops by noted poets from across California, the Modesto Poetry Festival every February, and much more!
TICKET SALES END FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15th AT MIDNIGHT. $50 purchase through https://poetrygala2023.brownpapertickets.com/.
Please email info@mostpoetry.org to request sliding scale price.

Poetry on the Spot at the Gallo Family Fun Festival
2023-09-24 13:00 - 16:00 | Gallo Center for the Arts, Gallo Center Plaza, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
FREE FOR EVERYONE! SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2023
1 PM – 4 PM
The Gallo Center for the Arts presents its first annual Family Fun Festival—a community event that will take over the Gallo Center Plaza and the Modesto Rotary Music Garden with a host of FREE activities. We’ll be typing poems for anyone who wants one–but you can also enjoy music, dancing, chalk art, lawn games, exotic reptiles, face painting, balloon animals, and more. Free; no ticket purchase required.
Food trucks will be on site for those wishing to purchase hot dogs, frozen yogurt, and other treats.

Feels Like All of It: A Sensory, List-Inspired Poetry Workshop
2023-10-07 13:00 - 15:00 | Ceres Library, 2250 Magnolia Street, Ceres, 95307, United States
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center will present a free, in-person workshop facilitated by Tina Marie Curiel-Vega 1:00-3:00 p.m.on Saturday, October 7th at the Ceres Library. Please join us!

Second Tuesday Reading Series with Brynn Saito and Cristina Sandoval
2023-10-10 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Join us for this reading with Brynn Saito and Cristina Sandoval.

Brynn Saito’s third book of poems, Under a Future Sky, was published in August 2023 by Red Hen Press. A 2023 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow, Brynn is the recipient of the Benjamin Saltman Award, and her poems have appeared in the New York Times and American Poetry Review. Brynn lives in the traditional homelands of the Yokuts and Mono peoples (aka, Fresno, CA) where she teaches in the MFA program at Fresno State. She’s co-editing with Brandon Shimoda an anthology of poetry written by descendants of the Japanese American / Nikkei incarceration, forthcoming in 2025 from Haymarket Books.

Cristina Sandoval is a recent graduate of the Fresno State MFA program, and a resident of Modesto, CA.

Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkdOupqTkvH9bNir_T5d69J9taVP3SkR4P

You’ll receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link for the evening.

Fall Poetry Workshop with Susan Rich
2023-10-21 10:00 - 12:45
Get your tickets for the great online workshop with poet Susan Rich. Tickets $20; + ticket fees; purchase through Eventbrite. https://mostfallworkshop.eventbrite.com
Seattle poet Susan Rich is the author of six books of poetry; her work has received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, PEN USA, Peace Corps Writers, and more. She teaches at Highline College and is co-founder and executive director of Poets on the Coast: A Weekend Writing Retreat for Women.

Poetry Out Loud - Informational Meetings on Zoom
2023-10-25 14:30 - 17:00 | 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=[REDACTED]
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
2023-10-28 13:00 - 15:00 | Turlock Library, 550 N. Minaret Ave, Turlock, 95382, United States
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.

MoSt Poetry on Saturday featuring Tama Brisbane and Linda Marie Prather
2023-11-04 14:00 - 15:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
MoSt Poetry On Saturday Reading
November 4, 2023
2:00 p.m. PST
Carnegie Arts Center
250 North Broadway Avenue, Turlock CA

Join host Gary Thomas for the latest edition of MoSt’s Poetry On Saturday in-person readings on November 4th at 2:00 p.m. at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock. Our featured readers are Stockton Poet Laureate Emerita Tama L. Brisbane and Turlock poet Linda Marie Prather. An Open Mic will follow the featured poets. This event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be provided.

Tama L. Brisbane: From 2015-2023, Tama has presented over 300 times, including the inauguration of Stockton’s first Black mayor, Michael Tubbs. Her debut Laureate project helped engineer the city’s 2015 return to All-American City status with an innovative 10-minute poem incorporating over two dozen multigenerational, multiethnic voices. Her performance as Guest Poet at The King Jr. Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church led Martin Luther King III to say, “your words matter.” She is the Executive Director of With Our Words, and County Coordinator for California Poets in the Schools. As a Literary Arts Consultant, she designs programs, curricula and events for young people across the United States and around the world.
“Mama T” is a published author, a Susan B. Anthony Award Winner for Creative Arts, a University of the Pacific Woman of Distinction, a Black Women Organized for Political Action Honoree, an Action on Behalf of Children Honoree, a Charter Member of the Brave New Voices National Network, and of the National Black Poet Laureates Group. She serves on several boards advocating for arts, youth, Black families and environmental stewardship. Her tireless work on behalf of young voices — particularly those of color and from marginalized communities — has been recognized by both houses of the California Legislature, by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
Tama stands in constant thanks to her Creator for her earthly assignment. She takes comfort and inspiration from two of her favorite quotes. The first is from 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.”

Linda Marie Prather has been widely recognized, winning honors in both poetry and visual art. She has been featured in Stanislaus Connections and in KCBP and KQBM radio interviews. She was nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize and was the recipient of the 2008 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, National League of American Pen Women. Her eighth book of poems, New Walk & Old Dream, was released August 2023.

MoSt Poetry Book Club
2023-11-13 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
“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.”

Second Tuesday featuring Melchor Sahagun & Tina Marie Curiel-Vega
2023-11-14 19:00 - 20:30 | Intermission at the State Theater Modesto CA, 1307 J Street, Modesto, 95354, United States
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.

MoSt Member Open Mic on December 14
2023-12-14 18:00 - 20:00 | The Dragonfly Art for Life, 1210 J Street, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
MoSt Poetry members are cordially invited to read at this special open mic poetry reading on Thursday, December 14th at The Dragonfly Art for Life, 1210 J Street in downtown Modesto, CA. Free and open to the public, the event starts at 6:00 p.m. If you haven’t yet become a MoSt member and would like to help support poetry in Stanislaus County, please go to mostpoetry.org.

Youth Poet Laureate: Speak Your Silence poetry open mic
2023-12-16 13:30 - 15:30 | Turlock Library, 550 N. Minaret Ave, Turlock, 95382, United States
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!

Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Luke Johnson and Mariah Bosch
2024-01-09 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center presents Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Luke Johnson, author of Quiver, and Mariah Bosch, Fresno State MFA graduate. Hosted by Stella Beratlis
Date: Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm PST on Zoom–RSVP required. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqce6uqTwqHtFdKlW9fo8M7VcNJLdy8ref. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Open mic following featured poets (3 min per poet): https://forms.gle/RnPGLFptHija15RU8

LUKE JOHNSON
Luke Johnson is the author of Quiver (Texas Review Press), a finalist for The Jake Adam York Prize, The Levis Award, The Vassar Miller Prize and the Brittingham. His second book A Slow Indwelling, a call and response with the poet Megan Merchant, is forthcoming from Harbor Editions Fall 2024. You can find more of his work at Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Narrative Magazine, Poetry Northwest and elsewhere. Connect on Twitter at @Lukesrant or through email: writerswharfmb@gmail.com

About Quiver
“Quiver is the most visceral, haunting book of poems I have read in years. Johnson reimagines masculinity and is unafraid to unearth its dark elements, as father, son, and witness to the brutality and beauty in and around us. He writes, ‘Listen: When/I said boys have a storm inside,/this itch that fills our teeth, I/was sharing in secret. I meant/we have mothers who gift us ghosts,/our heads upon a trigger.’ This searing debut is a world of its own, built with fearlessness, tenderness, and grace. Take notice. Luke Johnson has arrived.” —Lee Herrick, California Poet Laureate
“In Quiver, Luke Johnson’s unforgettable debut poetry collection, he invokes The Old Testament, its fires, floods, and prophecies—to reckon with ‘all the ways a child drowns, like spiders trapped in spit.’ These are harrowing poems. Yet, at the heart of Johnson’s unsparing gaze lies enormous compassion—for the ghosts that haunt him, for the child self who carried ‘scars without witness.’ Quiver is a work of glorious complexity—brutal, lyrical, shot through with images that stop you in your tracks. But more than that, these poems look deeply at the ways the sins of the father are visited on successive generations and move toward breaking the cycle.” —Ellen Bass — Ellen Bass

MARIAH BOSCH

Mariah Bosch (she/they) is a queer Chicana poet and visual artist from Fresno, CA. She is a graduate of Fresno State’s MFA program in poetry. Her work can be found on Poets.org, Small Press Traffic, Cosmonauts Avenue, and elsewhere.

Painless Poetry for Teens: Learn about the Stanislaus Youth Poet Laureate Contest
2024-01-13 14:00 - 15:00 | Turlock Library, 550 N. Minaret Ave, Turlock, 95382, United States
January 13, 2024. Future Youth Poets Laureate, Unite! In this first gathering, learn about the Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate program and learn tips for completing the contest application, which is due Jan. 27. Read on to find out about this monthly series.

Painless Poetry: Workshops for Aspiring Teen Poets/Spoken Word Performers
Join Faith Delgado, 2023-24 Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate, in a series of informal gatherings to explore the world of spoken word and performance poetry. Watch inspiring spoken word performances, learn about and practice spoken word technique, and socialize with fellow writers, poets, and performers. Light refreshments served. All events start at 2 pm and are held in the Turlock Library Makerspace. In partnership with the Stanislaus County Library.
January 13, 2024. Future Youth Poets Laureate, Unite! In this first gathering, learn about the Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate program and learn tips for completing the contest application, which is due Jan. 27.
February 24, 2024. Spoken Word: Learn from the Masters. Let’s view iconic spoken word performances and talk about what makes them so great.
March 16, 2024. Spittin’ Bars: Spoken Word/Performance Strategies. How do you inhabit the space on stage when performing a piece? How about holding a microphone and reading from a page? Let’s share strategies and explore what might work for us.
April 20, 2024. Spittin’ Bars Part 2/Open Mic Performance. Show off what you’ve been working on all these months!

Deadline to apply for Youth Poet Laureate
2024-01-27
Young poets: Don’t forget to apply for the Youth Poet Laureate contest by January 27, 2024. Open to poets ages 15-19 who live or attend school in Stanislaus County and who will reside in the area through the youth poet laureate term (June 1, 2024 – May 31, 2025). All details at the Youth Poet Laureate contest page.
Deadline is 11:59 pm on Saturday, January 27, 2024.

12th Annual MoSt Poetry Festival with Maya Khosla
2024-02-03 10:00 - 14:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
MoSt Poetry Festival
Saturday, February 3, 2024
“Writing the Way Through Wild Spaces”
Workshop leader: Maya Khosla, Wildlife Biologist, Poet, Filmmaker
Carnegie Arts Center 250 N. Broadway Turlock, CA
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Doors open at 9:30 a.m. — continental breakfast included
$40 RSVP at https://poetryfestival12.eventbrite.com

Maya Khosla is a biologist and writer. As Sonoma County Poet Laureate (2018-2020), she brought Sonoma’s communities together to heal through gatherings, field walks, and shared writing after the recent wildfires. Her books include “All the Fires of Wind and Light” (Sixteen Rivers Press; 2020 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award), “Keel Bone” (Bear Star Press; Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize). She is the winner of the 2023 Fund for Wild Nature Grassroots Activist Award and co-winner of the Environmentalist of the Year Award from 2020 Sonoma County Conservation Council (SCCC). Her work has been featured in For the Wild, her writing was part of the award-winning documentary films including “Village of Dust, City of Water,” about the water crises in rural India.

Scan to purchase your ticket

This event is supported in part by Poets & Writers.

MoSt Second Tuesday Poetry Reading featuring Angela Drew & Linda Scheller
2024-02-13 19:00 - 20:00 | Prospect Theater Project, 1214 K Street, Modesto, CA, United States
Please join us Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. PST for a poetry reading featuring Angela Drew and Linda Scheller at Prospect Theater Project’s Artist Lab, 1214 K Street, Modesto CA. Hosted by Gillian Wegener, this free event will include an open mic.
Angela Mason-Drew is a mother, dancer, poet, spoken word performer and self-proclaimed linguistic artist who has loved the rhythm and sounds of words for as long as she can remember. Born in Berkeley, CA, she began writing at age 8 and has always understood that words have the power to soothe, stir, or solidify connection. Her lifelong love affair with storytelling began in the sandbox of her childhood playground and she has played with the magic of words ever since. Angela is a graduate of Holy Names University in Oakland, CA, where she graduated magna cum laude. She is a proud Bay Area native and shares stories from her current home in the Central Valley. To learn more about Angela and her word artistry, visit her on Instagram @she_spits_fire Facebook @Angela Drew (Angela Mason) and online at www.elderberrywine.org.

Linda Scheller is the author of two books of poetry, Fierce Light (FutureCycle Press) and Wind & Children (Main Street Rag Publishing Company). Her poetry, plays, and book reviews are published in numerous journals and anthologies including Hawai’i Pacific Review, Poem, Sugar House Review, Slipstream, and Colorado Review. Recent honors include Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominations, and her manuscript Laurels was a finalist for the 2023 Aryamati Poetry Prize and shortlisted for the Concrete Wolf Louis Poetry Book Award. Ms. Scheller is a retired educator who volunteers as a programmer for KCBP Community Radio. For more information, please go to her website, lindascheller.com.

MoSt Poetry Book Club - Information Desk by Robyn Schiff
2024-02-17 10:00 - 11:00 | BakeShop, 940 Eleventh Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
MoSt Poetry Book Club meets at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 17, 2024 at BakeShop, 11th Street in downtown Modesto to discuss Information Desk by Robyn Schiff. You can pick up a copy of the book at the Stanislaus County Library’s Modesto Branch. Here’s what the publisher, Penguin Random House, has to say:

ABOUT INFORMATION DESK
New York Times Book Review Edtitors’ Choice
“Among the year’s highlights . . . groundbreaking, epic . . . Like visitors exiting the Met’s galleries, readers will emerge from Information Desk bedazzled by the transformative horizons of art.” —Washington Post
“An effluvial rush of memory, desire, data, and metaphor . . . It’s bracing to encounter a mind so voracious, so unapologetic in its intelligence.” —New York Review of Books
A book-length poem set in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, from a writer whose work offers “something few poets ever discover: a vision of the whole world” (Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker)
Robyn Schiff’s fourth collection is an ambitious book-length poem in three parts set at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s information desk, where Schiff long ago held a staff position. Elaborately mapping an interconnected route in and out of the museum through history, material, and memory, Information Desk: An Epic takes us on an anguished soul-quest and ecstatic intellectual query to confront the violent forces that inform the museum’s encyclopedic collection and the spiritual powers of art.
Novelistic in its sweep, frantically informative, and deeply intimate in its private recollections, Information Desk: An Epic wayfares with riveting lyric intensity through an epic array of topics and concerns, including illusion, deception, self-deception, complicity, lecherous coworkers, the composition of pigment, the scattering of seeds, ideas, and capital, and insect infestations spreading within artwork. Along the way, Schiff pauses to invoke three terrifying muses—parasitic wasps—in desperate awe of their powers of precision and generative energy. Information Desk: An Epic undertakes a hemorrhaging ekphrastic journey through artifice and the natural world.

MoSt Poetry On Saturday featuring Susan Kelly-DeWitt & Mary Mackey
2024-02-24 14:00 - 15:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
Please join us at the Carnegie Arts Center, 250 North Broadway in Turlock, for a MoSt Poetry reading featuring Susan Kelly-DeWitt and Mary Mackey on Saturday, February 24, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. PST. An open mic will follow the featured poets, and light refreshments will be available. This reading, hosted by Gary Thomas, is free and open to the public.
Susan Kelly-DeWitt is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and the author of Gatherer’s Alphabet (Gunpowder Press, CA Poets Prize, 2022), Gravitational Tug (Main Street Rag, 2020), Spider Season (Cold River Press, 2016), The Fortunate Islands (Marick Press, 2008) and a number of previous small press collections. Her work has also appeared in many anthologies, and in print and online journals at home and abroad. She is currently a member of the National Book Critics Circle, the Northern California Book Reviewers Association and a contributing editor for Poetry Flash. A new book, Frangible Operas: Selected Uncollected is forthcoming from Gunpowder Press. For more information, please visit her website at www.susankelly-dewitt.com.

Mary Mackey became a writer by running high fevers, tramping through tropical jungles, being swarmed by army ants, and reading. She is the author of eight poetry collections, including Sugar Zone, winner of a PEN Award, and The Jaguars That Prowl Our Dreams, winner of a the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award for Best Book Published by a Small Press. Her poetry has been praised by Wendell Berry, Jane Hirshfield, D. Nurkse, Al Young, Rafael Jesús González, and Maxine Hong Kingston for its beauty, precision, originality, and extraordinary range. She is also the author of 14 novels including The New York Times bestseller A Grand Passion. Recent honors and awards include:
2023 City of Angels Women’s Film Festival Award Official Selection for Best Feature Screenplay for “The Stand In.” The screenplay is an adaptation of Mary Mackey’s novel of the same title, published under her pen name “Kate Clemens.”
Northern California Book Reviews Award Finalist for “Creativity: Where Poems Begin, Best Book of Creative Nonfiction Published in 2023.
Winner of City of Angels Film Festival for Best Short Screenplay for “Time Piece “ 2022.
“Lady Danger,” Nominated for Best Feature-Length Screenplay, City of Angels Womens Film Festival, 2022.

Ekphrasis: Second Tuesday Poetry featuring Rhony Bhopla and Lynn Hansen
2024-03-12 19:00 - 20:30 | Prospect Theater Project, 1214 K Street, Modesto, CA, United States
Ekphrastic poetry has come to be defined as poems written about works of art; however, in ancient Greece, the term ekphrasis was applied to the skill of describing a thing with vivid detail. —Getty Museum
We invite you to join the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center at Second Tuesday Poetry as we feature visual artist/poet Rhony Bhopla and Lynn Hansen of Modesto. Both poets will share their poems accompanied by images. With open mic following featured poets. Hosted by Stella Beratlis.
Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Time: 7:00 pm PST
Place: Artist Lab, Prospect Theater Project, 1214 K Street, Modesto, 95354
Open mic sign-up form (3 min per poet): https://forms.gle/RnPGLFptHija15RU8

RHONY BHOPLA

Rhony Bhopla is a poet and visual artist whose poems and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in PRISM International, The Hopper, Notre Dame Review, Cherry Moon: Emerging Voices from the Asian Diaspora, Northwest Review, and Harvard Review. She is a member of the Mapmakers Alumni Institute, and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Pacific University.

LYNN HANSEN

Lynn M. Hansen is Faculty Emerita from Modesto Junior College Biological Sciences and a member of Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and the National League of American Pen Women, Modesto Branch. A new collection of travel poems, In the Presence of the Moai: Poetry and Prose of Travel, was published in November 2023. In addition to her other poetry collections, Flicker and The Journey to Sky Avenue, she has written an historical novel about the life of her grandmother.

Painless Poetry for Teen Poets: Performance Strategies
2024-03-16 14:00 - 15:30 | Turlock Library, 550 N. Minaret Ave, Turlock, 95382, United States
Painless Poetry: A Workshop for Aspiring Teen Poets – Performance Strategies
Turlock Library in the Maker Space

How do you inhabit the space on stage when performing a piece? How about holding a microphone and reading from a page? Join Faith Delgado, 2023-24 Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate, who will share strategies and explore what might work while performing spoken word poetry. This program is presented in partnership with Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center (MoSt)

Sponsored by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center

Bloom Where Planted: Four Central Valley Poets for National Poetry Month
2024-04-09 19:00 - 20:30 | The Artist Lab at Prospect Theater Project, 1214 K Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for our next Second Tuesday Poetry on April 9, 2024, as we present four Central Valley poets to help us honor National Poetry Month.
Featuring Kristy Lauron, Elizabeth Sousa, Jazmarie LaTour, and Kevin Walton with open mic following featured poets.
When: Tuesday, April 9, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: The Artist Lab at Prospect Theater Project, 1218 K Street, Modesto CA 95354. Plenty of street parking, free! We are also welcome to park across the street at the Stanislaus County Law Library.
Open Mic Sign-up: https://forms.gle/rcwsEcyk7paszWk27(4 mins per poet or 2 pieces, whichever is shorter)
Our Featured Poets
Kristy Lauron
My name is Kristy Lauron and I am a published poet. I was born and raised in Stockton and have been immersed in the arts since childhood. I believe art is necessary for healing and sharing of our human existence. My poetry is a reflection of my self journey, offering insights to my trials and tribulations, all wrapped up in love.
Jazmarie LaTour
Jazmarie is the Poet Laureate of her hometown Stockton, Ca. She is an artisan, healer, mediation leader, and dreamer who uses writing to attune to the frequency and deep call of the Earth, her Ancestors, and the Great Spirit that leads her. Her love for spoken word performance has given her the courage to speak from her heart to anyone who will listen. Her love for the written word has given her the courage to allow others to hold a piece of her heart right in their hands. She is the author of the collection The Nature of Her, which can be ordered from the thenatureofher.com.
Elizabeth Sousa
Elizabeth Sousa is a poet from Turlock, a Type One Diabetes advocate, and an aspiring badass. She was co-organizer of the 2016 Writers Resist reading at the Prospect Theater Project, and she has performed her pieces on stages throughout the Central Valley.
Kevin Walton
Kevin is a poet and raconteur who founded a Facebook group, To the Prose Pros, a space where he shares his work and offers a forum for others to contribute. He lives in Modesto with his wife, artist Traci Bookman.

Youth Poet Laureate's Painless Poetry: Open Mic Performance
2024-04-20 14:00 - 15:30 | Turlock Library, 550 N. Minaret Ave, Turlock, 95382, United States
Saturday, Apr. 20, 2 pm

Join Faith Delgado, 2023-24 Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate, in this final installment of Painless Poetry. Come show off what you’ve been working on these past months! Connect with Stanislaus County Youth Poet Laureate Faith Delgado if you’d like more information: faithd@mostpoetry.org

Light refreshments will be served while they last.

MoSt Poetry Book Club
2024-04-22 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join host Salvatore Salerno for a discussion of The Art of Drowning by Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate Emeritus. MoSt Book Club will meet Monday, April 22, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. in the Maker Space of the Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto CA. Participants may pick up a free copy of The Art of Drowning at the library reference desk prior to the meeting. This MoSt event is free and open to the public.

Aileen Jaffa Contest Awards Ceremony
2024-05-11 14:00 - 15:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA, 95380, United States
Join us at the Carnegie Arts Center on Saturday, May 11 at 2:00 pm to celebrate our youth contest winners! Presented by the North American League of American Pen Women, Modesto Branch, in partnership with MoSt Poetry.
