Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center

7th Annual Modesto Poetry Festival
2019-02-02 09:30 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1528 Oakdale Road, Modesto, CA, 95355, United States
We are thrilled to announce the details of our 7th Annual Modesto Poetry Festival, coming up on February 2nd, 2019!
Each year in February we organize and hold an all-day poetry festival featuring workshops, readings, and a featured poet. This year, we are proud to welcome back featured poet Indigo Moor, Sacramento’s Poet Laureate, as our guest poet and workshop leader. CLICK HERE to read more about the workshop theme.
Join us on Saturday, February 2nd, 2019 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Modesto for a day of poetry, learning, and inspiration! Click on the image at right to download the PDF flyer, and you can click here to download the registration form (which also has details about this year’s festival poetry contest).
Themes for this year’s contest are 1. Here in this House; 2. What Remains; 3. The Edge of the Sea; 4. In and Out of Fashion (Life a la Mode). Submissions to the poetry contest must be postmarked by the CONTEST DEADLINE: JANUARY 11, 2019. Please see the form for more information.

Poetry Book Club
2019-01-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
MoSt is pleased to announce another installment of our Poetry Book Club! The meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 23rd from 6:30 to 7:30 at the downtown library. Our featured book is Adamantine by Shin Yu Pai–copies are available from the Modesto Library or on Amazon, and we will have a few copies on hand.
This event is free and open to the public.

Poetry Festival Contest Deadline
2019-01-11 | CA
Today’s the postmark deadline for the poetry contest held at our annual Modesto Poetry Festival! For more information, take a look at the main event page.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2019-01-08 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on January 8th at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry with featured readers from America, We Call Your Name. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-12-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on December 11 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry by featured readers the Licensed Fools. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Poetry on Sunday Series
2018-12-02 14:00 - 17:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, Gemperle Gallery, 250 N. Broadway Ave., Turlock, CA, United States
Come join us at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock for our quarterly reading series! Download the PDF flyer at right, and read more about our featured poets below:
James Weaver has published his first book, Writing Therapy. Included in the collection are poems previously published in Penumbra, Susurrus, Collision IV, Suisun Valley Review, as well as other journals in California. On reputation alone, this poet has the crowd snapping at their seats and enjoys connecting with the audience. When he’s not doing poetry, he enjoys spending time with family and friends.
Joseph Nolan is a practicing attorney. Joseph self-published three books of poems in 2017: Human Grace, Cats Can’t Use Straws, and Sky Gardens. Joseph likes to work in rhyme and meter, writing mostly shorter poems. His writing has been published in the Sacramento Voices anthology (2017) and will be published in its upcoming 2018 Edition, in Poetry Now, an online quarterly journal of the Sacramento Poetry Center, and in Collision V, an anthology of poetry from local poets in combination with artistic photography from local professional photographers. He is an active member of the Sacramento Poetry Center and the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center.
Camille Norton’s book, A Folio for the Dark, was chosen for publication by Sixteen Rivers Press during its 2017 open reading period. It will appear in the spring of 2019. Her first book of poems, Corruption, was a 2004 National Poetry Series winner, published by HarperPerennial in 2005. Her work has appeared in Field, The Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, and in American Poet: The Journal of the Academy of American Poets. One of her poems in A Folio for the Dark,“ The Prison Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone,” was published in The Best American Poetry of 2010. Camille grew up outside of Philadelphia and studied English and American Literature at Harvard University. A Professor of English at University of the Pacific, in Stockton, CA since 1994, she teaches courses in poetry, gender studies, and critical theory. She has worked collaboratively with artists and composers since the early 1990’s, when she co-edited Resurgent: New Writing by Women, an anthology of experimental writing by women in literature, film, and the visual arts. She lives in Stockton, near the San Joaquin River, and is at home in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Her poetry explores the interstices between artistic expression and the political systems that define who reads, who writes, and who is remembered.
Susan Kelly-DeWitt is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and the author of Spider Season (Cold River Press, 2016), The Fortunate Islands (Marick Press, 2008) and nine previous small press collections and online chapbooks. Her work has appeared in many anthologies, and in print and online journals at home and abroad. She is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Northern California Book Reviewers Association. For more information, please visit her website at www.susankelly-dewitt.com.

Poetry Book Club
2018-11-14 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
MoSt is pleased to announce the fourth installment of our Poetry Book Club! The meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 14 from 6:30 to 7:30 at the downtown library. Our featured book is to be announced–stay tuned. More details to follow, but as usual, this event is free and open to the public.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-11-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on November 13 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry by featured readers Roy Mash and Rebecca Foust. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Words Have No Borders: A Night of Poetry & Fire
2018-10-20 19:00 - 21:00 | College Avenue United Church of Christ, 1341 College Ave, Modesto, CA, 95350, United States
METAPHORICAL FIRE!
You’re invited to burn it all down to a pile of ashes (figuratively) so we can start all over again.
Please join us for a night of poetry & community & friendship with special guests Manny Moreno, Lillian Vallee, members of the Hmong American Writers’ Circle, Theresa Rojas, Evan Wright, Bernadet Mokhatas, and more.
From the HAWC: Yia Lee, Nou Her, Jer Xiong, Hauntie, Pos Moua, and Soul Vang.
This is an amazing lineup, poetry fans.
With local nonprofits sharing resource & voter registration opportunities. Refreshments available for purchase from Cafe Esperanza, the church’s newly opened coffeehouse.
For more info: writersresistmodesto@gmail.com

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-10-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on October 9 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry by featured readers Sheila Landre and Barbara West. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Summer Poetry Workshops 2018: Write a Poem; Read a Poem
2018-09-15 13:00 - 15:00 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us at the Downtown Modesto Library for our fourth and final Summer Poetry Workshop of 2018: Write a Poem; Read a Poem with Gary Thomas and Gillian Wegener.
All workshops are FREE TO THE PUBLIC with materials and inspiration provided. Sponsored by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and the Stanislaus County Library.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-09-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on September 11 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of poetry by featured readers Connie Post and Kevin Gunn. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.

Poetry on Sunday Series
2018-08-26 14:00 - 17:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, Gemperle Gallery, 250 N. Broadway Ave., Turlock, CA, United States
Come join us at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock for our quarterly reading series! Download the PDF flyer at right, and read more about our featured poets below:
Linda Marie Prather has five published chapbooks, the latest being Painting Your Absence (Dry Creek Press.) Unforced Rhythms (Finishing Line Press) won 3rd Place award in the NLAPW 2014 Letters Competition. Her full-length book, Summer Song, was published in 2016. She edits for Song of The San Joaquin, is a member of National League of American Pen Women, in Arts and Letters. Her poetry appears in More Than Soil, More Than Sky/ The Modesto Poets. Linda is published widely and has received prizes from Penumbra, Poets’ Dinner Contest, Ina Coolbrith Circle, the Golden Pegasus Award, and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize.

I was born into the name of Janette Jameson in Santa Cruz, California. At seven, my family moved to Torreon, Mexico, where my father became a principal of an American School. As a second grader, I was thrust into a new language and culture. I received a bilingual education, learning my times tables in Spanish and my addition in English. I experienced the constant back-and-forth between two worlds, and as a result was outsider to both.
I have always loved words—their use and their layered meanings. They feel almost tangible—to be worked with and at times played with. I have also always read, since picking up my first Nancy Drew mystery and spending most of the day on the couch until the end of the book. In being bilingual, I am very aware of the nuances in words and how much can be lost in translation. Bridges are important metaphors as well as a space where no language exists. The challenge in poetry is bringing words to places that already stand alone. I try to capture brief moments of observed life which become a springboard for a later poem.
I’m a retired social worker, married with two young adult daughters. I’ve lived in Modesto for the past twenty-six years, still looking for home perhaps by an oak tree.

Dana Koster is the author of Binary Stars (Carolina Wren Press 2017). She was a Wallace Stegner Fellow. Her poems have appeared in EPOCH, Indiana Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Cincinnati Review, MUZZLE, Thrush Poetry Journal, Radar Poetry, and many others. She lives in Modesto, California with her husband and two sons, where she works as a wedding photographer.

Ife-Chudeni A. Oputa is a writer, editor, and the author of Rummage, which won the 2015 Little A Poetry Contest and is a 2018 Lambda Literary Award finalist. She is a Cave Canem, Callaloo, and Lambda Literary fellow. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Some Call it Ballin, Gabby, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. She is a native of Fresno, CA.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-08-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
The Second Tuesday Poetry Reading is as late in the month as it can get, so be sure to mark your calendar for August 14 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill.
This month’s featured readers are DW Schmidt and Kathleen Winter, and of course, our featured readers will be followed by an open mic, so bring a poem or two to share.
D.W. Schmidt has written much more prose than poetry. When he started writing poetry, he felt the poems happened accidentally, like they found him, which was probably the influence of the great imagist poets he has taught in his college classes for so long. Lately, he has allowed his poems to be more topical, personal, phrase-driven, and ultimately more intentional.
Kathleen Winter is the author of I will not kick my friends (2018), which won the Elixir Poetry Prize, and Nostalgia for the Criminal Past, winner of the Texas Institute of Letters Bob Bush Memorial Award. Her poems have appeared in Tin House, Agni, New Statesman, New Republic and Yale Review. She was granted fellowships by Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Dobie Paisano Ranch, Dora Maar House, James Merrill House and Cill Rialaig Retreat.

Summer Poetry Workshops 2018: Children's Poetry Workshop
2018-08-04 13:00 - 15:00 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us at the Downtown Modesto Library for our third Summer Poetry Workshop of 2018: a poetry workshop just for kids, with Linda Scheller and friends.
All workshops are FREE TO THE PUBLIC with materials and inspiration provided. Sponsored by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and the Stanislaus County Library.

MoSt Board Meeting
2018-08-02 18:30 - 19:30 | CA
Our next regular Board meeting will be held on August 2nd at a member’s home–Board members stay tuned for more information. If you are interested in attending, please contact info@mostpoetry.org

Poetry Book Club
2018-07-18 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
MoSt is pleased to announce the third installment of our Poetry Book Club! The meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 18 from 6:30 to 7:30 at the downtown library and our featured book will be Barbie Chang by Victoria Chang. The library will have extra copies to check out, but the book is widely available if you’d like to get your own. Either way, you want to read it ahead of time and be prepared for some great conversation. More details to follow, but as usual, this event is free and open to the public.

Summer Poetry Workshops 2018: Teen Poetry Workshop
2018-07-14 13:00 - 15:00 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us at the Downtown Modesto Library for our second Summer Poetry Workshop of 2018: a Teen Poetry Workshop with Gillian Wegener.
All workshops are FREE TO THE PUBLIC with materials and inspiration provided. Sponsored by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and the Stanislaus County Library.

MoSt Annual Meeting
2018-07-12 16:00 - 18:00 | CA
The annual meeting of the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center will be held on July 12th at a member’s home in Modesto. All members and interested poetry friends are welcome to attend. The meeting starts at 4:00, with a potluck dinner at 5:00. Mark your calendars and join us! Email us at info@mostpoetry.org for more information.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-07-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the Second Tuesday Barkin’ Dog reading on July 10 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We’ll have an evening of writing inspired by the poetry of Thomas Merton, hosted by Ed Bearden. An open mic will follow the featured reading, so bring a poem or two to share.
About the Thomas Merton Poetry Group: In February of 2016 Deacon George Cano of St. Paul’s Episcopalian Church, convened the Thomas Merton poetry group. It was began to provide more than chit-chat, but rather to encourage spiritual growth. Poetry, as another way to pray. Meeting twice a month, the group wrote and published Poetic Prayer: writing from the soul. Meditation
techniques from Buddhist traditions or centering prayer were used to access the poetic well. The group consists of Deacon George Cano, Ed Bearden, Roberta Bearden, Jeanette Comegys, Stephanie Gilmer, Sarah B. Hartmann, Judy Miller, Linda Marie Prather and Cheryl Russel Pogue. Others would be welcome to join the writing and fellowship.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-06-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
The 9th Anniversary edition of the Second Tuesday Poetry Reading is happening on June 12 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog!
Our featured readers are the Modesto branch of the National League of America Pen Women. Founded in 1936, the original five charter members of this branch were Alice Scott Carlson, Grace M. Davis, Irene Childrey Hoch, Blanche Willis Allen, and Helen Hope Page.
The tradition continues with a host of talented writers and artists, including those reading at the Barkin’ Dog on June 12th: Nancy Haskett, Lynn Hansen, ann w. bailey, Louise Kantro, Roberta Bearden, Jill Adler, Cleo Griffith, Pat Egenberger, and Linda Prather.

Join us for a great evening of poetry and community!

Summer Poetry Workshops 2018: Crowd-Sourced Poetry
2018-06-09 13:00 - 15:00 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us at the Downtown Modesto Library for our first Summer Poetry Workshop of 2018. All workshops are FREE TO THE PUBLIC with materials and inspiration provided. Sponsored by Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center and the Stanislaus County Library.
Crowd-Sourced Poetry, also known as Exquisite Corpse, is a collaborative poetry game that has roots in the Surrealist movement. In this workshop, you’ll have fun and experience surprise by being part of a team effort where all of us contribute parts to each others’ work. You can use the result as a springboard to a different poem, revise your collaborative poem, or have fun with the poem as-is.
Rules: each participant is generally unaware of what the others have written, which often produces a “surprising—sometimes absurd—yet often beautiful” work (poets.org). Crowd-Sourced Poetry workshop is a fun way to collaborate with other poets and to write in a way which frees you from your usual writing habits.
This will be SO MUCH FUN! And there are other workshops to come.

Aileen Jaffa Poetry Contest Awards Ceremony
2018-05-20 14:00 - 17:00 | Carnegie Arts Center, Gemperle Gallery, 250 N. Broadway Ave., Turlock, CA, United States
Come join us at the Carnegie Arts Center in Turlock for the Awards Ceremony for this year’s Aileen Jaffa Young Poets Contest! First, second and third place winners in each category will receive cash awards from the MoSt Poetry Center. Prizes are: First Place $25, Second Place $15, Third Place $10. In addition, the Modesto Branch of the National League of American Pen Women will award a $60 Aileen Jaffa Outstanding Poem award in each of two combined categories, Categories 1 and 2, and Categories 3 and 4. The current president of the NLAPW Modesto chapter will present the awards, and you’ll get to hear a reading featuring the winning poems.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-05-08 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the May Barkin’ Dog reading on May 8 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We have two great featured readers, Beth Spencer and Lynne Knight, and our most excellent open mic to look forward to.

MoSt Board Meeting
2018-05-03 18:30 - 20:00 | CA
Our next Board meeting is Thursday, May 3rd at 6:30–email info@mostpoetry.org for more information!

5th Annual Benefit Gala
2018-04-22 14:00 - 17:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Please join us for Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center’s 5th Annual Benefit, April 22, 2018!
Our annual benefit will be held from 2-5 p.m. at the Barkin’ Dog Grill. Join us for an afternoon of music, food and drink, poetry fun and games, a silent auction, and supporting the arts in our area.
Tickets are just $10 this year, and they are available online at mostgala2018.eventbrite.co.uk or at the door! All proceeds will benefit the work of MoSt as we continue to promote poetry throughout Stanislaus County with poetry contests, the Modesto Poetry Festival, publications, poetry readings throughout the region, Poetry-on-the-Spot, and many other activities. See our Annual Gala page for photos of the fun we’ve had in previous years.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-04-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the April Barkin’ Dog reading on April 10 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We have three great featured readers, Connie Post, Kevin Gunn, and Cleo Griffith, and our most excellent open mic to look forward to.

MoSt Board Meeting
2018-04-05 18:30 - 20:00 | CA
Our next Board meeting is Thursday, April 5th at 6:30–email info@mostpoetry.org for more information!

Poetry Book Club
2018-03-14 18:30 - 19:30 | Stanislaus County Library, 1500 I Street, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
MoSt is pleased to announce the second installment of our Poetry Book Club! The meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 14 from 6:30 to 7:30 at the downtown library and our featured book will be blud by Rachel McKibbens. The library will have extra copies to check out, but the book is widely available if you’d like to get your own. Either way, you want to read it ahead of time and be prepared for some great conversation. More details to follow, but as usual, this event is free and open to the public.

Second Tuesday @ Barkin' Dog
2018-03-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Barkin’ Dog Grill, 940 11th St, Modesto, CA, 95354, United States
Join us for the March Barkin’ Dog reading on March 13 at 6:00 at the Barkin’ Dog Grill in downtown Modesto. We have two great featured readers, Jennifer Fellguth and Salvatore Salerno, and our most excellent open mic to look forward to.
