Holiday Mason 11/7, Ventura County’s First Youth Poet Laureate 11/8, Psalms of Cinder and Silt Release 11/9
Every Thursday, at the EP Foster Library in the Topping Room you’ll find featured poets and an open mic beginning at 7:30pm. The library is located at 651 E. Main Street in downtown Ventura (across from Winchester’s) and the host and curator is Ventura County’s Poet Laureate Phil Taggart.
This Thursday, the feature is Holaday Mason who I heard read as part of the Climate Crisis reading “All Fall Down.” Other upcoming readings are November 14 Sean McCoy, November 21 Michael C Ford, December 5 Scott Struman; my students and I will be there Dec. 5 with our class anthology.
Here’s a another sample poem from Holaday Mason called “Menopause”:
On Friday Nov. 8, all are welcome to attend the inauguration of Genesis Perez as the 2019-2020 Ventura County Youth Poet Laureate at 7pm in Guthrie Hall at Ventura College 4667 Telegraph Road in Ventura; a reception begins the event at 630pm. She will serve for one year as official poet and ambassador to the community for poetry.
According to a press release, “Genesis Perez has been published in Scuffed Diamonds, a collection of Ventura County Poets and Through Me, You Will See, a collection of Oxnard High School Poetry slammers. She won the 2019 Oxnard High School Poetry Slam. Perez is a poet of social conscience, dealing with sexual harassment, sexuality, grief, and the struggles of immigrants. She was a featured reader in Mexican Schools at Beyond Baroque in Venice, Los Angeles, and the Elite Theatre Company in Oxnard. Her poetry is a close and profound examination of the human condition. Genesis Perez is 18-years-old. She was born and raised in Ventura County. She is a freshman at California State University, Northridge, where she studies Marine Biology. She has been involved in the local theater community for many years and utilizes her stage experience to enhance the delivery of her poetry to audiences. She has described herself as a “total ham”. However, she is dedicated to advocacy through the Literary Arts.”
Psalms of Cinder and Silt is an outgrowth of a series of readings Phil Taggart organized at the museum the EP Foster Library and at other sites affected by the Thomas and Woolsey fires and the resulting mudslides. The anthology is published as a special edition of SOLO Novo by the generosity of Glenna Luschei.
According to organizers, “These voices in the anthology represent a vivid cross section of our community and its remarkable resilience; these poems bring the power of our stories to create connection in times of crisis.” While I am in the anthology, I am not sure whether I will be in town on Saturdau and able to participate in the reading. The anthology Psalms of Cinder and Silt will be available for purchase at the release party and may be purchased on Amazon.
art predator 