The Downey Arts Coalitions “Wine+Words” poetry series moves to Third-Thursdays in January.
A good group made it out to hear Rick Smith in November. The featured poet this month will be Judith Pacht, reading on Thursday January 19. DAC member Lorine Parks curates the evening.
Pacht is a seasoned poet and teaches poetry workshops on subjects such as “Warping Time in Poetry.” Her newest book, Summer Hunger (Tebot Bach), has won PEN’s 2011 Southwest Book Award for Poetry.
While Pacht likes to play with words and sounds, her poems always reach for a larger conclusion. In “Surfaces,” she speaks of “the business traveler who clinches a merger, the hungry lovers who clinch and merge.” And in “Small Things” her rhythms takes the reader beyond a shared delight in the minutia of daily life and even the subtle interplay of Dodger baseball, to a further understanding:
Praise the sticky pollen on the bee’s
hind legs, the blossom’s private parts, the fruit.
Praise all vowels: masa and metate,
smooth and avocado, quesadilla.
Praise Nomo backing first base on Beltre’s throw,
Cohen reaching Ahmed, Ahmed reaching
words both used to know, speaking, speaking.
The poetry event will begin at 7:30 pm in Mari’s Wine Bar, at 8222Firestone, across from Porto’s, with sign–ups for open mike readings by volunteer local poets. Open mike reading will begin at 8 pm and Pacht will read at 8:30. The audience is invited to stay afterward for informal discussion with Pacht and other poets. Admission is free and there is handicap access and easy parking in the rear.
8222 Firestone Blvd, Downey 90241, between Downey and LaReina
across from Porto’s free parking in back handicap access
For more about Judith, and a complete bio, visit her website at judithpacht.com
