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This edition of POETRY MATTERS – Thursday September 17th at STAY GALLERY –   will welcome the return of poet Judith Pacht. Judith first featured at Poetry Matters four years ago when the event was held in its original location at Mari’s Wine Bar.

Lyrical and public, personal and political, Judith’s poetry moves from daily reflections to incisive examinations of herself and the people around here. A piece of gym equipment “touches your hard-to-reach center / subdues the imbalance that rises / from your belly some days.” Her sketches of life can be chilling. “We assemble lives, listen to the high wind scrub the sky, / hear low rumblers circle black around / Dead calm. The center swollen. Knuckles on a rag.”

Her 2010 collection Summer Hunger (Tebot Bach) won the 2011 PEN Southwest Book Award for poetry. Earlier poetry collections include User’s Guide (Finishing Line Press), St. Louis Suite (Finishing Line Press), and Falcon (Conflux Press). A two-time Pushcart nominee, her work includes poems published in Cider Press Review, Phoebe, Ploughshares and Runes as well as in numerous anthologies. She lives in Los Angeles

Poetry Matters is held at Stay Gallery, located at 11140 Downey Ave in Downey. The doors will open at 7 p.m., with the open mike beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Curated by Lorine Parks.

This month’s edition of POETRY MATTERS – Thursday August 20th at STAY GALLERY-  features Los Angeles based poet, actor, performance artist and Downey Resident Conney D. Williams.

Doors open at 7:00. Local poets are invited to bring a poem to read at the lively Open Microphone session which begins at 7:30, so arrive early to get on the list!

Conney D. Williams is originally from Shreveport, Louisiana where he worked a radio personality. He recently released two critically acclaimed cds of his poetry accompanied by music: “Unsettled Water” and “River&Moan.” He has two collections of poetry “Leaves of Spilled Spirit from an Untamed Poet (2002)” and his most recent, “Blues Red Soul Falsetto (2012).” He’s been published in various publications, newspapers, and anthologies (Voices from Leimert, At the End of the Day, Drumming Between Us, and Wide Awake).

He’s the Artistic Director at the World Stage Performance Gallery where he facilitates the Anansi Writers Workshop. He is a community activist and has worked with youth for over 25 years. He’s formerly an ordained minister and Youth Pastor in the Church of God in Christ. He has hosted a weekly cable television show and also recorded a gospel rap cd called L.I.F.E (1985). He was the Poet’s Stage Coordinator for the Leimert Park Village Book Fair; and also the Annual Leimert Park Village African Art & Music Festival for three years (2012-2014). He has performed his poetry on television, radio (KJLH, KPFK), universities (USC, UCLA, Claremont, CSLB, Antioch, CS-Northridge, and others), cultural events & organizations (Black Arts Festival, CAAM), for the City & County of Los Angeles, across the U.S., and he regularly curates poetry events in Los Angeles.

Sign up for this Facebook Event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1636245316633923/

Stay Gallery is at 11140 Downey Ave, just north of Firestone Blvd.

Poetry Matters is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7 p.m. The open mike begins at 7:30.

This edition of POETRY MATTERS – Thursday June 18th at STAY GALLERY- will feature Patti Scruggs and the launch of her new book Forget the Moon.

Patricia Scruggs is a poet, artist, teacher, mother of two, and grandmother of three. A resident of Chino, she is a frequent participant in poetry groups and readings throughout the Los Angeles area, and has been a familiar face in Downey poetry groups since 2009.

Her poetry is grounded in the details of daily life, yet winds up being about so much more. Noted Los Angeles poet Jack Grapes says of her work: “Oh how sweet and sad life is, and the relish with which Patti Scruggs embraces that truth creates a glow of love around each and every poem … you  can read this book with a glass of milk in one hand and a stiff shot of whisky in the other.”

Scruggs is a return guest to POETRY MATTERS, having featured in March of 2013. Her work has been published in CALYX Journal, ONTHEBUS, Spillway, RATTLE, Qarrtsiluni, Deliver Me, and So Luminous the Wildflowers.

Stay Gallery is at 11140 Downey Ave, just north of Firestone Blvd.

Poetry Matters is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7 p.m. The open mike begins at 7:30.

Curated by Lorine Parks.