Neighbor News
A Gathering of Poets in Menlo Park
Library-hosted event August 8 at City Council Chambers brings together five local wordsmiths to share their art
Five local poets will be gathering to share their art, during a free program to be presented by the Menlo Park Library on Saturday, August 8.
Kalamu Chaché is the Poet Laureate of East Palo Alto, where she has lived & worked since the 1960s. The Brooklyn, New York native serves the communities of East Palo Alto & Menlo Park’s Belle Haven through numerous artistic, advocacy and aid projects. Chaché has authored two volumes of poetry: Survival Tactics and A Change of Interest.
J. David Cummings of Menlo Park is a retired theoretical physicist, and author of the book of poetry, Tancho, the 2013 winner of the Richard Snyder Poetry Prize. The poems in Tancho take their focus from the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Leah Lubin is an author & artist born in Israel, who now makes her home in Woodside. An instructor at Palo Alto’s Pacific Art League, her paintings & drawings have been shown frequently throughout the Peninsula and far beyond. Leah’s poetry is frequently published in Yareah Magazine, and has been included in the compilations Continent of Light and World of Change.
Charlotte Muse of Menlo Park has taught poetry at San Francisco State, Santa Clara University, and U. C. Berkeley Extension. Honors she’s won include the Yeats Society of New York’s Poetry Award and a 2008 International Publication Award from the Atlanta Review. Muse’s published poetry collections include The Comfort Teacher, Trio, and Violin.
Camincha Benvenutto was born in Lima, Peru, and now makes her home in Pacifica. She presents regularly at local poetry festivals and readings, including at this spring’s “Poetry is Heritage” event, as an exemplar of the rich & diverse history of San Mateo County. Benvenutto’s published works include the novella As Time Goes By/Con el Pasar del Tiempo.
The poetry concert is a free event, and refreshments will be provided, courtesy of the Friends of the Menlo Park Library. The reading begins at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 8 at the Menlo Park City Council Chambers, located at 701 Laurel Street. Free wheelchair accessible van service is available for Menlo Park area seniors and people with disabilities (van reservation line: 330-2512). For event details, visit www.menlopark.org/library.