Poetry Event Starts at Carnegie Museum

Poets Paul Willis and Catherine Hodges will be the featured presenters during the Carnegie Art Museum’s “Arcade at the Carnegie: A Poetry Series” beginning this evening.

Willis is a professor of English at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. He also has written two novels and three collections of poetry, most recently “Poison Oak.” His work appeared in the 1996 Best American Poetry Anthology, as selected by Adrienne Rich.

Hodges, also a Santa Barbara resident, writes poems about the ordinary and the complex. She recently earned honorable mention for her poetry at a literary arts competition in Santa Barbara and is considered among the rising stars of talented writers locally, said Oxnard poet Jackson Wheeler, the poetry series’ chairman.

The poetry event begins at 7 p.m. at the museum, 424 South C St. Admission is free for members and $3 for nonmembers.

Additional poetry events are planned Jan. 20 and June 16 at the Carnegie, as well as a weeklong poetry festival in April at several locations throughout the county.

Local poets Gwendolyn Alley, Marcia De La O, Gary Imlay, Joyce LaMers, Elnora McNaughton, Tim Pompey, Shelly Savren and Phil Taggert are expected to participate in the festival.

For more information, call Wheeler at 483-1905 or the museum at 385-8157.