This year’s annual Erotic Poetry & Spoken Word reading at the Artist’s Union Gallery in Ventura will be held on Saturday, Feb. 10th at 7:00 pm. This reading celebrates the erotic in the broadest sense – works that evoke yearning, longing, and loss, as well as the more traditional praises of desire and tributes to the beloved – and commemorates the opening of the Artists’ Union Gallery’s annual erotic art exhibition.
“Eroticism,” says event-host Friday, “is most easily found in food, poetry, art and sex; three of the four items mentioned will be provided for you at the benefit.” The line-up includes Richard Beban, author of What the Heart Weighs, Bay Area author Adrienne Marcus, poet/publisher Glenna Luschei, and many others. “We are so lucky to have such an incredible assemblage of talent under the same roof. We expect to hear poems from ardent to zany, and everything in-between. All that energy should make for an intense reading,” says co-organizer Phil Taggart.
“According to Hesiod, Eros instills all notions of beauty and anguish within our souls,” says co-organizer and award-winning poet, Marsha de la O. “Both beauty and anguish are principal considerations of poetry. We wanted to give a distinguished group of Southern Californian poets the opportunity to explore the nuances of eroticism in an environment where visual artists and sculptors have used other media to explore the same concept.”
Admission is $10 at the door. The event is a benefit with all proceeds going to the Artists’ Union Gallery. The Artists’ Union Gallery is located at 330 South California Street in Ventura.
Poets reading include: Joyce LaMers, Jackson Wheeler, Tim Tipton, Roe Estep, Shelley Savren, Elijah Imlay, Ryan Gillenwater, Richard Beban, Howard Billou, Carol Davis, Carlye Archibeque, Ellen Reich, Florence Weinberger, Adrianne Marcus, Doris Vernon, Glenna Luschei, Perie Longo, Virginia Mariposa, Robert Peake, Teka Lark-Lo, Laura Diamond, Mary Kay Rummel, Lee Rossi, Tim Pompey, Cathryn Andreson, Larry Colker, Patricia Lynn Belkovitz, Bob Sterling, Marsha de la O, Friday and Phil Taggart.

Tagged as: poetry