Georgia Jones-Davis (8/28) and Dorothy Skiles (9/25)

On Sunday, August 28, 2011, the multi-talented Georgia Jones-Davis has delighted her audience at Bolton Hall Museum with a selection of wistful, insightful, and inspiring poems, including a sample from her recent chapbook, Blue Poodle (Finishing Line Press, 2011). The publication party for the book took place on August 14, and Georgia was also featured at Cafe Alibi's monthly reading managed by Alex M. Frankel. In 2010 she was declared an "emerging poet" and recognized by the Los Angeles Public Library's ALOUD series, Beyond Baroque and other poetry organizations.

Georgia started her reading with her contribution to the anthology "Chopin with Cherries" (Moonrise Press, 2010). The genesis of the piece was quite interesting. It turned out that her poem was created during a traffic jam on the 405 and therefore belongs to the genre I created and keep promoting, that of "freeway poetry." She pulled over to write it down, so it was not entirely committed to memory and recorded in writing only after the arrival home - as a true "freeway poem" should be. Leaving the technicalities aside, we particularly enjoyed Georgia's tributes to other creative spirits, mostly poets that she favors, like John Keats and Anne Sexton.

The listeners included poets who came to present their work and to hear the featured poet live - it is always a treat to hear poetry in the poet's own voice. The hall was filled with talent, young and old, and we documented the evening with a couple of group pictures.


Poets L to R: Russell Solomon, Georgia Jones-Davis, Mari Werner, Mira Mataric, and Jaimie Pritchard (seated); Dorothy Skiles, Jim Gibson, Pam Shea, Barbara Briodin, Don Krotser, Marcia Behar, Judith Terzi, Lois P. Jones, Neva Wallace, Maja Trochimczyk, Joe DeCenzo, Mary Terragosa, Isaac Montoya (standing).

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The next Village Poets Reading at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga will feature one of the Village Poets, Dorothy Skiles, and will take place on September 25, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. More information about Dorothy's poetry and a sample of her work will be posted here in the coming weeks.



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Photos: 1) Georgia Jones-Davis with her Blue Poodle and cherries, and Maja Trochimczyk with Chopin with Cherries; 2) group photo of some poets at the reading; 3) Bolton Hall Museum, Commerce Avenue, Tujunga, CA.