Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
681 Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
Founded in 1968 by George Drury Smith
Alumni and/or leaders of Beyond Baroque’s poetry workshops include James Krusoe, Harry E. Northup, Leland Hickman, Wanda Coleman, Kate Braverman, Bill Mohr, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Alicia Ostriker, Carol Lewis, Michelle T. Clinton, Bob Flanagan, Viggo Mortenson, liz gonzalez, John Harris, Joseph Hansen, Jack Grapes, FrancEye Dean Smith, Barbara Maloutas, and Amanda Gorman.
On Saturday, November 15, from noon to 9 p.m., Beyond Baroque will hold a marathon poetry reading as a way of raising money to compensate for the cancellation of its grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Here is the schedule and lineup, which oddly enough does not include a dozen of the most prominent poets working in Los Angeles for the past half-century. Nevertheless, this is a rare opportunity to hear an ensemble of poets, in a single swoop, that few cities in the United States could claim to have a similarly diverse equivalent of.
Lynne Thompson
Michelle Bitting
Kim Dower
Tom Laichas
Gail Wronsky
Luivette Resto
Pam Ward
Teresa Mei Chuc
Ramón García
Angelina Sáenz
Ivan Sálinas
Anthony Seidman
Brian Kim Stefans
Mariano Zaro
Will Alexander
Molly Bendall
Laurel Ann Bogen
Brendan Constantine
Rich Ferguson
Amy Gerstler
Larkin Higgins
Sara Ellen Fowler
Holaday Mason
Meghann Plunkett
Jack Skelley
Daniel Tiffany
David Trinidad
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo
Meghann Plunkett
Elena Karina Byrne
Holaday Mason
Sesshu Foster
S.A. Griffin
Susan Hayden
Sehba Sarwar
Anika Paris
David St. John
Gloria Vando
jimmy vega
Reading Segments in The Wanda Coleman Theater
Saturday, November 15, 2025
1-2 PM: “Metaphors Be With You” (NOTE: This phrase originated with Los Angeles poet and publisher Peter Schneidre.)
Pam Concepcion, Nikolai Garcia, Martin Jago, Doug Manuel, Amy Raasch, Laura Sermeño.
2–3 PM: Honoring Ancestors & Lineage
Taz Ahmed, bridgette bianca, Cynthia Briano, Shonda Buchanan, Lynda V.E. Crawford, Barbara Fant, Cynthia Guardado, Jose Hernandez Diaz, Arthur Kazakian, Mylo Lam, Darby Price, Lynne Thompson.
3–4 PM: Ode to Humanity
Lisa Alvarez, Michelle Bitting, Amy Davis, Kim Dower, Jeffrey Graham, Gedda Ilves, Tom Laichas, Frank Lutz, Jose Oseguera, Annie Reiner, Luivette Resto, Amy Shimshon-Santo, Gail Wronsky, Brian Sonia-Wallace.
5–6 PM: QTPOC Power & Resistance
Rhiannon Cielos Chavez, Alice Fulmer, Sonia Guiñansaca, Nikki Ochoa, Dewi Oka, Luis Antonio Pichardo, Karo Ska, Christopher Soto, Pam Ward.
6–7 PM: Twisting Tongues
Teresa Mei Chuc, Lisbeth Coiman, Ramón García, Angelina Sáenz, Ivan Sálinas, Anthony Seidman, Brian Kim Stefans, David Quiroz, Mariano Zaro.
7–8 PM: Possibilities of Language
Will Alexander, Giovan Alunzi, Molly Bendall, Laurel Ann Bogen, Brendan Constantine, Rich Ferguson, Sara Ellen Fowler, Amy Gerstler, Larkin Higgins, Holaday Mason, Meghann Plunkett, Jack Skelley, Daniel Tiffany, David Trinidad.
8–9 PM: Building Visions
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Elena Karina Byrne, Zoë Edeskuty, Sesshu Foster, S.A. Griffin, Susan Hayden, Anika Paris, Sehba Sarwar, Adam Stutz, David St. John, Gloria Vando, jimmy Vega.
Should anyone in the above list have to cancel at the last moment, here is a list of poets that the organizers of this event at Beyond Baroque can give a phone call to the night before, on Friday, November 14, and ask them to fill in:
Harryette Mullen
Lynne Bronstein
Matt Sedillo
Mike Sonksen
Karen Kevorkian
Michael C. Ford
liz gonzalez
Sarah Maclay
David A. Romero
Ellen Maybe
Calvin Bedient
Jamie Asaye Fitzgerald
Phoebe MacAdams
Robin Coste Lewis
Luis J. Rodriguez
Kamau Daaood
Charles Harper Webb
Suzanne Lummis
Paul Vangelisti
Deena Metzger
Eloise Klein Healy
Alexis Rhone Fancher
Iris Berry
Joan Jobe Smith
Nicelle Davis
Donna Hilbert
Tamara Madison
Rick Lupert
Dennis Phillips
Peggy Dobreer
Martha Ronk
Jeanette Clough
Harry E. Northup
Jack Grapes
Dinah Berland
Don Kingfisher Campbell
Gloria Alvarez
Alison Hedge Coke
Richard Modiano
Marisela Norte
Aleida Rodriguez
Terry Wolverton
Cecilia Woloch
Ron Koertge
Douglas Messerli
Dorothy Barresi
William Archilla
Marsha de la O
Guy Zimmerman
Tony Barnstone
Nancy Lynee Woo
Luis Campos
Judith Taylor
Ricardo Means Ybarra
Carol V. Davis
Chiwan Choi
Jessica Ceballos
Mitchell Untch
Timothy Steele
Amber Tamblyn
Marilyn Robertson
Tonya Ko Hong
RD “Raindog” Armstrong
Majid Naficy
Clint Margrave
Steven Reigns
Matthew Timmons
Patty Seyburn
William Slattery
Steve Yenser
Carol Muske-Dukes
James Ragan
Kevin Ridgeway
David Hernandez
It’s a very deep, heavy bench.
About Bill Mohr