FOURTH SATURDAYS POETRY READINGS
Poetry at the Claremont Public Library
208 Harvard Ave, Claremont, CA
may 23, 2026 at 2:00 PM
Our Saturday, May 23, 2026, poetry reading will feature Charles Harper Web and Marcus Omari.
Marcus Omari is an interdisciplinary artist, poet, and performer whose work lives at the intersection of language, community, and sound. A featured poet on Verses & Flow (TV One), he is the author of two chapbooks and has spent over a decade collaborating across poetry, music, and education. Through his arts initiative Poetic Reform Party, Marcus designs and leads literary programs that center on access, depth, and creative exchange. His work has taken him from classrooms and community spaces across California to international performances and workshops in the United Kingdom, France, and Indonesia. His practice also includes collaborative work with classical composers, most recently contributing original text to the world premiere of Critical Mass, composed by Tarik O’Regan and performed in London with choral and orchestral accompaniment. Grounded in a tradition of literary activism and soulful inquiry, and shaped by writers such as June Jordan, Nikki Giovanni, and Walter Benton, Marcus approaches poetry as an invitation to listen closely, speak honestly, and imagine together.
Called by Lifescape “Southern California’s most inventive and accessible poet,” Charles Harper Webb has published 14 books of poetry with University of Wisconsin Press, BOA, University of Pittsburgh Press, and most recently, Old Gnu with Longleaf Press and The Elephant of Surprise (prose poems) with Moon Tide. His book of craft essays, A Million MFAs Are Not Enough, was published by Red Hen Press, which also published his novel Ursula Lake. Webb’s awards in poetry include the Morse Prize, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, the Felix Pollock Prize, the Benjamin Saltman Prize, and the Editor’s Choice Award from Longleaf Press. His poems have appeared in many distinguished journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, Paris Review, Iowa Review, Yale Review, Harvard Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Tin House, Poets of the New Century, Best American Poetry, and The Pushcart Prize. A former professional rock musician and psychotherapist, he is the editor of Stand Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology, and a recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award and a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation. He is a professor emeritus of English at California State University, Long Beach.
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Marcus Omari is an interdisciplinary artist, poet, and performer whose work lives at the intersection of language, community, and sound. A featured poet on Verses & Flow (TV One), he is the author of two chapbooks and has spent over a decade collaborating across poetry, music, and education. Through his arts initiative Poetic Reform Party, Marcus designs and leads literary programs that center on access, depth, and creative exchange. His work has taken him from classrooms and community spaces across California to international performances and workshops in the United Kingdom, France, and Indonesia. His practice also includes collaborative work with classical composers, most recently contributing original text to the world premiere of Critical Mass, composed by Tarik O’Regan and performed in London with choral and orchestral accompaniment. Grounded in a tradition of literary activism and soulful inquiry, and shaped by writers such as June Jordan, Nikki Giovanni, and Walter Benton, Marcus approaches poetry as an invitation to listen closely, speak honestly, and imagine together.
Called by Lifescape “Southern California’s most inventive and accessible poet,” Charles Harper Webb has published 14 books of poetry with University of Wisconsin Press, BOA, University of Pittsburgh Press, and most recently, Old Gnu with Longleaf Press and The Elephant of Surprise (prose poems) with Moon Tide. His book of craft essays, A Million MFAs Are Not Enough, was published by Red Hen Press, which also published his novel Ursula Lake. Webb’s awards in poetry include the Morse Prize, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, the Felix Pollock Prize, the Benjamin Saltman Prize, and the Editor’s Choice Award from Longleaf Press. His poems have appeared in many distinguished journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, Paris Review, Iowa Review, Yale Review, Harvard Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Tin House, Poets of the New Century, Best American Poetry, and The Pushcart Prize. A former professional rock musician and psychotherapist, he is the editor of Stand Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology, and a recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award and a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation. He is a professor emeritus of English at California State University, Long Beach.
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Upcoming Fourth Saturdays Poetry Readings at 2:00 PM unless otherwise noted.
Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Claremont Library is a free monthly poetry reading series organized by local poets Lucia Galloway Dick, Karen Greenbaum-Maya, Genevieve Kaplan, George Hammons and Chloe Martinez.
https://www.facebook.com/fourthsaturdayspoetry
Also, visit us on Facebook at Poets & Poetry in Claremont
https://www.facebook.com/groups/193631171279213
Would you be interested in reading your poetry at a Fourth Saturdays Poetry Reading?
Please apply at https://form.jotform.com/81575268800158 s
Note: blue links open in a new browser window.
This series is supported by the Friends of the Claremont Helen Renwick Library.
- June 27, 2026: Ron Koertge & Nancy Lynée Woo
- July 25, 2026: Naoko Fujimoto & TBD
- August 29, 2026: Anna Zumbahlen & Serena Chopra
- September 26, 2026: Maurya Simon & Adam O. Davis
- October 24, 2026: Jennifer K. Sweeney & Penelope Moffet
- November 28, 2026: Open Mic
Fourth Saturdays: Poetry at the Claremont Library is a free monthly poetry reading series organized by local poets Lucia Galloway Dick, Karen Greenbaum-Maya, Genevieve Kaplan, George Hammons and Chloe Martinez.
https://www.facebook.com/fourthsaturdayspoetry
Also, visit us on Facebook at Poets & Poetry in Claremont
https://www.facebook.com/groups/193631171279213
Would you be interested in reading your poetry at a Fourth Saturdays Poetry Reading?
Please apply at https://form.jotform.com/81575268800158 s
Note: blue links open in a new browser window.
This series is supported by the Friends of the Claremont Helen Renwick Library.