Read and discuss a book of poems with others who appreciate poetry and like to take a closer look at form, structure, and craft. Discussions will be lively and interactive, and participants will have a chance to share thoughts and ask questions. Come prepared to read your favorite poems, lines, and passages from the book aloud. Participants can request a library copy of the book during the registration process.

March's selection is The Shared World by Vievee Francis.  Sandra Cross will lead the discussion.

The latest collection from award-winning poet Vievee Francis, The Shared World imagines the ideas ideals, and spaces of the Black woman. The book delves into inherited memories and restrictions between families, lovers, and strangers and the perception and inconvenient truth of Black women as mothers—with or without children. Francis challenges how Black women are often dismissed while expected to be nurturing. This raw assemblage of poetic narratives stares down the oppressors from within and writes a new language in the art of taking back the body and the memory. These poetic narratives are brutal in their lyrical blows but tender with the bruised history left behind. “You can't stop this / song," she writes. “More hands than yours have closed / around my throat." Francis's lyric gifts are fully displayed as she probes self-discovery, history, intimacy, and violence. Her voice encompasses humor and gravity, enigma and revelation.

Sandra Cross lives between the Pacific Ocean and a redwood forested mountain in Stinson Beach. After retiring from her legal career she has returned to her love of reading and writing poetry and is also busy keeping deer, foxes, and skunks out of her garden. She holds an MFA from Saint Mary's College and serves as chairperson of the Marin Poetry Center.