My wife and I went to the Stay Gallery for this month’s meeting of Poetry Matters. This is Lorine Parks on the left, the curator of Poetry Matters, introducing Rosalie Sciortino, the featured speaker of the evening. According to Stay Gallery, Sciortino is a virtual native of Downey, having arrived here with her family when she was just twenty days old. Her parents, who met and married in Colorado after immigrating separately from Sicily, settled into a farmhouse with acreage at the corner of what is now Paramount and Florence where the Chase Bank sits. At that time Paramount Blvd, known then as College, dead-ended at Florence, and vehicles were only able to turn east or west.

Sciortino read several poems from her book, “The Gift.” You can see several of her 22 paintings that are on display for the next week at the Stay Gallery.

It was standing room only for the presentation. I know because I was one of the standees. The audience was definitely enjoying all of the poetry presented this evening.

--Story and photo by Steve Mansell, DowneyDailyPhotos.com

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Published: Jan. 22, 2015 - Volume 13 - Issue 41