Silent and engrossed a pensive audience listened to the emotional poems of three poets, Mary Sagala Verleur, Carol Cellucci and Albert Salinas at “The Read.”

Wednesday night’s reading was a culminating reading opportunity for students of English Professor Sandra Hunter’s bimonthly poetry workshop held at Moorpark College.

Topics varied from Verleur’s eco-friendly verses about a melancholy bird with tar covered feet to Cellucci’s passionate account of an oil-rig-working past lover to pieces selected from Salinas’ comically erotic “37 Poems about Women I Haven’t Slept With.”

Hunter, director of the poetry workshops, who also introduced each poet in her Oxford English accent, holds these poetry readings to provide a public outlet for her students’ work.

“I want to encourage everyone to be open to read”, Hunter said.

Featured poet Salinas warned the audience to leave if they offended easily before he even opened his folder of poems. In one set of verses Salinas described a man sitting on a bus bench thinking how lonely he must be to be aroused by the female dog humping his leg.

After Salinas read “I wear skin colored speedos on the beach” one woman shouted “Yes!” excited by the erotic imagery Salinas had provided.

Verleur read more inspirational poems including “Hope,” in the spirit of the president-elect’s presidential campaign.

“I wrote a poem about hope because Barack Obama was selected this year,” she said. “We all need to have hope. We all need to walk around with hope tucked in our pockets.”

Cellucci wrote about ex-lovers in a poem called “Loop,” a piece pondering what went wrong.

“What could you have done better, what did you do right and on and on. So, this was my way of examining that loop,” Cellucci explained.

Cellucci has also taught at Barnsdall Art Center in Hollywood for eight years.

Held on the third floor of the Moorpark College Campus Library “Poetry Read” is a free, mind-opening experience for everyone.

F. Albert Salinas an award winning poet performs at the poetry reading. (Barb Lanier)

Mary Sagala Verleur shares her poetry at ‘The Read.’ (Barb Lanier)

Carol Cellucci, a professor at Moorpark College, recites some of her poems. (Barb Lanier)