A Night of Poetry, Community, and Open Mic!

Robert Jones pastored churches in Pennsylvania, Kansas, and for twenty years in Guerneville and Monte Rio. For fifty years, his column Keeping the Faith appeared in West County newspapers, winning two statewide awards. He  started writing poems in grade school, but when he came to the Russian River, in  1966, he began again with what he set down between sermons, pastoral visits,  and other duties. His work has appeared in The Christian Century, The Princeton  Seminary Bulletin, and in local magazines and journals. His first poetry  collection, West of Santa Rosa, published in 2025, reflects his love for his lower Russian River home and the offbeat deeds and words of his friends and neighbors.

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Shawna L. Swetech is a retired hospital nurse, poet, artist and integrative health practitioner. Her poetry appears in Rattle, The Healing Muse, Pulse, the  American Journal of Nursing and other journals and anthologies. Her work ranges from the personal to the universal, the body to the body politic, drawing  from the deep wells of human nature and the natural world. Shawna is a co-host  for the monthly reading series, Rivertown Poets. She is the author of a newly released poetry collection based on her 35 year career as a registered nurse, entitled “Standing in Their Fire.” (Kelsay Books, 2026) ShawnaSwetech.com

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