Tara Rico connects people with themselves — and the community.

And she does so through the power of words.

Rico is the City of Manteca’s official poet laureate.

That puts her at the vanguard of the Manteca effort to grow the city’s arts and cultural offerings whether it is manning a street fair booth with activities to introduce people to poetry or organizing monthly gatherings of writers at the House of Mokha.

“First, you need to get people past their fear of reading and writing,” Rico said.

While part of her mission is to get young and old alike to give poetry a chance as something they can explore, it is also to foster the development of literacy in a manner that brings people together as a community.

The City Council appointed position is funded by the Library & Literacy Foundation for San Joaquin.

Rico works with the Manteca Recreation & Community Services to create opportunities for residents to engage with others in the pursuit of poetry as a recreational passion.

Recreation Supervisor Tyler Ashbaugh noted part of Rico’s effort is “activating” businesses such as the House of Mokha where people can come together to share their literacy pursuits.

Her efforts include a wide variety of endeavors such as the upcoming second annual Manteca film festival on Sunday, April 12, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Manteca Senior Center, 295 Cherry Lane.

It involves short film submissions based around original poetry.

Last year, 20 submissions originating from Manteca to Maine and West Hollywood to Latvia were shown at the film festival.

The screenings anchor a day that involves Manteca Art Guild members displaying their work, writing tables, and more.

“It’s a chance for people to see what poetry can be,” Rico said.

The film festival might seem like an odd fit for poetry to some, but Rico noted poetry is all round us such as in music.

The film festival is the outgrowth of experiences she had working in the film industry while in Southern California as well as similar ventures in other communities.

Thinking a film festival for poetry might be odd in the eyes of at least a few, could be derived from the fact some believe poetry is a rigid endeavor with hard fast rules. As Rico noted, nothing is farther from that being the case.

“There are no rules,” she said, even though there are forms of poetry that are fairly strict in structure such as haikus and sonnets or rely heavily on rhythm and meter.

Rico noted poetry is rooted in self-expression.

As a teen, poetry helped her navigate rough patches when she was kicked out of school and ended up spending time at Peterson Hall.

It was through her foray into poetry that she was able to “learn” about herself and move forward.

That move forward for the former Manteca High and Calla High student included going on to Delta and Modesto Junior College and then graduating from California State University Dominguez Hills in Carson. She then spent 10 years teaching English in Los Angeles high schools before moving back to Manteca.

She is now a substitute high school English teacher for the Manteca Unified School District.

Rico is also the founder of Poeticas Institute that advances the art of words.

Its goal is to develop existing and new community spaces for creative literary, performing, and culinary arts workshops, learning spaces, and events that celebrate and highlight the diverse history, voices, expressions, and experiences of California’s Central Valley.

She credits her ability to pivot to poetry during challenging times in her life to the love of English instilled in her by her mother Tara Enos who was a longtime Lincoln School kindergarten teacher.

Rico was in charge of the poet’s corner at last year’s Great Valley Bookfest at The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley.

She also is involved in improv and other programs that bring writers together in the Modesto-Stockton-Tracy area.

One of her official duties is writing a poem about Manteca every year.

Her most recent was an ode of sorts to the Manteca she grew up in — Hob Nob Bob’s, The Giving Tree, The Pumpkin Patch, the Manteca Waterslides and such — and also how she felt that she didn’t quite belong.

Information about the Poeticas Institute can be accessed at poeticasinstitute.org.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com