Jacqui Au kicked off the reading with a mixture of levity and gravity.

Woodward Line Poetry, a monthly poetry series at the Scarab Club, held its regular meeting Wednesday, Nov. 20, with a curated collection of work from local ladies, Jacqui Au, Destiny Dorozan and Laura Beyer.

Au led off the evening with a series of short, intermittently hilarious pieces that touched on themes of nature, femininity, race and linguistics. Her themes were coincidentally picked up and carried by Dorozan, the evening’s second reader, who shared some longer pieces, some of which employed the voices of characters that she has developed and deployed through some of her chapbooks. Beyer closed out the night with a presentation that had a multimedia component.

Royal Oak poet Destiny Dorozan read pieces that wrestled with feminine identity and recounted family history.

The reading was well attended and surrounded by the Scarab Club’s 100^th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition, featuring more than 60 pieces in various media in the main gallery space.

In addition to the next regular Woodward Line event, which will take place on Dec. 18 and feature poets Carly Sachs and native Kalamazoo resident-turned-Chicagoan Matt Mullins, the Scarab Club will feature a special presentation during Noel Night on Dec. 7 You can stay up to date on Woodward Line Poetry, a Knight Arts grantee, through its Facebook page.

The Scarab Club: 217 Farnsworth St., Detroit; 313-831-1250; www.scarabclub.org Laura Beyer prepares for her reading.

The Gold Medal Exhibition will be on display at the Scarab Club through Dec. 28.