Archives for August 2020

A fresh poetry anthology caught our attention this week. In April this year, New Hampshire Poet Laureate Alexandria Peary hosted virtual writing workshops to celebrate a very different National Poetry Month than originally planned. An outgrowth of those workshops was COVID Spring from Hobblebush Books. Fifty-four poets share their work on loss, loneliness, and love. It is a snapshot of the early days of the pandemic through the lens of poets and poetry.

Hobblebush Books will donate $2 for every copy sold to the New Hampshire Food Bank.

 

 

We stand with Black lives and express our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. The events of the past weeks have indelibly made clear that there is systemic abuse and violence toward minority communities all across this nation by members of law enforcement and people of privilege. And at least for these times, “Silence is complicity.” I apologize and take full responsibility for the WCPA’s slow response to this critical moment for social justice in Worcester County and our country.

The WCPA does not nor has it ever supported abuse by law enforcement or other groups against any community, including Black, Indigenous & People of Color, or LGBTQIA+ people. Over the next few weeks, the WCPA Board and Executive Committee will examine whether overt or systematic racism exists within the WCPA and how to respond. We will also look more closely at how the organization can better reach into our communities to affect positive change to these same issues.

Since we are a poetry organization, I offer this link to Jericho Brown’s poem published recently on the New York Times website: ‘Say Thank You Say I’m Sorry’.

Rodger Martin, President
Worcester County Poetry Association

The Worcester Arts Council​ (WAC) has extended the Funding Priorities Survey deadline, so it now ends September 7. Your input on arts & culture in the Worcester community directly impacts how the Worcester Arts Council allocates their grant funds for projects in the city for 2021.

Please take 5 minutes to fill out the survey.

By the way, submitting the survey makes you eligible to win a set of Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 ($399 value).

Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 WCPA Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize

First Place – Lynn Frederiksen, of Framingham, for the poem “Flower”

Second Place – Patrick Nolan, of Auburn, for a poem starting with “To A”

Third Place – Paul Szlosek, of Worcester, for the poem “It is these Odd Shops I Like”

A Winners’ Reading, which will include a reading by the contest judge, Doug Holder, will be held in September. The details for that event are pending COVID-19 guidelines and protocols.