Archives for January 2022

On Thursday, February 17 at 7:30 PM in the Curtis Performance Hall, the Assumption University HumanArts Series presents the 2022 Michael True Memorial Reading, featuring poet Jonathan Blake. Jonathan has been a fixture of the Worcester County poetry scene for more than three decades. His voice, contemplative and liturgical, provides a needed antidote to the pell-mell world in which we are so often embroiled. Michael True was a professor in Assumption’s English Department for nearly four decades and was a co-founder of the Worcester County Poetry Association, which has been active for 50 years now, bringing poets and poetry to schools and venues across Worcester County, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the United States, and Internationally.

Each year on Robert Burns’ birthday (January 25), Scots around the world pay tribute to the bard and his words that continue to inspire and challenge us all today.

Today at 2pm EST (7pm in Scotland), tune in to a “Big Burns Supper”, a free, virtual Burns Night celebration full of music, comedy, poetry, performance, and prose. This year’s event is described as a “cabaret-esque rollercoaster around the world. From KT Tunstall in LA to Dervish performing from lockdown in Dublin, this year’s Big Burns Supper takes Burns Night global once again.”

Eddi Reader’s Big Burns Supper is taking place live on Facebook. Visit https://www.facebook.com/events/3177152909275106 starting at 2:00 pm Eastern.

Renowned poet, painter, memoirist, and short story writer, Worcester’s own Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) rests within Hope Cemetery. On what would be her 111th birthday, we gather by her grave to read her poetry and summon the scenes so skillfully painted in her verse. Come celebrate with the WCPA and Beth Sweeney, director of the new Mapping Worcester in Poetry Project, on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, at 12:00pm.

Please wear appropriate attire, footwear, and a mask.

To find Bishop’s grave in Hope Cemetery at 119 Webster Street:
– Enter the cemetery’s main gate and drive along Curtis Avenue
– Take your fourth left onto Beech Street
– Proceed for one block until you see two trees next to each other on the left side of the road
– Bishop’s grave lies behind the first tree
– If you like you can use these coordinates: 42°14’08.7″N 71°49’43.2″W

If you have a bit of time that day you might wish to use this new downloadable, 20-minute do-it-yourself driving tour which will lead you past five Bishop sites on Main Street in Worcester to end at her grave in Hope Cemetery. Download the PDF at https://worcestercountypoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Bishop-DIY-Driving-Tour.pdf.

Congratulations Adael Mejia, the newly named City of Worcester Youth Poet Laureate!

Along with the Worcester Poet Laureate, the Youth Poet Laureate serves as an official ambassador to the City’s historic and vibrant cultures of poetry and literature, both using their positions to promote local writers and the transformative qualities of poetry and the written word.

Mejia, a Burncoat High graduate, will begin his term as Youth Poet Laureate in 2022. Mejia assumes the role after the two-year term of the City and Commonwealth’s first Youth Poet Laureate, Amina Mohammed, came to an end on Dec. 31, 2021. Worcester Poet Laureate Juan Matos, whose own term continues through 2022, will serve as a mentor and guide to Meija.

Read more about Adael in the official City of Worcester press release or in this profile in Worcester Magazine. You can also follow the new youth poet laureate on Facebook.