DAN LEWIS FELLOWSHIP LAUNCHING TODAY - Worcester County Poetry Association

The WCPA is proud to announce THE Dan Lewis FELLOWSHIP

Manifesto

by Dan Lewis

This is exactly what I mean. In the middle

of the half-acre dump, piled with broken bricks, old tires,

and the street sweeper’s waste, two bright sunflowers

stand beatified in the slant light of morning.

We must over and over again bear witness

to the wonder of this world. After the bone-rich

ash is shoveled from the ovens, after the scarred witnesses

have told their terrible tales, after the weapons have been gathered

and burned, someone must still have voice to sing. This

is the only ground we have to stand on, this

scorched and defiled garden. It is here we must raise

the cry until our throats tear with the fierce hymn of praise.

Many #bluemoons ago when I was a college first-year I attended a poetry reading at the Java Hut on Main Street. Amongst the many locals who read, an older man read this poem and it connected with me in a way that felt singular. When I joined the #WCPA a couple of years ago, I assumed I’d never met the great Dan Lewis, co-founder and poet about town. Then I came across this poem of his, a poem that I carried with me both figuratively and literally, on a sheaf of paper that I pasted on the walls of my many college dorms and post college rooms. This connection makes me especially proud to announce the official launching of our Dan Lewis fellowship to help local writers accomplish their dreams. Stay tuned for our next post for details.

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