These poems were painted on Worcester’s sidewalks using paint that is only visible when wet Friday-Sunday, September 15th – 17th, 2023. Click here to see a map of the locations.
2023 Rain Poets, in no particular order:
- Evan Plante with “Staying Power”
- Gertrude Malesi with “[Hatua za Wwenyeji]” (Swahili for “A gait that belongs”)
- Jan Davini with “[The city beats in my heart]”
- Aidan Brueckner with “Phantom Limb Syndrome”
- Mark Wagner with “Flying Out of Worcester”
- Laura DiCaronimo with “Hot Drops”
- Chloe Mascitelli with “[The world feels lightest in Worcester]”
- John Zywar with “Indian Lake”
- Daniel Gregoire with “Worcester Time”
- Lisa Knight with “Rain Magic”
- Paul Szlosek with “[When Worcester was Worchester]”
- David Ginsburg with “Forever Worcester”
- Emily Haley with “History”
2023 Rain Poetry Honorable Mentions
- John Zywar with “Interlude”
- David Ginsburg with “Footsteps”
Sponsored by Bay State Bank & Cornerstone Bank
(1)
Location: Belmont Hill/ Green Park Bus Stop
Poet: Evan Plante
Title: Staying Power
Being born somewhere is not nothing
But staying is everything.
Bishop left Worcester for Brazil
Olson for Gloucester
Kunitz for Provincetown
But I stayed home to write this poem.
Now, they were notable. I am not.
But I’m a denizen…
Which also is not nothing.
(2 )
Location: Crompton Collective, Corner of Endicott and Harding
Poet: Gertrude Malesi
Title: (Swahili) Hatua za Mwenyeji
Hatua za upendo zadekeza mpendwa WOO
Bikira aliye fichwa vilimani saba
Yake ni kilele na mafanikio
Lakini mwenyeji natembea nimesongwa
Nashangazwa wanavyojipigania
Chini ya madaraja wametulia
Wanakula makombo ya baridi kali
Josho na vijoto vyawaramba
Pengine Masika yataosha shida zao
wa mavuno wakusanyika wamelemewa.
Unyevu uwatakase.
Title: (English) A Gait That Belongs
A gait that belongs.
Caresses beloved WOO’s warmth stride
Maidenly veiled in seven hills.
Hers is peaks of enormity.
But I stride crushed.
Wondering as they creep.
Under bridges
Masticating the frost leftovers
Sticky sweats identify them.
Downpours decontaminate their fight.
Falling gathers to concede.
Damp purify them.
(3)
Location: Main St., University Park Bus Stop (Main St. and Crystal St. Bus Stop)
Poet: Jan Davini
The city beats in my heart from a
distance of time and place.
I close my eyes to feel its rhythm,
to hear its symphony of people,
to smell the food of those here
and gone.
Worcester’s heart encompasses
mine, forever my home.
(4)
Location: Newton Square Park Bus Stop (Pleasant St. and Coolidge Rd.)
Poet: Aidan Brueckner
Title: Phantom Limb Syndrome
Whistling alleys rise
to slanted nomad meet
Where dust devils stagger
plastered, hounding his wake
Wrought from memories bittersweet
and borne on scouring headwinds
exhaled by the fringe tree
which blooms at the crossroads
sighing its fragrant greetings
If only they could be bottled
If only you would take them
(5)
Location: Girls Inc (Providence and Spurr St)
Poet: Laura DiCaronimo
Title: Hot Drops
The street outside my office is a sauna:
free spa treatments en route to my car!
Pores cleared with sweat, hair curled:
gently pulled from the restraints of my
butterfly clips.
The click of high heels is dulled through puddles
but I am finally heading home.
(6)
Location: Coes Park (Mill St. and Ball St. Bus Stop)
Poet: Chloe Mascitelli
The world feels lightest in Worcester
Everything comes to life
The people feel it too
You can see it in the way they smile.
When I tell the sun world
“Worcester is akin to paradise”
I am judged
But I don’t care
Anyone who’s been here knows the truth.
(7)
Location: YMCA, Shore Dr. Bus Stop
Poet: John Zywar
Title: Indian Lake
Shadows shrink
sun beats down
high noon
on Indian Lake
Runners joggers walkers
assemble from buildings
of tired red brick
break from toil’s day
Stride for stride
side by side
some walk
some run
Away from chairs
binding there
muscles stretch
escapement time
(8)
Location: City Hall Bus Stop
Poet: Daniel Gregoire
Title: Worcester Time
Time is something,
Measured by clocks,
It has no reality;
Time is soft,
So we bend it,
Machine it,
Grind it down and test it,
Paint it yellow,
Put a smiley face on it,
One grain at a time.
So, why am I running
Late?
(9)
Location: Cristoforo Colombo Park Bus Stop
Poet: Lisa Knight
Title: Rain Magic
Rain soaks the Woo
But if you scrunch up, head down,
You miss its magic!
Rain will renew, relieve, refresh…
It tells secrets
And dreams up rainbows.
(10)
Location: Lincoln St at McDonalds Bus Stop
Poet: Paul Szlosek
When Worcester was “Worchester”,
We withstood whirling
& wintery windstorms.
When Worcester was “Wormtown”,
We were wild & weird,
Waddling while we walked.
When Worcester was “Woo”,
We were woke & wacky,
Wide-eyed wanderers.
When Worcester was “Worcester”,
We were who & where we were:
We were Worcester!
(11)
Location: Grafton St. Elementary (Grafton St. and Fay St. Bus Stop)
Poet: David Ginsburg
Title: Forever Worcester
Those kids at the bus stop are grown now
Remember when that was Edie’s house?
All the dogs too
We walk a little slower but we walk every day
Observing the rhythms of the neighborhood
Every step on these streets
Is an imprint for eternity
(12)
Location: Park Ave. and Highland St. Bus Stop
Poet: Emily Haley
Title: History
Sitting on a bench, I look around.
The wrought iron pulls my gaze.
Instantly I see winter.
Bundled in my snowsuit as a child,
Running, playing, and wanting to stay.
Only my muddled footprints were left
to freeze, crack, and eventually melt
on the top of Elm Park bridge.
(13)
Location: Broadmeadow Brook Bus Stop
Poet: Mark Wagner
Title: Flying Out of Worcester
One could say the sky is atoms
Attracting, repulsing
Resisting, embracing
Assembling, fading
Then how do we explain the darkness?
The physical world is fog of the breath
Of the immaculate heart
In a burst of song.
Rain Poetry: A Walk in the Woo 2022 Honorable Mentions
(1)
Poet: John Zywar
Title: Interlude
Sound of feet
on paved concrete
roots bulge
sidewalks high
Counting breaths
Some walk alone
lost in a thought
a single tone
Others squawk
in ragged packs
move past the Y
ignore passersby
As time contends
walking ends
all must surely
find their tribe
(2)
Poet: David Ginsburg
Title: Footsteps
Every step is a year
Thousands of miles
Hundreds of seasons
Countless faces too
So many dogs!
The neighborhood is a constant
But the elements are volatile
Enjoy this walk, this moment, this day
YOU, reading this right now
This is your city.
What will you do with it?
2023 Judges: Oliver de la Paz, Poet Laureate, City of Worcester; Vanessa Gonzalez-Oyola, Clemente Alumnus; Natalia Botero, Clark Student; and Katherine Gregoire, WCPA Board Member.
Rain Poetry Committee Members include Katherine Gregoire, D Zeutas-Broer, Eve Rifkah, Elijah Johnson, Brett Iarrobino, Elizabeth Bacon, and Rodger Martin