Poets @ Large: Women’s Day Spoken Word/Poetry Rading

The public is invited to a spoken word/poetry reading to celebrate International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8 th organized by Poets at Large. The free event will be held at The Rose Room, 4 E. Main St., Webster, MA from 1-3 p.m. Featured readers will be Fred Gerhard, Meg Smith and Karen Warinsky. There will be an open mic as well. Donations are welcome.

Fred Gerhard is the author of Drifting to “Hello” (Khotso Publishing, 2023), and Lilacs Still Bloom in Ashburnham (Local Gems Poetry Press, 2023). His poems have been published in Amethyst Review, BlazeVOX, Entropy Magazine, Friends Journal, Pif Magazine, POETiCA REViEW, and other magazines and anthologies. He is one of the 2023 winners of Poetry in the Pines in New Hampshire, is the 2024 poetry winner for Art on the Trails in Massachusetts and serves as an editor for Quabbin Quills and for Smoky Quartz. Gerhard is one of the founders of the New Dawn Writers’ Group in Ashburnham where he runs poetry workshops and open mics. Gerhard will also read some poems written by his mother, Rena Gerhard. Mrs. Gerhard was a published poet who wrote for much of her life, composed hymns and counterpoint musical pieces and taught Logic at the Penn State Campus in Altoona, PA.

Meg Smith is a first-generation Irish-American poet living in Lowell, Mass. Her poetry has been published widely including in The Cafe Review, Muddy River Review, and Lowell Review. She currently serves as content editor for Worcester Magazine, and as science columnist for the Telegram & Gazette. She is producer of Poe in Lowell, celebrating Edgar Allan Poe’s visits to Lowell. She welcomes visits to megsmithwriter.com.

Karen Warinsky is the author of: Gold in Autumn (2020) and Sunrise Ruby (2022), both from Human Error Publishing, Dining with War (2023 Alien Buddha Press), and her new release Beauty & Ashes (Kelsay Books 2025), and she has published widely in numerous journals and lit magazines. Her poem “Mirage” won first place in the 2024 Ekphrastic Poetry Trust, she is a Best of the Net nominee and a former finalist of the Montreal International Poetry Contest. Warinsky coordinates spoken word events in MA and CT under the name Poets at Large, in various venues, including The Vanilla Bean Café in Pomfret, CT. She is retired from careers in media and teaching.

Woodstock based Poets at Large is a project of Windham Arts. All events are ADA compliant and are recommended for ages 16 and up. Contact karen.warinsky@gmail.com to sign up for the open mic; 5-minute max as time allows.