“A Walk in the Woo 2022” Announcing Selected Poets and Honorable Mentions
Sponsored by Bay State Bank & Cornerstone Bank
Rain Poetry: A Walk in the Woo 2022
Poems for Rain.Works
The Worcester County Poetry Association is pleased to announce the thirteen poems selected from their 2022 Call for Poems: “A Walk in the Woo” and our six honorable mentions. The poems were successfully painted around the city of Worcester August 13th, 2022. A map with the locations by poem is found below.
(1)
Location: City Hall Bus Stop
Poet: Ashley Wonder
Rainstorms flooding Main Street recollections.
I always think God is giving us a chance to get our House in order.
We don’t need savage winds, pouring drops, broken limbs as reminder
we should all be kinder.
Hold in our memory the scent of water, to be called Home.
(2 )
Location: Printer’s Building Entrance
Poet: Maia Campbell
Title: City of Mine
Rounding the corner,
eying structures mangled, neglected,
waiting for care;
Hand by the window to apprehend
depreciated factories and shuttered diners,
to pocket them, for safekeeping;
Knowing I cannot,
my hand slides downward, smudging,
blurring the outside;
Though pained, loving this city of mine.
(3)
Location: Coes Pond Bus Stop
Poet: Irena Kaçi
Title: Petrichor
An olfactory kind of melancholy
Humans and doleful dromedaries
Even from the millennia distance
the bone grief memory persists
of the antediluvian world
we lost once at the end of the
flood. Now each raindrop smells
like the world drowning.
(4)
Location: Newton Square Park Bus Stop
Poet: Kristen Schuler Weisberg
Newton Square and Hill
We each see what we look for
Rain hydrates and drowns
The dichotomy
Birds singing while cars drive by
Sounds like home to me
(5)
Location: Cristoforo Columbo Park Bus Stop
Poet: John Gaumond
Title: Shrewsbury Street
Two stone lions
guard the entrance
to Cristoforo Colombo Park.
As a boy, I would
put aside my fear
to mount a lion’s back.
There I sat, like a prince,
almost touching
fireworks
in the summer sky.
(6)
Location: Indian Lake Community Garden
Poet: David Hallock
Oh! Worcester!
My! Worcester!
A Native Land
Quinsigamond to Quaboag
and Beyond
Watataic, Wachusett, Blackstone
and Betwixt
Rejoice!
This fertile Acre
Tended by Forebears
Now Take Care
And build upon this Heritage
Brick by Brick
(7)
Location: Belmont Hill / Green Park Bus Stop
Poet: Tony Fulginiti
Title: Worcester Schools: Snow Days
My brother and I
Lean back in our toboggan,
Grip the side ropes, and
Push over the edge
Of Steep Gage on Bell Hill.
The flyer’s runners
Scrapes ice,
Sparks of fire
Flicker into the blue snow
At dusk over East Park.
(8)
Location: Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center Bus Stop on Tacoma St.
Poet: Tarique Cooper
Title: Dear Worcester
Lushious in Spring,
Valiantly dressed white at year’s end.
Grateful immigrants embraced,
safer, hopeful, new beginnings.
Connecting,
beauty and warm Worcester Pride.
Your beauty, sounds and smells delight,
with fantastic synergy,
Oh, beautiful city, continue shining;
the beating heart of the Commonwealth.
(9)
Location: Broad Meadow Brook Bus Stop
Poet: Judith Ferrara
Title: Moreland Hill
Charlie, the mason,
built a brick house
for his family,
grew vegetables for them
and the critters. “There’s enough to share.”
Charlie made a bluebird house.
They fluttered and nested.
Here’s how we remember
Charlie at our house: blue feathers
red-brown chests, bright black eyes.
(10)
Location: Friendly House Entrance
Poet: Fadi Yousef
Hamilton Hill
Where father grew his beard
On the hill
Between the churches the stoplight
Danced in winter’s chill
And the wind blew the blizzard
Down the back of the spotted dog
Where the stools in Husson’s spa
Rotated the years
That blew back
Hair of hills.
(11)
Location: Bus Stop Near Girls Inc.
Poet: Rucely Diaz
Wustah, city of mine
down by the boulevard
we rhine and dine
In the streets of commonwealth
the vines in heart of England New,
a girl of 22 spread her wings and flew.
She lived in woo, where we went through
Park Avenue
shedding tears of gratitude.
(12)
Location: Crompton Collective Bus Stop
Poet: William Sowka
Title: The Green Street Bridge
A rainy day
The Green Street Bridge
Metal worn
Rides the kids
Dripping sweating
Smoking breath A dollar please A little heft
Don’t ask why
Remember that
Chicory sprouts
From sidewalk cracks
(13)
Location: University Park Bus Stop
Poet: Tom Ewart
Title: My First Day
A jaywalking ticket
on downtown Main,
a busride ascension
to a college hill,
bridge steel striking down
a future neighbor,
my new girlfriend
descending the stairs,
the awakened pangs
of second love. – Tom Ewart
Rain Poetry: A Walk in the Woo 2022 Honorable Mentions
(1)
Poet: Gertrude Halstead
Title: [this sloping meadow]
this sloping meadow
so Worcester
its rise and fall
of rolling hills
clusters of blooming
neighborhoods
celebrating
changing seasons
buttercups
clover pinks
blackeyed susans
vetch white daisies
mustard ragweed
purple asters
poison ivy
bordering the meadow
tall trees
at dusk a deer
(2)
Poet: Joe Fusco Jr.
Title: Trifecta
Swerving to avoid a pothole,
I run over an orange cone,
Then a cop-on-detail pulls me over and cites me for reckless driving.
I love Summer on Plantation Street in Worcester!
(3)
Poet: William Sowka
Title: Over the Seven Hills
Je vous sens dans la douce brise
à travers les feuilles
le soleil levant
la ville d’argent
trottoirs bondés
café du matin
Je vous sens
dans les nuages au-dessus
La pluie qui tombe
Le vol des oiseaux
Over the Seven Hills
Que nous avons vécu
Translation:
I feel you in the gentle breeze
Waving across the leaves
The rising sun
The silver city
Crowded sidewalks
Morning coffee
I see you
in in the clouds above
The falling rain
The flight of birds
Over the seven hills
Where we lived
(4)
Poet: Maia Campbell
Title: The Diner
I push myself through a narrow door
into a wooden booth
so old I fear the splinters.
These benches hold secrets,
and these walls, wisdom.
I, young, curious,
pry for such secrets,
though foolishly venturing
at this time of night.
The diner holds its charm.
(5)
Poet: Mary Ellen Tisdell
Title: [dismissing my mistress]
dismissing my mistress
leaving my love
I’ll be back shortly
and come with a dove
a ring to fit her beautiful hand
a lovely gift from an ugly man
you chewed me out
and kissed me again
never met a girl like Worcester
no matter where i’ve been
(6)
Poet: Tarique Cooper
Title: Out in Woosta
Hills surround,
majestic nature and storied history.
Peace and quiet on Newton,
exercise abound at Vernon.
Enlightening and free,
the joys of being.
Canal District wandering,
brightened by WooSox cheers.
Wormtown in abundance,culture, food and fancy humans.
Preeminent New England lifestyle.
Rain Poets from “A Walk in the Woo 2021”
#1 – City Hall Bus Stop, Main Street
D Zeutas-Broer
Front Street
When it rains,
the ancestral footprints
are almost visible
like wet shadows,
Up from dirt paths and
cobblestones
under this
new, smooth concrete.
Almost audible.
Barely the bare feet
and memories of moccasins.
Faint echoes of those who
moved quickly
and made noise.
#2 – Printer’s Building
Vidya Prabhu
RAIN
We are all like drops carried by the wind,
From waters near and far –
Forming clouds,
Raining and flowing down Plantation Street,
And somewhere along we will share our stories,
Labor and love,
And be drops again of
Dew on hydrangeas,
Or mist on apples.
#3 – University Park Bench
Stephen Siddle
Downtown diners steam,
bodegas percolate.
An engine revs to life.
Sirens bloom and fade.
Morning, and Worcester
is on the move.
#4 – Coes Pond Park Bus Stop
Paul Szlosek
Miracles
Rain anoints this slab of concrete.
In winter, chunks of frozen snow
Will skitter across its surface
Propelled by unwitting feet.
Now you’re standing here
Waiting for a bus, barely noticing
The sidewalk if you weren’t
Unexpectedly reading this poem—
Ah, the miracles of poetry!
#5- Newton Square Bus Stop at Intervale St.
Brett Iarrobino
mothership
the city wraps me in its pavement for a gravelly embrace
like a doting parent, she doesn’t seem to mind the drinks,
the blood, the tears, the secrets I’ve been
careless to spill onto her gorgeous obsidian gown
#6 – Cristoforo Columbus Park Bus Stop
Linda McCarthy
Reigning down
Oh the centuries of footsteps
every memory, every deed.
The immigrants in search of home,
the patriots who bleed.
Worcester with its walkways
from Dewey Street to Main…
our history comes to life
with the reigning of the rain.
#7 – Lake Park Bus Stop
Elijah Johnson
Heart City
To the city of seven hills
The heart of where culture spills
From universities to brick mills
Hard working city that pays the bills
And loving people with no ill wills.
#8 Bell Pond bus Stop
Marianna Islam
My contributions are too heavy for me to carry
So let me gently rest them at our feet
Because if I am part of the whole
I can touch everything
And we have more ground to stand on
#9 Tacoma Street bus Stop
Danny Fantom
Mi Pueblo
Cuando era nino…
These hills were so massive, intimidante.
Cuando era hombre…
These hills stored my memories, buenos y malos.
Cuando era padre…
These hills taught me patience, la edad viril y de confianza.
Y cuando me voy…
Yo quiero morir aqui, en mi Pueblo.
#10 – Broad Meadow Brook Bus Stop
Janet Shainheit
On my street
no one chops
wood against the frost.
No one taps
maple trees for sap.
On my street
trees give music.
Morning voices
tumble from the leaves.
We do not see
our birds.
Trees sing.
#11 Friendly House
Jury Vybz
Jamaican born and bred
Fleeing a hate crime
To Worcester I fled
Pride flag waving my first memory
Then I knew this seven hills Massachusetts city welcomed me
Cold and frigid in winter
But the citizens heart are warm summer
Years later I’m a proud citizen of Wuzsta
#12 – Girl’s Inc. Bus Stop
Eve Rifkah
when the dish cracks
pieces held in hand
crumbs fall between
three pieces held
in her hands
she hears her friend
say life too short
to fret broken
glass
#13 – Crompton Park, Corner of Canton St.
Mark A. Thomas aka Mumblez
open minded
speak freely, speak openly,
speak calmly, respectfully
speak mindful, speak true,
speak for me and for you,
speak to what we know, and consider what don’t
speak for unsung heroes, the young,
the new and the old
speak now open and awake
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
D Zeutas-Broer
Murals
This place is full of ideas.
Showing its true colors
sometimes
On buildings.
Building bridges on brick walls.
Building on itself.
3D sometimes
Imaginations manifested
big time.
Uniting audiences
sometimes.
Pow! Wow!
Zoey Ailm Al-aHyaa’
Mudarris Freddo Tsunami
(Teacher a Cold Tsunami)
Afternoon is to prepare
a long visit for nightfall.
My neighbor, she will visit;
My friend, she will dance;
My teacher, she will sing;
The acquaintance, she will play.
You and I will dress the part
to welcome them all back to
Earth tonight!
Mark A. Thomas aka
message in a puddle
rain creates rhythmic sound mind body air comes down movement healing
no longer concealing the word droplets on the ground know your worth
you are profound.
Gennifer Dorgan
Welcome to Tatnuck
Tatnuck: a name in Nipmuc language,
an old stump still sprouting shoots,
though Englishman’s Foot proliferates
all over Pleasant Street lawns.
Hostas mingle with hydrangeas,
Japanese maples with Acer saccharum,
and coneflower offers its healing hand
from the earth to each generation
Frances LaMar Brzezicki
Walk In The Woo
On days
Rainy and gray
Connect with our city in
Enjoyable ways.
Stroll, strut, sing, shine
That is your choice.
Everyone is welcome
Residents here have a voice!
Ari Charbonneau
Que Lastima
The sharks in suits,
Swim down Main Street.
While she sits sadly,
Beneath the bridge on Green.
Homeless as a cold,
Coney Island hotdog
without a bun.
She hobbles to my car,
And I hand her a blanket.
“They stole my cane,”
she explains.
Que Lastima!
Dan Lewis (deceased)
The Cat
crosses the
ice on quick
feet. Oblivious
of Sandburg or
Williams, it
hurries across the small
cove then stops,
angles off to the left,
searching for dry
landfall, sniffs air and
darts finally into
the brush, leaving
no mark on landscape
or literature.
Planned Poem Locations
- City Hall Bus Stop, Main Street
- Printer’s Building entrance
- University Park Bench on Main Street
- Coes Pond Park Bus Stop
- Newton Square Bus Stop at Intervale
- Cristoforo Columbus Park Bus Stop
- Lake Park Bus Stop
- Bell Pond Bus Stop
- Tacoma Street Bus Stop
- Broad Meadow Brook Bus Stop, Massasoit Road
- Friendly House
- Girl’s Inc. Bus Stop
- Crompton Park – corner of Canton Street
Judging team: Elizabeth Bacon, Coordinator of Clemente Course in the Humanities; Katherine Gregiore, WCPA Board Member; Juan Matos, Poet Laureate, City of Worcester; Walter Molina, Clemente Alumnus
Other members of the committee: Rodger Martin, President, WCPA; Karen Sharpe, Development, WPI