Rain Poetry: A Walk in the Woo

 

 

 “A Walk in the Woo 2023” Announcing Selected Poets and Honorable Mentions

Sponsored by Bay State Bank & Cornerstone Bank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain Poetry: A Walk in the Woo 2023

Poems for Rain.Works

The Worcester County Poetry Association is pleased to announce the thirteen poems selected from their 2023 Call for Poems: “A Walk in the Woo” and our six honorable mentions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(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?

 

---

 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.

 

 

 

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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