Rain Poetry 2022

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PO Box 804, Worcester, MA
01613
worcestercountypoetry.org
wcpaboard@yahoo.com
508-797-4770

Announcing the WCPA Call for Sidewalk Poems: “Rain Poetry: A Walk in the Woo 2022”

 

Due to the wild success of the inaugural Rain Poetry Event in 2021, the Worcester County Poetry Association is seeking short poems from Worcester residents for the second year of its Rain Poetry Project: A Walk in the Woo 2022.

The selected poems will be painted around the City of Worcester in August on the sidewalks at thirteen bus stops throughout the city’s districts. A map of the locations is posted on the WCPA website: worcestercountypoetry.org. The poems will be painted using Rainworks invisible spray, a paint that is only visible when wet. Please submit poems that speak to your experience as a resident of Worcester by June 30th, 2022.

 

To be considered for this project, submit up to 2 poems of max. 49 words including the name of the poet to rainpoems@worcestercountypoetry.org. Multilingual poems are encouraged. Full guidelines for entry can be found on our website.

A panel of five judges will select the poems in blind readings. Poets selected will receive an
honorarium of $20; selected poems will be announced by July 21st, 2022 per email; poems to be installed August 2022. These poets, as well as any honorable mentions will be invited to read their poems at a ceremony open to the public later in the fall.

About the Worcester County Poetry Association
The Worcester County Poetry Association (WCPA) was founded in 1971 with a threefold mission: celebrate the rich literary history and creative energy of Central Massachusetts through public readings, workshops, festivals, scholarly conferences, and other programs; support the publication of the literary journal, The Worcester Review; and collaborate with libraries, bookstores, colleges and universities, museums, churches, schools, community centers, businesses and a variety of cultural organizations to promote poetry events. The WCPA is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Not for Publication: For more information, contact
Rodger Martin, contest chairperson

Clemente Graduation: Best One Yet

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This year’s commencement ceremony, held for the first time at American Antiquarian Society, was especially joyful. It came after a year of unique challenges and unprecedented commitments for all of us. We sacrificed and stretched to keep one another safe, engaged, and almost entirely in person at the Worcester Art Museum. With Trinity Lutheran Church’s willingness to host our childcare program, we returned to the magic of gathering around the seminar table to discuss art, literature, history, philosophy, and critical ideas of race and identity. It was fitting we had a graduation unlike any before.
For a glimpse of the Clemente magic, please watch the video of our 2022 commencement ceremony ( https://youtu.be/BmC__uxjQAA ) to hear from our students as they celebrate what they accomplished individually and together. We know you will be inspired.
Before the students speak, there is a keynote from Jill Lepore (David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and staff writer at The New Yorker) and welcomes from Brian Boyles (Executive Director, Mass Humanities) and Rodger Martin (President, Worcester County Poetry Association).
We are currently recruiting for our summer class and next year’s full humanities course, which is entirely free to students and covers all expenses and childcare if needed. To donate to Clemente-Worcester to support these students click here: https://worcestercountypoetry.org/clemente-course-in-the-humanities/

Lend us a HAND

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The WCPA is looking for volunteers to help with our summer mailing!
When: Saturday June 4th at 2pm
Where: 38 Harlow St. (The Sprinkler Factory).
If you are able to stop by for a half hour or an hour, please contact me at irena@worcestercountypoetry.org so I may give you further instructions.

Cathedral Pines Getaway

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(Pictured above from left to right: Elizabeth Bacon, Rodger Martin, Brett Iarrobino, Katherine Gregoire, and Eve Rifkah)

 

The Rain Poetry Committee journeyed to the Cathedral in the Pines this weekend in Rindge, New Hampshire to attend the dedication ceremony of three new poetry plaques.

 

WCPA President Rodger Martin opened the ceremonies, and WCPA VP Susan Roney O’Brien served as judge and read three of her own poems.

 

In attendance were Brett Iarrobino, Eve Rifkah, Elizabeth Bacon, and Katherine Gregoire.

 

(Pictured above: Susan Roney O’Brien during her reading)

Poets At Large: Free Spoken Word/Poetry Event

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The second in a series of free, spoken word/poetry readings will be held on May 22 from 2-4 p.m. at the Community Plaza, 60 Douglas Road, Whitinsville, MA from 2-4 p.m. The event will relocate to the Singh Center theater, if rain. An affiliation of regional poets will perform in this series which is split between the Whitinsville location and Roseland Park, 205 Roseland Park Road in Woodstock, CT. All performances include an open mic segment. Sign-ups are at the event; 5-minute limit. Featured on May 22 are authors Gerald Yelle, Loretta (Rhett) Watts and Joshua M. Stewart. Featured Open Mic reader will be Tianna Mercier.

 

Yelle is a member of the Florence Poets Society and lives in Amherst.   His books include The Holyoke Diaries, from FutureCycle Press, and Mark My Word and the New World Order, from Pedestrian Press. He will be releasing a new book in 2023 from FutureCycle Press.

 

Watts has published poems in numerous journals including Sojourners Magazine, Spoon River Review, The Mud Chronicles, and The Worcester Review, Canary. She won the Connecticut Poetry Award in 2013. Her chapbook is No Innocent Eye from Seven Kitchen Press, and her books are Willing Suspension (Antrim House) and The Braiding (Kelsay Books). She facilitates writing and Soul Collage workshops in CT and MA.

 

Stewart is the author of Break Every String and The Bastard Children of Dharma Bums. His poems have appeared in the Massachusetts Review, Salamander, Plainsongs, Brilliant Corners, and many other publications. His third poetry collection, Love Something, will be published by Main Street Rag.

 

All remaining readings in the series will be from 2-4 p.m. and will be on June 5 (Roseland), June 26 (Singh), July 17 (Roseland), September 11 (Roseland), and October 23 (Singh).

 

Sponsors of the Roseland Park readings include Charter Oak Federal Credit Union, Linemaster Switch, Atty Mark Brouillard, Ashford Xtra Mart, CR Premier Properties, WHZ Strategic Wealth Advisors, Bank Hometown & EA Custom Millwork of Northbridge, MA. Sponsors of the Singh Center events include Webster First Bank, EA Custom Millwork and ValleyCast/Open Sky Community Services. Email karen.warinsky@gmail.com with questions.

 

 

Upcoming Clemente Course & Workshop

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In the coming months, Clemente Worcester will offer three opportunities for you to learn more about Storytelling for Social Change. If you have questions, contact Director of Admissions Jude Samuels at juryvybz79@gmail.com. Applications must be submitted for the workshop by Wednesday, May 18 and for the course by Wednesday June 1. Registration is limited to 20 for each opportunity, so if you are interested be sure to register now.

A Civil War Version of Black Lives Matter:
The Social Justice Storytelling of Worcester’s Sarah and Lucy Chase
5:30-7:00 Wednesday, May 25 at the American Antiquarian Society.

During the Civil War broke out, Lucy and Sarah Chase left their home to set up schools in the South for formerly enslaved men, women, and children. Like all of us in Clemente, the Chase sisters believed that education is the best foundation for life as a free citizen of a democracy. But the two women were also promoting social change by writing letters to friends in the north illustrating the hard work, intelligence, and moral courage of the students of the Freemen’s Schools. Those stories directly contradicted the stereotyped characterization of African-Americans as lazy, unintelligent, and amoral that appeared in cartoons, illustrations, and articles of Northern newspapers.

In this one-evening workshop led by Assumption University Professor Lucia Knoles, you will have the chance to learn about racist stereotypes and anti-racist storytelling in the nineteenth century by working directly with letters, newspapers, and graphic arts in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society. The final portion of the workshop will be devoted to a discussion of how we can use the social justice storytelling of the Chase sisters as a way of understanding both contemporary racist stereotypes and the people who practice storytelling for social change today.

Storytelling for Social Change: A Five-Session Clemente Summer Course (no credits)
5:30 – 7:00 Wednesdays: June 29, July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27 (Mix of In-Person and Zoom)

In this five-session summer course, you will learn how to tell the kinds of stories that will make you a more effective advocate for yourselves, your families, your communities, the organizations you belong to, and the causes you believe in. Together, we’ll collaborate in writing several profiles of members of the Clemente community that can later be used in social media campaigns to educate the public about the challenges you face, the values you live by, and the many ways you work to make this a better world. (Note: you do not have to write about your own life in this course. Instead, we’ll be using transcripts of interviews with Clemente alums as the material for our stories.)

The workshop will be led by Lucia Knoles, Professor of English at Assumption University and a charter member of the Worcester Clemente Advisory Board. Media Consultant and former WBUR Executive Producer Iris Adler will serve as a guest advisor and editor.

Paintings Can Tell Stories for Change Too!
A Visit to the Obamas’ Portrait Tour

Date and details will be forthcoming. Stay tuned so you can be included in this field trip.

Why did Barack and Michelle Obama choose African-American artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald to paint their official portraits? What stories were the Obamas—and the painters–trying to tell about themselves as the first couple of color to occupy the White House? You be the judge when we visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to take a close look at these remarkable paintings.

 

 

Announcing the 2022 annual Bishop and Knight Poetry Contest

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Congratulations to the winners of our college contests:
The Elizabeth Bishop Manuscript Prize
Winner: Kim Fetherston from College of the Holy Cross
Honorable mention: Tommy Sheehan of Worcester State University
and The Etheridge Knight Performance Prize
Winner: Tommy Sheehan of Worcester State University
You can watch the livestream by following this link: