Rain Poetry 2023 Contest Winners

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The Worcester County Poetry Association is pleased to announce the 2023 Rain Poets and their poems!

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”

The selected poems will be painted around the City of Worcester in September 2023 on the sidewalks, primarily at bus stops distributed equitably throughout the city’s districts. The poems will be painted using Rainworks invisible spray, a paint that is only visible when the sidewalks are wet. This year’s locations will be posted on our website, on Facebook, and our Instagram account, so please consult these resources when organizing your rainy-day scavenger hunt to try to visit all thirteen before the sun dries the pavement.

We encouraged submissions from poets of all ages, walks of life, and in any language, that spoke to the poets’ experience of Worcester. The poems were selected in blind readings by a panel of judges that included Worcester Poet Laureate Oliver de la Paz, WCPA Board Member Katherine Gregoire, Clemente Graduate Vanessa Gonzalez-Oyola, 2021 Rain Poet Brett Iarrobino, and Clark Student Nati Botero. The 2023 Rain Poets 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.

For more information, contact Kate Gregoire, contest chairperson

Poet Laureate Oliver de la Paz Reimagines Rain Poetry

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Oliver de la Paz, Worcester Poet Laureate

Civic Project Proposal: The Rain Poetry Project Project

Summary

The Rain Poetry project was started by the Worcester County Poetry Association in 2021.It brought thirteen poems, written by diverse poets of Worcester, to bus stops throughout the city.

Poems were painted on the concrete using stencils and Rain Works’ Rain Paint, a paint that is only visible when wet. The poems lasted for 2-4 months in their locations. The selected poets were then brought together for a community reading with friends and family.

This coming year will be the third year the project has been in place. While I am not affiliated directly with the Worcester County Poetry Association, I hope, as Poet Laureate, to assist them in broadening the appeal of poetry throughout Worcester County in conjunction with efforts through the City of Worcester’s Culture Office.

My goals for the project are threefold: 1) to use my platform as Worcester Poet Laureate to increase the participation of the schools and the community in this project, 2) to create more civic participation in this project, making it a legacy event, and pairing the creation and revelation of the Rain Poems in an annual public ceremony that is open to the public with the support of local organizations and businesses, 3) finally, to create an archive of this project through photographs and videos of the creation and display of the works that will be available via the web and social media, but also as a print anthology for participants.

Timeline:

  • August 2023: Begin promotion of Rain Poetry to Schedule Poet Laureate readings in the schools and direct solicitation of works from teachers.
    • Contact the press and begin community outreach to garner excitement for the next cycle of Rain Poetry and launch the application of the 2023 Rain Poetry poems
  • November-December 2023: Selection of Rain Poems to be Judged by Poets Laureate—former PL Juan Matos and Youth Poet Laureate Adael Mejia as well as members of the Worcester County Poetry Association and a member of the Worcester Cultural Coalition
  • January 2024: Announcement of Winners to Promote winners via local media sources
  • February 2024: Materials Preparation to Create stencils, scout locations, prepare paint to Hire Photographer and Videographer to archive the event
  • Late March 2024: Installation to Paint the stenciled poems at the chosen locations via community participation
  • April 2024: Public Celebration of the Poems to Celebrate the installation of the poems at their paint sites
    • Begin construction of the print anthology for the poets
  • May 2024: Final Recognition of Selected Poets at the JMAC to Public community event & recognition at Jean McDonough Arts Center to Include an edited video of the activity to provide each selected poet with a copy of a print anthology

WCPA would like to feature YOUR poems & artwork on our Instagram

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Are you a local artist or poet? We want to hear from you! The WCPA is growing and looking to feature exceptional talent in and around our fair city. If you have a poem or a work of visual art that you’d like featured on our Instagram @worcestercountypoetry, please let us know. You can fill out the form below, and our new program manager, Irena, will contact you with the details. We cannot wait to celebrate the good, creative work of Worcester County.

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Mapping Worcester in Poetry Making a Splash in the Community

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Beth Sweeney’s ‘Mapping Worcester in Poetry’ is getting some well-deserved media coverage. The first story is by Margaret Smith of the T&G:

“The next time you’re out and about in Worcester, you may well be following in the footsteps of Stanley Kunitz, Elizabeth Bishop, or Frank O’Hara. A new project aims to capture the places poets have trodden and take residents and visitors alike with them, with self-guided walking and driving tours of locations important in the lives of poets who have left their mark.

The project also includes a poetry competition, seeking poems about places in the city, both past and present, and a series of tours highlighting locations in the lives of poets born in or spent significant time in the city.” Continue reading

The second story is Holy Cross Magazine Spring Edition Volume 57 Issue 2 on Page 24. As soon as a digital copy is available, we will update our website with a link, but paper copies can be found on Holy Cross Campus.

Richard Fox, local poet, local legend.

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Richard Fox is a local poet who has been active in Worcester County for many years. The WCPA is having a tribute Zoom reading for Fox on Tuesday, June 13th, at 7 p.m.

Worcester Magazine recently published its own wonderful tribute to Fox HERE

Our wonderful President receives MASSHumanities Governor’s Award

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We are happy to announce the recipients of the 2023 Governor’s Awards in the Humanities. The foundation will honor four individuals for their commitments to education, civil and human rights, community development and philanthropy on September 28 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

Presented in partnership with Governor Maura Healey, Mass Humanities will recognize Margaret Burnham, Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, Kumble Subbaswamy and Elizabeth Bacon for their contributions to the humanities and improving public life in Massachusetts.

“Massachusetts is home to a thriving humanities sector that makes our state more enlightened, innovative and inclusive,” said Governor Healey. “I’m proud to present the Governor’s Awards in the Humanities to these four leaders in recognition of the exceptional contributions they have made in education, history, community development, philanthropy, civil rights and more. I’m also grateful to the Mass Humanities Board for their partnership and the incredible work they do to expand opportunities across our state.”

About the Awardees

  • Margaret Burnham, of Boston, is an internationally recognized expert on civil and human rights, comparative constitutional rights, and international criminal law. As a University Distinguished Professor of Law at Northeastern University, she is the founder and director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern and the first African American Judge in Massachusetts. Burnham is being honored for her dedication to exploring history, illuminating truth and confronting injustice in order to protect civil and human rights locally, nationally and internationally.
  • Vanessa Calderón-Rosado, of Boston, is the CEO of Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción, Boston. She has had a long and multifaceted career demonstrating a commitment to the humanities within education, community development, and philanthropy in Boston and across the state. Calderón-Rosado is being honored for her work that actively promotes Latinx culture and builds community through the arts in Boston’s South End and for her contributions to shaping a more equitable philanthropic ecosystem in Massachusetts.
  • Kumble Subbaswamy, of Amherst, is the retiring Chancellor of UMass Amherst and a committed public education advocate. Subbaswamy is being honored for his commitment to education and transformative work at UMass Amherst. His work building a campus culture centered on social responsibility and inclusiveness are essential elements in the humanities.
  • Elizabeth Bacon, of Worcester, is the coordinator of the Clemente Course in the Humanities, Worcester. She is also serving as President for the Worcester County Poetry Association. Bacon has been a long-time leader, on-the-ground coordinator, and advocate in the humanities. Her extensive contributions to the humanities includes her work at This is MYCity! and Worcester’s Blackstone Canal Horse and Wagon Tours. Bacon is being honored for her excellence in using history as a tool for community development and economic empowerment and tirelessly advocating for the humanities in her home city and across the state.

“Massachusetts is a better place because of the contributions made by this year’s Governor’s Awards honorees,” said Brian Boyles, Executive Director of Mass Humanities. “They continue to break barriers, elevate the voices of their communities, and contribute to our understanding of the Commonwealth and the nation. We thank Governor Healey for partnering with us this year to celebrate these transformational humanists.”

WPL is issuing a call for Poetry Features

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WPL is looking to publish the poem of any local-ish poet if that poem is suitable for general audiences (no x-rated works, please), and of reasonable length, (100 lines & under)

 

Each poem is published on their Poem of the Month tab of their Poet’s Place webpage, which can be found here.   Each poem stays on that page for about a month, give or take.

 

All interested poets can email  Melody Friedenthal mfriedenthal@mywpl.org.