Another year, another wonderful Clemente Graduation. Please click HERE for more views from the joyous occasion!
and HERE for the video footage. (passcode =n1F1U4!)
Extra! Extra! Stanley Kunitz Medal Award is Announced:
Paul Szlosek Chosen for 2023 Stanley Kunitz Medal
Long admired as the inventor of poetry forms and champion of obscure ones, Worcester poet Paul Szlosek has been selected as the 2023 Stanley Kunitz Medal recipient. Szlosek is a poet with extraordinary gifts who began writing poetry around 1967 at the age of The Stanley Kunitz Medal originated with a bequest to the Worcester County Poetry Association from the estate of former Poet Laureate of the United States and Worcester native Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006). Szlosek’s will be the ninth recipient of the medal, which is bestowed annually on a poet with a strong Worcester County connection who best exemplifies Kunitz’s lifelong commitment to poetry by teaching poetry, mentoring poets, speaking poetry, publishing poetry, and supporting organizations which nurture poetry.
PAUL SZLOSEK is a poet with extraordinary gifts who began writing poetry around 1967 at the age of five. His mother Pauline collected his poems in a small booklet entitled “Paul’s Poet Tree.” These beginning efforts have been nourished for decades, as he matured into one of the most influential poets in Worcester County. His poems have been featured in regional, national, and international print and online journals and anthologies. Paul’s poetry has been recognized with numerous awards and honorable mentions, including the Jacob Knight Award for Poetry in 2001. Paul served on the board of the Worcester County Poetry Association for over a decade, where he was co-chair of the committee which created the WCPA’s occasional publication, The Issue – he was also its very first editor. He is well-known in the Worcester poetry community as a fanatical practitioner and promoter of obscure poetry forms, as well as the creator of his own forms, such as the streetbeatina, the sing-sang song, and the ziggurat, all of which he shares with his readers on his blog, Paul’s Poetry Playground. A tradition he began during his First Night Worcester program in association with the WCPA combined poetry, magic, and mathematics, after which he organized and edited dozens of group poems. He has also conducted over two dozen in-depth interviews with poets (local, national, and international) that appear in his monthly online poetry journal, which he compiled and edited in the form of transcripts of imaginary poetry readings called “The International Imaginarium For Word Verse” (formerly known as “The Virtual Poetorium”). He is a frequent workshop leader and participant and visiting poet, not only at schools such as the Floral Street School in Shrewsbury, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Worcester State University, but at the Peabody Essex Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Worcester Art Museum. As a co-founder and host of the Poets Parlor and Poetorium at Starlite reading and open mic series, Paul continues to inspire countless poets to engage in the magic of poetry.
Also honored with nominations this year were poets Rodger Martin and Sharon A. Harmon. Paul Szlosek will receive his medal at a ceremony presented by the Worcester County Poetry Association at the Worcester Historical Museum on Thursday, July 27 th from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. There is limited parking at the museum, with additional parking on the street and in the Pearl/Elm Street Garage. Visit Our Website for details.
ATTACHED IMAGE/Paul Szlosek Contact: Judith Ferrara, Chairperson, Stanley Kunitz Medal Committee Judy@PaletteAndPen.com, 508-757-0524
O’Hara Prize 2023 Winners Announcement
Announcing the 2023 O’Hara Prize Results
1st Place: Rebecca Cross with “They Do This and Call It Mercy“
2nd Place: John Garton with “Vernon“
3rd Place: Irena Kaçi with “Onions“
Honorable Mention: Claire Schaffer Duffy with “Let Her Dance“
A HUGE thank you to all of our wonderful participants! We got so many contributions and read some truly fantastic poems.
A big thank you to our judge Karen Skolfield for her thoughtful consideration!
and a heartfelt Congratulations to our 2023 O’Hara Prize Winners! We hope to see everyone at the O’Hara reading in September.
Rain Poetry blooms again on Worcester Sidewalks
thanks to April showers & the JMAC Reading.
We had our annual Rain Poetry Reading this past Sunday at the JMAC @ 20 Franklin St. Our poets wooed and wowed the crowds with some of the best Worcester loving material yet. And the positively glowing Kate Gregoire was MC extraordinaire, with a little help from her baby bundle Grace. A wonderful time was had by all. Catch a glimpse below, and see you at the next one. 😉
Tom Ewart reads “My First Day” located @ University Park
Kristen Schuler Weisberg reads her poem @ Newton Square Bus Stop
David Hallock reads his poem brought to life @ Indian Lake Community Garden
John Gaumond reading his poem “Shrewsbury Street” imprinted @ Cristoforo Colombo Park Bus Stop (bonus guest stars in the photo are Kate & Grace)
photo credit: Oliver de la Paz
FINAL WEEK for the Frank O’Hara Prize Submissions and FINAL WEEK for Kunitz Medal Nominations
Deadline for our Frank O’Hara Poetry Prize as well as Stanley Kunitz Medal Nominations are fast approaching.
For the Frank O’Hara Prize: If you have a poem (or string of poems) that you’d like considered for the prize, please submit by March 31st.
To submit to the O’Hara Prize, please click here.
For the Stanley Kunitz Medal Nominations: If you know someone who would be a great nominee, please consider submitting by March 31st.
To nominate someone for the Kunitz Medal, please email our Judy at judy@paletteandpen.com
If you miss this deadline, April will indeed be the cruelest month.
National Baseball Poetry Festival: Poetry Contest
Coming to A Board Room Near YOU: Poet-pourri
Kunitz Medal Call for Nominations
Know someone who’s passionate about poetry and is regularly working towards bringing access to the city? Nominate your favorite poetry activist! See below for details!
Stanley Kunitz Medal Award
On behalf of the Stanley Kunitz bequest to the Worcester County Poetry Association, the Medal committee is pleased to announce the opening of nominations for the 2023 Stanley Kunitz Medal, the ninth to be awarded since 2015.
The medal is presented annually to a person with a strong Worcester County (Massachusetts) connection who best exemplifies Stanley Kunitz’s lifelong commitment to poetry and poets. The award recognizes an individual’s total commitment to poetry as Kunitz lived it: teaching poetry, mentoring poets, speaking poetry, publishing poetry, and supporting organizations which nurture poetry.
Letters of nomination should provide detailed support explaining how the nominee nurtured poetry as defined above. Because the yearly award is singular and cannot honor all worthy applicants, past nominations may be reactivated for 2023 once nominators notify the committee chair to keep the nomination active.
Nominations should be mailed to The Stanley Kunitz Medal, c/o Worcester County Poetry Association, P.O. Box 804, Worcester, MA 01613 between December 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. The award announcement will be made in the late spring of 2023, followed by a ceremony coinciding with Kunitz’s birthday the last week of July at the Worcester Historical Museum. Please visit www.worcestercountypoetry.org Programs/Stanley Kunitz Medal for more details.
The 2023 Stanley Kunitz Medal committee wishes to recognize and thank the following volunteers who have served to bestow this honor in the past: Rodger Martin, chair (2013-2021), Kent Ljungquist (2017-2021), Karen Sharpe (2019-2021), Robert Steele (2015-2016), and E. Robert Cronin (2015-2018).
Congratulations to Oliver de la Paz, Worcester’s New Poet Laureate!
[Photo credit: Meredith Pugh]
City manager Batista announced the results of this year’s search for a poet laureate. The winner is Oliver de la Paz.
Oliver de la Paz is the Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA for 2023-2025. He is the author and editor of seven books: Names Above Houses, Furious Lullaby, Requiem for the Orchard, Post Subject: A Fable, and The Boy in the Labyrinth, a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry. His newest work, The Diaspora Sonnets, is forthcoming from Liveright Press in 2023. With Stacey Lynn Brown he co-edited A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry. Oliver serves as the co-chair of the Kundiman advisory board. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Poetry,
American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. He has received grants from the NEA, NYFA, the Artist’s Trust, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and has been awarded multiple Pushcart Prizes. He teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at PLU.
Here is a write up done by Worcester Magazine about de la Paz, as well as a link to some of his poems.
Announcing the Frank O’Hara Prize Contest Launch
WCPA’s annual contest the Frank O’Hara Prize will open on January 1st 2023. Please head over to our [Contest Page] to read about rules and regulations.
A Tale of Two Cities: Second Anthology Published
A Tale of Two Cities: Worcester, MA & Worcester, England just published their second anthology of call and response poems between the two cities. You can find the paperback on Amazon.
Poet Town at Worcester Magazine is back!
Submit your poems to Poet Town, Worcester Magazine’s new and continued space for poetry.
To submit email to Margaret Smith msmith@wickedlocal.com with ‘Poet Town’ in the subject line.
Here are the guidelines:
1. 30 lines or fewer per poem
2. no irregular formatting (flush left only, please)
3. include a short bio, one or two sentences; if you like you can include a website/social media
4. diverse topics/themes welcome, but please no vulgar language, hate, violence, etc.
5. at this time, publication is print-only, due to formatting limitations online. But please only send poems for which you currently have rights
6. one-time rights; rights go back to you, but if published elsewhere, please acknowledge appearance in Worcester Magazine
7. feel free to send up to five poems; if we accept multiple poems, they’ll roll out with an eye toward a robust rotation of different poets and voices
8. we aim to respond about acceptance as quickly as possible, to let you know which poems we’ll use.
Black Women Poets Respond to the Brown Family Archive
Wonderful Worcester Black History Project & Antiquarian Society event
Join us as Worcester poets share their responses inspired by material from the Brown Family Collections, one of the earliest and largest intact nineteenth-century Black family’s libraries in America. The collections center around William and Martha Ann Brown, who were married in Worcester in 1850, and their son, Charles F. Brown. William Brown’s ancestors, the Moore family, and their descendants, the Goldsberry family, created and maintained an archive over several generations and have entrusted it to the American Antiquarian Society to be made available to aid the work of researchers, community members, artists, and poets for generations to come.
During this hybrid event, poets Ashley Wonder, Catherine Reed, and Xaulanda Thorpe will discuss their experience working with AAS archive material and items in the Brown Family Collections from which they drew inspiration. Both in-person and virtual attendees of this program will have the opportunity to view items used by the poets in addition to other material included in the collections such as books, family papers and correspondence, portraits, and photographs.
This hybrid program will be held in person at Antiquarian Hall and livestreamed to a virtual audience on Zoom. Closed captioning will be available for virtual attendees. Doors open at 6:30pm.
Deborah Hall is CEO of YWCA Central MA. She is also the founder of Worcester Black History Project and a member of the Advisory Committee for the Worcester Cultural Plan. Hall has over 30 years of experience working with survivors of domestic violence and addressing the intersection of race, gender, and community violence. She is a social justice advocate, an art lover, and has served in leadership positions for several programs throughout MA, RI, and MO addressing issues of homelessness, violence, and substance abuse.
Kimberly Toney is the Coordinating Curator for Native American and Indigenous Collections at Brown University Library. During her tenure at AAS as Head of Readers’ Services and Director of Indigenous Initiatives, Kimberly worked with the Brown Family Collection. She created a video for the Worcester Black History Project on William Brown and authored an article for Past Is Present on Martha Ann Brown.
Ashely Wonder has been writing and performing Spoken Word for over a decade with dynamic passion all over Massachusetts. She teaches workshops to various age groups hoping to inspire audiences around her to know that healing and liberation is possible.
Rev. Dr. Catherine H. Reed is the author of four books of poetry. Crossing Boundaries, Between Midnight and Dawn, Sankofa, and Fire Goes Out Without Wood. She was the former Associate Pastor of John Street Baptist Church and a retired Chaplain of The College of The Holy Cross.
Xaulanda Thorpe is a spoken word poet from Worcester, Massachusetts. She graduated from Boston University with a degree in biological anthropology in January 2020. During her time at BU, when she was not examining primate samples, she wrote short stories for Charcoal Magazine, a student-led publication. In 2021, Xaulanda’s poem was chosen for the African Burial Ground National Monument’s Still I Rise tribute to Maya Angelou.
WCPA Office Book and Furniture give-away
After five years at the Sprinkler Factory, the WCPA has moved our offices. We’ll share more about our new office space in the next newsletter; however, today, we are looking for help from our members and lovers of poetry in exiting our old office.
We’re not asking you to help us move; everything we could take with us is already at its new home. No, we’ve been blessed with an abundance of books and furniture we don’t have room for as we downsize. We’d love for it to become part of your poetry library or collection.
Come to the old WCPA office at the Sprinkler Factory (38 Harlow Street, Worcester) on Saturday, 11/12/2022, and Saturday, 11/19/2022, for a “yard sale.” The doors will be open from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on both days. Take some of our furniture to a new home, pick up a book or five for your winter reading, or just come to say “hello.”
We have a PDF inventory of what was available as of this past Sunday at this link. Have a question? Drop an email to wcpaboard@yahoo.com, and we’ll do our best to answer you.
Clark University Poetry Reading: Poets and Writers Reading Series
New Call for Submissions from WSU
Frank O’Hara Winner’s Reading
On Sunday September 25th, the WCPA held the Frank O’Hara Prize Winners’ Reading at First Unitarian Church in downtown Worcester. Here are a few pictures from the event, courtesy of our resident photographer John Gaumond.
(Jennifer Freed, Winner of the 2022 Frank O’Hara Prize)
(Usman Hameedi, contest judge)
(Usman Hameedi, and Jennifer Freed)
(The winners and the judge)
Stockmal Reading with Martha Collins
The WCPA hosted the annual Stockmal reading on September 22, 2022 and it was a rousing success. We were fortunate enough to feature Martha Collins. Below are a few well chosen pictures taken by our resident photographer John Gaumond.
Apply To Be Worcester New Poet Laureate
Acting City Manager Eric Batista, in collaboration with the City Council and Cultural Development Division, is pleased to announce the nomination process for the City of Worcester’s next Poet Laureate.
We are extremely grateful to the current Worcester Poet Laureate, Juan Matos, who has served our community over the course of his 3 year tenure through a variety of community appearances and programs; sessions with local youth; and mentorship of the Worcester Youth Poet Laureates – Amina Mohammed (2020-2021) and Adael Mejia (2022-2023).
Along with the Worcester Youth Poet Laureate, the Worcester Poet Laureate serves as an official ambassador to Worcester’s historic and vibrant cultures of poetry and literary arts. Both Poets Laureate use their positions to share the transformative qualities of poetry and the written word, to celebrate and amplify the city’s great writers, and to help shape the next generation of literary enthusiasts. In addition to sharing their own poetry and creating new works during their term, the Worcester Poet Laureate also serves as a mentor to the Worcester Youth Poet Laureate. The Poet Laureate will serve a three year term, from January, 2023 through December, 2025.
The next Worcester Poet Laureate’s term will begin Jan. 1, 2023. The deadline to apply or nominate has now been postponed to October 31, 2022 at 5PM EST. More on the City of Worcester Poets Laureate program, including guidelines and a link to the current application, can be found at WorcesterMA.gov/Cultural-
All interested in applying or nominating a qualified candidate are encouraged to join a Poet Laureate Application Workshop Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 5:30 p.m. Attendees will have a walkthrough of the application process and can ask questions of Cultural Development staff and current Worcester Poet Laureate Juan Matos. Register for this Zoom workshop at: https://tinyurl.com/
Call for Volunteers!
Announcing Rain Poetry Winners and Honorable Mentions
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.
(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: 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.
2022 Judges: Juan Matos, Poet Laureate, City of Worcester; Adael Majea, Youth Poet Laureate, City of Worcester; Eve Rifkah, 2021 Kunitz Medal winning poet; Vanessa Gonzalez-Oyola, Clemente Alumnus, and Katherine Gregoire, WCPA Board Member
Rain Poetry Committee Members inc.: Katherine Gregoire, D Zeutas-Broer, Eve Rifkah, Elijah Johnson, Brett Iarrobino, Elizabeth Bacon, and Rodger Martin
Worcester Magazine: Laura Menides
Laura Menides was a beloved member of our poetry community. Worcester Magazine did a great write up about her contribution to, and passion for, poetry. You can read the article right here.
In Memoriam: Laura Menides
It is with great sadness that the Worcester County Poetry Association has learned of the loss of one of its iconic members, Laura Jehn Menides, scholar, poet, and past president of the WCPA. She initiated over a quarter of a century many of the programs that cemented the WCPA’s legacy as a major cultural institution in Central Massachusetts.
She was active in the Elizabeth Bishop Society and was instrumental in a number of conferences which featured Bishop scholars from all over the world, such as Thomas Travisano, who visited Worcester and provided insights into Bishop’s work. Laura Menides was the spark that began the listing of homes and locations important to nationally known Worcester poets like Frank O’Hara, whose home is now listed as a literary landmark. Her many years as an English professor at WPI provided the basis for collaborations which helped the WCPA bring poets like Stanley Kunitz back to the city for readings.
The WCPA would not be where it is today without her tireless, voluntary efforts to promote poetry in Central Massachusetts.
New Vintage Worcester Anthology
Featuring the work of 80s Worcester poets in the NOH Place Artists’ Cooperative of Worcester. The anthology includes poems from seventeen poets and is edited by AJ Juarez, Julie Murkette & Stephen Campiglio.
The anthology was produced by Lost Valley Press, an Imprint of Satya House Publications. It is available for pre-order on Bookshop.org or ask your local bookseller if they can get you a copy. Also available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Check it out. Give it. Savor it. Donate it. Collect a piece of Worcester literary history.
Learn more about the NOH Place Artists Collective in this archive article from 2020 in Worcester Magazine. Additional information here, and here.
STANELY KUNITZ MEDAL CEREMONY
Come join the Worcester County Poetry Association as they award the 8 th Stanley Kunitz Medal to poet Tony Brown. The honor originated with a bequest to the WCPA from the estate of
celebrated poet Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006). Tony Brown is a remarkable and gifted poet who
has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to poetry, thereby emulating the spirit and energy of
Worcester native, Stanley Kunitz.
WHEN: Thursday, July 28 th from 6:30-8:30 PM
WHERE: Worcester Historical Museum, 30 Elm Street, Worcester, MA
PLEASE NOTE: Please check the museum’s website for masking requirements. There is limited
parking behind the museum, with additional on-street parking and in the Pearl/Elm Street
Garage.
Announcing the Winners of the 2022 WCPA Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize
Jennifer Freed of Holden, Massachusetts, has won the 2022 Frank O’Hara Prize. The O’Hara Prize, awarded annually by the Worcester County Poetry Association (WCPA), was established in 1973. Freed’s poem “Kangaroos in Kharkiv” was selected by contest judge Usman Hameedi from the 89 submissions by 34 entrants.
Jennifer L. Freed is the author of When Light Shifts (Kelsay, 2022), a memoir-in-poems about the aftermath of her mother’s cerebral hemorrhage, and of a chapbook, These Hands Still Holding, a finalist in the 2013 New Women’s Voices Competition (Finishing Line Press, 2014). She was awarded the 2020 Samuel Washington Allen Prize for a long poem or poem-sequence (New England Poetry Club), has been a finalist for the Frank O’Hara prize multiple times and has received nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Orison Anthology. She leads adult education programs online and in-person, and lives in Holden, Massachusetts.
Four additional winners were selected by Usman Hameedi.
Second Place – Lis Beasley of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, for “The Father as a Magician”
Third Place – Cheryl Bonin of Sutton, Massachusetts, for “Burnt”
Honorable Mention – Glenn D’Alessio of West Brookfield, Massachusetts, for “A Lobotomy”
Honorable Mention – Dennis Rhodes of Naples, Florida, for “Question”
The winning poems will be published in the next edition of The Worcester Review, the nationally recognized journal of the WCPA. The winners also receive a cash award. The WCPA will invite all the winners to read their work at the Winners’ Ceremony and Reading on Sunday, September 25, 2022, at 3:00 p.m.
The Winners’ Reading will be held at the First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester. Contest judge Usman Hameedi will be our featured reader that afternoon.
Usman Hameedi is a Pakistani-American scientist, poet, and educator. He also serves on Mass Poetry’s Board of Directors. He earned his MS in Biomedical Sciences from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. During his graduate studies, he did additional work in medical humanities and volunteered in geriatric care at Mount Sinai Hospital. Neuroscience and oncology are his primary areas of scientific interest and expertise. Since 2008, he has competed in and coached for collegiate, national, and international level poetry slams. He was featured on The Huffington Post, Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine, and The Story Collider: Storytelling for Scientists podcast. His first full-length collection is forthcoming in 2023 and will be published by Button Poetry.
The poetry contest was renamed the Frank O’Hara Prize in 2009 and continues to be generously supported as a tribute to the late poet Frank O’Hara by the O’Hara family.
Rain Poetry 2022
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
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
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://
RAIN POETRY DEADLINE
WCPA‘s “Rain Poetry: A Walk in the Woo” returns!
Submit your poem to rainpoems@
New Art and Culture Grants
Spam calls from the WCPA phone number
We’ve learned that the WCPA phone number is being used to call people for spam/scam purposes. No one from the WCPA will ever call and ask for personal information.
We are working with our phone provider to try to resolve this issue. Please accept our sincere apologies if you have been impacted by a spam call from our number.
Lend us a HAND
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.
A Book Discussion with Author Jennifer Freed
*Zoom link will be made available upon registration. Register by email: galefreelibrary@gmail.com or by phone at 508 210 5569
Cathedral Pines Getaway
(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)
10 Years of Soul-Lit Celebration
Poets At Large: Free Spoken Word/Poetry Event
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
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.
Clemente Worcester Grad on CT NPR
Susi Ryan, Clemente Worcester Class of 2020 gave a wonderful interview for CT NPR. You can listen to it here.
Announcing the 2022 annual Bishop and Knight Poetry Contest
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:
Tony Brown Chosen for Kunitz Medal
Proclaimed a “Slam Poet Legend” by Poetry Slam International, Worcester poet Tony Brown has been selected as the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal recipient.
Brown is widely known throughout Worcester’s poetry community and beyond. During nearly five decades of shepherding poetry from “the page to the stage,” he has established himself as a poet, essayist, teacher, pacesetter among slam team poets, editor, and venue host. Brown is cofounder of The Duende Project, a spoken word and music quartet that performs locally and along the East Coast, in addition to releasing six collections of their work. Brown’s daily blog, “Dark Matters,” attracts over 3000 readers, and his poems have garnered seven Pushcart Prize nominations.
The Stanley Kunitz Medal originated with a bequest to the Worcester County Poetry Association from former Poet Laureate of the United States and Worcester native Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006). Brown’s award will be the eighth annual medal bestowed on a poet with a strong Worcester County connection who best exemplifies Kunitz’s lifelong commitment to poetry. The award recognizes a poet’s commitment to poetry as Kunitz lived it: teaching poetry, mentoring poets, speaking poetry, publishing poetry, and supporting organizations which nurture poetry.
Also nominated this year were poets Curt Curtin, David Macpherson, and Laura Jehn Menides.
Tony Brown will receive his medal at a ceremony presented by the Worcester County Poetry Association at the Worcester Historical Museum on Thursday, July 28th from 6:30-8:30 p.m. There is limited parking at the museum, with additional parking on street and in the Pearl/Elm Street Garage. Visit the 2022 Kunitz Medal Ceremony event page for details.
Frank O’Hara Poetry Prize
Submit your poetry by Saturday April 30th to the WCPA for our Frank O’Hara poetry contest. Find more information here.
Haiku workshop this Thursday, April 7, 2022
Join West Boylston writer Loree Griffin Burns to reconsider and reconnect with the natural world through this seemingly simple poetic form. This group is for teenagers and adults, beginner to master, interested in exploring haiku in English. Join us monthly to wander indoors and out, to read, to write, and to share our poems.
Please email beaman @ cwmars . org at least 24 hours prior to this program to register.
WCPA Annual Meeting this Sunday (4/3/2022)
Join the Worcester County Poetry Association for our Annual Meeting on April 3, 2022! The afternoon consists of a short Business Meeting, a chance to mingle with friends, and a poetry feature by Dzvinia Orlowsky. We’ll start at 2:00 pm in-person at the First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester.
You can view the agenda at this link – 2022 Annual Meeting Agenda [link]
Dzvinia Orlowsky is a Pushcart Prize poet, translator, and a founding editor of Four Way Books. She is also the author of six poetry collections published by Carnegie Mellon University Press including her most recent, Bad Harvest, named a 2019 Massachusetts Book Awards “Must Read” in poetry; Silvertone (2013) for which she was named Ohio Poetry Day Association’s 2014 Co-Poet of the Year; and Convertible Night, Flurry of Stones (2009) for which she received a Sheila Motton Book Award. Her first collection, A Handful of Bees, was reprinted in 2009 as a Carnegie Mellon University Classic Contemporary. Her translation from the Ukrainian of Alexander Dovzhenko’s novella, The Enchanted Desna, was published by House Between Water in 2006, and her poem sequence “The (Dis)enchanted Desna” was selected by Robert Pinsky as the 2019 co-winner of the New England Poetry Club Samuel Washington Allen Prize. In 2014, Dialogos published Jeff Friedman’s and her co-translation of Memorials: A Selection by Polish poet Mieczysław Jastrun for which she and Friedman were awarded a 2016 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Translation Fellowship. Her co-translation with Ali Kinsella from the Ukrainian, Eccentric Days of Hope and Sorrow: Selected Poems by Natalka Biolotserkivets was published by Lost Horse Press in 2021. Dzvinia is Writer-in-Residence at the Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing and a contributing poetry editor to Solstice Literary Magazine and Agni.
Our College Poetry Contest Endowment
The Greater Worcester Community Foundation manages six endowment funds on behalf of the WCPA that provides annual support for WCPA programs such as the Gregory Stockmal Reading, the Stanley Kunitz Medal, and our print journal, The Worcester Review. We also receive operating support through our Founders’ Fund.
We continue to raise money for the recently created College Poetry Contest Fund to support the annual Elizabeth Bishop Manuscript prize and the Etheridge Knight Performance prize for college students. We need to raise an additional $1,500 by June this year to establish the endowment fully.
Please consider a donation of any size to support the College Contest Fund if you are able. Mail checks to the WCPA office (PO Box 804, Worcester, MA 01613) or directly to the Greater Worcester Community Foundation (370 Main Street, Suite 650, Worcester, MA 01608-1738). Please note the College Contest Fund on the memo line of your check.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Annual Contest Submissions accepted through April 30, 2022
Reminder – Submissions are open for the WCPA’s 2022 Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize through Saturday, April 30, 2022. The 2022 contest is being judged by Pakistani-American scientist, poet, and educator Usman Hameedi.
The contest is open to WCPA members in good standing, residents of Worcester County, or students/employees of institutions within Worcester County.
There is no fee for WCPA members to enter. Non-members pay $8 to enter the contest.
Contest guidelines and a link to the online submission portal are available at
worcestercountypoetry.org/2022contest/
Reminder – Nominations for the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal close on Thursday, March 31, 2022
Reminder – Nominations for the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal close on Thursday, March 31, 2022. The medal is presented annually to a person with a strong Worcester County (Massachusetts) connection who best exemplifies Stanley Kunitz’s life-long commitment to poetry and poets.
Nominations should be mailed to The Stanley Kunitz Medal, c/o Worcester County Poetry Association, P.O. Box 804, Worcester, MA 01613 before March 31, 2022, to be considered.
Additional information, including nomination guidelines, can be found at worcestercountypoetry.org/kunitz-medal/
Job Opening – position filled.
Update 04/03/2022 – we have filled the Administrative Assistant position. Thank you to all who applied.
The WCPA is seeking someone to fill a contract position. The Administrative Assistant works as an assistant to the board of directors by handling its technical, web, and direct mail requirements as needed. The candidate will be responsible and self-motivated with good people skills, a commitment to WCPA’s mission, and the ability to work independently while getting the job requirements completed satisfactorily and on time. The candidate will have good technical skills.
You can find further details, along with information on how to apply, at https://worcestercountypoetry.org/admin-position/.
Upcoming events
Hi all – 4 WCPA (sponsored) events are coming up in the next month. 3 are virtual and 1 is in-person. Maybe we’ll see each other at one of them.
3/22 – Thirsty Lab w/JC Todd – virtual – more info at https://worcestercountypoetry.org/event/4352/
3/23 – Women’s Poetry Reading – virtual – more info at https://worcestercountypoetry.org/event/princeton-womens-poetry-reading-placeholder/
3/29 – Thirsty Lab w/Jenith Charpentier – virtual – more info at https://worcestercountypoetry.org/event/a-virtual-thirsty-lab-with-jenith-charpentier/
4/3 – WCPA Annual Meeting w/Dzvinia Orlowsky – in-person – more info at https://worcestercountypoetry.org/event/2022-wcpa-annual-meeting/
Stevens Memorial Library Reading on March 16, 2022
Sharing on behalf of the Stevens Memorial Library in Ashburnham, MA. Join them for a Zoom poetry reading on March 16 at 6:30 pm. Two of the most gifted poets in contemporary poetry, Anselm Berrigan and Maureen Owen, will read their work. Please contact the library to get on the list for the Zoom link.
Phone – 978-827-4115
Email – library@ashburnham-ma.gov
or Facebook DM the library
Join us via Zoom for an evening of poetry and hear two of the most gifted poets in contemporary poetry share their work.
Anselm Berrigan’s most recent book of poetry is Pregrets, published by Black Square Editions in 2021. Other books include Something for Everybody, Come in Alone, and the book-length poems Primitive State and Notes from Irrelevance. He’s the poetry editor for The Brooklyn Rail, and co-editor of Get The Money!: Collected Prose of Ted Berrigan, forthcoming from City Lights this fall.
Maureen Owen, former editor and chief of Telephone Magazine and Telephone Books, is the author of Erosion’s Pull, a finalist for the Colorado Book Award and the Balcones Poetry Prize. Her title American Rush: Selected Poems was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize and her work AE (Amelia Earhart) was a recipient of the prestigious Before Columbus American Book Award. She has taught at Naropa University and co-edited Naropa’s online zine not enough night through 19 issues. Her newest title Edges of Water is available from Chax Press.
International Women’s Day
In honor of International Women’s Day we’ve uploaded the recording from last year’s Princeton Women’s Poetry Reading. Each March, Susan Roney-O’Brien organizes the Princeton Women’s Reading with twenty women poets who read together to celebrate joy, creativity, and poetry.
You can view the video on our YouTube channel by visiting https://youtu.be/0QbHZzr7FRE.
The following poets are read – Pam Bernard, Polly Brown, Therese Carr, Devon Evans, Kathleen Fagley, Jennifer Freed, Joyce Heon, Emily Judkins, Maura MacNeil, Cheryl Perreault, Catherine Reed, Eve Rifkah, Rush Frazier, Francis Sterle, Nancy Strong, Beth Sweeney, Rhett Watts, Kate Zebrowski, and Susan Roney-O’Brien.
Join us for the 2022 reading via Zoom. Details can be found on the Women’s Poetry Reading event page.
Iternational Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.