Poems in Parks

Join us for a reading devoted to Worcester’s parks, public green spaces, and other natural settings, with poems celebrating Blithewood Park, Boynton Park, Crompton Park, Dodge Park, East Park, Elm Park, Green Hill Park, Hadwen Park, the Lake Avenue Playground, and North Park — as well as the Blackstone Canal, Hope Cemetery, Coes Pond, Rural Cemetery, Lake Quinsigamond, and more!

Besides featuring a bevy of local poets and emcee Robert Eugene Perry, we’ll host an open mic at the end of the event, so bring your own outdoorsy Worcester poem to share (or write one there — see below.)

We’ll hear poems about specific places by Cheryl Breslin, Katie Crommett, Glenn D’Alessio, Karen Durlach, Tom Ewart, Judith Ferrara, Tony Fulginiti, Joe Fusco Jr., John Gaumond, Pamela Gemme, Gertrude Halstead, Carolyn Howe, Judith O’Connell Hoyer, Joanne Johnson, Colleen Kane-Dacri, Ariel Lim, Robert Eugene Perry, Evan Plante, Vidya Prabhu, Eve Rifkah, Paul Szlosek, Susan Elizabeth Sweeney, Cathy Weaver Taylor, Michael D. True, Karen Turner, David Williams, and D Zeutas-Broer.

This event is part of The Poem Next Door, an exhibit at the Museum of Worcester in partnership with Mapping Worcester in Poetry — but naturally it will take place outside, at Elm Park! Free parking is available on Russell Street (on the east side of the park) and at a nearby shopping plaza.

To find us, please go to the middle of the park near the crosswalk at William and Russell Streets and look for the MWiP “feather” above. We encourage you to bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket to sit on. Feel free to drop by and stay as long as you can as part of your Saturday afternoon.

Would you like to write a poem about one of Worcester’s parks? The reading will end with an open mic (sign up at the event), and the Museum of Worcester’s traveling typewriter will be on hand, so you can compose it, type it up, and then read it aloud to an audience, all under the shade of a leafy tree!