Poetorium @ Starlite Lounge

Please join us for a special  triple feature edition of our monthly open mic and featured poetry reading series The Poetorium at Starlite hosted by Paul Szlosek and Ron Whittle. It will be a full evening of poetry & spoken word starting with a brief interview on stage with our three featured poets Brian Mosher (Author of The Broken Mosaic, & Dreams and Other Magic), Eric Petersen AKA ESP (Author of Literary Conception), & Craig S. Semon (Poet, Reporter, & Entertainment Columnist) followed by readings by our 3 features,  a 10-minute tribute to a dead poet by a guest reader, a short intermission, and then an open mic (with 5-minute slots for each reader). Admission is free, but a hat will be passed for donations to pay our features and compensate Starlite for the use of their space. For more information, please contact us at poetorium@mail.com or visit our website.

Brian Mosher was born and raised in Foxboro, MA, and currently resides in nearby Mansfield. He’s been writing poetry and short fiction since he was in High School in the 1970s, and has self-published 3 books: One Bad Day Deserves Another, Moon Shine and Lemon Twists (both in 2016); and The Broken Mosaic (2021). His poetry chapbook, Dreams and Other Magic was published by Alien Buddha Press in July of 2023. His poetry has appeared or is slated to appear soon in the online journal Verse Wrights and the print journal Rushing Thru the Dark from Choeofpleirn Press (pronounced chuf-plern). He also maintains a poetry blog, Phlubbermatic. His fiction has appeared or is slated to appear soon in Esoterica Magazine and Half and One Magazine.

Eric Petersen (AKA ESP) first arrived on Earth sometime in July 1976. However, eyewitness testimony from this time is sketchy at best. He graduated from Oakmont Regional High School in 1995. He worked for nearly five years at Burbank Hospital. ESP attended classes at Mount Wachusett Community College. There he was a regular contributor to their monthly literary magazine. He is the author of “Sociopath: A True Story” and “Shorty Stories” which are autobiographical. He is also the author of the novella Retard and the short story “The Day After”. In addition, he has a collection of poetry and short stories titled Literary Conception which is in the process of being re-edited. These titles are available through Kindle. ESP is also currently working on a project of producing poetry videos which can be seen on “poemsesp” on TikTok. Eric is a devoted father, an avid reader, and a builder of model rockets. He has been working in human services since 2000 and currently helps manage a home for men with traumatic brain injuries.

Craig S. Semon is widely known as a popular reporter & entertainment columnist for both the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Worcester Magazine with his writing also appearing nationally in USA Today, Yahoo News, U.S. News & World Report, Miami Herald, Washington Times, The Charlotte Observer, Kansas City Star, Bedford Minuteman, Belmont Citizen-Herald and more. Lesser known is that Craig is a poet who pens wonderfully surreal and often hysterically funny poems. As a member of the Noh Place Artists’ Collective in Worcester in the 1980s, his poetry has been recently featured in the Noh Place Poetry Anthology published in 2022. Craig has been famously quoted for saying “I saw Worcester in her face. I suggested she sees a dermatologist.”