Solo/Duet: Music & Poetry Unite

An evening of poetry and music. Each evening will feature solo readings by area poets that will bookend a musical duet performance in the Merriam Gilbert library in West Brookfield, Ma.
Each program will begin at 6:00 pm. The evenings are free and open to the public and sponsored in part by a grant from the Mass Council of the Arts as administered locally by the West

Brookfield Cultural Council.

Poets Margaret Lloyd and Paul Sloszek.

Music by Jerry Wilfong and Dick Hummel.

Margaret Lloyd was born in Liverpool, England, of Welsh parents and grew up in a Welsh immigrant community in central New York State. A poet and painter, she lives in Florence,
Massachusetts, and is Professor Emeritus of English at Springfield College. She has published four collections of poems: This Particular Earthly Scene; A Moment in the Field: Voices from Arthurian Legend; Forged Light; and most recently, Travelling on My Own Errands:  Voices of Women from The Mabinogi. Her poetry has appeared widely in journals and anthologies and she has received several awards, fellowships, and residencies.

Paul Szlosek is a poet born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, but currently resides in the nearby metropolis of Worcester. He was co-founder and host of the long-running Poet’s Parlor poetry
reading in Southbridge and Sturbridge, as well as a past recipient of the Jacob Knight Award for Poetry. His poetry has appeared in various local & national print & online publications
including The Worcester Review, Worcester Magazine, Radius, Sahara, Concrete Wolf, Soul-Lit, and Diner. His poetry blog Paul’s Poetry Play Ground can be found @ https://playground.poetry.blog/.

Jerry Wilfong is an active freelance bassist in the Boston area. He has performed with such distinguished jazz artists as Leni Stern, John Stowell, and Richie Cole, appears on several
recordings and can be heard live anchoring two working trios – “Bring Back Pluto” and “The Conversation.” More can be learned about Jerry at jazzfong.com.

Dick Hummel is a psychologist who works with children in Worcester. Drummer, trumpeter, and composer, Dick has performed in an around the central Massachusetts area both as a solo
trumpet and with varied ensembles, and occasionally with poets; he has led drumming groups with at risk children for over 25 years instilling techniques of ensemble work that insist on listening and complementary interaction. Long ago during his undergraduate years at Yale, he was fortunate enough to play and learn from such musical luminaries as Wadada Leo Smith,
Gerry Hemingway and Mark Helias.