Worcester County Poetry Association

WCPA Monthly Meeting: March Edition
2024-03-13 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | WCPA Headquarters, 61 Harvard St., Worcester, Massachusetts, 01602
Join us for our monthly Board Meeting on the second Wednesday March 13th at our office headquarters over @ 61 Harvard St.

Booklover's Gourmet Open Mic Poetry
2024-03-16 14:00 - 16:00 | Booklovers’ Gourmet, 72 E. Main St., Webster, MA, 01570
Join us for a monthly round robin style, open poetry reading.Bring original pieces to share.

Sign up to reserve your spot by calling 508-949-6232 or emailing deb@bookloversgourmet.com

Space is limited to 14 participants and usually fills quickly!

The Poet's Cauldron
2024-03-17 19:00 - 22:00 | Crompton Collective: The White Room, 138 Green St., Worcester, MA, 01604, United States
The Poet’s Cauldron: March Edition

Special guest: Elijah Divine

SOLO/DUET Poetry-Music Series
2024-03-19 06:00 - 20:00 | Merriam-Gilbert Library, 3 W. Main Street, West Brookfield, Massachusetts, 01585, United States
Each evening will feature solo readings by area poets book-ended by a musical duet. This program is made possible by the West Brookfield Cultural Council as supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

A poetry and music series at the Merriam-Gilbert Public Library Free and open to all!

Poets:

Anne Love Woodhull lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. She has coauthored five children’s books and is the author of This Is What We Have (March Street Press, 2001), a poetry chapbook. In 2013 a book of her poems, Night With Its Owl, was published by Hedgerow Books, Amherst, Massachusetts. In 2021 a book of her poems, Racing Heaven, was published by Open Field Press, Northampton, Massachusetts. She is the Executive Director of Available Potential Enterprises, and the President of the Open Field Foundation that owns Bramble Hill Farm. Working with children and adults, she is a play therapist and teacher.

& Bill OConnell

Bill OConnell

Music:

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 his Website.

Poetry Workshop at New Dawn
2024-03-19 19:00 - 21:00 | New Dawn Center, 84 Main St., Ashburnham, MA, 01607, United States
Come out to the New Dawn Writers’ Group’s Poetry Workshop. Every third Tuesday from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm we will discuss poems and writing, write to prompts, give feedback, encourage one another, and discuss upcoming projects. It’s a friendly, pressure-free atmosphere at the New Dawn Arts Center in Ashburnham. The address is 84 Main Street, Ashburnham, MA. The workshop is being led by Fred Gerhard.

Poetry and Humor at the 'New' Root & Press Cafe Bookshop
2024-03-21 18:00 - 20:00 | Root and Press, 156 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, MA, 01604, United States
Join us for an evening of humor and poetry at the new location of Root and Press Cafe and Books at their new location 156 Shrewsbury St.

Joe will be reading from and signing copies of his new book “Random Thoughts from A Curmudgeon.”
Please sign up for the open mic at joesyellowpad@gmail.com. Root and Press has a plethora of awesome food and beverages .

Ample street parking. Free admission. Kid-friendly.

Join us in welcoming Root and Press to 156 Shrewsbury Street!

Joe Fusco Jr. is a well-seasoned humorist/poet from Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of five books of semi-amusing poems and essays: “Random Thoughts from a Curmudgeon “ (2023),“Pondering the Pandemic during The Rust years”(2021); “Hmm…That’s Different” (2020); “Three Score” (2014); and “The Lost and Found Essays” (2012), all available at local bookstores and Amazon.
Joe’s musings have appeared in Damfino Press, Ballard Street Poetry, Worcester Review, Asinine Poetry, Soul Lit, and the naughty ezine Clean Sheets. He was a co-winner of the Jacob Knight Poetry Award in 2002 and was named Best Poet by Worcester Magazine readers in 1999 and 2002. Joe is a Humor columnist for Worcester Magazine and the last Worcester Mega-Slam winner in 2017. He features at
bookstores, libraries, clubs, and coffeehouses throughout Central Massachusetts and Belgium. He is the host of the Poetry Extravaganza at Redemption Rock Brewery in Worcester.
Joe has taught “Humor 101” for high-school students at Gateways Academy in Shrewsbury and for adults at the Worcester Senior Center, Eisenberg Assisted Living, Notre Dame Assisted Living, and The Residence of Orchard Grove. He is the Vice-President of Programming for the Worcester
County Poetry Association.

The Future of Storytelling with Vanessa Gonzalez-Oyola & Walter Molina
2024-03-22 17:00 - 19:00 | JMac/Brickbox Theater, 20 Franklin Street, Worcester, MA, 01608, United States
The Future of Storytelling: A Community Gathering
As part of Mass Humanities’ 50th anniversary, we are hosting a gathering to mark the occasion in Worcester.We know the importance of relationship building and collaboration in advancing the cultural sector. This event will bring together our grantees, board members, staff, partners, community stakeholders, and local legislators to recognize our cultural endeavors in the Worcester area and help to forge new connections.
Celebrate with the Mass Humanities community at this fun evening gathering featuring live music, poetry, food and drink, and good company.
Our featured poets Vanessa Gonzalez-Oyola and Walter Molina are graduates of the Clemente Course in the Humanities and were recently published in The Worcester Review.

Poets @ Large: Saturday Night Poetry
2024-03-23 19:00 - 21:00 | The Vanilla Bean, 450 Deerfield Road, Pomfret, CT, 06259, United States
The Vanilla Bean Café, 450 Deerfield Road in Pomfret, will again host Poets at Large spoken word and poetry performances on the last Saturday of the month, 7-9 p.m., from February through May. Poets at Large is a regional group of poets who read in CT and MA, now in its fifth year. The group’s coordinator, Woodstock author/poet Karen Warinsky, is the Emcee, and those wishing to be in the open mic segment can sign up by contacting her at karen.warinsky@gmail.com. There is a 5-minute limit for open mic readers and these events are recommended for ages 14 and up.

March 23 the Poets at Large show will feature well-known Worcester poets Tony Brown, John Hodgen and Karen Elizabeth Sharpe.
Brown has been writing for well over 50 years, and publishing and performing his work for over 40. A seven-time Pushcart Prize and two-time Best Of The Net nominee, he is also the winner of the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal, endowed by the late Kunitz, a US poet laureate and Worcester native.
Hodgen is the Writer-in-Residence at Assumption University in Worcester, MA, and Advisory Editor for New Letters at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. Hodgen won the AWP Donald Hall Prize in Poetry for Grace in 2005, and is the author of five volumes of poetry.
Sharpe is a poetry editor at The Worcester Review and the author of two volumes of poetry. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and is widely published.

Rodger Martin Poetry Reading at New Dawn
2024-03-26 18:00 - 19:00 | New Dawn Center, 84 Main St., Ashburnham, MA, 01607, United States
Rodger Martin Reading 6-6:45 pm, at New Dawn, 84 Main Street, Ashburnham, MA. Q&A to follow.Free speaker series. Open to all, no registration. Event will transition to the regularly scheduledWriters’ Group Open Mic night. All welcome!

“

A Virtual Thirsty Lab with Irena Kaçi
2024-03-26 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom Online Meeting, United States
The Thirsty Lab poetry reading, normally based out of Princeton, Mass., continues to meet virtually. On Tuesday, March 26th, 2024 Irena Kaçi will be the featured reader. Please Click Here to register.

Irena Kaçi is a poet and writer living in Worcester, MA with her spouse and two children. She moved to Worcester in 2015, almost a decade after graduating from Clark University. She writes for Pulse Magazine, and the Worcester Guardian. Her creative work has appeared in the Worcester Review, Atticus Review, Wingless Dreamer and the 45 Journal. She is currently working on her first chapbook.

Matthew E. Henry Poetry Reading
2024-03-27 17:30 - 19:00 | TidePool Bookshop, 372 Chandler St. Unit 101, Worcester, MA, 01602
Mathew E. Henry: said the Frog to the scorpionPoetry readingWednesday, March 27, at 5:30pmJoin us for a special evening with Matthew E. Henry as he reads from his new poetry collection: said the Frog to the scorpion.

Books will be available for sale at the bookshop.

From conversations in public school classrooms and faculty meetings, to arguments in restaurants and folding tents, said the Frog to the scorpion blurs the lines between pedagogy and prejudice, romance and anti-racism. In poems referencing a ubiquitous “She,” Matthew E Henry’s latest collection explores the options left a Black teacher in a white system when love is met with empty promises and toxic amnesia. Henry’s frog survives the initial encounter and slowly, painfully, “his slick, perforated back” begins to understand: a scorpion will always be exactly who She is—someone who can’t tell Asians students apart, who equates accountability with gaslighting, who thinks Goldilocks was the hero of the story, who makes wishes on the rubbed heads of magic negroes She’s dated. said the Frog to the scorpion attempts to decode Her mind, and the fallout of the relationship, while asking what’s the difference between a breakup and resignation letter.

Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of the Colored page (Sundress Publications, 2022), Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020) and Dust & Ashes (Californios Press, 2020). He has three collections forthcoming in 2023 from NYQ Books (The Third Renunciation), Ghost City Press (have you heard the one about…?), and Harbor Editions (said the Frog to the scorpion). He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal and an associate poetry editor at Pidgeonholes.

MEH’s poetry and prose appears or is forthcoming in Barren Magazine, Bending Genres, Cola Literary Review, The Florida Review, Massachusetts Review, Ninth Letter, Pangyrus, Ploughshares, Poetry East, Redivider, Relief Journal, Shenandoah, Solstice, Spiritus, The Windhover, The Worcester Review, and Zone 3 among others.

His awards include being a Diode Editions 2022 chapbook contest finalist, the winner of the 2021 Fare Forward Poetry competition, the 2020 Massachusetts Book Award finalist, the 2020 MassPoetry.org’s “Poem of the Moment,” the 2019 Orison Chapbook Prize finalist, and the 2007 Relief Journal Editor’s Choice Award. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Pangyrus Literary Magazine, Porcupine Literary, Relief Journal, and 3 Elements Literary Review, and the Best of the Net by the museum of americana and 3 Elements Literary Review.

MEH’s an educator who received his MFA from Seattle Pacific University yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. He writes about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground at www.MEHPoeting.com

Poetorium @ the Starlite Lounge
2024-03-28 18:30 - 21:30 | Starlite Lounge, 39 Hamilton St, Southbridge, Massachusetts, 01550, United States
Poetorium at Starlite Poetry Open Mic & Reading Series Featuring Karen Durlach and Peter F. Crowley

Please join us for a special double 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 and spoken word starting with a brief interview on stage with our two featured poets Karen Durlach (Visual Artist, Craftsperson, & Poet) and Peter F. Crowley (Author of Those Who Hold Up the Earth & Empire’s End) followed by poetry readings by our features, a 10-minute tribute to a dead poet by a guest reader (T.B.A), 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 feature and compensate Starlite for the use of their space. For more information, please get in touch with us at poetorium@mail.com or visit our website.

Karen Durlach is a visual artist/craftsperson, both by vocation and avocation, making a career in the graphic arts, photography, ceramics, painting, and other media. She writes off and on when the need and muse strike, most often when the early dawn insists. She had rarely read her poems to others until discovering our very accepting local poetry communities in Webster, Putnam, and Southbridge. Most of her poems strive to paint a picture of a precise moment or precious experience—something odd, exciting or wondrous—that she wants to remember or share. Brooklyn-born, schooled in New York, then Michigan, she’s straddled the border between Massachusetts and Connecticut for decades, initially living and working in Worcester, with interim stints in New Hampshire and Vermont, then working in Worcester again while residing in the woods of Connecticut, where she still struggles to grow unusual vegetables and entertains honeybees.

Peter F. Crowley is a prolific author from the Boston area who writes in various forms including short fiction, op-eds, poetry, and academic essays. In 2020, his poetry book Those Who Hold Up the Earth was published by Kelsay Books and received impressive reviews by Kirkus Review, the New Age and two local Boston-area newspapers. His writing can be found in Middle East Monitor, Znet, 34th Parallel, Pif Magazine, Galway Review, Digging the Fat, Adelaide’s Short Story and Poetry Award anthologies (finalist in both), and The Opiate. His two latest books, That Night and Other Stories (CAAB Publishing) and Empire’s End (Alien Buddha Press), were released in October 2023.

SOLO/DUET Poetry-Music
2024-04-02 18:00 - 20:00 | Merriam-Gilbert Library, 3 W. Main Street, West Brookfield, Massachusetts, 01585, United States
It is difficultTo get the news from poems,Yet men die miserably every day

For the lackOf what is found there

~William Carlos Williams~

The evening will feature solo readings by area poets book-ended by a musical duet. This program is made possible by the West Brookfield Cultural Council as supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Poets:

Heather J. Macpherson is an essayist, and educator at Clark University. Her focus in Literature includes Creative Nonfiction, Essaying, and Human-Animal Relationships in Memoir and Autobiography. Her essays and poems have appeared in the Bennington Review, Doctor T.J. Eckleberg Review, 580 Split, and other fine places. Besides writing, teaching, and studying, Heather enjoys traveling and spending time with friends and family, especially her son.

& Jonathan Blake has been following the gospel of his heart for as long as he can remember. Writer, educator, arts activist/organizer, he makes his home in central Massachusetts. His poems and essays can be found in an array of journals and anthologies, including the Atlanta Review, Amoskeag, Brilliant Corners, Poetry East and The Worcester Review.

Music by Jerry Wilfong & Dick Hummel.

The Poetry Extravaganza Ft.: Malt Schlitzmann
2024-04-02 18:00 - 20:30 | Redemption Rock Brewery, 333 Shrewsbury St,, Worcester, MA, 01604, United States
Join us on Tuesday, April 2nd from 6:00-8:30 pm for an evening of poetry, humor, and general craziness! Two open-mic sessions sandwich our feature poet Malt Schlitzmann.

Sign up for the open-mic at jfjr6969@gmail,com

Five-minute maximum, please.

Free admission.

Separate area for our event.

On-the-street parking or check redemptionrock.beer for other parking options.

Redemption Rock Brewery (RRB) serves craft beers, coffees, teas, and delicious snacks. You can bring your own food but outside beverages are not allowed.

Redemption Rock Brewery (RRB) serves craft beers, coffees, teas, and delicious snacks. You can bring your own food but outside beverages are not allowed. The Poetry Extravaganza is sponsored by Lewandowski Painting.

Malt Schlitzmann is a literary menace. Organizer, comedian, and almost-award-winning screenwriter, Malt helps organize the Dirty Gerund Poetry Show, which recently celebrated its 14th year by crowdfunding a feature-length documentary film. Former Person of Internet is their first stand-up album.

Two Laureates in Conversation, with Porsha and Oliver
2024-04-03 17:00 - 18:00 | Luth Concert Hall, Prior Performance Center, 1 College Street, Worcester, MA, 01610, United States
Join us on Wednesday, April 3 at 6pm, The Prior Performing Arts Center welcomes the Worcester County Poetry Association to a live interview between Worcester Poet Laureate Oliver de la Paz and Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola. Join the studio audience for this conversation about Porsha’s poetry, her work as Poet Laureate, and her collaboration on the operetta “The Wanderer’s Tethering,” which makes its Central Massachusetts premiere at The Prior Performing Arts Center next week. “Poet Laureate x Poet Laureate” will be held in the Ensemble Room at The Prior.

Then, on Saturday, April 6 at 3pm, see Porsha Olayiwola perform in “The Wanderer’s Tethering” at The Prior! An afternoon of poetry, music, and song from the Boston Lyric Opera, “The Wanderer’s Tethering” combines African and African-American history and myth in a blend of “past and present, realism and magical realism.” You won’t want to miss it!

Porsha Olayiwola is a native of Chicago who writes, lives and loves in Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She is an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the founder of the Roxbury Poetry Festival. Olayiwola is Brown University’s 2019 Heimark Artist -In -Residence as well as the 2021 Artist-in-Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She is a 2020 poet laureate fellow with the Academy of American poets. Olayiwola earned her MFA in poetry from Emerson College and is the author of i shimmer sometimes, too. Olayiwola is the current poet laureate for the city of Boston. Her work can be found in or forthcoming from with TriQuarterly Magazine, Black Warrior Review, The Boston Globe, Essence Magazine, Redivider, The Academy of American Poets, Netflix, Wildness Press, The Museum of Fine Arts and elsewhere.

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 published by Liveright Press (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.

National Baseball Poetry Festival Contest
2024-04-05 08:00 - 2024-04-17 20:00 | Worcester County
CONTEST INFORMATION

STUDENTS GRADES 4-12 AND LITTLE LEAGUERS

POETRY CONTEST

The National Baseball Poetry Festival is a celebration of poetry whose themes focus on Baseball and/or Softball! The Festival takes place at Polar Park, May 3-5. All grades 4-12 students and Little Leaguers are invited to submit poems with a baseball and/or softball theme, for example: opening day, ballpark food, Polar Park, first pitch, athletic heroes, uniforms, ball parks, Little League, dugout chatter, the season of the game, etc.

Categories

Youth Grades 4 – 12

Little Leaguers

Teacher Resources

Contest Form

Lesson Plan

COLLEGE STUDENTS & ALL POETS EVERYWHERE

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The National Baseball Poetry Festival invites submissions of poems that deal with any aspect of the gamesmanship, nature, and atmosphere of Baseball and/or Softball, for example: opening day, ballpark food, childhood memories, first pitch, athletic heroes, uniforms, ball parks, Little League, body English, dugout chatter, the season of the game, etc.

No restriction on form. Poets may submit up to 3 poems for consideration. Each poem should fit on a single page. The thematic views of baseball/softball and the game will be given wide interpretation by the judge(s).

Categories

Adults 18+

College/University Students

Publication

Winners (up to 20 per category—College/University and Adult 18+) will be published on BaseballBard.com (Founder, Mark Sickman)

Prizes

Winners attending the Festival will also receive a National Baseball Poetry Festival t-shirt!

Guidelines for Submission

Deadline: Noon, Wednesday, April 17, 2024 (ET).

Submit: 1-3 poems in Word format to baseballpoetryfest@gmail.com.

Must Include: Category of submission (Adult or College/University), poet’s name, address, phone number and email address.

Winners Notification: Friday, April 26, 2024 by email.

Contest Rules

The contest is open to ALL 4th-12th graders and Little Leaguers.

Submit one poem only related to the theme of baseball.

Poem must not exceed 200 words.

Entry will be evaluated for creativity, originality, and style by a panel of educators, university students, and community members.

Prizes

Winners must attend the Festival in order to be recognized on Saturday, May 4, 2024.

Winners attending the Festival will receive a National Baseball Poetry Festival t-shirt!

Winners will include up to 20 elementary school students, 20 middle school students, 20 high school students, and 20 Little Leaguers.

Guidelines for Submission

Deadline: All entries must be submitted by or before noon on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 (ET).

Submission: Please submit your poem in the body of your email to baseballpoetryfest@gmail.com (no attachments will be accepted).

Must Include: Category of Submission (Grades 4 – 12 or Little Leaguer); Poet’s Name, School, Grade, Email (if applicable); Guardian Name & Email.

Winners Notification: Winners will be notified by or before Friday, April 26, 2024 via email.

Write Angles Confererence
2024-04-06 | Northampton Center For The Arts, 33 Hawley St., Northampton, MA, 01060, United States

The Wanderer’s Tethering
2024-04-06 15:00 - 17:00 | Luth Concert Hall, Prior Performance Center, 1 College Street, Worcester, MA, 01610, United States
Boston Lyric Opera returns to the Prior Performing Arts Center at Holy Cross with the song cycle “The Wanderer’s Tethering.” This piece, which BLO premiered in June 2023, combines poetry by Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola and music by Boston-based composer, vocalist, and multimedia artist Mason Bynes. It follows the story of Tobi, a descendant of the Igbo community whose members were stolen from modern-day Nigeria and led a revolt on the shores of Georgia in 1803. Bynes’ music merges Negro spirituals and Igbo folkloric music, reflecting the transformation experienced by the contemporary protagonist as she claims her own identity. The program will also include stirring selections of vocal music and string quartets performed by BLO artists and Castle of Our Skins.

Porsha Olayiwola is a native of Chicago who writes, lives and loves in Boston. Olayiwola is a writer, performer, educator and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She is an Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the founder of the Roxbury Poetry Festival. Olayiwola is Brown University’s 2019 Heimark Artist -In -Residence as well as the 2021 Artist-in-Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She is a 2020 poet laureate fellow with the Academy of American poets. Olayiwola earned her MFA in poetry from Emerson College and is the author of i shimmer sometimes, too. Olayiwola is the current poet laureate for the city of Boston. Her work can be found in or forthcoming from with TriQuarterly Magazine, Black Warrior Review, The Boston Globe, Essence Magazine, Redivider, The Academy of American Poets, Netflix, Wildness Press, The Museum of Fine Arts and elsewhere.

Poetry Reading
2024-04-07 13:00 - 16:00 | Sheehan Building Worcester State University, 486 Chandler St., Worcester, MA, 01602, United States
Bill O’Connell has been living in the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts between the Connecticut River and Quabbin Reservoir since 1984. A retired social worker, he teaches literature and writing at Greenfield Community College and runs a small handyman business. Bill’s books of poetry include Sakonnet Point (Plinth Books 2011) & On The Map To Your Life (Dytiscid Press 1992) plus poems in anthologies and literary magazines such as The Sun, Poetry East, Colorado Review, Green Mountains Review, etc. A new collection, When We Were All Still Alive, is just out from Open Field Press.

Bill O’Connell explores the ancient and the new in these poems: the planet of rocks and soil and sea and the planet of the mind looking outward. What lives and dies are enfolded in time: O’Connell seeks to know nature’s music and what humans add to our presence in the natural world.

In the Kingdom by Jonathan Blake. ISBN: 978-1935874478 * Lost Valley Press * www.lostvalleypress.com

Jonathan Blake has been following the gospel of his heart for as long as he can remember. Writer, educator, arts activist/organizer, he makes his home in central Massachusetts. On the campus of Worcester State University in the twelve years before the pandemic, he hosted a round robin open reading series for students, faculty and staff, and the greater Worcester County poetry community called ONE POEM.

In 1984 my parents purchased a small log cabin overlooking a pond in a sparsely inhabited valley at the end of a long dirt road in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. In time, with the coming of grandchildren and great grandchildren, the family built another cabin to accommodate the gatherings of the tribe.The rolling hills of the pastures on the horizon, the wildlife, the stillness needed for dreaming, have long been the wellspring for my writing.In the late 1980’s, after a visit to our family cabin, the poet Bill O’Connell named the place Paradise. It remains a place where poems and peace can be found.

Clemente Worcester’s Speaker Series
2024-04-09 18:00 - 18:45 | Trinity Lutheran Fellowship Hall, 73 Lancaster St, Worcester, MA, 01602, United States
in collaboration with our partners:

The Worcester County Poetry Association, Trinity Lutheran Church

and Worcester Art Museum

Join us for in-depth discussions with writers, artists, and influencers of all dimensions.

We Welcome 2023 Kunitz Medal Winner, Poet, Paul Szlosek

Szlosek’s poetry has appeared in various local & national print & online publications including The Worcester Review, Worcester Magazine, Radius, Sahara, Concrete Wolf, Soul-Lit, Diner, & Silkworm. He’s probably best known in the Central Massachusetts poetry community for his fanatical obsession with obscure poetry forms, and has invented his own including the ziggurat, the streetbeatina, the hodgenelle, the lux, and the singsangsong.

This Program is open to the public. No Reservations are required. Clemente Worcester is funded by: Mass Humanities, Greater Worcester Community Foundation, George I. Alden Trust, Anna Maria College, Clark University, Quinsigamond Community College, The Clearbrook Fund of the Greater Worcester

Community Foundation, and many individual donors. We are grateful to you all. To learn more about The Clemente Course in the Humanities, Worcester please go to www.clementeworcester.com

Solo/Duet: Music & Poetry in Harmony
2024-04-09 18:00 - 20:30 | Woods Memorial Public Library, 19 Pleasant St., Barre, Massachusetts, 01005, United States
A poetry and music series at the Woods Memorial Public Library. This Tuesday we are featuring poets Susan Roney-O’Brien & David Thoreen.

Free and open to all! Please stop by or call the Library at 978-355-2533 to reserve your seat.

Each evening will feature solo readings by area poets book-ended by a musical duet. This program is made possible by the Barre Cultural Council as supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Woods Memorial Library.

Music by Jerry Wilfong (bass) and Dick Hummel (trumpet and percussion).

SLIGHTLY OFF-BEAT POETS PRESENTS FRED GERHARD & TOMMY TWILITE
2024-04-14 13:00 - 16:00 | Steve Veilleux’s Home, 112 Fabyan-Woodstock North Road, Grosvenordale, CT, 06255, United States
WHAT: Slightly Off-beat Poets Presents: Fred Gerhard & Tommy Twilite

WHERE: Steve Veilleux’s home: 112 Fabyan-Woodstock Road N Grosvenordale, CT

WHEN: Sunday April 14, 2024 @ 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

WHAT HAPPENS: Our feature poets of the month will each read for 20 minutes. Then we will take a quick break for book sales, snacks and the raffle before starting the open mic. Open mic will be round robin, one poem at a time until 4 PM.

COST: There will be a 50/50 raffle, split between the feature and the winner. 5$ to enter.

SIGN-UPS: There is room for 18 poets. To reserve a spot please email: roberteugeneperry@gmail.com

SOLO/DUET: Music & Poetry Series
2024-04-16 06:00 - 20:00 | Merriam Gilbert Library, 3 West Main St., West Brookfield, MA, 01585, United States
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:

Karen Elizabeth Sharpe is a poetry editor at the Worcester Review, and her poems have appeared in Columbia Journal, West Trade Review, Mom Egg Review, Catalyst, Mason Street Review and other magazines and anthologies. Karen has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has been a coffee-cart clerk, a babysitter, a journalist and editor, a caterer, a funeral ceremonialist, a professional fundraiser, and an assistant vice-president at two universities. She celebrates the healing power of forgiveness in relationships.

and John Hodgen is Writer-in-Residence at Assumption University and Advisory Editor for New Letters at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He is the author of six books of poetry, including Grace, winner of the AWP Donald Hall Prize in Poetry. His new book, What We May Be, is forthcoming from Lynx House Press.

Music by Jerry Wilfong, Rich Falco & Rich Ardizzone.

Worcester Senior Center Hosts Humorist Joe Fusco Jr.
2024-04-16 10:30 - 11:30 | Worcester Senior Center, 128 Providence St, Worcester, MA, 01604, United States
Worcester humorist/stand-up poet Joe Fusco Jr reads his latest musings, many from his new book ‘Random Thoughts from A Curmudgeon,’ then answers questions about the meaning of life.

Free admission. Ample parking. All ages welcome.

Join Joe later for lunch at Bobby Mac’s Diner in the Senior Center. Great hot dogs!

Charlton Library Celebrates National Poetry Month with an Open Mic night featuring Joe Fusco Jr.
2024-04-16 18:00 - 20:00 | Charlton Public Library, 40 Main St., Charlton, MA, 01507, United States
Celebrate National Poetry Month at the Charlton Library by reading in the Open Mic and enjoying the musings of Joe Fusco Jr.Admission is free. Ample parking. Dexter Hall is an awesome space to be creative!Contact the library at 508-248-2219 to register for the open mic

Joe Fusco Jr. is a well-seasoned humorist/stand-up poet from Worcester, Massachusetts.He is the author of five books of semi-amusing poems and essays: “Random Thoughts from a Curmudgeon “ (2023), “Pondering the Pandemic during The Rust years”(2021); “Hmm…That’s Different” (2020); “Three Score” (2014); and “The Lost and Found Essays” (2012), all available at local bookstores and Amazon. Joe’s musings have appeared in Damfino Press, Ballard Street Poetry, Worcester Review, Asinine Poetry, Soul Lit, and the naughty ezine Clean Sheets. He was a co-winner of the Jacob Knight Poetry Award in 2002 and was named Best Poet by Worcester Magazine readers in 1999 and 2002.Joe is a Humor columnist for Worcester Magazine and the last Worcester Mega-Slam winner in 2017. He features at bookstores, libraries, clubs, and coffeehouses throughout Central Massachusetts and Belgium. He is the host of The Poetry Extravaganza at Redemption Rock Brewery and The Richard Fox Poetry Series at Root and Press Café and Books in Worcester. Joe has taught “Humor 101” for high-school students at Gateways Academy in Shrewsbury and for adults at the Worcester Senior Center, Eisenberg Assisted Living, Notre Dame Assisted Living, The Residence of Orchard Grove, and Christopher Heights Assisted Living. He is the Vice-President of Programming for the Worcester County Poetry Association. Joe has lived in lovely Worcester with his better-half Cyndi and their large family for thirty-nine years. He is a registered Independent and sleeps with one eye always open.

An Evening of Poetry
2024-04-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Phelan Center, Blessed Sacrament Church, 551 Pleasant Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, 01602, United States
Join the Center for Nonviolent Solutions for an evening of Verse

Open Mic Poetry Night
2024-04-17 17:30 - 19:30 | Bah-Bah- Q, 397 Chandler St, Worcester, MA, 01602, United States
Featuring Readings from Chis Noonan’s New Release: The Theory of Xera Altamon

Bonnie Johnson & Nat Needle: Spine Poems and Jazz Night
2024-04-19 19:00 - 20:30 | TidePool Bookshop, 372 Chandler St. Unit 101, Worcester, MA, 01602
Bonnie Johnson & Nat Needle: Spine Poems and Jazz NightFriday, April 19, 7pmIn honor of National Poetry Month and Jazz Appreciation Month, join us for our second – hopefully-annual! – Spine Poems and Jazz Night! Create a Spine Poem and listen to music provided by Nat Needle and his students with WICN Colors of Jazz host Bonnie Johnson! We will use Annette Dauphin Simon’s fabulous book Spine Poems: An Eclectic Collection of Found Verse for Book Lovers as the model for creating our own short verses using the spines of books here at the bookstore. “Writing” a spine poem is fun, it’s quick (~5 minutes, unless you start reading the books), it’s easy. In fact, they pretty much write themselves!

Bonnie Johnson is an innovative design thinker, radio personality and public speaker. She is producer and on-air host of Colors of Jazz, a weekly program streaming live online at the NPR affiliate station 90.5 WICN. In addition to positioning herself in media as a jazz presenter, Bonnie is a content creator, podcast producer and data engineer. Stealth in her track record of advancing the cultural exchange, Bonnie delivers STEM leadership, and seeks to find pathways for collaboration through the lens of music and social justice.

Booklover's Gourmet Open Mic
2024-04-20 14:00 - 16:00 | Booklovers’ Gourmet, 72 E. Main St., Webster, MA, 01570

Worcester County College Contest!!
2024-04-21 13:00 - 15:00 | WCPA Headquarters, 61 Harvard St., Worcester, Massachusetts, 01602
