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 Honors 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
With great sadness, 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 many programs over a quarter of a century that cemented the WCPA’s legacy as a major cultural institution in Central Massachusetts.
She was active in the Elizabeth Bishop Society and instrumental in a number of conferences that 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 listing 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.