Zoom into Poetry this Sunday, February 14, 2021

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Join us this Sunday, February 14, 2021, at 3:00 pm for our next Zoom into Poetry virtual reading. This month we welcome western Massachusetts poet Dane Kuttler. Dane Kuttler has been writing heretical prayers since 2016. She gives a darn good reading and loves zoom.

This is a free event, however, registration is required. You can register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkd-ygrT8rG9ZrObGi1q1TCwTJLdTg5Wev

Please join us.

 

New YouTube video – Celebrating Pat Fargnoli

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The WCPA has added a new video to our YouTube channel.  Today we share an edited recording of “Celebrating Pat Fargnoli”, a virtual poetry reading that took place on Sunday, January 24, 2021.

As with all WCPA activities we rely upon volunteers to create our content. We couldn’t share these videos, have updates to our website, or continue to hold virtual poetry readings without dedicated individuals. If you have a talent you would like to share with the WCPA or poetry lovers of central Massachusetts please e-mail wcpaboard@yahoo.com.

Clemente Worcester students part of anthology

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The WCPA serves as the fiscal agent for the Worcester Clemente Course in the Humanities, an award-winning college-level seminar for highly motivated low-income adults seeking to build better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities. Last summer, in the midst of the chaos created by COVID-19, Clemente pivoted to an online writing program.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette recently published an article on an anthology that came out of the experience for Clemente Worcester, and other Clemente courses in Massachusetts. Give the article a read and consider picking up a copy of the anthology (you can get it through the Harvard Book Store.)

You can read the article at https://www.telegram.com/story/lifestyle/2021/01/24/clemente-students-offer-vision-nation-we-too-america/4159514001/.

New YouTube video – Jamie Samdahl @ the Thirsty Lab

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Our video editing volunteer has delivered another recording to our YouTube channel for your enjoyment.  Today we are pleased to share the wonderful reading by Jamie Samdahl.  The recording was made on October 27, 2020, at the virtual Thirsty Lab Poetry Reading.  Susan Roney-O’Brien hosts.

You can find the video at https://youtu.be/P8W8ayjO3Jk.

Jamie Samdahl

“Take Me Out to the Ballgame!”

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A Special edition of “The Issue,” WCPA’s semi-regular poetry anthology series returns with the boys of summer, as we celebrate not only our 50th anniversary year but National Poetry Month and the opening day of the WooSox at Polar Park!

Submission of your best baseball poetry is now open until the day after Valentine’s Day, 2021. Submit your poems in the body of an email, along with a brief bio and a head shot, to c.reilley@usa.com.

Jennifer Freed at the Thirsty Lab Poetry Reading.

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A week from tonight (Tuesday, January 26, 2021) the WCPA will support A virtual Thirsty Lab with Jennifer Freed at 7:00 pm. Registration is required; click here to be taken to the Zoom registration page.

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvc-isqTMoHNVEdqYuxmFsu6GNCHX8TM5Y

Jennifer L. Freed (she/her) has poems appearing in various print and on-line journals including Atlanta Review, Comstock Review, Connecticut River Review, Naugatuck River Review, The Worcester Review, and Zone 3, as well as in various anthologies, such as Forgotten Women, a Tribute in Poetry. ​ Her chapbook, These Hands Still Holding, was selected as a finalist in the 2013 New Women’s Voices Competition (Finishing Line Press). She was awarded the 2020 Samuel Washington Allen Prize for a long poem or poem-sequence (New England Poetry Club) and has been a finalist for the Frank O’Hara prize multiple times.

Celebrating Pat Fargnoli on January 24, 2021

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WCPA is honored to support Celebrating Pat Fargnoli next Sunday, January 24, 2021, at 3:00 pm. Fifteen readers will each read one of her poems. Pat is scheduled to finish off the reading with three poems if she is able.
 
Registration is required to attend. Visit https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvf-qvrjkjG9RcjRN5p5swwymzHSmjNEWo to register and Zoom will email you the link to join the event.
 
Patricia Fargnoli, the New Hampshire Poet Laureate from 2006-2009, is the author of six poetry collections. Her newest book is Hallowed: New and Selected Poems (Tupelo, 2017). Her other three full-length books, Then, Something, Duties of the Spirit, and Necessary Light were each award-winning (The Sheila Mooton Award, The ForeWord Magazine Silver Award for Poetry, The May Swenson Award, and The NH Literary Award for Outstanding Poetry). She has also published three chapbooks: Small Songs of Pain, Lives of Others, and Greatest Hits. A retired clinical social worker, “Pat” has been a Macdowell Fellow and is a past Associate Editor of The Worcester Review. She has been on the faculty of The Frost Place Poetry Festival and its teaching conference and has taught at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, for Road Scholars, and in the Lifelong Learning Program (CALL) of Keene State College. She currently teaches privately. Awards for her poems include an honorary B.F.A. from The New Hampshire Institute of Art, The Robert Frost Foundation Award, and five Pushcart nominations. She was twice a finalist for The Nation, Discovery Award. A native of Connecticut and a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford College for Women, and the University of Connecticut School of Social Work, she has published more than 300 poems in such journals as Poetry, Ploughshares, The Harvard Review, The Massachusetts Review, Barrow Street, Alaska Quarterly, et al. A member of The New Hampshire Writer’s Project and the New England Poetry Club, she’s lived for over twenty years in New Hampshire.

Board Meeting Schedule change

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At our January 4, 2021 meeting the WCPA the board voted to move our future meetings to the second Tuesday of each month. This move will provide more time to complete financial reports.

The WPCA board meeting monthly from September through June, taking a break from official meetings in July and August each year. If you want to join us for a future board meeting the dates through June 2021 include February 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, and June 9.