Submit your creative take on a Dropkick Murphys song by Friday, September 5th, to meet Ken Kesey and share your work on stage.

Ken Casey is no stranger to telling a good story. From smash hits like “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” to deep cuts like “Boys on the Docks,” chances are he’s written a song about Massachusetts that resonates with you in some way.

Leading up to our event honoring Ken on September 25, we’re launching a contest to see what YOU find inspiring about Ken and Dropkick Murphys. We’re inviting you to pick any Dropkick Murphys song and creatively respond to it. This could include:

• Doing a cover of a song
• Making a painting inspired by song lyrics
• Writing a short essay about seeing the band perform live
• Creating an original dance
• Writing a poem

The list is endless. As long as it’s original, creative, and uses the humanities to talk about the band, it counts!

Rules At A Glance:

• The deadline to submit your entry is Friday, September 5, 11:59 pm EST.
• Mass Humanities will select a winner in early September.
• The winner will receive two tickets for themselves and a friend to attend our event on September 25 in Boston.
• The winner will have a chance to share their work on stage and meet Ken.
• Contestants must be 18 years old or older and be a “full-year resident” of Massachusetts.
• Limit one entry per contestant.
• Use of artificial intelligence (AI) software and tools is not permitted.
• Works must be able to be presented or explained in under 3 minutes.

For a complete list of rules, click here.

Hello WCPA members. This is just a quick PSA to promote the website of local poet Brian Evans-Jones whose website offers a wealth of resources for any local and upcoming poets. Check out The Poetry Place! You won’t be disappointed!

First place… “The Monstah,” was written by Todd Leitz, a Duxbury native and fierce Red Sox fan who lives in Los Angeles and works in Major League Baseball as the Los Angeles Dodgers PA Announcer.

Second place… “I Am the Green Monster,” was written by Brolin Winning, a MA native currently living in Colrain (in the Hill Towns).  Brolin is General Manager of Shelburne Springs Luxury Boutique Hotel.  He’s also a (rap) song writer.

Third place… “Monster of the Mind,” was written by Herbert Munshine, a baseball poet with dozens of publication credits who is from the Bronx and lives in Great Neck, NY.  Herbert was a school teacher for 58 years.

An interview with the winner—Todd Leitz—will air tonight on NESN’s pre-game show at 6:20pm ET.

Then, we’re aiming to post the interview (and names of the two runners-up) on the National Baseball Poetry Festival website by early next week.  If you miss the interview tonight, catch it next week at:  https://baseballpoetryfest.org/.

Working with NESN has been a great pleasure!  Many thanks to their team, and to all the National Baseball Poetry Festival supporters far and wide who posted and spread the word about the inaugural Challenge.  Special shout-out to the Worcester County Poetry Association for making multiple posts encouraging participation!

Last but not least, personal thanks to each and every one of you for your ongoing support of the Festival’s activities.  None of the things we’re accomplishing would be possible without your support!

With warm regards,

Steve

Steven H. Biondolillo

Biondolillo Associates, LLC

www.biondolillo.com

 

Gibson will amplify poetry and creative expression across the commonwealth

On Friday, May 30, a new chapter was added to Massachusetts’ rich literary history. Regie O’Hare Gibson was named the very first poet laureate of Massachusetts at the Mass Poetry Festival in Salem. 

“Regie Gibson is a talented poet with a proven commitment to community engagement and a deep appreciation for the history, beauty and resilience of our state and our people. He sees his poetry as a means of bringing people together, finding common ground and building stronger communities,” said Governor Maura Healey. “We congratulate him on his many accomplishments and for being named Massachusetts’ first-ever Poet Laureate, and we extend our deep thanks to Michael Bobbitt, the Mass Cultural Council and the advisory Poet Laureate Nominating Committee for their work to make this special new tradition possible.”

“Poets allow us to dream and inspire us to reckon with our past, interpret the present, and imagine new futures,” said Brian Boyles, executive director of Mass Humanities. “In a state blessed with diverse and vibrant literary traditions that continue to shape the world, we applaud Governor Healey for selecting Regie Gibson, whose craft and care for the poetry community are truly unique, as our first poet laureate. Our board and staff thank Gov. Healey and our partners at Mass Cultural Council for the collaboration and effort that led to this milestone, and we are grateful to the many outstanding poets who offered their talents for this role.”

Please join us in congratulating Gibson on this honor. You can read more on Mass Cultural Council’s website using the button below.

“Regie Gibson, the first poet laureate of Massachusetts, says his job is “starting poetry fires all over the place…the kind we hope you can’t put out.” He’s drawing particular inspiration from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, which he first read as a teenager, reflecting on what it means today to step away from societal responsibilities.

“For me, poetry is about civic engagement. I think that a poet laureate’s responsibility is to engage civically with people, and to call us back to, as Lincoln would say, the better angels of our nature,” Gibson said, quoting from President Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address.”

The National Baseball Poetry Festival is delighted to team up with NESN TV to introduce a new and fun Poetry Challenge with a quick turnaround… the submission deadline is Wednesday, July 2^nd at noon ET!  The winning poem will be selected by July 9^th and read July 10^th or 11^th on live television!

The Green Monster Poetry Challenge is accepting submissions of poems that can be read/recited out loud in no more than ONE MINUTE.  As a guideline, if your poem exceeds 20-24 lines and has more than 8-10 beats per line, it probably won’t cut the contest’s one-minute limitation.  Of course, prior to submitting, you should clock the piece (out loud) several times in order to make sure it complies.

Guidelines:

·         Must be written in tight meter and rhyme

·         When read/recited out loud, must not exceed one minute in length

·         Must respond to the following prompt: Bring to life the spirit of the Green Monster at Fenway Park, and communicate what it means to the team, fans, and Boston community

·         Please make your submission by or before Wednesday, July 2^nd at noon ET, and include your full name, town/state, email address, and phone number

·         Please submit only a single poem

·         Please submit your poem in the body of an email, and not in an attachment (poems submitted in attachments will be deleted)

·         Please note: if you make a submission, you agree that NESN TV maintains the right to utilize your poem (or any portion of it) in any way NESN chooses, including (but not limited to) television, radio, print, outdoor signage, digital media, premium items, etc.; please note that you, as the poem’s author, will maintain ownership of the copyright)

Please submit your poem to the National Baseball Poetry Festival’s contest email: baseballpoetrycontest@gmail.com; and, please note, we are unable to respond to inquiries.  

!!!!Announcing the 2025 O’Hara Prize Results!!!!

1st Place: Anthony DiPietro with “The God of Hide and Seek“

2nd Place: Maia Campbell with “When I Grow Up“

3rd Place: Claire Schaeffer Duffy with “Homage to the Enemy’s Poet“

Honorable Mention: Elina Kumra with “ontology of water memory“

Honorable Mention: Em Judkins with “Crying About Old Women at the Macy’s Jewelry Counter (Again)“

A HUGE thank you to all of our wonderful participants! We got so many contributions and read some truly fantastic poems.

A big thank you to our judge DeMisty Bellinger for her thoughtful consideration!

and a heartfelt Congratulations to our 2025 O’Hara Prize Winners!

We hope to see everyone at the O’Hara reading in September.

Anthony DiPietro is a gay sex poet originally from Providence, RI, who has lived throughout New England and elsehwere. Now deputy director of Rose Art Museum, he resides in Worcester, MA. He composed his 2021 chapbook And Walk Through (Seven Kitchens Press) on a typewriter during the pandemic lockdowns, and his debut collection is kiss & release (Unsolicited Press, 2024).

Maia Campbell is a Jamaican-American writer and doctoral candidate studying political philosophy at the University of Dallas. Maia has published poetry in Amistad: Howard University’s Literary Arts Journal and Wilder Roam. She has also participated in several poetry readings and has had her work publicly displayed as part of the Worcester County Poetry Association’s Rain Poetry Competition in 2022 and 2024. Maia grew up in Worcester and moved back to the city in 2023.

Claire Schaeffer Duffy’s work as a freelance journalist began in 1999. Her book reviews, essays, profiles, features and investigative stories have appeared in America, Commonweal, US Catholic, and the National Catholic Reporter and garnered a number of awards from the Catholic Press Association. An essay on hospitality appears in the final chapter of the two-volume work, Nonviolence as Way of Life. Claire regularly contributes to The Catholic Radical, a publication of the Saints Francis and Therese Catholic Worker in Worcester, MA Mother of four and grandmother of six, she comes to poetry late in life.  

Elina Kumra is a poet and writer, author of Ash and Olive and Extant. She writes of memory, loss, and resilience in life’s quiet ruptures. Her words are spare and sure, each one carrying its quiet weight. Her poems and stories have appeared in magazines at home and abroad, and her work has earned recognition from literary organizations. She teaches poetry and believes words can heal and bear witness.

Em Judkins (they/them) is an over-caffeinated queer poet and filmmaker based in Massachusetts. They graduated from Smith College with a B.A. in English and Film and Media Studies. Their work has received Ethel Olin Corbin Prize, the Ruth Forbes Eliot Prize, and Elizabeth Drew Essay Prize, and appears in The Core Review, new words poetry journal, Emulate, and elsewhere. They believe in love and bad art.

2025 KUNITZ MEDAL PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VICTOR INFANTE Chosen for 2025 Stanley Kunitz Medal

The Stanley Kunitz Medal committee is pleased to announce Victor D. Infante as the 2025 medal recipient.

Victor D. Infante is a poet, journalist, and fiction writer who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, raised in Southern California, educated in England, and has resided in Worcester, Massachusetts, with his wife, poet and artist Lea Deschenes, for many years. He was the founding editor of such literary and political journals as The November 4th Club and Radius Lit. Both publications featured poetry and essays from local and globally recognized poets and writers. He has also been a frequent guest on radio programs (on stations such as WCRN, WTAG, WCUW, KXLU and KUCI) including Barbara DeMarco Barrett’s podcast, Writers on Writing, discussing music, literature, popular culture and his own writing. He has also provided writing workshops, most recently an online workshop called “Breaking the Rules (of Writing)” for Poetry Salon.

Victor D. Infante’s poetry publications include The Chiron Review, The Collagist, Barrelhouse, Pearl, Spillway and The Banyan Review, and anthologies such as Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry; Spoken Word Revolution Redux; The Last American Valentine: Poems to Seduce and Destroy; Aim For the Head: An Anthology of Zombie Poetry and The Incredible Sestina Anthology. Infante’s book publications include City of Insomnia (Write Bloody Publishing, 2008); the self-released essay collection Feels Like Failure, Every Time: Thoughts on Writing, Pop Culture, Politics and Violence (2019); and his latest book, Suffer for This: Love, Sex, Marriage & Rock n’ Roll which was published by Moontide Press in 2024. He is also the author of more than a dozen chapbooks.

In addition, Victor D. Infante is the features editor for the Telegram & Gazette and the editor of Worcester Magazine. Prior to starting at the Telegram & Gazette in 2002, he was a contributing writer for alt-weeklies including Worcester Magazine and OC Weekly in California, as well as various rock and poetry ‘zines. He’s won six NENPA Awards for Arts & Entertainment Reporting and has been a nominee six years in a row for the Boston Music Awards’ “Music Journalist of the Year.”

The Stanley Kunitz Medal originated with a bequest to the Worcester County Poetry Association from the estate of former Poet Laureate of the United States and Worcester native Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006). Infante will be the tenth recipient of the medal, which is bestowed annually on a poet with a strong Worcester County connection who best exemplifies Kunitz’s lifelong commitment to poetry by teaching poetry, mentoring poets, speaking poetry, publishing poetry, and supporting organizations which nurture poetry.

Also honored with a nomination this year were poets Bill Tremblay, Robert Eugene Perry, Damary Rosado, Margaret Smith, and long-time poetry supporter, and conservator of the Stanley Kunitz Childhood Home, Carol Stockmal.

Victor Infante will receive his medal at a ceremony presented by the Worcester County Poetry Association at the Museum of Worcester (formerly the Worcester Historical Museum) on Thursday, July 31, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. There is limited parking at the museum, with additional metered parking on the street and in the Pearl/Elm Street Garage. Visit worcestercountypoetry.org for details.

Respectfully submitted,

Heather J. Macpherson, Chair – heathermacph@gmail.com

Worcester, MA — The Blackstone Heritage Corridor (BHC), in partnership with the Worcester Writers’ Collective, proudly announces the launch of Blackstone Story Walks—a new initiative that blends local history, creative writing, and the scenic experience of the Blackstone River Bikeway/Greenway. 

The project features excerpts from original short stories and poems written by Worcester-area authors, displayed along the southern section of the bikeway in Worcester and Millbury. Story panels are installed along the trail with accompanying QR codes, allowing visitors to access the full-length versions of each piece directly on their phones. Designed to engage walkers, cyclists, and visitors of all ages, Blackstone Story Walks invites readers to explore both the physical landscape and the creative imagination it inspires. 

“Blackstone Story Walks brings our mission to life in a creative new way,” said Anya Wilczynski, Interim Executive Director of the Blackstone Heritage Corridor. “It celebrates the creativity of this region—both past and present—while promoting local writers and inviting the public to interpret their surroundings with fresh eyes.” 

Each writer drew inspiration from the Blackstone Valley—its landscapes, history, and symbolism. The featured works reflect a wide range of voices and themes, from Indigenous heritage and notable local figures to poetic meditations on the river and the pathways it shapes. Every piece offers a unique and thought-provoking lens on place and identity. 

“So much of our organization is centered on the belief that storytelling is a highly effective tool for building community,” said Brett Iarrobino, a representative of the Worcester Writers’ Collective. “We’ve talked for a while now about how often we’ve run into original, local writing in exciting and unexpected places across Worcester County and New England, and we started to feel an urgency to bring that innovation to our city. Through this collaboration, we’re proud to showcase voices that reflect the depth and diversity of Worcester and the entire Corridor.”

For more information about Blackstone Story Walks, visit www.blackstoneheritagecorridor.org or follow BHC on social media. To get involved as a contributing writer or to learn more about the Worcester Writers’ Collective, email worcesterwriterscollective@gmail.com. 

Halisia Hubbard/NPR

This story was originally published on March 30, 2020, and has been updated. Source Material.

A great poem can be there for you — just like other works of art you hold dear. It can help you process sadness, anger or fear. Or make you feel happy or excited. Franny Choi, a poet and educator, says some poems make her want to “get out of my chair and shout it from the rooftops.”

But if you haven’t flexed your poetry muscle in a while, those feelings might be a little hard to tap into. For National Poetry Month, which takes place in April, here are five tips to help you meaningfully connect to a poem.

1. Don’t approach poetry like it’s school

The way poetry is taught in school can be a barrier to entry. “People are taught that the way to engage with a poem is by trying to understand it, master it and write an essay about it,” says Choi. “That keeps us from developing personal relationships with poetry.”

So rest easy as you read a poem — there’s no quiz at the end!

2. Don’t worry about ‘getting it’

People often put pressure on themselves to crack a poem, unlock its meaning or figure out what the poet was trying to say. Don’t do it, says Harryette Mullen, a poet and professor of English at University of California, Los Angeles.

Instead, ask yourself some questions to get at what you think of the poem.

• What overall impression do you get? 
• What ideas float around in your mind? 
• What do you feel? 

“Those kinds of overall impressions, I think most of us do get,” says Mullen. “We are left with something.” Whatever that “something” is — trust it.

3. Read it out loud

“Poetry was an oral art form before anything else,” says Choi. “And a lot of information can be gained from reading poems out loud.”

As an exercise, try reading a poem aloud a few different ways:

• Like you’re savoring every word and every syllable
• Like you’re explaining something really difficult to someone else

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It may help further your understanding of the poem.

4. Visualize the poem

A poem might offer visual imagery — or may not. If not, go ahead and fill them in with your imagination.

Mullen says to think of the poem like a movie or a play and you’re the director. “What colors would you use? What kind of setting is there? If there’s light what kind of light would it be? Harsh light? Twilight? Dusk? Would it be indoors or outdoors? Can you imagine the speaker?”

These brain pictures will illuminate whatever it is you seem to be getting out of the poem. If you need help, Choi suggests doodling images that stick out as you read the poem. That might help you find a common theme or through line.

5. Read a bunch of poetry

The experts we talked to say their poetry curriculum in schools was mostly centered around the classical canon — your Shakespeares and your Frosts. But everyone stressed that the world of poetry is a lot bigger than that (not to mention less white, less male, less old). So if poems about walking in the woods when it’s snowing aren’t your jam, keep looking — there’s something out there for you. Check out this starter playlist of poetry on YouTube; Write About Now’s Instagram account, which features poetry from around the world; or poetry in The Paris Review, a quarterly literary magazine, to get you going.

Or better yet, head to your local poetry reading. Shihan Van Clief and Dante Basco co-founded Da Poetry Lounge — a long-running poetry reading in Los Angeles that takes place every Tuesday.

Van Clief says be honest about your tastes and what you’re looking for — if you’re looking for something closer to Shel Silverstein than the latest Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, that’s fine.

“There’s just as much value in that because it gives them a stepping stone,” says Van Clief.

Ready to get started? This month we partner with Shrewsbury Public Library to host a series of FREE POETRY WORKSHOPS EVERY SATURDAY (2:30-4:30) + Submit to the 3Decker, our newest publication.

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