It’s a busy week in the world of virtual poetry readings with three events for you to join if you so desire.
Tonight, 3/21 @ 7:00 pm – Zoom into Poetry with Karen Friedland
Tuesday, 3/23 @ 7:00 pm – A virtual Thirsty Lab with Curt Curtin
Wednesday, 3/24 @ 7:00 pm – Princeton Women’s Reading
Registration via Zoom is needed to join the actual events; you’ll find a link in each calendar event.
Reminder – join the Worcester Black History Project, Worcester Historical Museum, and the WCPA tonight at 7:00 pm for Sisters Outsider: Black Women Creating Poetry. Moderators Tina Gaffney and Lydia Fortune will host Worcester poets Rush Frazier, the Reverend Dr. Catherine Reed, Xaulanda Thorpe, Zoe Vilicic, and Ashley Wonder.
Register via Zoom to join us live; details are in the calendar event.
Our featured reader from our last Zoom into Poetry session, Jeff Walt, shared a fascinating website with us – Broadsided Press @ https://broadsidedpress.org.
Broadsided Press connects poets and visual artists in the creation of the beloved broadside. The WCPA has a long history of creating broadsides and you can find digital versions of some of them in our Broadside Archive.
What’s interesting about Broadsided Press is that they create a collaboration between art forms and then make the result available via their website for anyone to distribute.
Take a look at the broadside created for Jeff Walt’s poem, “After the Fight” at https://broadsidedpress.org/broadsides/after-a-fight/. And let us know if you have a favorite broadside.
Submissions for the WCPA’s Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize are open through Friday, April 30, 2021. For 2021 our contest judge is Pam Bernard, an adjunct professor of writing at Franklin Pierce University.
Contest rules and submission details can be found on the 2021 Annual Contest Submission Guidelines page.
Online submissions are powered by Submittable – https://theworcesterreview.submittable.com/submit.
Join us tomorrow, Sunday, March 7, 2021, for Zoom Into Poetry with Jennifer Martelli. visit this Zoom registration link, fill out the form, and Zoom will send you an e-mail link. The reading starts at 7:00 pm.
Jennifer Martelli is the author of “My Tarantella” (Bordighera Press) and “The Uncanny Valley” (Big Table Publishing Company), as well as the chapbook “After Bird” from Grey Book Press. Her work has appeared in The Aeolian Harp Anthology, The Superstition Review, The Bitter Oleander, Thrush, Carve, Glass Poetry Journal, The Heavy Feather Review, and Tinderbox Poetry Journal. Jennifer Martelli is the recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant in Poetry. She is a poetry editor at The Mom Egg Review.
Congratulations to WCPA member Curt Curtin on the release of his newest poetry collection, “Kerry Dancers.” Curt has a number of virtual readings and events scheduled this month as part of a virtual book tour. You can find the ones we are aware of at https://worcestercountypoetry.org/events/.
We’ve learned that former New Hampshire poet laureate Patricia Fargnoli passed away on February 18. We were honored to help support a tribute to Pat back in January. The image we share here is from the final poem she shared with us that afternoon. You can watch an edited recording of the January 24, 2021 “Tribute to Pat Fargnoli” on our YouTube channel.
Thanks to everyone who joined our Annual Meeting today. Despite being all virtual we had genuine engagement and discussion. Tim Mayo shared a wonderful reading of his poetry.
Please join me in thanking long-time board member Jim Cocola for his commitment to the WCPA over the past decade. Newer board members Irena Kaci and Lyndsey Uvanitte are also stepping down. We thank all of them for their service.
The following individuals were voted to serve on the WCPA board for 2021-2022. Their first meeting as a board will be on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.
Elizabeth Bacon
Robin Boucher
Therese Carr
Nicole DiCello
Joe Fusco Jr.
Robert Gill – Treasurer
Kate Gregoire
Johnhaynes Honeycutt
Carle Johnson
Jay Lavelle
Sam Lalos
Ann Marie Lucci
Rodger Martin – President
Kate McIntyre – Editor, The Worcester Review
Laura Jehn Menides
Carolyn Oliver
Christopher Reilley – VP, Programming
Susan Roney-O’Brien
Karen Sharpe
Robert Steele
Linda Warren – Treasurer
