Announcing the 2023 WCPA Rain Poets

 

The Worcester County Poetry Association is pleased to announce the 2023 Rain Poets and their poems:

 

2023 Rain Poets, in no particular order

Evan Plante with “Staying Power”

Gertrude Malesi with “[Hatua za Wwenyeji]” (Swahili for “A gait that belongs”)

Jan Davini with “[The city beats in my heart]”

Aidan Brueckner with “Phantom Limb Syndrome”

Mark Wagner with “Flying Out of Worcester”

Laura DiCaronimo with “Hot Drops”

Chloe Mascitelli with “[The world feels lightest in Worcester]”

John Zywar with “Indian Lake”

Daniel Gregoire with “Worcester Time”

Lisa Knight with “Rain Magic”

Paul Szlosek with “[When Worcester was Worchester]”

David Ginsburg with “Forever Worcester”

Emily Haley with “History”

 

2023 Rain Poetry Honorable Mentions

John Zywar with “Interlude”

David Ginsburg with “Footsteps”

 

 

The selected poems will be painted around the City of Worcester in September 2023 on the sidewalks, primarily at bus stops distributed equitably throughout the city’s districts. The poems will be painted using Rainworks invisible spray, a paint that is only visible when the sidewalks are wet. This year’s locations will be posted to our website, on Facebook, and on our Instagram account, so please consult these resources when organizing your rainy day scavenger hunt to try to visit all thirteen before the sun dries the pavement..

 

We encouraged submissions from poets of all ages, walks of life, and in any language, that spoke to the poets’ experience of Worcester. The poems were selected in blind readings by a panel of judges that included Worcester Poet Laureate Oliver de la Paz, WCPA Board Member Katherine Gregoire, Clemente Graduate Vanessa Gonzalez-Oyola, 2021 Rain Poet Brett Iarrobino, and Clark Student Nati Botero. The 2023 Rain Poets will be invited to read their poems at a ceremony open to the public later in the fall.

About the Worcester County Poetry Association 

The Worcester County Poetry Association (WCPA) was founded in 1971 with a threefold mission: celebrate the  rich literary history and creative energy of Central Massachusetts through public readings, workshops, festivals,  scholarly conferences, and other programs; support the publication of the literary journal, The Worcester  Review; and collaborate with libraries, bookstores, colleges and universities, museums, churches, schools,  community centers, businesses and a variety of cultural organizations to promote poetry events. The WCPA is  an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Not for Publication: For more information, contact

Kate Gregoire, contest chairperson