***POETRY NEWS***
Here is your Poetry News for the month of May, 2016
Scroll down to see or link to more poetry in Worcester, the Berkshires, Boston, Vermont and other areas.
Poetry News is now published monthly. Please send events as you normally do to lori@thepoetrynews.com. The site will be updated regularly.
To receive Poetry News in your email or to request posting of events write to lori@thepoetrynews.com.
Some Highlights of This Month in Western MA (more below, including workshops & calls for submission):
Sun. May 1 – Gallery of Readers: Bonnie Atkins & Andrea Jontos , Neilson Lib. Smith, 4pm
Mon. May 2 – Lori Desrosiers at Wagon Wheel Word Open Mic., Gill, 6pm
Tue. May 3 – Deborah Gorlin, Straw Dog Writers, The Basement, Northampton, 7pm
Tue. May 3- Slam Team Finals, The Deuce, Northampton, 8pm
Wed.. May 4 – Poetry Open Mic at Sam’s Pizza, Northampton, 7pm
Thu. May 5 – Amherst Art Walk, Natalie Riquelmy & Wally Swist, Dickinson Museum, 6pm open mic.
Thu. May 5 – Collected Poets: Daniel Hayes & Kevin Pilkington, Mocha Maya’s, Shelburne Falls, 7pm
Mon. May 9 – Lake House Open Mic, Mark Gurarie, Lake House, Ashfield, 8:30pm
Mon. May 10 – Open mic at Deja Brew in Wendell! 6:30pm
Tue. May 10 – Unbuttoned Open Mic with Lori Desrosiers, Luthier’s, Easthampton, 7pm
Tue. May 10 – Poetry Open Mic & Jamie Mortara, The Deuce, Northampton, 8pm
Thu. May 12 – Florence Poets Society, Lilly Library, Florence, 6:30 business, 7pm poetry
Sat. May 14 – Poets Laureate Reading, Janet Aalfs & Maria Luisa Arroyo, White Square Books, Easthampton, 7pm
Tue. May 17 – Open mic & Lori Desrosiers, Greenfield Word, 19 Mill St. Greenfield, 7:30pm
Tue. May 17 – Open Mic & Slam Team Finals! The Deuce, Northampton, 8pm
Tue. May 24 – Don Wentworth, “Yoko’s Dogs” & Colin Harrington at Writers Read, Lee Library, 5:30pm
Tue. May 24 – Poetry Open Mic & Joshua Michael Stewart, The Deuce, Northampton, 8pm
POETRY IN THE PIONEER VALLEY AND BEYOND:
Featuring Deborah Gorlin
Open mic at the Basement, admission is free! Writers, put your name in the hat until 7:10; reading begins at 7:15. Followed by featured reader Deborah Gorlin. After that, there will be time to socialize and find out what’s happening in the local writing world!
DEBORAH GORLIN has published in a wide range of journals including Poetry, Antioch Review, American Poetry Review, Seneca Review, The Massachusetts Review, The Harvard Review, Green Mountains Review, Bomb, Connecticut Review, Women’s Review of Books, New England Review, and Best Spiritual Writing 2000. Before winning the 2014 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize, for her collection, LIFE OF THE GARMENT, she won the 1996 White Pine Poetry Press Prize for her first book of poems, Bodily Course. Gorlin holds an MFA from the University of California/Irvine. Since 1991, she has taught writing at Hampshire College, where she serves as co-director of the Writing Program. She is currently a poetry editor at The Massachusetts Review.
Wally Swist and Natalie Riquelmy at Emily Dickinson Museum
Thursday, May 5th
The Emily Dickinson Museum participates in the Amherst Art Walk on first Thursdays monthly from 5-8PM. Each month enjoy a one-night-only art exhibit, a poetry open mic, and featured readers. The Art Walk is just one way the Museum is bringing local contemporary talent into Emily Dickinson’s creative space. All events are free and open to the public.
Event Schedule
5:00-8:00pm Art in the Homestead by local watercolorist, Victoria Dickson
5:00-6:00pm Poetry Open Mic sign-ups
6:00pm Poetry Open Mic
Featured readers following open mic: Natalie Riquelmy and Wally Swist
Thursday, May 5, 2016, at 7:00 pm
poets Daniel Hales and Kevin Pilkington
will continue the ninth season of the Collected Poets Series.
Mocha Maya’s Coffee House
47 Bridge St
Shelburne Falls, MA
($2-5 suggested donation)
The Gallery of Readers Series presents
Kathryn Petroccelli & Kathy Fiveash
reading from their recent work
Sunday, April 10, 2016, 4 PM
Neilson Library Browsing Room
Smith College
Northampton, Massachusetts
Refreshments will be served.
Since its inception in 1990, The Gallery of Readers has presented monthly readings September through June that showcase the work of local writers. All readings are free and open to the public. In addition to organizing this series, Robin Barber and Carol Edelstein led the Vernon Street Writing Workshops. In 2010 they began the Gallery of Readers Press, a nonprofit literary publishing company.
For more information on other events in the series, and for more of
our work, please visit
<http://www.galleryofreaders.org/galleryofreaders/current.html>http://www.galleryofreaders.org/
LAKE HOUSE POETRY OPEN MIC
Mark Guerarie
MONDAY, May 9th at 8:30pm
at the ASHFIELD LAKE HOUSE!
Come perform a poem, a sonnet, a haiku, or spoken word, all types of original writing are welcome. Or you can come to chill, listen, and cheer on the poets! Sign-ups start at 8:00pm but get there fast, there are a limited number of slots. One poem per person, and please keep your poems to about 3 minutes in length as we want to be able to hear as many people as possible. The event is by donation. Hosted by Myisha Stephens and Sequoia LeBreux.
with featured poet Lori Desrosiers
Tuesday, May 10th from 7:00 – 8:30PM
at Luthier’s Co-op, 108 Cottage St., Easthampton, MA.
This event is free and open to the public.
Smith Poetry Center presents:
Moving Through Grief: Poem, Songs and After
with poets Jane Yolen ’60 and Molly Scott ’59
April 14th, 7PM, Neilson Browsing Room, Smith College
Both Smith alumnae, Yolen, ’60, is an acclaimed, award-winning poet and New York Times best-selling author while Molly Scott, ’59, is a poet, singer/songwriter and psychologist who recently won the Robert Frost Foundation poetry prize. Reading from their books, intertwined with music, they will address personal and societal grieving and the gifts and losses of aging. No fee; refreshments served. Co-sponsored by Poetry Center at Smith and Straw Dog Writers Guild.
7 Minutes: A Literary Spotlight
Sunday, May 8th from 1:00 to 3:00pm
Springfield Public Library
220 State Street, Springfield
Tuesday, April 19, 7:30pm
(3rd Tuesday of the month)
This month’s Feature:
Lori Desrosiers
Writers Read Monthly Reading Series
TUESDAY, May 24 @ 5:30pm
Featured Readers: Don Wentworth, “Yoko’s Dogs” & Colin Harrington
LEE LIBRARY
100 Main St, Lee, MA
Host: David Giannini
POETRY AT SAM’S IS BACK
Sam’s Pizza and Cafe presents an open reading night
First Wednesday of the month
7pm Sam’s Pizza, Northampton
Weekly Poetry Open Mic at The Deuce
Every Tuesday Night 8pm – 10pm
Open Mic Signup starts at 7pm.
World War II Club, Conz St. Northampton,MA
Please bring a 3-5 minute selection of your work to share
Fabulous website with featured poets
http://www.northamptonpoetry.com/
Call for Submissions: Slate Roof Press,
a member-run, not-for-profit collaborative, is pleased to announce the 2016 Elyse Wolf Prize for our annual poetry chapbook contest. The winner receives $500, becomes an active member of the press, and will have his/her chapbook published by Slate Roof. We publish limited-edition, art-quality chapbooks for Massachusetts and regional poets — beautiful books by an award-winning book designer and printer. Winners make a 3-year commitment to the press, including monthly meetings in Greenfield, MA, and share work responsibilities for many aspects of publishing. Submit no more than 28 pages of poetry. $10 reading fee. Deadline (upload/postmark): May 15, 2016. For full contest guidelines, visit www.slateroofpress.com or http://slateroofpresscontest.submittable.com/submit.
Our Bodies Are The Keepers of Our Stories
In this monthly workshop, writers and yogis of all levels will gather to practice yoga and writing concurrently in order to excavate and gain access to the infinite wisdom, language, and stories held within the body. Using meditation, asana, yoga philosophy, atypical writing exercises, and illustrative texts, each themed workshop will be both study and practice. We’ll explore how yoga supports and enhances the craft of writing as well as our writing process. The result will be tremendously rich, vibrant writing, a true sense of creative freedom, and a sure-fire way to never have writer’s block again.
Students will have the opportunity to share their work in class and to continue the conversation online between workshops.
April 17 – Moving Mountain Practice—On Changing Perspectives
May 15 –Writing What’s Difficult—The Emotional Body
June 19 — Practice is Practice is Practice — Lessons from Gertrude Stein and Vinyasas
Fiction Writing Group at East Forest Park Library
122 Island Pond Road (Next to Rite Aid in the plaza)
Springfield First Wednesday of Each Month
Time: 6:00 pm
Contact: Theresa Boulrice (413) 263-6836)
Emily Dickinson International Society
(EDIS) presents: “Poetry Conversation”
Jones Library, 43 Amity Street, Amherst, MA; in the Amherst Room, 2nd floor 1st Friday of each month — 2pm – 3:30pm 2nd Thursday of each month — 5:45pm – 7:15pm All who are interested in sharing thoughts and ideas in a group discussion based on selected poems/letters by Emily Dickinson are welcome.
FLORENCE POETS SOCIETY
The next business/sharing meeting is Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 6:30pm.
Poetry share at 7.
Please consider joining the Florence Poets Society. Your $20 membership dues (Sept. – Aug.) support our annual journal, Silkworm, as well as public readings and events. We meet monthly at the Lilly Library in Florence on the 2nd Thurs. of each month, and all are welcome. Please visit our web site for more information: http://www.florencepoets.com or contact us at info@florencepoets.com.
POETRY A LA CARTE RADIO SHOW on WMUA-Amherst 91.1 FM
For the Spring semester (starting now) Poetry à la Carte will air at a new time:
Tuesdays at 5 pm.
We’ll begin with January poets in a rollicking mood — Lewis Carroll, Mary Mapes Dodge (you may know her as the author of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates), Gelett Burgess, a smidgen of Norman Mailer, and a few others of an unexpected and merry crew!
WMUA-Amherst (the student and community radio station of UMass-Amherst) can be listened to at 91.1 FM within range of the transmitter. WMUA is also streamed live at http://www.wmua.org/. The program, produced by Daisy Mathias, includes reading aloud from past and contemporary poets, and occasionally features live interview and poetry-reading with a local poet.
GREENFIELD, SHELBURNE FALLS AND NORTH
3rd Tuesday of the month
ALBANY, NY POETRY
There’s a vibrant and active poetry community in the Albany area.
Go to http://www.albanypoets.com/ for schedules and events!
WORD IN WORCESTER
The Hangover Hour Poetry Salon
is every other Sunday afternoon, with a poet from the community reading the works of a poet from history. The open mic before the feature is a tight 5 minutes, for poems, stories or other spoken word propaganda. Spread the word nerd! The future is a drag, man!!! We start promptly at 5:00 p.m. every other Sunday, so come early, have a tasty beverage and be cool cats. 18+ Nicks (124 Millbury Street, Worcester)
Poetry, People!
Every Thursday 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm (sometimes later)
@ The Coffee Loft 406 Lincoln Street Marlborough, MA
508.251.1431 Poetry, verse, and short stories are are welcome at this very friendly, informal open reading.
Now booking for features to start in March.
Please contact Jarad at CoffeeLoftBooking@gmail.com for more info or to become a featured poet.
The Little “a” Poetry Series
Every Thursday night at 7pm, with an open mic preceding the feature. It is free and all ages, and will be held at The Strange Attractor, 97D Webster St, Worcester MA. Hosted by “Cowboy” Matt Hopewell, who also does the booking and can be reached at themadcowboy@gmail.com or by phone at (508) 479 8311 .
CONNECTICUT POETRY
CT has a wonderful and comprehensive newsletter online. Write to ctpoetnews@yahoo.com to get the CT Poet newsletter in your email, or the CT Poetry Calendar is online at http://www.ctpoetrycalendar.com
BOSTON/CAPE COD POETRY
If you want more events in the Boston area (and there are many more!) write to Dan Bouchard to get his poetry calendar in your email at bouchard@MIT.EDU
VERMONT POETRY
Poetry Slam
Every first and third Wednesday of the month. First, Poetry Slam, then is an open mic Equilibrium 14 Elm Street sign-up at 7:30 event is 8-10pm http://www.facebook.com/BrattleboroPoetry For a VT poetry events calendar go to: http://www.phayvanh.com/ For info on Brattleboro poetry and Write Action visit their website – http://www.writeaction.org Poetry readings at the Putney Library 55 Main Street, Putney VT (802) 387-4407
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News for Poetry News should be sent to lori@thepoetrynews.com. Please send your announcements in text only – do not format (no special fonts, left-align, no colors, etc.) and check it for errors. Send by Wednesday for Thursday publication. Thank you, Lori Desrosiers – Publisher, Editor, wearer of all hats.
Poetry News 