Poet's Place

The 2nd annual National Baseball Poetry Festival will be held on the evening of Saturday, May 4th.

There will be 2 locations for open mics:

• Steel and Wire
• Bollands

Both are near the Canal District and Polar Park.

There may also be an afternoon reading/open mic at the Worcester Public Library.

The organizer says:
The poetry you read at the open mic doesn’t necessarily have to all be baseball themed. It can be about Worcester, or other offshoots from baseball, like memories you might have as a kid playing catch with a friend or eating hot dogs at the ballpark or whatever else you can think of! We are a super creative bunch so I have no doubt you’ll be up to the challenge and maybe even be inspired to write some new pieces just for the occasion!

 

Contact Cheryl Bonin for more details at tavern1775@gmail.com

 

Click here to learn about....

The Library of Congress and National Poetry Month

WCPA
Open Mic Poetry

Saturday March 16th @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

 

Join us for a monthly round robin style, open poetry reading.
Bring original pieces to share.

Sign up to reserve your spot by calling 508-949-6232 or emailing deb@bookloversgourmet.com

Space is limited to 14 participants and usually fills quickly!

 

 

Thank you all for being a part of this vibrant community of poets!

Robert Eugene Perry (myportfolio.com)

The Word is a monthly poetry open mic & reading series at Workshop13, a cultural arts & learning center in Ware, Massachusetts. We start with an engaging, compassionate open mic with a featured reader to follow right after. The event takes place in Workshop13’s Great Hall, a refurbished church and a beautiful space to read, listen, and be heard. Cash bar and free popcorn. This is an all ages event.

SIGN-UPS start at 6:30. Open mic starts promptly at 7, with our featured reader to follow after a short break.

***This Month's Featured Reader is Oliver de la Paz***

Oliver de la Paz is the Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA for 2023-2025. He is the author and editor of seven books: Names Above Houses, Furious Lullaby, Requiem for the Orchard, Post Subject: A Fable, and The Boy in the Labyrinth, a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry. His newest work, The Diaspora Sonnets, published by Liveright Press in 2023, is long listed for the National Book Award and is the winner of the 2023 New England Book Award. With Stacey Lynn Brown he co-edited A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry. A founding member, Oliver serves as the co-chair of the Kundiman advisory board and on the board for Poetry Daily. A recipient of grants and awards from the NEA, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Artist Trust, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, his work has appeared in journals like Virginia Quarterly Review, North American Review, Tin House, Poetry, and in anthologies and periodicals such as Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation and in the New York Times. He teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at Pacific Lutheran University.

Workshop13 Cultural Arts and Learning Center is a rural non-profit arts innovator devoted to increasing the appreciation and accessibility of the arts, strengthening the creative life of our community through instruction, collaboration, and arts-based initiatives. Parking available across the street from the venue.

13 Church Street
Ware, Massachusetts 01082
413-277-6072

The WCPA's annual meeting will be on Sunday, March 3rd, 2:00 pm-4:00 pm

 

The annual meeting of the Worcester County Poetry Association will be held in the ballroom of The Salisbury House (61 Harvard St, Worcester, MA 01609), followed by a reading of Massachusetts poet Rhett Watts.

Central

Rhett Watts has lived in Beirut, San Francisco, New York, and Connecticut. She now lives beside a brook south of Worcester with her husband Kim and Siberian cat, Hugo. Some of her poems appear in: Sojourners Magazine, The Worcester Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Soul-Lit, Naugatuck River Review, and in the books The Best Spiritual Writing 2000, and The Mud Chronicles: A New England Anthology. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Rhett’s chapbook, No Innocent Eye was co-winner of the Rane Arroyo Award. Her books include Willing Suspension, The Braiding, and coming in 2025 The Double Nest from Fernwood Press. Rhett facilitates Amherst Writers & Artists writing workshops and SoulCollage workshops in CT and MA.

Slightly Off-Beat Poets presents:

 

DONNA LANGE & BRIAN MOSHER 2/11/24

 

Donna Lange’s house 59 Chase Road Thompson, CT (exit 50 off 395)

 

18 Open Mic/ 2 Features (20 TOTAL)

 

1.              REP

2.              DEB MITSAKOS

3.              DONNA LANGE

4.              BRIAN MOSHER

5.              TOM SKARZYNSKI

6.              KAREN SKARZYNSKI

7.              TOM EWART

8.              ROBIN BOUCHER

9.              STEVE VEILLEUX

10.         KAREN DURLACH

11.         DAVID O (guest w/ Karen)

12.         ERIC PETERSEN (ESP)

13.         SUE SHEPARD

14.         SUE SCOTT

15.         FRED GERHARD

16.         RACHAEL GERHARD (guest w/Fred)

17.         PAUL SZLOSEK

18.         ANNE MARIE LUCCI

19.         TBA

20.         TBA

Slightly Off-Beat Poets 2024 Schedule & Locations

 ALL EVENTS ARE 1-4 PM ON SUNDAYS

PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN CHAIR & A SNACK TO SHARE FOR OUTDOOR EVENTS!

 Donna Lange/ Brian Mosher                                                       2/11/24

(Donna Lange’s house 59 Chase Road Thompson, CT (exit 50 off 395)

 

Steve Veilleux/ Robert Eugene Perry                                          3/10/24

(Steve Veilleux’s Home 112 Fabyan Woodstock Rd, N Grosvenordale, CT)

 

Tommy Twilight/ Fred Gerhard                                                  4/14/24

(Steve Veilleux’s Home 112 Fabyan Woodstock Rd, N Grosvenordale, CT)

 

Curt Curtin/ Paul Szlosek/ Bill Tremblay             5/5/24 (1^st Sun due to Mother’s Day)

(Deb Horan’s Backyard 15 Eddy St Webster, Ma)

 

Janet Aalfs/ Irena Kaci                                                                6/9/24

(Betsy’s Backyard Stage 185 Arvidson Road Woodstock, CT)

 

Eric Petersen (ESP)/ Robin Boucher                                           7/14/24

(Betsy’s Backyard Stage 185 Arvidson Road Woodstock, CT)

 

Katie Elizabeth Walsh/ Tom Laughlin                                        8/11/24          

(Betsy’s Backyard Stage 185 Arvidson Road Woodstock, CT)

 

Joe Fusco/ Dina Stander                                                              9/8/24

(Betsy’s Backyard Stage 185 Arvidson Road Woodstock, CT)

 

Sara Letourneau/ Wayne-Daniel Berard                                     10/13/24

(Steve Veilleux’s Home 112 Fabyan Woodstock Rd, N Grosvenordale, CT)

 

Paul Richmond /Candace Curran (rescheduled 1^st Sunday)       11/3/24

(Steve Veilleux’s Home 112 Fabyan Woodstock Rd, N Grosvenordale, CT)

 

 DECEMBER            2024               WINTER BREAK

JANUARY                2025               WINTER BREAK

 

Please contact Robert Eugene Perry at: roberteugeneperry@gmail.com for more information

Cheryl Bonin will be appearing at The Thirsty Lab on November 28, at 7:00 PM.

Sign up at the Worcester County Poetry Association website.

A bit from her Bio...

Cheryl L. Bonin is a cancerous wench (of the breast variety) who writes darkly humorous snark-filled poetry, nonfiction essays and short stories about her experiences living with a shitty disease because it’s cheaper than therapy.