2019

May 28th

Cheryl Perreault

(Host of “Wake Up & Smell the Poetry”)

Cheryl Perreault, Ed.D. is a poet, writer and spoken-word artist. She encourages the sharing of poetry in the oral tradition and has hosted community poetry and story-sharing programs for a diversity of ages, life experiences and settings. With a background in psychology, Cheryl has taught a number of courses and seminars in life-span psychology in the Boston area. and has worked with hospice patients writing and conducting life- review stories. Cheryl offers performance programs of her own poetry and has recorded two cds “On Ants, Sandwiches and the Meaning of it All” and “Roar” with guitarist/producer Steve Rapson. She also provides community healing arts/celebrant programs with vocalist/songwriter Carolyn Waters and is co-editor with Cynthia Franca of Hopkinton through Poetry: Celebrating 300 Years featuring the poetry of 36 Hopkinton residents and friends from ages 8-102. At HCAM-TV Cheryl hosts/produces two programs for local cable TV which include “Wake up and Smell the Poetry” and “Meet Your Neighbor.” for HCAM-TV and can also be found at Roots and Wings Yoga and Healing Arts Center in Natick and Body n’ Beyond in Hopkinton where she offers a number of individual and group classes for writing, creativity, spirituality and well-being.

The featured Dead Poet of the month was Thomas Lux read by Paul Szlosek

June 25th

Stephen Campiglio

(Author of Cross-Fluence and Verbal Clouds through Various Magritte Skies)

Stephen Campiglio, a longtime Worcester arts organizer, and member of the former Noh Place Artists Cooperative,  now makes his home in southern Worcester county and works in Continuing Education at Manchester Community College in Connecticut, where he founded and directed the Mishi-maya-gat Spoken Word & Music Series, which ran for 12 years (presently on hiatus). Stephen has performed his poetry in a variety of musical collaborations, including with the spoken word bands, Forbidden Poets, The Bluebottles, and Radial Points. His poems and translations have recently appeared in Aji Magazine, Chiron Review, City Works Journal, Journal of Italian Translation, Miramar, TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics, Tipton Poetry Journal, VIA: Voices in Italian Americana,and The Worcester Review. Winner of the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize for a poem by Italian writer, Giuseppe Bonaviri (1924-2009), he has now completed a book-length manuscript of translations on the author, The Ringing Bones: Selected Poems of Giuseppe Bonaviri. His new translation project is focused on the work of Italian poet, Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912), with co-translator and Pascoli scholar, Elena Borelli. Nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, Stephen has published two chapbooks, Cross-Fluence (Soft Spur Press, Missoula, MT: 2012) and Verbal Clouds through Various Magritte Skies (Cy Gist Press, New Haven, CT: 2014). He will have copies of Cross-Fluence to sign (which is also available on Amazon); Verbal Clouds through Various Magritte Skies is available through the publisher at: http://cygistpress.blogspot.com.

The featured Dead Poet of the month was Sylvia Plath read by Cody Peck

 

 

 

July 30th

Genie Johnson

(First Place Winner in the 12^th Annual Julius Sokenu Poetry Awards)

Genie Johnson – Every year since 1970, the Connecticut Poetry Circuit has chosen a small group of student poets from Connecticut’s colleges and universities for a reading tour of campuses across the state. Selected as a Connecticut Student Poet, Genie Johnson is the only community college student [this year] and the first from QVCC to earn this distinction. Her poem, “Shadow”, selected for publication in The Chronicle by Eastern Connecticut State University Professor and Willimantic Poet Laureate Daniel Donaghy, she placed second in the 2018 QVCC Julius Sokenu Poetry Awards, and won first place in the 2019 QVCC Julius Sokenu Poetry Awards category for English poets. Genie resides in Woodstock, Connecticut with her husband Mike and their pug, Bailey.

The featured Dead Poet of the month was Mary Oliver read by Robert Eugene Perry

 

 

 

August 27th

Paul Richmond

(US National Beat Poet Laureate for 2019-2020, and Owner & Operator of Human Error Publishing)

Special Guest Feature (Visiting From Latvia)

Inga Gaile

Inga Gaile has published several collections of poetry, a collection of children’s poetry, plays and a novel. She often writes about stigmatized groups, feminist subjects and gender issues. Her first staged work was about the fate of poet Sylvia Plath. Her poems have been translated into English, German, Swedish, Lithuanian and Bengali. Gaile is active in the Latvian feminist movement and is the founder of a stand-up comedy group. Her new book of poems is “30 Questions People Don’t Ask: The Selected Poems of Inga Gaile” (Pleiades). Gaile lives in Riga, Latvia.

The featured Dead Poet of the month was Walt Whitman read by Genie Johnson

September 24th

Tommy Twilite

(Co-Founder & Director of the Florence Poets Society, Executive Editor of Silkworm, and Host of the Twilite Poetry Pub on WXOJ FM)

Tommy Twilite is the poet, musician, and retired firefighter who founded the Florence Poets Society in 2004 along with his friend, the late Carl Russo.  The mission of the Florence Poets is to bring “poetry to the people” by providing a forum for anyone who wishes to explore and develop their own individual poetic vision.  Tommy is the executive editor of Silkworm and the host of the Twilite Poetry Pub on WXOJ FM.  He is currently working on a memoir “Firehorse“, and a collection of his selected poetry.   He has published 5 chapbooks of poetry and his work has appeared in various publications including Meat for Tea, The Long Islander, Sinister Tales, Naugatuck RIver Review, and The Equinox.

The featured Dead Poet of the month was Marina Tsvetaeva read by Patick Yao*

*No Photo Available

October 29th

Robert Racicot

(Author of The Legend of Carbuncle Pond)

Robert Racicot is a poet, writer, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and former Professor of Chemistry at Worcester State University currently living in Oxford, MA. Robert recently left his college teaching career to pursue a path in writing; both young reader books and poetry. His poetry has been accepted for publication in Crosswinds Poetry Journal and Canary. The Legend of Carbuncle Pond is his first young reader’s book about the Native American legend of Carbuncle Pond. Earlier this month, Robert was also the feature along with fellow poet Susan Roney-O’Brien at the 1+1 Poetry Series at 19 Carter in Berlin, MA.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH was Seamus Heaney READ BY Karen Warinsky

(TO CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN, ATTENDEES WeRE ENCOURAGED THIS NIGHT TO WEAR MASKS OR COSTUMES AND READ A SCARY OR HALLOWEEN-THEMED POEM IN THE OPEN READING)

November 26th

Doug Anderson

(Author of The Moon Reflected Fire, Blues for Unemployed Secret Police, and Horse Medicine )

Poet Doug Anderson grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. He served as a combat medic in the Vietnam War, and after Vietnam attended the University of Arizona, where he studied acting. He started writing poetry after he moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, and worked with the poet Jack Gilbert. Anderson has written about his experiences in the Vietnam War in both poetry and nonfiction. He is the author of the poetry collections The Moon Reflected Fire (1994), the winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and Blues for Unemployed Secret Police (2000). In 2009 he published his memoir, Keep Your Head Down: Vietnam, the Sixties, and a Journey of Self-Discovery. His most recent book is Horse Medicine (Barrow Street Press, 2015). His awards include a grant from the Eric Mathieu King Fund of the Academy of American Poets, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Pushcart Prize. Anderson has taught at the University of Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut State University, and the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Its Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

 

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH was Donald Hall Read by Clayton Arble

2020

January 28TH

Richard H. Fox

(Author of Time Bomb, Wandering in Puzzle Boxes, You’re My Favorite Horse, and The Complete Uncle Louie Poems)

Richard H. Fox dreams three-decker rainbows encircle The Woo. When not writing about rock ’n roll or youthful transgressions, his poems focus on cancer from the patient’s point of view drawing on hope, humor, and unforeseen gifts. He is the author of three poetry collections: Time Bomb (2013), wandering in puzzle boxes (2015), You’re my favorite horse (2017) and a chapbook: The Complete Uncle Louie Poems (2017). The winner of the 2017 Frank O’Hara Prize, he seconds Stanley Kunitz’ motion that people in Worcester are “provoked to poetry.”

The featured Dead Poet of the month was T.S Eliot read by Robert Eugene Perry

February 25TH

Ron Whittle

(Author of Goodbye Again, Postcards From a War Zone, and In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Grandson )

Ron Whittle, a lifetime resident of Massachusetts, was born in Worcester in 1947 and raised and educated in his home town of Shrewsbury. Further education came by way of the U.S. Navy, Vietnam, the Apollo 13 recovery team, and 45 years of family living. Ron divides his time between his home in Worcester and the shores of Cape Cod. His influences include Tom Waits, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Edgar Allan Poe, Ogen Nash, Ezra Pound, and Rod McKuen. Ron is a founder and co-host of the monthly open mic and featured poetry reading series The Poetorium at Starlite, a member of the Worcester County Poetry Association, the Works in Progress/ Outlaw Stage at the Worcester Artist Group, the Warrior Writers of Boston, and a founding member of the Worcester Art Walk. Ron has appeared and read on many local television programs including being a featured poet on “Wake up and Smell the Poetry” on HCAM-TV in Hopkinton, MA. He has also appeared on stage at the Massachusetts State Poetry Festival in Salem, MA, the Great Falls Word Festival at Turners Falls, MA, and the Garlic Festival in Orange, MA. Ron is the author of currently three published books of poetry (with many more scheduled to be published in the near future) from Human Error Publishing including Goodbye Again, Postcards From a War Zone, and his most recent In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Grandson which also features poems by both his late father and 9-year-old grandson Jake Hansen.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH was Lord Byron Read by Bob Datz

2022

JuNe 30th

 The Grand Re-Opening of The Poetorium of Starlite*

*(Host Ron Whittle Filled in as Featured Poet for Scheduled Feature Meg Smith Whose Car Broke Down on Route to the Poetorium. Meg Has Now Been Re-Scheduled to Be the Feature for Our Halloween Poetorium Show on October 27, 2022)

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH WAS AMELIA EARHART READ BY PAUL KOZLOWSKI

JULy 28TH

Wayne-Daniel Berard

(co-founding editor of Soul-Lit, an online journal of spiritual poetry )

Wayne-Daniel Berard, PhD, is an educator, poet, writer, shaman, and sage. An adoptee and former Franciscan seminarian, his adoption search led to the discovery and embrace of his Jewishness. Wayne-Daniel is a Peace Chaplain, an interfaith clergy person, and former college chaplain. He publishes broadly in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. His latest books of poetry include the full-length Art of Enlightenment and a chapbook Little Ghosts on Castle Floors, poems informed by the Potterverse, both with Kelsay Books. He is the co-founding editor of Soul-Lit, an online journal of spiritual poetry (www.soul-lit.com)

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH WAS LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI READ BY PAUL SZLOSEK

August 25th

Tom Laughlin

(Author of The Rest of The Way)

Tom Laughlin is a professor at Middlesex Community College in Massachusetts where he teaches creative writing, literature, and composition courses, as well as coordinating the MCC Visiting Writers Series and open readings for students, faculty, and community members for the Creative Writing Program.  He also coordinated the Writing Across the Curriculum Program at Middlesex Community College for many years; coordinated an Early Academic Intervention Program, the Writing Center, and creative writing activities at Massasoit Community College for nearly a decade; and taught literature classes in two Massachusetts prisons.

He was a founding editor of Vortext, a literary journal of Massasoit Community College, and a volunteer staff reader for many years for Ploughshares.  His poetry and fiction have appeared in Green Mountains Review, Ibbetson Street, Drunk Monkeys, Sand Hills Literary Magazine, Blue Mountain Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Superpresent Magazine, Hare’s Paw Literary Journal, Rockvale Review, Grey Sparrow Journal, North Essex Review, Molecule, and elsewhere.

He has also published academic articles in Teaching English in the Two-Year College and elsewhere, as well an annual calendar, Stone Balancing at Walden Pond, featuring photos of his stone balancing.  His book of poetry, The Rest of the Way, is being released by Finishing Line Press in July 2022.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH WAS DOROTHY PARKER READ BY CHERYL BONIN

September 29TH

Jennifer Freed

(2022 Frank O’Hara Prize Winner)

Jennifer L Freed is a poet and teacher living in Holden, MA.  She has a background in teaching English as a Second Language to adults, and currently leads writing programs for adults. Her first full-length collection, When Light Shifts (Kelsay, 2022), explores the aftermath of a family health crisis and was a finalist for the 2022 Sheila Margaret Motton Book Prize.  She is also the author of a chapbook, These Hands Still Holding, a finalist in the 2013 New Women’s Voices Competition. Her awards include the 2022 Frank O’Hara Prize, Honorable Mention for the 2022 Connecticut Poetry Award, and the 2020 Samuel Washington Allen Prize for a long poem or poem-sequence.  She has been a finalist for the Frank O’Hara prize multiple times and her work has been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and the Orison Anthology.  

Less recently, Freed’s non-fiction describing her experiences as an English language teacher in Sichuan, China, was published in The Yale-China Review, and, in Chinese translation, in Cultural Meetings: American Writers, Scholars, and Artists in China (Guangxi Normal University Press).  Her articles about life in Prague in the 1990s, where she worked as an English teacher shortly after the fall of the communist government, appeared in the travel section of The Boston Globe. Please visit  jfreed.weebly.com to learn more.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH was Rod McKuen Read By Ron Whittle

October 27TH

Alan Ira Gordon*

(AUTHOR OF Planet Hunter and The Doggo Book)

Alan Ira Gordon is an urban planning professor at Worcester State University and writer of science fiction/fantasy/horror poetry and short stories. His poetry publications include Analog Magazine and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and he’s a frequent contributor to Star*Line, the quarterly journal of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA).

Alan’s science fiction/fantasy/horror poetry has received seven Rhysling Award nominations, a Dwarf Star Award, and an Analog Magazine year’s best nomination (Second Place Award). He has two published poetry collections, Planet Hunter and The Doggo Book (Hiraeth Books). Planet Hunter was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Award. Alan guest-edited Issue #24 of Eye To The Telescope, the online publication of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA). His poetry, short stories, and articles have been published in various genre magazines and anthologies, a partial list of which can be found on his website at www.alaniragordon.com.

*Previously Announced Feature Poet Meg Smith Had to Unexpectedly Cancel Due to Unforseen Circumstances

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was Edgar Allen Poe Read BY The Entire Poetorium Audience

THE WEARING OF HALLOWEEN COSTUMES Was ENCOURAGED!

2023

January 26TH

Sara LeTourneau

(Co-Founder & Host OF Pour Me A Poem)

Sara Letourneau is a poet and the founder of Heart of the Story Editorial & Coaching Services, where she works as a book coach and editor and a writing workshop instructor. She is also the cofounder of the Pour Me a Poem open mic in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Her poetry has received first place in the Blue Institute’s 2020 Words on Water Contest and has appeared in Full Mood Mag, Mass Poetry’s Poem of the Moment and Hard Work of Hope, Muddy River Poetry Review, Arlington Literary Journal, Constellations, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene, Living Crue, Soul-Lit, and Amethyst Review, as well as several anthologies. Her manuscript for her first poetry book is on submission. She lives in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was Stephen Dunn READ BY Tom Ewart (AKA Tommywart)

March 30th

Rebecca Hart Olander

(Author of Dressing the Wounds & Uncertain Acrobats)

Rebecca Hart Olander holds a bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College, a master of arts in teaching in English from Smith College ’96, and a master of fine arts in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She teaches writing at Westfield State University and is the editor/director of Perugia Press, an independent feminist press that publishes full-length poetry collections by emerging women poets.

Rebecca’s poetry has appeared recently in Bracken Magazine, Crab Creek Review, Jet Fuel Review, The Massachusetts Review, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and elsewhere, and her collaborative written and visual work has been published in multiple venues online and in They Said: A Multi-Genre Anthology of Contemporary Collaborative Writing (Black Lawrence Press). Rebecca is a Women’s National Book Association poetry contest winner and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Her chapbook, Dressing the Wounds, was published in 2019 by dancing girl press, and her debut full-length collection, Uncertain Acrobats, was released by CavanKerry Press in 2021.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was Ursula K. Le Guin READ BY Sara LeTourneau

APRIL 27TH

A Special Double Feature With

James B. Nicola

(AUTHOR OF MANHATTAN PLAZA & WIND IN THE CAVE)

&

Bruce Michael Galli*

(ACTOR, TEACHER, POET, SCREENWRITER, AND FILMMAKER)

*Feature Postponed From February 23rd

James B. Nicola’s poems have appeared in the Antioch, Southwest and Atlanta Reviews, Rattle, and Poetry East. His nonfiction book Playing the Audience won a Choice award. His seven full-length poetry collections are Manhattan Plaza (Word Poetry, 2014), Stage to Page (Word Poetry, 2016), Wind in the Cave (Finishing Line, 2017), Out of Nothing: Poems of Art and Artists (Shanti Arts, 2018), Quickening: Poems from Before and Beyond (Cyberwit.net, 2019),  Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense (Shanti Arts, 2021), and Turns & Twists (Cyberwit.net, 2022). He won a Dana Literary Award, a People’s Choice award (from Storyteller) and a Willow Review award; was nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize and once for a Rhysling Award; and was featured poet at New Formalist. A Yale graduate as well as a composer, lyricist, and playwright, James has been giving both theater and poetry workshops at libraries, literary festivals, schools, and community centers all over the country. His children’s musical Chimes: A Christmas Vaudeville premiered in Fairbanks, Alaska, where Santa Claus was rumored to be in attendance on opening night.



Bruce Michael Galli is a writer, actor, teacher, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker born in Southbridge, Massachusetts where he attended public schools. and later attended Worcester State College (now Worcester State University) earning two BAs (in English and Media Arts) and Associate Degree in Philosophy. While at WSC, Bruce was involved in the Poet’s Club and many theatrical productions. He also held a position at WCUW, a community radio station on the campus of Clark University, where he produced, directed, and provided his voice for many on-air broadcasts. An independent study in filmmaking resulted in the short feature The Toyer which made its debut at Clark University in Cinema Hall in the Spring of 1982. Shortly thereafter, Bruce was asked to help co-organize a film festival with Alan Nidle and Robert Goodness at the Grove Street Gallery as well as create a new film for its opening. He was accepted into the Graduate Art Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree, having produced films, performance art pieces, and a collaboration with visiting artist Bonnie Ho from China at the Chicago Public Library Performance Hall.

After earning his MFA, Bruce moved to Los Angeles where he landed minor roles, enabling him to join the Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA. However it was at this time Bruce turned to teaching as a career path, devoting the next twenty-five years to teaching in both Massachusetts and California. While teaching, Bruce spent time writing a series of short stories, a book of poetry, and screenplays, one of which he co-produced and had a major role as an actor. Bruce also appeared in Paul Sampson’s Night of the Templar (David Carradine’s last film) as well as had multiple roles in theater productions in and around Worcester County.

Bruce retired from teaching in 2013, and in 2014, he began a new literary work which he is currently editing and finalizing into a printable draft. Bruce has not, as of this writing, published any of his literary work, but is now seriously considering seeking a suitable publisher.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was RUDYARD KIPLING READ BY RICK FERGUSON

MAY 25TH

A Special Double Feature With

Therese Gleason

(AUTHOR OF LIBATION & MATRILINEAL)

&

Howard J. Kogan

(AUTHOR OF INDIAN SUMMER & BEFORE I FORGET)

Therese Gleason is the author of two chapbooks: Libation (2006), selected by Kwame Dawes as co-winner of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative chapbook competition, and Matrilineal (Finishing Line, 2021). She was a finalist in the 2022 Wolfson Press chapbook competition and received an honorable mention for the 2020 Frank O’Hara Prize from The Worcester Review. Her work has appeared/is forthcoming in 32 Poems, Indiana Review, Rattle, New Ohio Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, America, and elsewhere. Originally from Louisville, KY, Therese currently works as literacy teacher at an elementary school in Worcester, MA, where she lives with her spouse and three children. She reads for The Worcester Review and has an MFA in Poetry from Pacific University. Find her online at theresegleason.com. Copies of Therese’s most recent chapbook Matrilineal may be purchased online through her publisher Finishing Line Press by clicking here

Howard J Kogan is a retired psychotherapist and poet.  He and his wife Libby moved to Ashland, MA in 2018 after spending thirty years in the Taconic Mountains of rural upstate New York. His poems have appeared in Still Crazy, Occu-Poetry, Naugatuck River Review, Up the River, Poetry Ark, Farming Magazine, Jewish Currents, Stone House Museum Newsletter, Literary Gazette, Award-Winning Poems from Smith’s Tavern Poet Laureate Contest (2010 and 2011 Editions), and many other publications. His first book of poems, Indian Summer, was published in 2011 by Square Circle Press, a chapbook, General Store Poems, published in 2014 by Benevolent Bird Press, is out of print but available from the author.  His book of poems, A Chill in the Air, published in 2016 is also available from the publisher, Square Circle Press.  His most recent book, Before I Forget, published by Square Circle Press in April 2023 is also now available from his publisher @ www.squarecirclepress.com

(His three poetry books should be ordered, if possible, from the publisher or your local independent bookstore.  They are also available from Amazon. Howard welcomes any opportunity to do readings in the area, and you may contact him at howardjkogan68@gmail.com)

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH WAS LOUISE BOGAN READ BY  TIM MCCARTHY

JUNE 29TH

A Special 3 Generations Triple Feature With

JAMES R . SCRIMGEOUR

(AUTHOR OF VOICES OF DOGTOWN & THE ROUTE ),

J.D. SCRIMGEOUR

(AUTHOR OF LIFTING THE TURTLE, FESTIVAL, & BANANA BREAD),

&

AIDAN SCRIMGEOUR

(MUSICIAN & COMPOSER)

James R. Scrimgeour received his BA from Clark University, his MA and PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is Professor Emeritus at Western Connecticut State University. He has served as Editor of Connecticut Review, published ten books of poetry, been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes, and given over 250 public readings of his work, including one at an International Conference on Poetry and History, Stirling, Scotland. He has, in addition, participated in NEH Seminars on Modern Poetry at NYU and Princeton and has recently served on panels at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. A recent book, Voices of Dogtown: Poems Arising Out of a Ghost Town Landscape (Loom Press, 2019), was listed as a “must read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and his most recent book The Route (Derby Wharf Light Box, 2021) is a reprint of a poem he wrote 30 years ago. He currently lives with his wife, Christine Xanthakos Scrimgeour, in West Hartford CT.

J.D. Scrimgeour won the Association of Writers and Writing Program’s (AWP) Award for Nonfiction for his second book of nonfiction, Themes for English B: A Professor’s Education In & Out of Class. He is also the author of five poetry collections, the most recent being a book of bilingual poetry, 香蕉面包  Banana Bread (Nixes Mate Press). He often collaborates with artists in different mediums, having written the book for the musical, Only Human, pairing with musician Philip Swanson on a CD of poetry and music, Ogunquit & Other Works, and composing word and movement pieces with choreographer Caitlin Corbett. He is Chair of English at Salem State University.

Aidan Scrimgeour is a musician, composer and educator from Salem, MA based in Brooklyn, NY. After spending a couple years in the Contemporary Improvisation Program at New England Conservatory studying piano performance with Ran Blake and Hankus Netsky, he graduated with a B.A. in Performance & Representation from Tufts University. In 2020, he co-founded the 5pm Porch Music Program, an educational and performance collective that emerged from their daily ritualistic concerts throughout the early months of the pandemic. This program provides free music lessons, ensembles and writing workshops for teens in South Brooklyn communities. Aidan is the accordionist and songwriter for Pumpkin Bread, a Boston-based new acoustic band, which has been featured on “A Celtic Sojourn” on WGBH and Brian O’Donavan’s backroom series. He was the composer and musical director for the original musical Only Human, which premiered at Ames Hall in Salem. He currently is working on several musical projects in which he hopes to celebrate the beauty of and explore the space in between various forms of traditional music including Jazz, Celtic, Country, and Afro-Cuban. 

“The gentle and generous spirit of Aidan’s piano playing leaves you underestimating his remarkable attention to detail and the complexity of his melodic and harmonic ideas. I have been lucky to have played with some amazing players and composers in my 70 years and I can say that Aidan Scrimgeour is a very, very special musician” – Roy Nathanson of the Jazz Passengers.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was MALCOLM MILLER  PRESENTED BY  JAMES R. SCRIMGEOUR, J.D. SCRIMGEOUR, & AIDAN MILLER

JUly 26th

A Special Triple Feature With

Carolyn Oliver

(AUTHOR OF Inside the Storm I Want to Touch the Tremble),

Matthew E. Henry

(AUTHOR OF the Colored page and The Third Renunciation ),

&

Irena Kaci

(2023 O’HARA PRIZE THIRD PLACE WINNER)

Carolyn Oliver is the author of The Alcestis Machine (Acre Books, forthcoming 2024), Inside the Storm I Want to Touch the Tremble (University of Utah Press, 2022; selected for the Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry), and three chapbooks. Her poems appear in Poetry Daily, Copper Nickel, Shenandoah, Southern Indiana Review, At Length, Plume, and elsewhere. She lives in Massachusetts, where she is the current editor of The Worcester Review, and a 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Her website is carolynoliver.net.

Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of The Colored Page (Sundress Publications, 2022), Teaching While Black (Main Street Rag, 2020) and Dust & Ashes (Californios Press, 2020). He has three collections forthcoming in 2023 from NYQ Books (The Third Renunciation), Ghost City Press (Have You Heard the One About…?), and Harbor Editions (Said the Frog to the Scorpion). He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal and an associate poetry editor at Pidgeonholes. MEH’s poetry and prose appears or is forthcoming in Barren Magazine, Bending Genres, Cola Literary Review, The Florida Review, Massachusetts Review, Ninth Letter, Pangyrus, Ploughshares, Poetry East, Redivider, Relief Journal, Shenandoah, Solstice, Spiritus, The Windhover, The Worcester Review, and Zone 3 among others.His awards include being a Diode Editions 2022 chapbook contest finalist, the winner of the 2021 Fare Forward Poetry competition, the 2020 Massachusetts Book Award finalist, the 2020 MassPoetry.org’s “Poem of the Moment,” the 2019 Orison Chapbook Prize finalist, and the 2007 Relief Journal Editor’s Choice Award. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Pangyrus Literary Magazine, Porcupine Literary, Relief Journal, and 3 Elements Literary Review, and the Best of the Net by the Museum of Americana and 3 Elements Literary Review. MEH’s an educator who received his MFA from Seattle Pacific University yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. He writes about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground at http://www.MEHPoeting.com

Irena Kaci is a poet currently residing in Worcester, with her spouse and two children. She grew up in Durrës, Albania & Hartford, CT. Irena moved to Worcester to study at Clark University. Her work often touches on the immigrant experience and the divide that comes with raising a family outside the frame of her own childhood.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was L.E. Sissman Read BY  Wayne-Daniel Berard

AUGUST 31ST

A Special Double “Bill” With

BILL TREMBLAY

(AUTHOR OF SHOOTING SCRIPT:‭ ‬DOOR OF FIRE & THE LUMINOUS RACE TRACK)

&

BILL O’CONNELL

(AUTHOR OF SAKONNET POINT AND WHEN WE WERE ALL STILL ALIVE)

Bill Tremblay is an award-winning poet,‭ ‬novelist,‭ ‬teacher,‭ ‬editor,‭ ‬and reviewer whose work has appeared in ten full-length volumes of poetry including Crying in the Cheap Seats ‭[‬University of Massachusetts Press‭]‬,‭ ‬The Anarchist Heart ‭[‬New Rivers Press‭]‬,‭ ‬Duhamel:‭ ‬Ideas of Order in Little Canada ‭[‬BOA Editions Ltd.‭]‬,‭ ‬ Shooting Script:‭ ‬Door of Fire ‭[‬Eastern Washington University Press‭]‬.‭ ‬Hundreds of his poems have appeared in literary magazines and in such anthologies as the Pushcart Prize,‭ ‬The Jazz Poetry Anthology, Best American Poetry,‭ ‬2003,‭ ‬In‭ ‬1994,‭ ‬he published his novel, The June Rise‭ ‬{Utah State University Press‭}‬, which was widely and favorably reviewed,‭ ‬especially on NPR’s‭ “‬All Things Considered.‭” ‬In‭ ‬2004,‭ ‬his book, Shooting Script:‭ ‬Door of Fire received the Colorado Book Award‭ [‬2004‭]‬.‭ ‬He has received awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts,‭ ‬the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as The Pushcart Prize Anthology and the Corporation at Yaddo.‭ ‬He was a Fulbright visiting Lecturer at Universidade de Lisboa,‭ ‬Portugal,‭ ‬.Mr.‭ ‬Tremblay edited Colorado Review for‭ ‬15‭ ‬years,‭ ‬and is the recipient of the John F.‭ ‬Stern Distinguished Professor award for his thirty-three years teaching in and directing the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Colorado State University.‭ ‬His latest book is‭ ‬The Luminous Race Track,‭(‬2023‭)‬,‭ ‬poetic‭ ‬memoirs about growing up in‭ ‬his Franco-American working-class family in the mill town of Southbridge,‭ ‬Massachusetts.‭ ‬It is available at‭ ‬www.lynxhousepress.com or order it at your favorite bookstore.‭

Bill O’Connell has been living in the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts since‭ ‬1984.‭ A retired social worker, ‬he teaches writing at Greenfield Community College and runs a small handyman business.‭ ‬Books of poetry include Sakonnet Point (Plinth Books 2011) & On The Map To Your Life (Dytiscid Press 1992). A new collection, When We Were All Still Alive, is just out from Open Field Press,‭ ‬available from SPDbooks.org.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was JIM CARROLL READ BY  BRIAN MOSHER

SEPTEMBER 28th

A Special Triple Feature With

Brian Mosher

(AUTHOR OF The Broken Mosaic  & Dreams and Other Magic),

Eric Petersen (AKA ESP)

(AUTHOR OF Literary Conception)

&

Craig S. Semon

(reporter, entertainment columnist, & Poet)

Brian Mosher was born and raised in Foxboro, MA, and currently resides in nearby Mansfield. He’s been writing poetry and short fiction since he was in High School in the 1970s, and has self-published 3 books: One Bad Day Deserves Another, Moon Shine and Lemon Twists (both in 2016); and The Broken Mosaic (2021). His poetry chapbook, Dreams and Other Magic was published by Alien Buddha Press in July of 2023. His poetry has appeared or is slated to appear soon in the online journal Verse Wrights and the print journal Rushing Thru the Dark from Choeofpleirn Press (pronounced chuf-plern). He also maintains a poetry blog, Phlubbermatic: (www.phlubbermatic.blogspot.com). His fiction has appeared or is slated to appear soon in Esoterica Magazine and Half and One Magazine.

Eric Petersen (AKA ESP) first arrived on Earth sometime in July 1976. However, eyewitness testimony from this time is sketchy at best. He graduated from Oakmont Regional High School in 1995. He worked for nearly five years at Burbank Hospital. ESP attended classes at Mount Wachusett Community College. There he was a regular contributor to their monthly literary magazine. He is the author of “Sociopath: A True Story” and “Shorty Stories” which are autobiographical. He is also the author of the novella Retard and the short story “The Day After”. In addition, he has a collection of poetry and short stories titled Literary Conception which is in the process of being re-edited. These titles are available through Kindle. ESP is also currently working on a project of producing poetry videos which can be seen on “poemsesp” on TikTok. Eric is a devoted father, an avid reader, and a builder of model rockets. He has been working in human services since 2000 and currently helps manage a home for men with traumatic brain injuries.

Craig S. Semon is widely known as a popular reporter & entertainment columnist for both the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and Worcester Magazine with his writing also appearing nationally in USA Today, Yahoo News, U.S. News & World Report, Miami Herald, Washington Times, The Charlotte Observer, Kansas City Star, Bedford Minuteman, Belmont Citizen-Herald and more. Lesser known is that Craig is a poet who pens wonderfully surreal and often hysterically funny poems. As a member of the Noh Place Artists’ Collective in Worcester in the 1980s, his poetry has been recently featured in the Noh Place Poetry Anthology published in 2022. Craig has been famously quoted for saying “I saw Worcester in her face. I suggested she sees a dermatologist.” When asked for a short bio to appear on this site, Craig submitted the following:

The Bio of Craig S. Semon

(The sound of constant banging can be heard in the background)
I have workers renovating one of my poems
They’re working on knocking down the fourth wall of poetry
Poetry was thrust upon me like a bad porno movie
No matter how much I wash, I still feel dirty
Now, I realize that, in the end, I will enjoy
The Sponge Bath of the Gods
I will fly among the heaven’s angels
Piss in the clouds and not begin to worry
In my dreams, my poems rhyme
In my dreams, I have short hair
I wake up. Not only do my poems not rhyme,
The words aren’t even spelled right.

—Craig S. Semon

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was Kenneth Rexroth READ BY  Mark walsh

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OctoBER 26th

A Special Halloween-themed triple Feature With

Meg Smith

(AUTHOR OF Dear Deepest Ghost  & Straw, Feathers, Bones),

Trisha J. Wooldridge

(AUTHOR OF “The 27 Kingdoms” Fantasy Series)

&

MICHAEL McAfee

(AUTHOR OF Tarot Poems)

Meg Smith is a writer, journalist, dancer and events producer living in Lowell, Mass. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in The Cafe Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, The Lowell Review, The Horror Zine, Dark Moon Digest, and many more. She is a past board member of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!, a festival honoring Lowell-born writer Jack Kerouac. She created and produces the Edgar Allan Poe Show, celebrating Poe’s presence in Lowell. She is the author of five poetry books and a short fiction collection, The Plague Confessor. She welcomes visits to megsmithwriter.com

Trisha J. Wooldridge (child-friendly T.J. Wooldridge) is an award-winning pan-genre, pan-media chaos word and art witch. Find her in the Shirley Jackson Award-winning The Twisted Book of Shadows; some HWA Poetry Showcase volumes; all the NEHW anthologies (that she didn’t edit); and Don’t Turn Out the Lights. Her 27 Kingdoms fantasy series has several books available from New Mythology Press. She also lovingly tortures consenting authors with her editing talents. She spends mystical “free time” with a very patient Husband-of-Awesome; a tiny witch and large witcher kitty pair; a rescued bay gelding; and a matronly calico mare. http://www.anovelfriend.com

Michael McAfee, a resident of Millis, MA, has been writing poetry since he was five years old but really didn’t do much with it until he self-published his collection Tarot Poems in 2016. Along the way, he’s written quite a few scripts, both for audio theater and community theater productions. Professionally, he’s a software quality assurance engineer and extrovertedly enjoys talking about projects (anyone’s, really, not just his). He sends a hearty thank you to everyone who’s enjoyed his work so far.

Instead of the Usual Featured Dead Poet of the Month, Host Ron Whittle Read a Tribute to Beloved Local Poet Richard Fox Who Recently Passed Away

To Celebrate Halloween, Attendees Were Encouraged This Night to Wear Masks or Costumes and Read a Scary or Halloween-themed Poem in the Open Mic

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NOVEMBER 30TH

A Special Double Feature With

GLENN D’ALESSIO

(AUTHOR OF IN MY SEA CLIFF YEARS OF INNOCENCE & SOME TANKA IN THANKS TO ELROY, NOT THE MOST CANTANKEROUS DOG),

&

KERRISSA COBB

(WRITER, EDUCATOR, & POET)

Glenn D’Alessio plays flute in the Worcester State Jazz Band, and in the Florence MA Community Band. He was a past college instructor about energy conservation, and also green building, who is still a carpenter and builder from West Brookfield, MA. For several years he was a volunteer with the “Worcester Energy Barn Raisers” (WEBr) who weatherized numerous places — weatherization being like tightening a ship to keep water, ants, and rot out; and during the winter, the heat in.

His Finishing Line Press chapbooks are In My Sea Cliff Years of Innocence, A Carpenter’s Building, Homes for His Poems, and Some Tanka in Thanks to Elroy, Not the Most Cantankerous Dog. Other poems of his have appeared ‘Here and There,’ which hopefully sounds like quite a journal.

A full-length manuscript he has high hopes for is Between Merwin and Greger, Overtones of Poetry. Poems there play off of quotes from both W.S. Merwin’s, “Migration”, and Debora Greger’s, “The 1002nd Night”. He shares many of their environmental attitudes and loves their poetry…

Kerrissa Cobb is a writer,‭ ‬poet,‭ ‬and educator from Dudley,‭ ‬Massachusetts.‭ ‬You’ll often find her a bit further south,‭ ‬attending events around Putnam,‭ ‬Connecticut.‭ ‬While she has only a singular poem officially published,‭ ‬she continues to write and work towards a full collection of poems.‭ ‬Outside of poetry her writing interests lie in short stories,‭ ‬especially flash fiction.‭ ‬Many of her works incorporate nature,‭ ‬mythology,‭ ‬and mysticism and how they relate to her own life.‭ ‬Outside of writing,‭ ‬her hobbies are numerous,‭ ‬and sometimes fleeting.‭ ‬She is proudly a jack-of-all-trades,‭ ‬although eventually,‭ ‬she would like to master at least one of them.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was VINCENT FERRINI READ BY  TIM MCCARTHY

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*FEBRUARY 29TH

*(POSTPONED FROM ITS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED DATE OF JANUARY 25TH, 2024)

A Special Double Feature With

TOM SKARZYNSKI

(AKA OLDE TOM WOODWIND)

(POET, NOVELIST, & SONGWRITER),

&

CHRISTOPHER REILLEY

(AUTHOR OF BREATHING FOR CLOUDS & ONE NIGHT STANZAS)

Tom Skarzynski (aka Olde Tom Woodwind) is a poet, novelist, and aspiring songwriter. He has been writing poetry for nearly his entire life, with his works first flowering occurring in the mid-eighties when he had many poems and a couple of short stories appear in The Springfield Journal. For a long period, his poetry plant went dormant while he focused on earning a living as a truck driver. Once retirement neared, he was inspired to write a ninety-thousand-word historical fiction novel. Then when he retired, he began becoming the writer he had always wanted to be. He sought out the local poetry community where he was welcomed like the prodigal son and received inspiration and encouragement. He has since written a fantasy novella and had poems published in the Natural Words and Beat Style Love Poems anthologies. He writes poetry everyday and has an office that is littered with thousands of poems and somewhat resembles Times Square after the ball drops.

Christopher Reilley is a former poet laureate (Dedham, MA) a two-time Pushcart nominee, and the creative mind behind the Bytesized Studios. His collections include Breathing for Clouds, and more recently One Night Stanzas. His poems have appeared in a wide variety of journals like Boston Literary Magazine, Frog Croon, Word Salad, and others. He has spent time on the boards of the Worcester County Poetry Association, and the Newton Writing & Publishing Center.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was BARBARA ROBERTS Read by PaUl Szlosek

March 28th

A Special Double Feature With

Karen Durlach

(visual artist, craftsperson & Poet)

&

Fred Gerard*

(Author of Lilacs Still Bloom in Ashburnham: Songs of Spring & Drifting to “Hello”)

* Filling in for Originally Scheduled Peter F. Crowley Who Had to Cancel Due to Illness

Karen Durlach is a visual artist/craftsperson, both by vocation and avocation, making a career in the graphic arts, photography, ceramics, paint and other media. She writes off and on when the need and muse strike, most often when the early dawn insists. She had rarely read her poems for others until discovering our very accepting local poetry communities in Webster, Putnam and Southbridge. Most of her poems strive to paint a picture of a precise moment or precious experience—something odd, exciting or wondrous—that she wants to remember or share. Brooklyn-born, schooled in New York, then Michigan, she’s straddled the border between Massachusetts and Connecticut for decades, initially living and working in Worcester, with interim stints in New Hampshire and Vermont, then working in Worcester again while residing in the woods of Connecticut, where she still struggles to grow unusual vegetables and entertains honeybees.

Fred Gerhard is a poet whose poems have appeared in Amethyst Review, Asylum Magazine, Attachment, Black Moon Magazine, Cacti Fur, Door is a Jar Magazine, Entropy Magazine, Friends Journal, Global Poemic, Harpy Hybrid Review, Heavy Feather Review, Monadnock Underground, Otherwise Engaged Literature and Arts Journal, Pif Magazine, POETiCA REViEW, Sylvia Magazine, Wild Musette Journal, and other magazines and anthologies. His chapbook, Lilacs Still Bloom in Ashburnham: Songs of Spring (Local Gems Poetry Press), came out in 2023, with a second edition from Petronella Press in 2024. Fred Gerhard’s latest collection, Drifting to “Hello” (Khotso Publishing, 2023) was also published last year His ekphrastic poetry has been on exhibit in the Creative Connections art gallery, and the New Dawn Arts Center, both in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. His poetry has also been voiced by actor Kirk Lawrence-Howard in Bespoke Vocals, as seen on YouTube. He is one of the 2023 winners of the Poetry in the Pines contest and his work is installed on the trails at the Cathedral in the Pines in Rindge, New Hampshire. He was the editor for the Chelmsford Poetry Review, and is currently an editor for Quabbin Quills press anthologies, and for Smoky Quartz – An Online Journal of Literature & Art. Fred is one of the founders of the New Dawn Writers’ Group in Ashburnham where he leads monthly poetry workshops, and helps host open mic nights. For many years he ran a poetry therapy group at Community Healthlink in Worcester, MA. He was one of the founding members of the Concord Poetry Center. He currently runs a Facebook group to help bring together and support local poets and authors. He is a member of Poets & Writers, the Worcester County Poetry Association, the Monadnock Writers’ Group, and the New England Poetry Club, and thrives on taking part in readings and getting to know other poets. In addition, Fred is a clinical psychologist, operator of antique trolleys, museum guide, folk dancer, musician, runner, and hiker. He particularly enjoys sitting on his porch and spending time with family, friends, and a tortoise named Twyla.

The Featured Dead Poet of The Month Was Gerard Manley Hopkins Read by Fred Gerhard

May 2nd*

*Postponed From Its Originally Scheduled Date of April 25th

A Special Double Feature With

John Hodgen

(Author of The Lord of Everywhere & What We May Be)

&

Karen Elizabeth Sharpe

(AUTHOR OF Prayer Can Be Anything & This Late Afternoon)

John Hodgen is Writer-in-Residence at Assumption University in Worcester, MA, and Advisory Editor for New Letters at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. Hodgen won the AWP Donald Hall Prize in Poetry for Grace (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005). His fifth book, The Lord of Everywhere, is out from Lynx House, which is also publishing his forthcoming book, What We May Be, this spring. He has won the Grolier Prize for Poetry, an Arvon Foundation Award, the Yankee Magazine Award for Poetry, the Bluestem Award, the Balcones Prize, the Foley Prize, the Chad Walsh Prize from Beloit Poetry Journal, the Collins Prize from Birmingham Poetry Review, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Award in Poetry.

Karen Elizabeth Sharpe is a poetry editor at the Worcester Review, and her poems have appeared in Columbia Journal, West Trade Review, Mom Egg Review, Catalyst, Mason Street Review, and other magazines and anthologies. She is the author of Prayer Can Be Anything (Finishing Line Press, 2023) and This Late Afternoon (Dunn & Co. 2004). She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Karen has been a member of Marge Piercy’s juried poets group and a member of the PoemWorks community in the greater Boston area.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was DAN LEWIS READ BY ROBIN BOUCHER

May 30TH

A Special Double Feature With

JOnathan Andersen

(AUTHOR OF Augur & Stomp and Sing)

&

Jovonna Van Pelt

(AUTHOR OF UnRelated Questions)

Jonathan Andersen’s most recent collection of poems is Augur (Red Dragonfly Press, 2018), which was the recipient of the David Martinson-Meadowhawk Poetry Prize and a finalist for the 2019 Connecticut Book Award in Poetry. Other books include Stomp and Sing (Curbstone/ NWU Press 2005) and, as editor, Seeds of Fire: Contemporary Poetry from the Other U.S.A. (Smokestack Books 2008). His poems have appeared in print and online publications, including Café Review, Freshwater, Hanging Loose, Here, New American Writing, Nimrod, North American Review, The Progressive, Rattle, Salt, and Worcester Review, among others. An educator for 29 years, Andersen is currently a professor of English at CT State Community College-Quinebaug Valley in Danielson and Willimantic, Connecticut

Jovonna Van Pelt writes because she has stories to share: funny, difficult, personal stories, and casual observations of contemporary life. She has been a featured reader for Straw Dog Writers Guild, the Garlic & Arts Festival, Poets at Large, Gateway City Arts, and the Great Falls Word Festival and a multiple finalist in the Poet’s Seat competition. Jo’s debut poetry collection, Unrelated Questions (Human Error Publishing, 2019) was the result of serendipity and perhaps good karma. A second volume of poetry and a collection of holiday short stories are forthcoming. She lives happily with her rescue cat in Greenfield, MA.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was Thomas Lux Read by Claudia McGhee

June 27TH

A Special Double Feature With

Brad Davis

(AUTHOR OF On the Way to Putnam: New, Selected, & Early Poems & Short List of Wonders)

&

Linda Bratcher Wlodyka

(Massachusetts Beat Poet Laureate, 2023-2025)

Brad Davis is a California-born Canadian living in northeastern Connecticut with his spouse. His tenth collection of poems, On the Way to Putnam: New, Selected, & Early Poems, was just released in May. Individual poems have appeared in Poetry magazine, The Paris Review, Vallum, Michigan Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Brilliant Corners, Image, Connecticut River Review, LETTERS, Presence, and many other journals. He earned an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has taught creative writing at two boarding schools and at Holy Cross and Eastern Connecticut State. In 2022, he was a Writer-in-Residence at Trail Wood, the Edwin Way Teale homestead and Audubon property in Hampton, CT. Other writing residencies include Mass MoCa and the Vermont Studio Center. A chapbook, Short List of Wonders, won the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize.

Linda Bratcher Wlodyka is the Massachusetts Beat Poet Laureate, 2023-2025. In the summer of 2023, Linda was chosen as a contributor to WordxWord a summer poetry festival in the Berkshires where she collaborated with a team of poets creating a very large poem that was read aloud for the audience at The Mount. She also has held the position as a docent at The Mount, Edith Wharton’s summer home in Lenox, MA from 2002 -2006. She retired as an educator from Mt. Greylock Regional School District in Williamstown in 2020. Linda’s poem, Secret Cottage, was voted Best in the Berkshires in 2012 and she was invited to the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, MA to read that poem. Linda also has had three poems published in Red Barn Volume I, in 2016 after attending Peter Bergman’s workshop at Arrowhead the historic homestead of author Herman Melville in Pittsfield, MA. Linda has 3 chapbooks previously self-published, Her Spirited Cameo, Voices from the Blue Room, and Tick Tock. If Brambles Were Bookends: Collected Poems, is Linda’s first full-length poetry collection released September 2023. Her poems have been widely anthologized throughout the United States. She is a member of the Florence Poet’s Society and has recently been involved reading and choosing poems for publication in the anthologies, Silkworm and Naugatuck River Review.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was John Berryman Read by Brad davis

August 4TH

A Special Sunday Afternoon Edition Featuring

Alan Ira Gordon

(AUTHOR OF Planet Hunter, The Doggo Book, & Pittsburgh and Other Poems)

Alan Ira Gordon is an urban planning professor at Worcester State University and writer of science fiction/fantasy/horror poetry and short stories. His poetry publications include Analog Magazine and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and he’s a frequent contributor to Star*Line, the quarterly journal of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA). Alan’s science fiction/fantasy/horror poetry has received seven Rhysling Award nominations, a Dwarf Star Award, and an Analog Magazine year’s best nomination (Second Place Award). He has three published poetry collections: Planet Hunter, The Doggo Book, and his latest Pittsburgh and Other Poems, all released by Hiraeth Books. Planet Hunter was nominated for the SFPA Elgin Award. Alan guest-edited Issue #24 of Eye To The Telescope, the online publication of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA). His poetry, short stories, and articles have been published in various genre magazines and anthologies, a partial list of which can be found on his website at http://www.alaniragordon.com.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH & Reader Was Bill Knott Read by Paul Szlosek

August 29TH

A Special Double Feature With

Eileen Cleary

(AUTHOR OF 2 A.M. With Keats  & Wild Pack of the Living)

&

Mark Walsh

(AUTHOR OF In the Garden of Fortune)

Eileen Cleary (she/her/hers) is the author of Child Ward of the Commonwealth (2019), which won an honorable mention for the Sheila Margaret Motton Award,  2 a.m. with Keats (Nixes Mate, 2021) and Wild Pack of the Living (Nixes Mate, 2024.) She co-edited the anthology Voices Amidst the Virus, the featured text at the 2021 Michigan State University Filmetry Festival and founded and is EIC of Lily Poetry Review Books and the Lily Poetry Review. She has edited over fifty published poetry collections. A multi-Pushcart nominee, her work is widely published in journals and anthologies.

Mark Walsh is an English professor at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, MA, where he teaches literature and philosophy. Through Massasoit Television, he created Writers at Work and has developed a new show, Out of the Marvelous, focusing on poets and poetry in Southeastern Massachusetts. Since the mid-1990s, he had helped organize and host poetry readings in Plymouth and Brockton. Mark was the head judge of the selection team for the City of Brockton’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate. He is a submission reader for The Lily Poetry Review, and his journalism has appeared in The South Shore News and The Marshfield Mariner, and his book reviews in the Lily Poetry Review and Solstice. His poetry has been published in various literary journals and publications including Beatnick Cowboy, Lily Poetry Review, Abandoned Mine, Wilderness House Literary Review, Coneflower Cafe, and Rituals, Mark’s first collection of poetry, his chapbook, In The Garden of Fortune, was just published by Lily Poetry Review Books in May of 2024.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was Donald Hall Read by Claudia McGhee

September 26TH*

Lynne Viti

(AUTHOR OF The Walk to Cefalù)

*Poet David Cappella Who Was Previously Announced to Be Featuring With Lynne Could Not Attend Due to Illness

Lynne Viti is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Westwood, Massachusetts and a lecturer emerita at Wellesley College. The author of four published poetry collections including her most recent book, The Walk to Cefalù (Cornerstone Press, 2022), she facilitates a Poets in the Schools program and a biweekly poetry workshop at her local public library, and blogs at lynneviti.wordpress.com.  She divides her time between Westwood and Wellfleet, Massachusetts.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was RUDYARD KIPLING READ By ERIC PETERSEN AKA ESP

October 20TH

A Special Sunday Afternoon Double Feature With

ARt Dubois

(August 2024 Shawna Foundation’s Library Poetry Tour Featured Poet))

&

Ann Sweetman

(2013 Frank O’Hara Poetry Prize Winner )

Art DuBois is a 67-year-old career clinical social worker who has worked as a psychotherapist, in the Public Defender’s Office and in management positions in the human services field. He is an amateur nature photographer and intermittent poet. He counts Mary Oliver as his main inspiration and his own poetry is heavily influenced by his mindfulness practices and his work with helping others.
 A long-time resident of Uxbridge, Massachusetts he began writing poetry, songs, and short stories in high school, inspired by the enthusiasm and creativity of two teachers: Barbara Elder and Patricia Creighton. writing poems for the high school newspaper under a pseudonym. Art entered a poetry contest while in the Army and won first prize on the base where he was stationed for a poem entitled “Circles of Infidelity”. When he returned to Uxbridge he founded 4th St. Production Company Theater Company with his lifelong friend, Skip Shea. 

Art has written poetry and songs intermittently over the years. Recently his poetry has become increasingly more impacted by the work he has done helping others, and then, even more so, by his own efforts to find the balance between his natural inclination to joy and the emotional baggage he carries.

In 2024, Art was the featured poet of the Shawna Foundation’s Library Poetry Tour’s August readings at the Milford Town Library and the Uxbridge Free Library and won third place in the Worcester County Poetry Association’s Frank O’Hara Poetry Contest for his poem “Senses“.

A high school English Language Arts teacher in Worcester Public Schools for 27 years, Ann Sweetman now works very part-time at her local library.  Her poems and one short story have been published in Diner, The Worcester Review, Worcester Magazine; and Xavier Review.  She has been a finalist in several Worcester County Poetry Association Frank O’Hara contests; a Worcester Magazine contest; and, a recipient of the Jacob Knight award.  She is ever grateful for the inspiration, wisdom, and support from family, friends and mentors; and all area workshops and poetry venues.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was Frank O’Hara Read By Paul Szlosek, Robin Boucher, & Robert Steele

December 1st

A Special Sunday Afternoon Triple Feature With

Paul Richmond

(Massachusetts, USA, & Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate & founder of Human Error Publishing)

Janet E. Aalfs

(2003-2005 Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA, Founding Member of the National Women’s Martial Arts Federation, and founder & director of Lotus Peace Arts.)

&

Robert Eugene Perry

(Author of Earth Songs & Sacred Mystic Dance & founder of Metaphysical Fox Press)

Paul Richmond was awarded Beat Poet Laureate by National Beat Poetry Foundation for, Massachusetts, USA, & Lifetime. He performs nationally and internationally, solo and with “Do It Now.” Paul has eight books, More information can be found on www.humanerrorpublishing.com

Janet E. Aalfs is a multidisciplinary artist, arts educator, and activist. Poet laureate of Northampton, MA (2003-2005), 8th-degree black belt, and healing movement instructor, Janet is founder and director of Lotus Peace Arts at Heron’s Bridge/Valley Women’s Martial Arts, a non-profit community school since 1977. She is the recipient of awards for her teaching as well as prizes for her poetry, and has been featured at many events including the Dodge Poetry Festival. Janet enjoys performing spoken word combined with martial arts dance that she calls Poemotion©. Her poems have been widely published, including 3 full-length collections, most recently What the Dead Want Me To Know (Human Error Publishing, 2022), and several chapbooks.

Robert Eugene Perry is a native of Massachusetts and the author of six books. His most recent collection of poetry Earthsongs, was published by Human Error Publishing in 2022. A combined re-release of his earlier chapbooks was released as Sacred Mystic Dance on his own imprint Metaphysical Fox Press in 2024.

His poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies & publications, he was a finalist in the 2023 Beals Prize for Poetry and his poem Heard Steet/ Hadwen Park in Winter was a winner in WCPA’s 2024 Poems in and out of Places. Perry has emceed the monthly Open Mic at Booklovers’ Gourmet in Webster, MA (USA) since May 2017.

For more information, please visit: https://roberteugeneperry.myportfolio.com

THERe Was No Poetorium Dead Poet Tribute or Reader tHIS Afternoon!

JanUARY 30TH

A Special Combined Double Feature With

Claudia McGhee

(AUTHOR OF Paperlight)

&

CHRISTOPHER REILLEY

(AUTHOR OF BREATHING FOR CLOUDS & ONE NIGHT STANZAS)

Claudia McGhee has dealt in and with words for decades as a software technical writer, poet, fiction writer, journalist, eBook producer, and editor. Thomas Lux said of Claudia’s chapbook, Paperlight (Finishing Line Press): “There are many ways to read the simple but loaded title, Paperlight. I choose to read it as light on a page being something written on that page. I choose the affirmative light. And this book’s pages are washed in the light of lucid, piercing, and original poems.” Claudia has studied with Billy Collins, Carolyn Forché, Dana Gioia, Marie Howe, Kate Knapp Johnson, Galway Kinnell, Thomas Lux, and Paul Violi. Most recently, her poems appeared in Tiny Seed Journal, Voices of the Grieving Heart anthology, the New Haven-based zine Circumference, and her local Neighbors newspapers. Claudia loves attending open mics, and was one of the poets featured in the online “Poems from Connecticut’s Four Corners” program sponsored by the Ridgefield Library (CT). While her technical writing has been translated into six languages and distributed worldwide, now that she is retired, she is working hard to ensure her words read properly in American English.

Christopher Reilley is a former poet laureate (Dedham, MA) a two-time Pushcart nominee, and the creative mind behind the Bytesized Studios. His collections include Breathing for Clouds, and more recently One Night Stanzas. His poems have appeared in a wide variety of journals like Boston Literary Magazine, Frog Croon, Word Salad, and others. He has spent time on the boards of the Worcester County Poetry Association, and the Newton Writing & Publishing Center.

THERe Was No Poetorium Dead Poet Tribute or Reader tHIS Evening!

March 16th*

Timothy Gager

(AUTHOR OF  Joe the Salamander  & The Best of Timothy Gager)

*Poet Peter F.Crowley Who Was Previously Announced to Be Featuring With Timothy Could Not Attend Due to Car Trouble

Bestselling author, Timothy Gager has published 18 books of fiction and poetry, which includes his latest novel, Joe the Salamander. He hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, MA from 2001 to 2018, and started a weekly virtual series in 2020. He has had over 1000 works of fiction and poetry published, 18 nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work also has been nominated twice for a Massachusetts Book Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology and has been read on National Public Radio. In 2023, Big Table Publishing published an anthology of twenty years of his selected work, with 150 pages of new material: The Best of Timothy Gager.

THERe Was No FEATURED DEAD POET Tribute & Reader This Month!

April 23rd*

*A Special Poetorium Too Triple Feature Edition (At A Brand New Time & Place, Wednesday Evening at TidePool Bookshop In Worcester, MA) With

Laura DiCaronimo

(AUTHOR OF Winner For Trying),

Brian Mosher

(AUTHOR OF A Muster of Melodious Musings),

&

Fadi Yousef

(AUTHOR OF Flowers For a dying Moon)

Laura DiCaronimo is a poet and optician from North Central Massachusetts. She was selected as the first recipient of the annual Dan Lewis Poetry Fellowship by the Worcester County Poetry Association in 2023, and hosts and curates The Openest Mic open mic series. Her debut chapbook Winner for Trying was released by Metaphysical Fox Press in 2025.

Brian Mosher is a poet and writer residing in Mansfield, Massachusetts. His work has appeared in Blue Villa, Nixes Mate, eMerge, Books and Pieces, Confetti, Rituals, Coneflower Cafe, Written Tales, Esoterica Magazine, Half and One Magazine, and others. He has self-published three books: One Bad Day Deserves Another (short stories) and Moon Shine and Lemon Twists (poetry), both in 2016; and The Broken Mosaic (poetry and prose) in 2021. His poetry chapbook Dreams and Other Magic (2023) was published by Alien Buddha Press. His unpublished short-story manuscript was short-listed for the Unleash Press 2025 Book Prize. Brian’s most recent release is a collection of poems and song lyrics from Metaphysical Fox Press titled A Muster of Melodious Musings (2025).

Fadi Yousef was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1977 and immigrated to the States in 1983 at the age of six with his family. He currently resides in Worcester, Massachusetts, and works for Worcester Public Schools as an Instructional Assistant. He attended Worcester State University from 1995-2000 and graduated with a degree in English Literature. He enjoys the liberating solace of a writing style he has coined as “Romantic Existentialism”. Fadi has a ravenous appetite for reading as much poetry as he can in all its forms. Some influences include Pablo Neruda and Wallace Stevens, as well as Gibran Khalil Gibran. He views writing as a tool to look behind the curtain of the world’s stage. Flowers for the Dying Moon released by Pegasus Publishers is Fadi Yousef’s second collection of poetry (his first was The Homeless Gentleman with Fulton Press).

There Was No Featured Dead Poet Tribute or Reader This Evening!

May 28TH

A Special Poetorium Too Double Feature Edition At our New Time & Place (At Our New Time & Place, Wednesday Evening at TidePool Bookshop In Worcester, MA)

Kat Pihl

(AUTHOR OF omphaloskepsis)

&

Wayne-Daniel Berard*

(AUTHOR OF Poetry Mage)

* (Filling in for previously announced Linda Warren, who in turn was filling in for originally scheduled Anne Marie Lucci)

Kat Pihl resides in Northeast Connecticut and recently published her first book, omphaloskepsis, in March of 2024 through Alien Buddha Press. Pihl’s poetry is often confessional, examining the experiences that shape us, and asking, in the great tradition of Michael Scott, why are we the way that we are? Pihl was the 2011 Dorothy McCollum Siebert Award winner at Eastern University and has been performing her poetry (sporadically) ever since.

Wayne-Daniel Berard, PhD, is an educator, poet, writer, shaman, sage, and proud Gryffindor. He is a Peace Chaplain, an interfaith clergy person. His latest books include a poetry chapbook Little Ghosts on Castle Floors, poems informed by the Potterverse,(Kelsay Books), as well as a memoir, The Last Essene (Unsolicited Press), and a full-length poetry book Poetry Mage (Metaphysical Fox Press). Wayne-Daniel lives in Mansfield, MA with his wife, The Lovely Christine, where he co-hosts with Sara Latourneau the monthly open mic and feature event Pour Me a Poem.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH Was Rainer Maria Rilke Read by Robert Eugene Perry

June 25TH

A Special Poetorium Too at TidePool Double Feature With

Ron McGilVray

(AUTHOR OF Empty Chairs)

&

Linda Warren

(AUTHOR OF They Say)

Ronald C. McGilvray is a Kathleen Downey Short Fiction Award winner who has also been writing poetry for much of his life. His poems have appeared in various anthologies and publications such as Lad O’ Pairts Vol. 1 – Hope Over Fear and Worcester Magazine. Ron has also published multiple collections of his poetry as e-books and paperbacks including Empty Chairs, Brick & Mortar, Fine Art, and Uncommon Threads as well as many more titles. Among many of his diversions, his most enjoyable was as a newspaper reporter and editor, and has lived all over New England. He now resides in Spencer, Massachusetts with his wife Sandra.

Linda Warren‘s poems have appeared in such journals as Worcester Review, Diner, Whiskey Island Magazine, Writing the Land, and others.  She is a past winner of the Frank O’Hara Prize for Poetry, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.   She has taught writing workshops for adults and young adults, is a past editor of The Worcester Review, and serves on the board of the Worcester County Poetry Association.  She has worked as a teacher, Romance novelist, and software analyst. Linda fishes the trout and salmon rivers of New England and New Brunswick as often as she can. Her collection of poetry They Say, which has been described as “a dialogue with the world of untamed rivers, their creatures, and their power of redemption” was published by Finishing Line Press, and just released at the end of March, 2025.

THE FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH and Reader To Be Announced!

June 25TH

A Special Poetorium Too at TidePool Double Feature With

Ron McGilVray

(AUTHOR OF Empty Chairs)

&

Linda Warren

(AUTHOR OF They Say)

Ronald C. McGilvray is a Kathleen Downey Short Fiction Award winner who has also been writing poetry for much of his life. His poems have appeared in various anthologies and publications such as Lad O’ Pairts Vol. 1 – Hope Over Fear and Worcester Magazine. Ron has also published multiple collections of his poetry as e-books and paperbacks including Empty Chairs, Brick & Mortar, Fine Art, and Uncommon Threads as well as many more titles. Among many of his diversions, his most enjoyable was as a newspaper reporter and editor, and has lived all over New England. He now resides in Spencer, Massachusetts with his wife Sandra.

Linda Warren‘s poems have appeared in such journals as Worcester Review, Diner, Whiskey Island Magazine, Writing the Land, and others.  She is a past winner of the Frank O’Hara Prize for Poetry, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.   She has taught writing workshops for adults and young adults, is a past editor of The Worcester Review, and serves on the board of the Worcester County Poetry Association.  She has worked as a teacher, Romance novelist, and software analyst. Linda fishes the trout and salmon rivers of New England and New Brunswick as often as she can. Her collection of poetry They Say, which has been described as “a dialogue with the world of untamed rivers, their creatures, and their power of redemption” was published by Finishing Line Press, and just released at the end of March, 2025.

THEre Was No FEATURED DEAD POET OF THE MONTH and Reader !

July 30TH

A Special Poetorium Too at TidePool Double Feature With

Steve Veilleux

(Poet Laureate of Thompson, Ct)

&

MW Murphy

(AUTHOR OF All Moments Exist in Every Moment)

Thompson, Connecticut’s first poet laureate, Steve Veilleux, paints with a surreal paintbrush, combining images into his kaleidoscopic montages. It is the unexpected combinations that often bring his poetry to life, that certain intangible hook that leads the viewer to consider what is lurking within the piece — and further, to force the viewer to consider what lies within his own psyche. Steve lives in northeastern Connecticut and has been inspired in recent years by the magical beauty of his remote environment. His poetry has appeared in various anthologies, including Silkworm, Connecticut Bards Poetry Review, Many Voices – One Stage, and The Connecticut Poet Laureate Anthology. His first poetry book, Event Horizon, is available from Amazon Books, and he is currently working on a second, What the Moleman Said. He works tirelessly to promote the Spoken Word by hosting and cohosting at several different venues, including the Dye and Bleach House Poetry Series in Willington, Connecticut where poets from the region perform monthly. He has been featured locally by Poets at Large and Cross-Pollinating Poets, and produced a multi-media show from his screenplay Breckenridge County in May 2024 at the Packing House.

MW Murphy writes both fiction & poetry. She has a piece in the anthology Gathered Light (Three O’Clock Press, 2013), and a short story in the anthology A Shadow Map (CCM, 2017). Her work has also appeared in two online poetry mags Breadcrumbs Magazine (2019), and Yes Poetry (2020, 2021), as well as in the Connecticut Bards Anthology (2023, 2024, 2025) and We Are Beat anthologies (2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), and the CC&D Anthology (2023, 2024). MW was a featured poet at the Rose Room in Webster, MA in May 2023. She has done readings from her fiction & poetry at various events in bookstores, coffee houses, and parks.  Her most recent collection of poetry, All Moments Exist in Every Moment, was published by Metaphysical Fox Press in 2025.