Other Readings and assorted links

Central Massachusetts readings

Special Events -- listed by date.

• The fourth annual Worcester Women Poets reading, in honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, will be held on Wednesday, March 10th. The reading will feature poets Melinda Lee, Jackie Morrill, Catherine Reed, Susan Roney-O'Brien, Susan Edwards Richmond and Jessica Bane Robert. An open mic will follow the featured readers. The reading is being held at Quinsigamond Community College (Harrington Library, 670 West Boylston Street, Worcester) and will run from 7 to 9:00 p.m. Snacks will be provided - featured poets will have books, etc. for sale.

• Legendary west coast poet, Gary Snyder, will read at the 10th Annual Robert Creeley Award on Tuesday, March 16th. The event is being held at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School (36 Charter Road, Acton). Free and open to the public.

• The Worcester County Poetry Association will celebrate The Charles Olson Centenary from March 24-27th. The event will feature poetry reading, talks, moderated panels, a photo exhibit and screening of Polis Is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place. There are free events on Thursday and Saturday evening while the symposium has a conference fee associated with it. For more information please visit The Charles Olson Centenary website.

Regularly Scheduled Readings -- listed alphabetically by the name of reading or venue

• The d'Alzon Arts Series: Poetry Reading takes place at Assumption College (500 Salisbury Street, Worcester) in the Emmanuel d'Alzon Library on the third Friday of each month during the academic year. The format is an open mic for the first half-hour or so, a short break with refreshments and then 2 featured poets. The reading starts at 7:00 p.m. and typically runs for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Readings run throughout the school year.

  Upcoming 2010 features include:
  03/19 -- Francine d'Alessandro and Jim Fay
  04/16 -- Assumption Student Writers

  For more information visit the website or e-mail the host, Dawn Thistle, at dthi...@assumption.edu.

• The Dirty Gerund Poetry Show is held every Monday night starting at 9:00 p.m. The reading is being held at Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner (148 Grove Street, Worcester) and is hosted by the dynamic duo of Nick Davis and Alex Charalambides. There will be an open mic every week with a mix of poetry slams and featured poets.

  No cover; donations accepted. 21+

  Upcoming dates & features include:
  03/08 -- Jon Wolf
  03/15 -- Krista Mosca
  03/22 -- Shane Hall
  03/29 -- Jeff Cannon

  Visit the Dirty Gerund website for more info.

• One Poem and.... is an open poetry reading series meant to provide a venue for writers to share their work as well as the work of established writers they admire. The series will take place on the third Thursday of every month from October to May at Worcester State College (486 Chandler Street, Worcester) in the Barbara Pilon Seminar Room (305) of the Sullivan Academic Building. The readng runs from 2:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

  Upcoming Dates - February 18, March 25 and April 15.

  For every original poem a person reads they will be asked to compliment that poem by reading a poem of their choosing by another established and published writer: From Shakespeare to Stern, Bradstreet to Bukowski, Yeats to Young, Rumi to Rich and any and all between. If you have no original work to read but want to offer poems from writers you love, feel free to join us. Sign up will occur at the beginning of each reading and the number of poems allowed each person will be determined by the number of willing participants.

  Free and open to the WSC community: students, staff, faculty, WSC alumni and to the community at large.

  Schedule is subject to change around holiday breaks and exam periods. Contact Jonathan Blake at jblake1@worcester.edu or 508-929-8700.

• Each Monday night The Q (362 Chandler Street, Worcester, MA) hosts a poetry open mic. The Little "a" Poetry Series will be hosted by Cowboy Matt. It is open to all ages groups, uncut and uncensored. Bring poetry to read in the open mic, or come down and listen to some great spoken word from local poets. The reading gets started around 6:30 p.m.

  Visit the Q website for updates on the reading and other happenings at The Q.

  Upcoming dates & features include:
  03/11 -- Jared Paul
  03/18 -- Sarah Guimond

  For more info please contact them...@gmail.com.

• The Saturday Evening Open Mic meets on the fourth Saturday of the month at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Lincoln Plaza (541D Lincoln Street, Worcester). There is an open mic at 7:00 p.m. which is followed by a featured poet. Hosted by Carle Johnson.

• The Shrewsbury Senior Writers is a group that meets every Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at the Shrewsbury Senior Center (100 Maple Avenue, Shrewsbury). The meeting is open to all, and welcome both you and your contributions. The group includes novel and biography authors, short story and essay writers, as well as some extremely gifted poets, all of whom give readings (when they feel like it) at the meetings. Come visit! You will enjoy a very pleasant, relaxed morning.

  For more info please contact ahweiss @ yahoo . com.

• The Street Beat meets at the WCPA offices at the Village Arts Gallery, 1 Ekman Street, Worcester on the second Thursday of each month. Hosted by Anne-Marie Lucci the reading consists of an open reading followed by a feature. The reading starts at 7:00 p.m.

  Upcoming features include:
  03/11 -- Joe Fusco Jr. CD release party & feature

• The Worcester Youth Slam (Speakout! Poetry Collective) usually meets on the third Friday of every month. The reading takes place from 7:00 to 10:30 p.m. in The Grind at Clark University, Higgins Student Center (950 Main Street, Worcester).

  The Speakout! Poetry Collective was founded in 2003 as a way to mentor youth poets & promote the power of one's voice through the art of spoken word. Every year, the collective organizes youth poetry slams, raises funds, & chaperones several competition winners to The Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival, sponsored by the nationally recognized San Francisco based non-profit corporation Youth Speaks.

  For more info please visit the Worcester Youth Slam website.

• Carle Johnson runs a writer's workshop on the second Thursday of each month at the Richard Sugden Library in Spencer. The group meets at 1:00 p.m. There is a a mix of fiction, poetry, and prose and everyone seems to profit from paying attention to the others' problems and attempted solutions.

  For more information contact Carle Johnson at cajo...@aol.com.

Back to the top

Other New England readings

Cambridge and parts east of Natick

• The Boston Slam takes place each Wednesday in the basement of the Cantab Lounge, 738 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. with the reading starting at 8:00 p.m. The usual format is an open mike begins followed by a featured poet and then a slam.

  Upcoming features include:
  03/10 --	CUPSI Warm-Up with teams from Emerson College, Hampshire College, Brandeis University and the Berklee School of Music.
  03/17 --	Megan Thoma plus an open poetry slam
  03/24 --	Mindy Nettifee plus an open poetry slam
  03/31 --	Team Slam Preliminaries ($5 cover)

  The cover is usually $3. Check their website for more information and an updated schedule of events.

• The Lizard Lounge, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA holds a reading every Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. An eight person slam every week followed by a feature and then an open mic backed by the Jeff Robinson Trio. The cover is $4. More info can be found at their web site.

• Poetribe is going strong with great features and open slams every other Saturday night. They meet in the Community Room of the East Bridgewater Library, 32 Union Street, East Bridgewater. The reading starts at 8:00 p.m. with an open mic, followed by a feature at 9:00 and an open slam at 10.

  Visit their website for more information. Or contact one of the hosts, Vicki Murray at vict...@hotmail.com. David R. Surette shares the hosting duties.

• Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. every Monday. They gather at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (106 Prospect Street, Cambridge) with an open mic sign-up at 7:30 p.m. A donation of four dollars is requested. All money goes to the gallery, and the feature poets do not currently profit from a reading (unless they have books to sell).

  Learn more about this long time reading by visiting their blog, stonesouppoetry.blogspot.com.

• Down in New Bedford, MA there is an occasional reading series called Whaling City Review LIVE. They meet for periodic poetry events at Gallery X, the Unitarian Church, Seamen's Bethel, and other venues in New Bedford and environs. For more information, email whalingcityreview @ gmail . com.

  There is also a blog for Whaling City Review LIVE available at whalingcityreview.blogspot.com and they can also be found on Facebook.

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

Western Massachusetts

• Join the poets every Thursday night at the Green Street Cafe in Northampton (64 Green Street, next to the Smith College Campus) for an evening of music and poetry. Music starts at 7:00 p.m. with the poetry following at 8:00 p.m.

• Word In Westfield takes place every Wednesday night and starts at 7:00 p.m. The reading is held at Teapot Gallery, 22 Elm Street (route 10/202) in Westfield, MA. The reading will be hosted by Eli Baenziger and Maurice Soulfighter Taylor.

  Sign up is at 6:30 p.m. and open mic starts at 7:00 p.m. followed by a guest feature.

  Lori Desrosiers, former co-host of Word In Westfield, keeps a blog of poetry happenings in Western Massachusetts. Give it a read by visiting here.

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

New Hampshire

• If you have a hankering for a roadtrip and it's the right Friday night you should check out the Open Mic Poetry reading at The Bridge Cafe (1117 Elm Street, Manchester, NH). The poetry takes place every other Friday from 7 - 11:00 p.m. and there is a $3 cover. Come on down, recite poetry, tell stories, do free-verse, whatever! The first rule is... there are no rules.

  Upcoming features include:
  03/19 -- TBA
  04/02 -- Slam #8 (possible feature by Jeanann Verlee)
  04/16 -- Semi-Final Slam #1

  Check out their MySpace page for additional info. You can also contact them at brid...@gmail.com.

• The Stone Pigeon Poetry and Spoken Word Open Mic occurs the second Monday of every month from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The reading takes place at at "Breaking New Grounds" Coffee Shop (14 Market Square) in Portsmouth, NH.

  The format consists of two featured readers, followed by an open mic. This is a family freindly reading, with an atmosphere of fun and good-natured heckling. Please come join us to read or just take it all in!

  Visit stonepigeon.com for more info.

• Every third Thursday of the month Beat Nite takes place at the The Press Room (77 Daniels Street) in Portsmouth, NH. The reading takes place from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Featured poets are backed by the band Groove Bacteria. An Open mic takes place at 8:00 p.m. hosted by Ryan McLellan and Ayanna.

  Contact groo...@comcast.net for booking information.

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

Rhode Island

• GotPoetry Live (late of Reflection's Cafe in Providence,RI) has found a new home in Providence at Blue State Coffee (300 Thayer Street, Providence, RI 02906 ). The reading runs from 8:00 - 10:00 p.m. The format will be an open mic followed by a feature.

  Upcoming features include:
  03/09 -- Nancy Boucher
  03/16 -- Don Hammontree
  03/23 -- Cowboy Matt & Nick Davis
  03/30 -- Butch Poets

• The Providence Poetry Slam meets most Thursday nights with a slightly different format each week. In 2010 they will meet on the first, third and fourth Thursdays of each month.

  The reading takes place at AS220, (115 Empire Street, Providence, RI). Sign-ups start at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts around 8:00 p.m. Cover is $4.

  Upcoming features include:
  03/18 -- Musicians and Poets Open Mic featuring Frank Martin; late night OPEN SLAM
  03/25 -- Writer's Workshop upstairs in Broad Street Studios
  04/01 -- Open Mic, YOUTH SLAM, and the talented New York poet Jeananne Verlee
  04/15 -- Musicians and Poets Open Mic, featuring Seattle poet Karen Finneyfrock; late night OPEN SLAM

  Check out their MySpace page for more info on the Providence Poetry Slam.

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

Connecticut

• Check out the poetic scene in Connecticut via the The Connecticut Poetry Calendar at www.poetz.com/connecticut. It is updated weekly. .

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

Other poetic links

• The Worcester County Poetry Asssociation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the writing arts. Founded in 1971 to provide a forum for local poets, students, and others to celebrate the rich literary history of Central Massachusetts, the WCPA sponsors readings, workshops, and other activities involving both local and nationally known poets and writers.

  They are the publishers of The Worcester Review.

• gotpoetry.com is a kick-ass website from our friend John Powers down in Providence. There's a plethora of info on upcoming events (both in Providence and the region), poetic news, regular columns from the likes of Victor Infante, Joe Fusco Jr. and Tony Brown, serialized novels from Sou MacMillan and Ryk McIntyre and much more.

  Plus you can submit things that you think are of interest... check out this article for all the details.

• Ballard Street Poetry Journal is a local journal for and by poets and lovers of poetry. The journal comes out twice a year and the organizers host workshops and events. For samples of published poems, submission guidelines, workshop schedules and more please visit their website.

• Haven't had a chance to read the travel journals of Deb Middleton and Lia Klunk's time at the 2001 Taos Poetry Circus yet? Well head on over to the Taos Travel Logs page.

• The Boston Poet web site has articles, poetry, interviews and an open mike + venue guide.

• The Academy of American Poets sounds pretty pretentious. However their website, poets.org provides a poet database with information on 400 poets, over 600 poems, forums and even a listening booth so you can hear poetry the way the author meant it to be heard. As if that weren't enough the academy started National Poetry Month in 1996.

• Poetry Slam, Inc. is the mother organization of poetry slams around the world. Info on what slam is all about, past slams, etc. can be found at this sight.

• livepoets.com is dedicated to promoting quality spoken word and providing an interface for poets and their audiences. It's maintained and cared for by Gabrielle Bouliane.

• You'll find some good information about the Midwest Poetry Slam League, as well as other information about the Detroit Poetry Slam online at http://www.detroitslam.com.

• Located in Washington, DC Myth @ Teaism is a house of slam and an amazing poetry reading. Check it out.

• http://www.ColumbusPoetry.com will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the poetry scene in Columbus, OH.

• Southern California has a wealth of performance poetry to offer as well. Visit http://poetix.net for loads of info, articles, and "the most comprehensive and inclusive calendar and venue listing anywhere in So Cal".

• http://www.daytonslam.net offers up info on the Slam scene in Dayton, Ohio.

• Heading to Chicago, IL? The following sites provide a wealth of info on poetry performances in and around the Chicago, IL area.
  • http://www.chicagopoets.com
  • http://www.e-poets.net
  • http://www.freshpoetry.com

• SWOT stands for Spoken Word of Tulsa and their new website is pretty cool. With a calendar of events, info on the Tulsa poetry scene and CD reviews and samples it's wicked cool. Check it out and let them know what you think.

• About.com's Contemporary Poetry web site has a wealth of info about poets, poems and all things poetic.

• Previous No Poetry Haikus can be found here.

Back to the top

Miscellaneous links

This is a spot for the strange, bizarre and down right nutty things that are referred to during readings.

• NetWorcester is a free website with events listings and business info focused around, you got it, Worcester. 100s of local biz owners list and maintain their business and event information, and network with other local business owners. Over 1,000 weekly readers browse our listings, post items for sale, review local businesses, and participate in our online discussion forum.

  Give them a visit at http://www.networcester.com and see what's happening in our fair city.

• The Darwin Awards are a perennial favorite at the Poets' Asylum reading. The stories of bad luck, bad planning and just plain stupidity make us laugh and cringe. At least the gene pool is getting a good cleaning.

• Peeps Research looks at the ubiquitous holiday marshmallow snack known simply as Peeps. Learn about the basic science of Peeps, what makes them tick, what makes them burst into flame.

  Editors note: I find it mildly disturbing that Peeps do not dissolve in sulfuric acid. It's just wrong.

• Utilikilts Co. - the official kilt of the Poets' Asylum. OK, not really but it sounds cool to have an official anything and both Bill + Andrew have them so they can't too weird, right. :-)

• It only takes a click to donate food to those in need. Head over to the The Hunger Site . All it takes is a click of the mouse and a little bit of your time.

Back to the top