Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar 2

Now that the snow is on the ground, we’re turning our thoughts to giving voice to the poetry that has filled Worcester’s rainy streets.

We have invited the poets who created the Rain Poems to share their work in a reading for friends and family at the Park View Room (just off Elm Park @ 230 Park Ave, Worcester).

The reading will take place on Sunday, February 13th, 2022, from 3-4 pm (with February 27th as a snow date).

This Valentine's Day, slip beneath the conscious into the realm of fantasy with The Poetry Brothel. The subliminal will surface as our poets make nocturnal admissions.
At The Poetry Brothel, a “madam” presents a rotating cast of poets, artists, and artisans who operate within self-constructed character, “erupting into verse in public and luring guests into back rooms for private readings,” as described in The New Yorker. Central to The Poetry Brothel experience is the creation of character, which for each artist serves as disguise and freeing device, enabling The Poetry Brothel to be a place of uninhibited creative expression in which artists and audience members alike can communicate more authentically.
Artists performing with the Brothel are women, men, folx, people of color, queer, straight, emerging, established, local, and international. Their alter-egos are faeries, sea creatures, witches, aliens, virgins, whores, and everything in between. Some of the artists within The Poetry Brothel universe perform sex work in their off-hours. The Poetry Brothel uses its platform to support sex workers and to educate audiences about the sex industry.

This event is 21+
We offering two shows on one night. When purchasing tickets, please select EITHER the 6:00pm show OR the 9:00pm show. The schedule is as follows:
For the FIRST SHOW, Doors open at 6:00pm. The show begins promptly at 6:30pm and ends at 8:30pm.
For the SECOND SHOW, Doors open at 9:00pm. The show begins at 9:30pm and ends at 11:30pm.

Questions or inspirations? Want to Sponsor our event or table at the event? Reach out to Madam Betty BOOM at shari@poetrysocietyny.org.

The poetry series meets in September, November, February and April. Each month three prominent, published poets give readings. An open mic follows with a limit of one short poem per person. The series is facilitated by Doug Holder of Ibbetson St. Press. This month the following poets will give readings: Michael E. Henry (MEH), Sarah Kensey, and Quintin Collins.

Now on Zoom! RSVP as below to attend.

Susan Buttenwieser is the author of the short story collection We Were Lucky with the Rain (Four Way Books). Her writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appeared in numerous literary publications and received fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She contributes news features regularly to Women’s Media Center and teaches creative writing in New York City public schools in high-poverty neighborhoods, with incarcerated women and older adults. To purchase We Were Lucky with the Rain go to https://fourwaybooks.com/site/we-were-lucky-with-the-rain-by-susan-buttenwieser/.

Jennifer Martelli is the author of My Tarantella (Bordighera Press), selected as a 2019 “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book and named as a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. Her chapbook, After Bird, was the winner of the Grey Book Press open reading, 2016. In the Year of Ferraro was recently published by Nixes Mate. Her work has appeared in Verse Daily, Iron Horse Review (winner, Photo Finish contest), On the Seawall, The Sycamore Review, and Poetry. Jennifer Martelli has twice received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for her poetry. She is co-poetry editor for Mom Egg Review. You can order My Tarantella by going to www.bordigherapress.org. In the Year of Ferraro can be ordered from Nixes Mate Publishing https://nixesmate.pub/product/in-the-year-of-ferraro-·-jennifer-martelli/.

Scott Withiam’s latest book of poems, Doors Out of the Underworld, was published by MadHat Press in October 2019. Withiam has been a recipient of the Ploughshares Cohen Award, and the Two Rivers Review Chapbook and Drunken Boat Pan-Literary prizes. His first book, Arson & Prophets, came out with Ashland Poetry Press. Poems have been published by AGNI, Beloit Poetry Journal, Boston Review, Diagram, Indiana Review, Ploughshares, Plume, The Sun and elsewhere. He formerly taught college English Literature and writing and now works for a non-profit in the Boston area. Doors Out of the Underworld can be purchased online by going to https://madhat-press.com. Either or both books can be purchased by emailing the author at scwithiam@gmail.com.

To receive a Zoom invitation with a link to the reading, email your name and email address to SandeeStorey@fastmail.fm before 2 pm on Feb. 11. You will be emailed a Zoom invitation with the link by noon Feb. 12. For security reasons, please do not publicize, post or broadcast the Zoom link itself. If people you know want to attend, you may send them the link, but please ask them also not to publicize, post, or broadcast the link itself.

For more information, check our website at http://jamaicapondpoets.com or email dorothy.derifield@gmail.com or call 617-325-8388. The next Chapter and Verse Literary Reading on Zoom in the 2020/2021 series will be at 7:30 pm on Friday, March 12, 2021.