Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar 2

Join the New England Poetry Club outdoors in the open air tent at the Old Manse for free poetry readings on select Sunday afternoons.
Extend your visit by signing up for a tour of the historic house prior to or following the reading. Learn more about tour offerings and pre-register for house tours here. Plan to come early or stay late for a stroll around the orchard and along the banks of the Concord River.

May poets:
Dr. Sara Epstein is a clinical psychologist who integrates mindfulness practices, including writing, in her psychotherapy work with children and adults. She also facilitates and teaches generative writing groups and classes. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry Quarterly, Amethyst Review, Chest Journal, Nixes Mate Review, Plainsongs, museum of americana, among others. Her book reviews have been published in Mom Egg Review.  Bar of Rest is her first book of poetry.

Denise Provost has published two poetry collections: Curious Peach (Ibbetson Street Press, 2019) and City of Stories (Červená Barva Press, 2021).  Her poems have appeared in such journals as Ibbetson Street, Constellations, Muddy River Poetry Review, qarrtsiluni, Quadrille, Poetry Porch, Red Eft, Sonnet Scroll, Sanctuary, Light Quarterly, and in Bagel Bards anthologies. Twice Pushcart-nominated, Provost received the 2012 Best Love Sonnet award from the 2012 Maria C. Faust Sonnet Competition, and the New England Poetry Club’s 2021 Samuel Washington Allen Prize. She was elected co-president of the New England Poetry Club in 2022. Provost served from 2006-2021 in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Gary Whited is a poet, philosopher and psychotherapist. His first book titled, Having Listened, won the 2013 Homebound Publications Poetry Contest. In 2014 it received a Benjamin Franklin Silver Book Award, and in 2015 was translated into Russian and a bilingual edition was published. His new book, Being, There includes new poems along with his translation of the ancient Greek fragments of Parmenides from the 5th century BCE. This book dances between the poetic voice of Parmenides and the poetic remembrances of a young life on a prairie cattle ranch. His poems have appeared in journals, including Salamander, Plainsongs, The Aurorean, Atlanta Review, Comstock Review, The Wayfarer, Poetry Daily and The Red Letters.

Join us for a fun evening of open mic poetry! We invite you to bring your own works and perform them in front of a supportive crowd. There's no better place to find your voice and share it with the world! 
The sign-up list opens at 6:30 pm in the upstairs cafe and the mic opens at 7:00pm.

• Seating is first come, first served! 
• Each open mic slot gets you about three minutes of stage time.
• No need to memorize your work - just be comfortable and have fun!
• If you read someone else’s work, give credit where due. 
• Above all, show kindness to all. No hate speech, slurs, or sexually explicit language. 

Got a question? Shoot us an e-mail!

The doors open at 7:00 pm every Sunday, and we start with our “Poetry Slam.” The “Featured Poet” will start roughly at 8:30 pm, accompanied by the Blake Newman Group. After the Featured Poet, we have our “Open Mic,” also accompanied by the Blake Newman Group. There’s a $10 cover charge, and the Lizard Lounge is a 21+ venue.