Top 10 reasons to attend the 2015 Mass Poetry Festival

The 7th Massachusetts Poetry Festival takes place May 1-3, 2015, in historic downtown Salem.

View this email in your browser The Top Ten Reasons to Attend the 2015 Massachusetts Poetry Festival View the schedule. 10. Richard Blanco and Rita Dove have read to America--now they'll read to you. 9. There are many festivals, but Mass Poetry stanza lone. 8. A poetry carnival! Step right up, readers and writers! 7. Mass Poetry: Cute as a (festival) button! 6. If it's not like something else, then what's metaphor? 5. Poetry Smack Down: Cape Ann vs Cape Cod Poets 4. Giant Scrabble! Mad Libs! Poems about dirt! 3. If you really dig poetry, you'll like The Golden Shovel. 2. After this winter, you deserve a little beauty. And the #1 reason to attend the 2015 Massachusetts Poetry Festival…         Because "This is what it sounds like when Dove rhymes." Share Tweet Forward Facebook Twitter MassPoetry.org Copyright © 2015 Mass Poetry, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up on our website. Our mailing address is: Mass Poetry 15 Channel Center Street, Suite 103 Boston, MA 02210

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Poetry on the T Contest open for voting; Festival poet Stephen Burt; Workshops at the festival; Poem of the Moment; Charles Simic at Peabody Institute Library; U35 next Tuesday; Coming up on our statewide calendar; and more View this email in your browser Cast your vote! Public voting for our Poetry on the T Contest is open. Our Poetry Partners have helped us narrow down hundreds of Poetry on the T Contest entries and we have 15 wonderful finalists awaiting your votes. Which poems do you want to see on the T in May? Cast your vote by next Thursday, March 26 at 8 a.m. Winning poems debut on the T May 4. Festival Poet Stephen Burt: Suburbia Seasoned with Unease by Jacquelyn Malone Here are poems about babies and children, about shopping and Subarus, about the wedding of friends and the occasions of suburbia. The tenderness with which he views life in the town of Belmont, Massachusetts is both unexpected and captivating. And yet these poems about the commonplace of our lives are offset by a deep unease with both what is and the alternatives to what is. Continue reading. Festival Spotlight   Workshops galore! Everyone loves a good workshop, and at this year's festival, we've got 19 workshops on the docket.  How do the workshops work? A button to attend the festival readings and panels for all three days is $15, but if you are interested in attending workshops, there is an additional $10 flat fee. For that $10, you can take as many workshops as you like. We highly suggest you register for the workshops of your choice ASAP by creating a profile on our site and adding the session to your calendar. In workshops, seats are reserved for those who have registered. If the workshop registration is full, you'll be placed onto a waitlist. We also suggest that on the day of the workshop, even if you weren't able to register, you come to the door to see if you can get in. Sometimes people who register don't make it, and about five minutes after the session has started, those spots are fair game. Poem of the Moment Alan Albert: Essay on a Son I had this in a dream: Tom will marry once. He will have two children and be happy in his marriage and it will be a long one. This will come from me, his father, though I did not marry once and have a long and happy marriage. He will have children and be a good father. With his beloved wife he will have Continue reading. Getting to Know Karina Borowicz and Her New Book Proof Available now from Amazon.com  "Poems often come from something I've witnessed, read, or experienced. It's not an intellectual process for me, however. I like to say that something has to cease being an idea in my head and become a feeling in my gut before it becomes a poem." Continue reading. Next Tuesday March 24, 7 p.m. The Marliave Restaurant, Boston RSVP & Share U35 on Facebook. Featuring David DiSarro, Richard Shideler, and Denise Warren. Each poet will read for 15 minutes, with short breaks in between for mingling, drink refreshments, and food orders! David DiSarro From "I Used to Play In Bands" "The crowd, unaware, thinned, pushed through carved doors out into the chorus of sirens and car horns, and necked beneath the neon," Richard Shideler From "Note on a coffee table" "if I ever tell you I'm planning to move back, talk me out of it. My overcoat is underused and my trenchcoat has never seen the trenches." Denise Warren From "Please Take Care When Eating A Kiwi" "In the skin of the kiwi I have found four pinholes. I have found a child climbing high in a tree, a string quartet, a bicycle." Experiencing Poetry, This Time with Charles Simic: Peabody Institute Library by Kelley Rae Unger Opportunities to experience poetry are sought after by many, and the Peabody Institute Library strives to create opportunities for community members to do just that. Through writing workshops, discussion groups, classes, and author visits, the library reaches out to the poetry community of the North Shore, offering multiple events each year all free to the public. Continue reading. Coming up on our statewide poetry calendar: Tonight (Thursday, March 19) The 15th Annual Robert Creeley Award Night Andrea Cohen & Danielle Jones-Pruett Reading Saturday, March 21 Wake Up and Smell the Poetry Calliope Poetry Series, 'The Music of Syntax' Got Poetry? Open Mic Series Poesy Magazine 40th Issue Celebratory Reading Sunday, March 22 Love, Poetry, and the Things of the World More Money Than God - Publication Party Tuesday, March 24 U35 Reading Series John Hodgen and Fred Marchant Reading at Assumption College Reading: Martha Collins and Jeffrey Harrison Stephen Mitchell Poetry Reading Wednesday, March 25 Speak Up Spoken Word Open Mic On March 25, Mass Poetry is partnering with MASSCreative for Arts Matter Advocacy Day, to show our state political leaders that arts matter in Massachusetts. Beginning at the Citi Wang Theatre in downtown Boston, Arts Matter Advocacy Day will bring together the statewide creative community for a half-day event, featuring speakers, performers, connecting with colleagues, and an "Arts Matter March" to the State House to meet with our legislators. RSVP to attend Arts Matter Advocacy Day. Visit these presses and orgs at the Small Press Fair: Adastra Press • Bottle Rocket Press • Hedgerow Books • Human Error Publishing • Journal of the Month • Mock Orange Magazine • Perugia Press • Salamander • Slate Roof Press • Swamp Press • Tuesday: An Art Project • Tupelo Press • Zephyr Press Interested in having a table? Sign up or contact M.P. Carver at mp@masspoetry.org. The ad deadline for the festival program book is Sunday, March 22. Check out rates and book your ad space now! Partners & Small Press Fair exhibitors, ask about your discount when booking. Statewide Poetry Calendar • Participate • New Books by Massachusetts Poets • Massachusetts Poet Database • Poetry Partners • Sponsorship Opportunities

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The latest from Mass Poetry

View this email in your browser Starting next week, watch for Poetry on the T! These three poems, by 2015 Mass Poetry Festival headliner Edward Hirsch, 2015 Common Threads poet Rhina P. Espaillat, and U35 poet Hannah Larrabee, will be up on the red line beginning Tuesday, March 9! Plan your visit to the Mass Poetry Festival In case you missed it this week, the schedule for the 7th Massachusetts Poetry Festival is now live! Join us May 1-3 in Salem with headliners Rita Dove • Richard Blanco • Stephen Burt • Denise Duhamel • Nick Flynn • Regie Gibson • Jorie Graham • Edward Hirsch • Richard Hoffman • Adrian Matejka • Marge Piercy • Rachel Wiley • and with the hundreds of fabulous poets participating in sessions. Buy your button today! Check out Tuesday's release email for information on creating your custom schedule, joining the attendee directory, participating in the Small Press Fair, listing an off-site event, volunteering, and more.  Common Threads at Grub Street with Ben Berman • April 2, 6-9 p.m. Join Mass Poetry and Grub Street Writers for a Common Threads discussion and writing workshop. We will both discuss the wonderful selections in this year's Common Threads Poems and use these poems as inspiration to write our own original pieces. There will be an opportunity to write and receive feedback during the workshop, and everyone will leave with a richer appreciation of the Common Threads Poems and a new draft of an original poem. This session is free and is limited to fifteen attendees. To reserve your spot, click here and sign up to add the event to your Common Threads calendar. Common Threads events have been taking place all over the state! Don't forget to be checking out our Common Threads event calendar regularly.  On Festival Poet Denise Duhamel by Dawn Paul Poetry is Duhamel's affirmative answer to all that life throws at her, from the dissolution of love to the certain knowledge that our time here is limited. Though she will welcome you with the familiar or even the frivolous, she will drop you off at the big questions of transcendence and mystery. Read more. Poem of the Moment Linda McCarriston: Mr. No Class, USA Thinking of how he will live             just shy of retirement                         if all goes well if all goes the way the ads             on t.v. suggest it must                         urge him to think it will, gardening with the little lady             say, golfing maybe, just                         tossing the ball with the dog in Continue reading. Why I Love Poetry by julie ann otis "The dusty manacles of what we think poetry and theatre are still weigh on us. But though the outdated or overwrought may give our art a bad name, they also provide the springboard for our minds to be blown by the true, clear voice of those gifted few who pierce thru and captivate us." Continue reading. Coming up March 24 7 p.m., The Marliave, Boston Featuring: David DiSarro Richard Shideler Denise Warren RSVP & share the Facebook event, and visit our website for more info! Coming up on our statewide calendar: Tonight (Thursday, March 5) • The Ones We Carry: A Literary Evening with Lesléa Newman Friday, March 6 • Fundraiser: An Evening with Harbor Mountain Press & Alice B. Fogel, Diana Whitney, Peter Money, and Partridge Boswell  Sunday, March 8 • Calliope Poetry Series featuring Danielle Legros Georges, John Holgerson & Sandra Storey To submit an event, click here. To submit a Common Threads event, click here. Statewide Poetry Calendar • Participate • New Books by Massachusetts Poets • Massachusetts Poet Database • Poetry Partners • Sponsorship Opportunities Share Tweet Forward Facebook Twitter MassPoetry.org Copyright © 2015 Mass Poetry, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up on our website. Our mailing address is: Mass Poetry 15 Channel Center Street, Suite 103 Boston, MA 02210