MASS Poetry Program Booklet (Tabloid 11 x 17)

8/14/2019 MASS Poetry Program Booklet (Tabloid 11 x 17)

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WELCOME TO THE 2009 MASSACHUSETTS POETRY FESTIVAL

To all the friends of poetry:

Welcome to the 2nd Annual Massachuses Poetry Festival andwelcome to historic Lowell, a hot spot of the creative economy inthe Commonwealth. You are part of the great audience for poetry

that Whitman imagined so many years ago. In one year, the Festivalhas made an enormous developmental leap. Writers from Boston tothe Berkshires ignited literary res to start the Festival on the Thurs-day of this long weekend of poetry. In this program book you will seethe packed schedule for Friday and Saturday in Lowell, as well theSunday activities at the Childrens Museum and Harvard University.

Our theme this year is Poetry in Hard Times. Lets hope thepower of poetry can take us beyond the hard times for four days.We are intent on having a good time together and carrying that spiritforward.

While you are in Lowell, please explore the city when you move between events. You can sample food from around the world indowntown restaurants, visit Whistlers birthplace, see extraordinarycommemorative sculptures for Jack Kerouac and Lucy Larcom, wit -

ness labor history at our National Park, enjoy award-winning, pre-served 19th-century architecture, and more.

On behalf of the organizers, thank you to everyone who con-tributed talent, time, and money to make this Festival possible. Weneed your help to continue, so please donate what you can at thevarious events or online later at www.masspoetry.org. To the morethan 50 Poetry Partners, we oer a special thanks for helping us get tothe roots of poetry around the state. And also a special thanks to themany volunteers who help plan and produce this complex Festival.

Our goal is to li the poets and poetry of Massachuses to ahigher level. We want this good work to be seen and recognized morewidely. Massachuses has a special place in the literary history of thenation and world. Today, you are part of history as it happens. Thank

you for making the 2009 Massachuses Poetry Festival a memorablesuccess.

Sincerely,Paul Marion, on behalf of the MPF Executive Commiee

Michael Casey

Anne Waldman

Jessica Smith

Robert Pinsky

Afaa Michael Weaver

Louise Glck


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Poetry Partners

Bagel BardsBlacksmith House Poetry Series

Boostrap PressBoston Book Festival

Cape Cod Writers Center

Cave CanemChelmsford Public LibraryConcord Poetry Center

Courage & Renewal NortheastCultural Organization of Lowell

EchoDittoEmerson College Department of Writing

Favorite Poem ProjectFireside Reading Series

Ford Hall ForumFrost FoundationGrolier Bookstore

Grub Street, Inc.Hellenic Culture Society

Ibbetson St. PressIsland Poets, Marthas Vineyard

Jeff Robinson Trio/Lizard Lounge Poetry JamLesley University MFA Program in Creative Writing

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!

Lowell Poetry NetworkMassachusetts Center for the Book

Moses Greeley Parker LecturesNew England Poetry Club

PEN New EnglandPine Manor MFA Program

PoemWorksPoetribe

Pollard Memorial LibraryPowow River Poets

Robert Creeley FoundationRobert Frost Foundation

Salem State College English DepartmentSmith Poetry Center, Smith College

Suffolk Poetry CenterTapestry of Voices

The Greater Brockton Society for Poetry and the ArtsTheodore Edson Parker FoundationTsongas Industrial History Center

University of Massachusetts Boston, MFA ProgramUniversity of Massachusetts Lowell

Wild ApplesWoodbury Poetry Room, Harvard

Worcester County Poetry AssociationZephyr Press119 Gallery

THE 2009

MASSACHUSETTS

POETRY FESTIVAL

THANKS THE

FOLLOWING

SPONSORS FOR THEIR

CONTRIBUTIONS AND

SUPPORT

City of Lowell

Cultural Organization of Lowell

EchoDitto

Enterprise Bank

Feeley & Driscoll, P.C. Charitable Gift Fund

Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Greater Lowell Community Foundation

Greater Merrimack Valley Convention andVisitors Bureau

Jim and Karen Ansara

Loom Press

Lowell Five

Mass Humanities

Lowell National Historical Park

Lowell Plan, Inc.

Lowell Poetry Network

Massachusetts Poetry Outreach Project

Massachusetts Cultural Council

Middlesex Community College

Moses Greeley Parker Lectures

Norman and Amy GorinPatrick J. Mogan Cultural Center

Pollard Memorial Library

Sunflower Foundation

Theodore Edson Parker Foundation

The Phoenix

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Thanks also goes to LOWELL TELECOM-MUNICATIONS CORPORATION (LTC)

for their technical assistance and support.

MASSACHUSETTS POETRY FESTIVAL EXECUTIVE

PLANNING COMMITTEE AND STAFF

Robert Pinsky, Honorary ChairMichael Ansara, Planning and Fundraising

Charles Coe, Planning and FundraisingSuzzanne Cromwell, Project Management

Derek Fenner, Planning and PublicationsRyan Gallagher, Planning and Publications

Chloe Garcia-Roberts, Outreach and PublicityJulia Gavin, Volunteer Coordinator

Jacqueline Malone, High School Program CoordinatorPaul Marion, Planning and Fundraising

LZ Nunn, Planning and Fundraising

Nicco Mele, Website DevelopmentMadeleine Perry, Website ManagementDave Robinson, Planning and Outreach

Kathryn Wiese, Website ManagementWalter Wright, Planning and Outreach

THANK YOU TO ALL THE VOLUNTEERS WHO MADE

THIS EVENT POSSIBLE!

designed by Malden HighSchools Blue and Gold staff


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Thank you tothe following

2009MassachusettsPoetry FestivalSponsors and

DonorsAs of 8/25/2009

Epic Level: $5,000 +

Mass HumanitiesTheodore Edson Parker Foundation

Oratory Level: $2,500 +

James and Karen AnsaraCity of Lowell

Cultural Organization of Lowell

Greater Merrimack Valley Convention &Visitors Bureau

University of Massachusetts Lowell

Prose Level: $1,000 +

Eastern BankEnterprise Bank

Feeley & Driscoll, P.C. Charitable FundNorman W. and Amy F. Gorin

Greater Cincinnati FoundationGreater Lowell Community Foundation

Middlesex Community CollegeSunower Foundation

Narrator Level: $200 +

Gerald C. & Kate Chertavian

Anna FinckeDennis R. and Carol A. Kanan

Laureate Level: $100 +

Susan G. CaseLouisa Kasdon

Stephen B. and Elizabeth A. RosenEllen Meyer and Paul E. Shorb III

Jonathan Lupfer and Susan Berseth

Bard Level: $50 +

Lillian Sober Ain, PhDAthenian Corner Restaurant

Ronald Howell and Emily Hill AxelrodDorothy D. Burlage, PhD

Jarita A. DavisAnita A. Diamant

Susan Y. FriedmanSandra E. and Lester P. Goldstein

John M. & Consuelo A. IsaacsonAdele Pressman

Phillip R. Malone & Luciana L. Herman

Troubador Level: $25 +

Sara B. and Robert L. DickmanAndrew S. Krotinger and Linda G.

Curtis

Other Donors

B. Minde Kornfeld

VISITING THE CITY OFLOWELL & FESTIVAL

INFORMATION

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MAP OF DOWNTOWN

LOWELL

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16TH

High School, Collegiatereadings & workshops.

Caf readings & Events @ the119 Gallery

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FRIDAY HEADLINE EVENT

Urban Village Arts Series(UVAS) Mestre Calango,

Michael Casey, Jessica Smith& Caleb Neelon

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17TH

Small Press Fair

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Descriptions of Programming

from11:00 a.m - 4:00 p.m.

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LATE AFTERNOON EVENTS:

Cave Canem Reading

15

Kerouac, Panel Discussionand Film

16

X.J. Kennedy & The LightBrigade

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Reading of New Works byMA Authors

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SATURDAY HEADLINEEVENT featuring Robert

Pinsky, Louise Glck, AnneWaldman & Afaa Weaver

18 - 19

Poetry Slam

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18TH

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This poem will appear in:Let's Not Keep Fighting the Trojan WarNew andSelected Poems, 1986-2008

which Coffee House Press will publish this month,October, 2009.Ed Sanders was a performer in 2008 at the festival


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4 MAP OF LOWELL

VISITING THE CITY OF

LOWELL and FESTIVAL

INFORMATION

Upon your arrival to Lowell, please proceed to

the Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Centerat 246 Market Street and visit the MassachusettsPoetry Festival Information Table. There you

will nd walking maps of the City and general

information, as well as friendly volunteers to guide

you and answer your questions.

Lowell National Historical Park Visitor

Center by car:

Take the Lowell Connector from either Route 495 (Exit

35C) or Route 3 (Exit 30A if traveling southbound,

Exit 30B if traveling northbound) to Thorndike Street

(Exit 5B). Follow National Park Visitor Center signs.

Downtown Public Parking Facilities

We recommend parking in one of the following

Downtown parking facilities. Both are perfectly located

to all Mass Poetry Festival venues. All day parking at

the following facilities is $8

Leo Roy Parking Facility (next to the National Park

Visitor Center)

100 Market Street, 01852

978-446-7174

Joseph Downes Parking Facility

75 John Street, 01852

978-970-4198

Commuter Rail Service from Boston

Commuter rail service is available from Bostons

North Station to Lowells Gallagher Terminal. Lowell

Regional Transportation Authority shuttles run

between Gallagher Terminal and downtown Lowell

every half hour, Monday through Friday, 6:00 am -

6:00 pm and Saturday, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.

ON STREET PARKING METERS ARE

FREE AFTER 6 PM ON FRIDAY AND

SATURDAY, AND ALL DAY ON SUNDAY.


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5Events by Location & Time

The Small Press FairPlease use the small press fair as a central location for the festival. Use it as a

meeting place. Come here to get schedules, buy books from featured presses and

authors. Will also have a schedule for author book signings.

10:30am-5pm / 45 Middle Street

Lowell High School AuditoriumFRIDAY HEADLINE EVENT Urban Village Arts Series (UVAS) MestreCalango, Michael Casey, Jessica Smith & Caleb Neelon 7:30-9:30pmSATURDAY HEADLINE EVENT featuring Robert Pinsky, Louise Glck,

Anne Waldman & Afaa Weaver 7:00-9:00pm

Lowell National Historical ParkFilm Screening: Lowell Blues 4-4:30pm

Jack Kerouacs Poetry: A Panel Discussion, Moderated by Anne Waldman 4:30-5:30pm

St. Annes ChurchOpening Ceremony & Favorite Poem Project Readings 11am - 11:55pm

Poetry Voices Past and Present, Presented by Tapestry of Voices 12-12:55pmPoetry from the Heart of the Commonwealth featuring poets of Worcester

County 1-1:55pmMelopoeia 2-2:55pmCave Canem Reading 3-4:25pmNew Works Reading 4:30 5:30pm

BREWERY eXCHANGEPoetry Slam Competition: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Slam Team (NYC),

Lizard Lounge Poetry Slam Team (Cambridge, MA), Bar 13 Slam Team, (NYC)

and the Lowell Poetry Slam Team 9-11:00pm

Cobblestones RestaurantLight Verse for Dark Times: A Poetry Reading 12-12:55pmThe Directors Cut 1-1:55pmContinuities Readings and Discussions presents an event on Poetry

and Ecology 2-2:55pmUgly Truths: A Poetry Craft Panel Discussion on Poems That Make Art from

shocking or Risky Material 3-3:55pmX.J. Kennedy & The Light Brigade 4:30-5:30 pm

ALL Arts GalleryFour Poets from Four Way Books 1-1:55pmMeet and Greet: ALL Arts Gallery Artists & Poets, sponsored by

the Lowell Poetry Network 2-2:55pmNature, Art & Poetry from Wild Apples Journal 3-3:55pm

Upstairs at the Old CourtConfluence: A Music & Poetry Performance 1-1:55pmRenku Performance by the Boston Haiku Society 3-3:55pm

X/O Studio & GalleryWar and Poetry 12-12:55pmThe Medieval Poetry Workshop 2-2:55pmGroup Reading featuring the Powow River Poets 3-3:55 pm

Pollard Memorial LibrarySE Mass Reading 12-12:55pmThe Wild, Wild West with Amy Dryansky, Mary A. Koncel &

Ellen Dore Watson 1-1:55pmPoms du Monde Francophone, Poems from the Francophone World 2-2:55pmIntergenerational Poetry Reading by Six Cape Cod Poets sponsored

by The Cape Cod Writers Center 3-3:55pm

Lowell Telecommunications CorporationCambodian Refugee Poetry Book & CD Project / Panel Discussion

& Reading 1-1:55pm

Mogan Cultural CenterHow to Be a Good Public Reader of Your Own Poetry

with Patrick Donnelly 12-1pm & 1-2pmZoom In/Zoom Out: A Workshop in Revision with Kathleen Aguero 1-2pmExercise in Free Writing with Barbara Helfgott Hyett & PoemWorks 1-2pm &2-3pmPoem Generator with Grub Street, Inc. 2-3pm & 3-4pmHow to Be a Tourist in Your Hometown with Kat Good-Schiff and KL Pereira 2-3pmRevision Workshop with Wendy Mnookin 3-4pm

119 GalleryFriday, Saturday, & Sunday events listed on page 8.

Barnes & NobleSequential Reading by MA Poets with New Books 11:45am - 5pm.

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EDirections to the Brewery Exchange: Continue west down Father

Morissette Blvd (.4mi) Turn right on Cabot St.

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MDirections to the 119 Gallery: Continue southeast on Dutton St toward Fletcher St.

(.2 mi) Take ramp to Chelmsford St. (right turn). 119 Chelmsford St.

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8 Friday, October 16th 2009

High School PoetryWorkshops &Performances

9:30am-3pm

UMass Lowell Inn

& Conference Center

Over 200 students and educators fromten area schools will experience anaernoon of hands-on learning andtwo days of spirited performances by talented young artists. Writingand performing workshops will befacilitated by professional poets andwriters.Special Guest Emcee: RegieGibson

IntercollegiateReadings & Workshops

2:30 - 6:15pm

Lowell City Hall

375 Merrimack Street

Inspirational Poetry:Women SurvivorsCelebrate Healing

Journeys of Mind, Body& Spirit

4-5pm

Life Alive Organic Caf

194 Middle Street

When Mary McManus was facedwith the challenge of post poliosyndrome, she turned to writinginspirational poetry overowingwith messages of love, hope,healing, and spiritual freedom.She experienced transformation ofmind, body, and spirit and went onto run the 2009 Boston Marathon.Her poems and journey touchedthe lives of Alicia Staley, three-timecancer survivor, and Janice Pero,incest survivor. These three womenwill celebrate their healing journeysand read poetry selections authoredby Mary McManus.

Creativity in Hard and Hopeful Times presented by True Story TheaterFirday, 8-9:30pm (doors @ 7:30pm) October 16

Poets in the audience will be invited to share a personal example of how coping with economic, health, or other life challenges aects their creativity. Inservice to these poets, True Story Theaters improv actors will honor each story with haiku-like impact, magically capturing the heart and essence of eachstory with words, movement, music, and colored cloths. Our mission is to promote social healing and community building by listening deeply to peoplesstories and transforming them spontaneously into theater. We oer audiences fresh perspectives, deeper connections, and a renewed appreciation for ourcommon humanity. TrueStoryTheater.org.

Mary McManus, Poet, 4-5 PM at Life

Alive Organic Caf

Poetry of Resilience, organized byHolly Guran and Alice Kociemba

4-5pm

Dharma Buns, 26-A Market Street

Poetry of Resilience will feature six Boston-area and CapeCod poets reading as an ensemble to demonstrate poetry

as a celebration of personal, cultural and environmental

resilience. Websters denes resilience as an ability torecover from or adjust . . . to misfortune or change.The impact of hard times, the festivals theme, is one of

change, often misfortune. In this reading, the poems ofthe individuals presenting or of other well known poets

selected for their relevance, will speak to the resilienceinherent in stories of fortitude and hope.

Regie Gibson, Poet.

Performer in 2008 & Emcee of High School Poetry Workshops.

Dangerous Writings: Aware Poetry in OppressiveStates

4-5pmCaffe Paradiso, 45 Palmer Street

In many oppressive states, Iran, Egypt, Burma to name a few, non-conformal

writing in general and poetry in particular carries with itself risks ofharassment, imprisonment, or even death, by the authorities. For example,in Iran what is known as Aware Poetry has led to arrests, imprisonment,exile, and even execution of poets. In this poetry event Ala Khaki from Iranand Pablo Medina from Cuba will read their poems and talk about thethreats they faced in their native countries for their poetry. A Q&A sessionwill follow the readings.

City Poets Reading5:30-6:30pm

Cobblestones of Lowell, 91 Dutton Street

Oered in connection with the NEASA Public Panel on New EnglandCities.

Alice Kociemba, Poet, 4-5 PM at Dharma Buns

Events @ 119 Gallery119 Chelmsford Street

True Story Theater

Late Night Music and PoetrySaturday, 8 - 11pm October 17

Experience an exciting, eclectic evening of poetry and music at the 119 Gallery featuring The Doctors Fox, Zean andPatrick Shaughnessy, the Ursonate Orchestra, and Pronoblem performing Kurt Schwiers sound poem SonataIn Primeval Sounds. Published in 1932, Schwiers piece is the granddaddy of sound-art poems: a 90-minutenonsense opus that develops 26 abstract themes in classical sonata format.

All Movement is Poetry, Presented by Rozann KrausSunday, 1-2:30pm October 18

Embracing the worlds of words and dance. This workshop is open to all people comfortable with moving in theirbodies and at ease with writing and speaking. Aer a brief dance warm up, well begin by learning Parings, adance/poem that has been performed by many groups of dancers. We will reect on sensations learning and doingthe dance. Aer an open discussion of the similar components of texts and choreography, well break into smallergroups to work together in dance and poetry collaborations. The workshop will be completed when we watch eachothers work and share our ideas and insights.


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9Friday, October 16th 2009

Mestre Calango

Mestre Calango began playing Capoeira as a teen in Brazil. He has been practicing

and teaching Capoeira, as well as fitness and rehabilitation, to students of all ages and

abilities for nearly 30 years. Almost 120 years have passed since the end of slavery

in Brazil, but much of the suffering still resounds in Brazilian life and culture. Slaves

trained and remained ready for rebellion through a connection to their African roots

now known as Capoeira. Out of necessity, they disguised the fighting art of Capoeiraas a dance with accompanying instruments and a method of constant movement

known as the ginga. From this basis of movement and readiness a Capoeirista may

respond to or escape from whatever comes his/her waybe it in the roda or in

everyday life. Mestre Calango was a professor of Capoeira in Oliveira and Minas

Gerais where he organized groups that performed in various countries around the

world. At the moment, more than fifty students are enrolled in the Academia de

Capoeira Rosa Rubra in Lowell, Newton, Brookline and Amesbury, MA. Anyone aged

eight or older is welcome to come and learn this beautiful, practical and spiritual art

from Mestre Calango. Please visit CapoeiraRosaRubra.com for more information.

Michael Casey

Michael Casey was born in 1947 in Lowell, Massachusetts. He received a B.S. in

Physics from Lowell Technological Institute where he took a class with poet William

Aiken. Hes also studied at SUNY, Buffalo, with poets John Logan, Irving Feldman

and William Sylvester. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968 and his stay at

Fort Leonardwood, Missouri, provided the fodder for his later collection, The

Million Dollar Hole. In his first collection, Obscenities, Casey writes of his work as

military police officer in Vietnams Quang Ngai Province. Obscenities won the 1972

Yale Younger Poets Award, chosen by Stanley Kunitz, and sold over 200,000 copies.

Hes published the following collections: Millrat (Adastra Press), The Million Dollar

Hole (Orchises Press), Raiding a Whorehouse (Adastra), Permanent Party (March

Street Press), Cindis Fur Coat (The Chuckwagon), and The Bopper (Kendra Steiner

Editions). For more on Casey see the above presses online or see Bridge Review:

Ecommunity.uml.edu/bridge/review4/casey/index.htm.

Jessica Smith

Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Jessica Smith received her B.A. and M.A.

from SUNY Buffalo, where she was the Founding Editor of the poetry magazine

name and won the Academy of American Poets Prize twice. Smith is the author ofone full-length collection of poetry, Organic Furniture Cellar. She teaches writing at

SUNY Buffalo and Medaille College and since 2001 her work has been published

in dozens of magazines including apocryphaltext, Cannibal, dANDelion, ixnay,

Phoebe, Small Press Traffic and in three anthologies. Her poetry has been trans-

lated into Turkish, Swedish, Icelandic and Danish. Chapbooks include bird-book

(Detumescence), The Plasticity of Poetry and Telling Time (No Press), Shifting

Landscapes (above/ground press), butterflies (Big Game Books), and What the

Fortune-Teller Said (dusie/a+bend). Smith is also known as an editor for her work

with the monthly womens broadzine Foursquare, which was recently on view at

the Handmade/Homemade exhibit of small press publishing. Smith now resides in

Buffaloa city Robert Creeley called the last place you can be Bohemian. Jessica

Smiths work can be accessed online: Looktouch.com.

Caleb Neelon

Caleb Neelon is based in Cambridge, MA, and is an artist, writer, and educator.

His paintings and installation artwork have appeared in solo and group shows in

America and Europe. His vivid murals sprawl across walls in Kathmandu, Reykjavik,

Bermuda, Calcutta, So Paulo and all over Europe. He is co-author of the Thames

and Hudson book Graffiti Brasil as well as Street World from Thames and Hudson,

Abrams. Neelon is the author and illustrator of the childrens book Lilman Makes a

Name for Himself, and has been a collaborator on nearly a dozen other books. He

is an editor at the popular culture hardbound bi-monthly Swindle, and has been a

contributing writer at Tokion, Print, Juxtapoz, On The Go, Lemon and many other

magazines and journals. Neelon has lectured at international conferences and festivals

as well as Harvard Law School, Bates College, Northeastern University and his alma

mater the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A monograph of his work, Caleb

Neelons Book of Awesome, was recently released by Gingko Press. He dislikes

winter weather. For more on Neelon, check out: Theartwheredreamscometrue.com

Mestre Calango

of Capoeira Rosa

Rubra. (Left)

Mestre Calango

of Capoeira RosaRubra plays

the traditional

Capoeira

instrument known

as the berimbau.(right)

Photos by Anna

Isaak-Ross

Michael Casey,Jessica Smith,

& Caleb Neelon with

his art.

The Urban Village Arts Series (UVAS) invites artists to downtownLowell to give short performances or talks about their work.Novelists, non-ction writers, sculptors, lmmakers, painters, poets,and contemporary and classical musicians have given stunningperformances during Lowells three years of hosting the series.Designed to be a dynamic, compact presentation of local, regionaland national talent, UVAS supports working artists by connecting

them with an audience that will appreciate and support their talents.It also encourages students and faculty of UMass Lowell to come todowntown as performers and audience members while reaching outto residents and regional audiences. Members of the Lowell PoetryNetwork and Bootstrap Productions organize and produce betweenfour and six UVAS shows per year.

FRIDAY HEADLINE EVENTUrban Village Arts Series (UVAS)

7:30-9:30pm

Lowell High School Auditorium, 50 Father Morissette Blvd.


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10:30am-5pm

45 Middle StreetThe 2009 Massachuses Poetry Festival will highlight small presspublishing to show its importance to the cra of poetrywithout asmall press culture, there is no sustainable American Poetic Tradition.The editors and publishers of 25 dierent presses and magazineswill have their books and journals for sale and be available to talkshop. Many of the presses will be oering discounts and deals.This will be a central location for the festival & will also host booksignings from featured poets.

Featured Presses & Journals

Black Ocean, Boston, MA www.blackocean.org

From early silent films to early punk rock, Black Ocean brings together a spectrum of

influences and combines them with a radical social perspective on the nature of art and

humanity.

Books of Hope, Somerville, MAwww.somervilleartscouncil.org/programs/artwow/booksofhope

Books of Hope, seeks to create opportunities for self-expression and advocacy through

creative writing, so that young people can reach out to each other, to their neighbors, and to

others around the world.

FENCE / Fence Books, Albany, NY www.fenceportal.org

Founded in 1998, Fence is a biannual journal of poetry, fiction, art, and criticism that has a

mission to redefine the terms of accessibility by publishing challenging writing distinguished

by idiosyncrasy and intelligence rather than by allegiance with camps, schools, or cliques.

Launched in 2001, Fence Books publishes poetry, fiction, and critical texts and anthologies,and prioritizes sustained support for its authors, many of whom come to us through our two

book contests and then go on to publish second, third, fourth books.

Loom Press, Lowell, MA www.loompress.com

Established in 1978, Loom Press publishes books by emerging writers and artists from

the New England area. In addition to poetry, Loom Press titles range from documentary

photography to cultural studies.

Outside Voices, Buffalo, NY www.looktouch.com/press

This innovative publishing venture is an umbrella for Outside Voices Books, Take-Home

Project Chapbooks, and Foursquare Magazine.

Shakespeares Monkey, Lowell, MAwww.shakespearesmonkey.com

Shakespeares Monkey Revue is an international literary journal dedicated to excellence.

Tuesday; An Art Project, Arlington, MAwww.tuesdayjournal.org

I think that pages poems books they are resting places for what we have to say. For

what we see. It was a reaction to all of the (necessary and often fabulous) on-line work that is

out there. It had to do with unrest. Work should be enjoyed tactilely. Poems should be kept,

when loved. Passed on. Sent out. There is a postcard in every issue, I hope youll mail it. I

wanted it to come with a stamp on it, but that would have been another thousand dollars.

Jennifer Flescher on Tuesday; An Art Project

Ugly Duckling Presse, Brooklyn, NYwww.uglyducklingpresse.org

Ugly Duckling Presse is a nonprofit art & publishing collective producing small to mid-

size editions of new poetry, translations, lost works, and artists books. The Presse favors

emerging, international, and forgotten writers with well-defined formal or conceptual

projects that are difficult to place at other presses. Its full-length books, chapbooks, artists

books, broadsides, magazine and newspaper all contain handmade elements, calling attention

to the labor and history of bookmaking.

Zoland, Cambridge, MA www.zolandpoetry.com/zoland.htm

An annual of contemporary writing from around the globe, Zoland Poetry brings together

original English language poems, translations into English, and interviews with featured

poets.

Saturday, October 17th 2009

Please use the small press fair as a centrallocation & meeting place for the festival.Come here to get schedules & buy booksfrom featured presses and authors. Wewill also have a schedule for author booksignings.

Presses / Journals also appearing:

Adastra Press, Easthampton, MAwww.pw.org/content/letter_time_adastra_press

Antrim House, Simsbury, CT

www.AntrimHouseBooks.com

Ballard Street Poetry Journal, Worcester, MA

www.ballardstreetpoetryjournal.com

Boston Poetry Union / The Pen and Anvil Press, Boston, MA

bostonpoetry.com

Cervena Barva Press, Somerville, MA

www.cervenabarvapress.com

Little Red Tree Publishing, New London, CTwww.littleredtree.com

Naugatuck River Review, Westfeld, MA

www.naugatuckriverreview.com

Off the Coast, Robbinston, ME

www.off-the-coast.com

Perugia Press, Florence, MA

www.perugiapress.com

Quale Press, Williamsburg, MA

www.quale.com

Salamander Magazine (Suffolk University), Boston, MA

www.salamandermag.org

Slate Roof Press, Shelburne Falls, MA

www.slateroofpress.com

Tupelo Press, North Adams, MA

www.tupelopress.org

upstreet, Richmond, MA

www.upstreet-mag.org

Zephyr Press, Brookline, MA

www.zephyrpress.org

2nd Annual

Small Press Fair@ the

Hosted

by:

Lowell, MAwww.bootstrapproductions.org

A non-profit publishing company that promotes the

integration of multi-dimensional art forms and experiments

into fine press publishing.


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Official Opening Ceremony &Favorite Poem Project

11am-11:55amSt. Annes Church, 8 Kirk Street

Ofcial welcome and readings by a diverse group of

people including elected ofcials, teachers, reght-

ers and others of the poems that mean the mostto them. Co-sponsored withThe Favorite Poem

Project http://www.favoritepoem.org.

Poetry Voices Past and Pres-ent, Presented by Tapestry of

Voices12-12:55pm

St. Annes Church, 8 Kirk Street

Tapestry of Voices is an eleven year old poetry organization, co-founded by Harris Gardner andLainie Senechal; based in Boston with over 150 aliates from the Greater Boston Area, most arewidely published. TOV has produced numerous programs throughout Massachuses, includingthe Ten Year Old Boston National Poetry Month Festival and two on-going monthly Boston Venues.The participating poets in Poetry Voices Past and Present, Presented by Tapestry of Voices will readfrom beloved poets from the past such as Anne Sexton, Emily Dickenson, Edna St. Vincent Millay,Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, T.S. Eliot, Longfellow, Lorca, Neruda, and others. Eachpoet will also include two original poems thematically related to each Past Poet. A wonderful blendof Past and Present Voices. Program length of one hour is sure to leave you wanting more.

War and Poetry12-12:55pm

X/O Studio & Gallery, 256 Market Street

How do poets deal with the subject of war? Does a successful war poem depend on personalexperience, or can imagination and empathy suce? Whats accomplished by writing about wartoday? This reading by poets whove experienced war rst hand, and non-combatants who care deeply about the consequences of war, will addressthese questions. The context is obvious, but the words may surprise you,and compel you to look at war for what may seem like the rst time. Thisreading is sponsored by the new literary magazine, CONSEQUENCE, whichfocuses on the culture of war.www.consequencemagazine.org.

Light Verse for Dark Times: A Poetry Reading12-12:55pm


The New England Poetry Club (founded by Amy Lowell and Robert Frostfor professional poets) is the countrys oldest public reading series. Festivalpoets are: MICHAEL CASEY, winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets;DIANA DER-HOVANESSIAN, author of 23 books and winner of manyinternational and national awards; VICTOR HOWES, critic, translator, andprofessor emeritus at Northeastern; A.M. JUSTER, award-winning translatorand sonneteer; and SUE OWEN, formerly poet-in-residence at LouisianaState University and Louisiana Artist of the Year. All are widely publishedpoets of serious and light verse.

How to Be a Good PublicReader of Your Own Poetry with PatrickDonnelly12-1pm & 1-2pm

Mogan Cultural Center, 40 French Street

Writing poetry and reading it well in public are two dierentskills, and unfortunately even many good poets are not eective atpresenting their work for an audience. Well review the elementsand skills that contribute to a good reading, and discuss how touse readings to market your publications. Youll go home withstrategies for dealing with nerves, tips for pleasing readingorganizers, audiences, andperhaps most importantlyyourself.Come prepared to read a short poem; two participants will bechosen to receive coaching, master-class style, while the audiencelearns from watching. Open to poets at all levels.

SE Mass Reading12-12:55pm

Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack Street

Founders: Amy Lowell, Robert Frost and ConradAiken

DIANA DER-HOVANESSIAN


11:00 a.m - 1:00 p.m.


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12

Cambodian Refugee Poetry Book & CD Project /Panel Discussion & Reading1-1:55pm

Lowell Telecommunications Corporation, 246 Market Street Entrance

Members of Lowells Cambodian community and Light of CambodianChildren will host a panel discussion, poetry reading, and multi-mediapresentation focusing on the Cambodian Refugee Poetry Book & CD Proj-ect. The project, which received grant awards and support from TheodoreEdson Parker Foundation, Mass Humanities, the Glory Buddhist Temple,Lowell Cultural Council, and others, is due for completion at the end of2009.

Confluence: A Music & Poetry Performance1-1:55pm

Upstairs at the Old Court, 29 Central Street

Conuence, a performance group that blends poetry and music, celebratesthe release of its rst CD. Poet J.D.Scrimgeour and musician/composer PhilipSwanson meld words with a range of music: jazz, blues, and classical. Muchof the poetry and music is original, but the performance includes poetryby Rainer Maria Rilke and Alan Feldman, and music by Ravel. Swansonsworld-class musicianship and the groups emphasis on blending longer

narrative poems with music make Conuence a unique interdisciplinaryexperience.

Poetry from the Heart of the Commonwealth fea-turing poets of Worcester County1-1:55pm


Jonathan Blakes poem speaks of compassion and nature in overtones of praise;

Susan Elizabeth Sweeney plays with her namesake, the Irish mythical being namedSweeney; David Thoreen, whose poems frame the angst of everyday life; and once

upon a time romance novelist, Linda Warren, a weaver of magical tales.

The Wild, Wild West with Amy Dryansky, Mary A.Koncel & Ellen Dore Watson1-1:55pm


In this reading and discussion, three Pioneer Valley poets look at howtheir work is (or isnt) inuenced by the rural landscape and smalltowns in which they now live, and how their current sense of placeis (or isnt) integrated with their more urban beginnings. Each poetbrings a distinctly dierent style and approach to their work, each isalso widely published, and together they bring experiences as author,teacher, translator, editor and proud raiser of domestic fowl. Join themas they take on the myths and realities of the wild, wild, west.

The Directors Cut1-1:55pm


Poetry reading by ve Boston-area poets who direct Creative WritingPrograms, Poetry Centers, and/or Writing Conferences: Fred Marchant,director of the Suolk University Creative Writing Program; JenniferBarber, editor of Salamander literary journal, and acting director of theSuolk Poetry Center; Daniel Tobin, director of the Emerson CollegeMFA program in Creative Writing; Kevin Bowen, director of the WilliamJoiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at UMassBoston; and Joan Houlihan, director of the Concord Poetry Center.Reading followed by discussion of the opportunities such centers andprograms make available to area poets.

Four Poets from Four Way Books1-1:55pm

ALL Arts Gallery, 246 Market Street

In this program, four award-winning MassachusespoetsJerey Harrison, Sue Standing, CammyThomas, and Daniel Tobinwill read from their books published by the vital small press Four WayBooks (New York). These poets all live and/or teachin the Boston area and have received grants, prizes, orfellowships from the NEA, the Bunting Institute, theGuggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright FellowshipProgram, the Academy of American Poets, and thePoetry Society of America. Four Way Books, in itssixteen years, has become one of the leading not-for-prot poetry publishers in America.

Zoom In/Zoom Out: A Workshop inRevision with Kathleen Aguero1-2pm


Do you have a poem youre struggling to revise?This workshop will take you through a step-by-stepprocess designed to help you explore new possibilitiesin those poems you just havent been able to get right.Bring a dra of a poem and come prepared to write.Hopefully, at the end of this workshop youll have anew start on an old poem and a few revision strategiesto take away with you.

Exercise in Free Writing withBarbara Helfgott Hyett &

PoemWorks1-2pm & 2-3pm


Exercise your creativity through free writing exercises meant

to inspire! First, enjoy a reading by a master poet. Once read,

you will write off one of the lines of poetry against a timer.Everyones creative potential is realized when these new

pieces are then read aloud. Several members of the Workshopfor Publishing Poets will guide these unique writing sessions

and offer comments on whatever ows.

1:00 P.m - 2:00 p.m.



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Poms du Monde Francophone, Poems from theFrancophone World2-2:55pm


Poets Danielle Legros-Georges, Marilene Phipps-Kelewell, Patrick Sylvain,and Jean-Dany Joachim will read some of their favorite poems from the

French-speaking world, along with English translationsas well as theirown poems related to the theme.

The Medieval Poetry Workshop2-2:55pm


The Medieval Poetry Workshop celebrates the inspiring survival of earlyEnglish literature. Participants will be invited to practice producingmedieval sounds, as we review the remarkable changes in pronunciationand verse features transpiring between Old English, Middle English, andModern English poetry, in a presentation enriched by discussion of medievalmanuscripts and their contexts. Two medieval scholars will conduct thepracticum element and perform readings from celebrated Middle Englishpoems such as The Canterbury Tales, and two modern poets will read workinspired by the artistry of the Middle Ages, demonstrating the power andrelevance of medieval poetry today.

Continuities Readings and Discussions presents anevent on Poetry and Ecology2-2:55pm


Poets Afaa Michael Weaver (The Plum Flower Dance, U Pisburgh Press,2007), Erika Funkhouser (Earthly, Houghton Miin,2008), and Emily Wilson (Micrographia, Kuhl House,2009) introduced by Nadia Herman Colburn and indiscussion with a local environmental activist willread from their work and discuss the relationshipbetween poetry and the ways in which we imagineour relationship with the natural world. Faced withecological devastation, species extinction, climatechange and toxic waste, how do these very dierentpoets imagine the natural world in their poetry? Howdoes the poetic imagination aect the choices wemake and help eect change?

Meet and Greet: ALL Arts GalleryArtists & Poets, sponsored by theLowell Poetry Network2-2:55pm


The Lowell Poetry Network is oering an opportunityfor the public to informally mingle with the artistswhose poetically inspired work will then be hanging

in the Arts League of Lowell (ALL) Gallery. Meetand talk with participating artists who will makethemselves available for questions and discussioninvolving all aspects of their work, from technique tomotivation. Come and enjoy!

Melopoeia2-2:55pm


Melopoeia is an ancient art whose Greek nameacombination of melos and poitriasuggestsits nature: a performance involving poetry recitedto a musical accompaniment. The poetry is spoken,not sung in the form of song lyrics, so that the two

arts ow separately, through and around each other,without either becoming dominant over the other.Rhina Espaillat, renowned author of seven booksof poetry, and Alfred Nicol, winner of the RichardWilbur Award, recite their poems as classical guitarist John Tavano plays pieces composed by Bach, Satie,Tarrega and others.

The best show Ive seen this year.

Neal Ferreira, Boston Lyric Opera

The Melopoeia concert was high on everyones list of this

years most memorable events.

Michael Peich, Director, West Chester University Poetry

Conference

Poem Generator with Grub Street, Inc.2-3pm & 3-4pm


Youve read and heard great poems throughout the festival nowits time to create some of your own. Join instructors from the facultyof Grub Street Bostons premier independent writing center asthey lead festival aendees in innovative, fun and meaningful poetryexercises. These unique prompts have been used in Grub Streetsmulti-week poetry courses for years, and have generated numerousaccomplished and published poems. The goal is to complete 2-4exercises in an hour, leaving time for writers to share their workaloud if they wish. On request, instructors will oer constructivefeedback.

How to Be a Tourist in Your Hometown withKat Good-Schiff and KL Pereira2-3pm


How can one engage with a specic environment (urban, rural, orotherwise) through poetry? Does traveling aect how we engagewith and see our home environs? What does it mean to travel? Inthis workshop we will explore techniques and exercises to generatesite specic work, and well look at some examples of vivid, place-based poems. Expect to go home with a list of writing prompts andpointers to use in workshops or in your own writing.

2:00 P.m - 3:00 p.m.



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Renku Performance by the Boston Haiku Society3-3:55pm

Upstairs at the Old Court, 29 Central Street

Shinkei (1406-75), a Japanese poet-priest of the medieval period, developedthe conceptual grounding and artistic development of renga (linkedpoetry), today called renku. Renku is a longer poem of alternating stanzasby two or more poets shiing among traditional topics without a narrative

progression. The performance of sculling blackbirds is a collaborative artform where the composer, Allen LeVines, choreographer-dancer, EmilyBeaie and vocalist, Yumiko Matsuoka combine to respond to the renkuidea as they interweave their unique expressions into performance elements.The renku stanzas were developed collaboratively by Raael de Gruola,Karen Klein and Judson Evan who cross-adapted the dialogue of the oneact play, called HAIKU, by Katherine Snodgrass, the Director of the BostonPlaywrights Theatre. The idea of renku performance was the original ideaof Tadashi Kondo, a renku Japanese scholar.

Group Reading featuring the Powow River Poets3-3:55 pm


Based in Newburyport, the Powow River Poets, co-founded by Rhina

Espaillat, are an award-winning group devoted to cra. Its members havewon The New Criterion Prize, The Richard Wilbur Award, and the T.S.Eliot Prize. Featured at the Festival will be Michael Cantor, Len Krisak, ToniTreadway, and Richard Wollman.

Ugly Truths: A Poetry Craft Panel Discussionon Poems That Make Art from Shocking or RiskyMaterial3-3:55pm


What happens to beauty in poems aboutugliness? Are beauty and truth symbiotic,as Keats suggests? In both autobiographicaland imaginative writing, how do poets

approach subjects considered outside thetasteful bounds of poetry? Poems that insiston angry or shameful candor, that revealdisgrace or angstare they transgressiveor TMI? The poets talk about rhetorical,metaphorical, and formal strategies theyuse to manage thorny subject maer for theoverall integrity of the poem. They addressthat rare middle ground between a poeticsof emotional disconnection and a poetics ofself-involvement. They focus on the ancientstrengths and seductions of language(sound, syntax, rhythm, etc.) to make poemsrather than expose spillage. Poets: NancyK. Pearson, Frannie Lindsay, Ellen Dor

Watson, Patrick Donnelly. Moderator: SusanKan.

Intergenerational PoetryReading by Six Cape Cod Poetssponsored by The Cape CodWriters Center3-3:55pm

Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack

Street

Six poets from their early teens to anoctogenarian will read/perform their work.The question their poetry will address isPoetry in Hard Times, the theme of the

2009 Massachuses Poetry Festival. We allinterpret hard times dierently and ageand life experience play a major role. Forpoet Bob Silberberg at 88 he has been throughthe Big Depression and fought in or livedthrough six wars, and nd himself opposingtwo more now. He long ago became A Veteranfor Peace, and many of his poems reect thisposition. Teenage poets may have dierentideas of hard times, and write passionatelyabout personal lack or losses they endure. Adiversity of age and many perspectives onthe issue dene this Poetry In Hard Timesfrom Cape Cod poets.

3:00 P.m - 4:00 p.m.


Nature, Art & Poetry from Wild Apples Journal3-3:55pm


Join the Editors of Wild Apples, a new journal of nature, art, and

inquiry, for a multimedia poetry reading. Taking its title and missionfrom Thoreaus 1862 essay, this color journal brings together poetryand prose with the work of visual artists and photographers connected by common threads of care for the environment, social concerns,and commitment to the arts. Writer-editors Linda Homan, SusanEdwards Richmond, Kathryn Liebowitz, and Sophie Wadsworth willread poetry by Wild Apples authors Jane Hirsheld, Gary Metras,Red Pine and others, with a slide show of contributors artwork. Visitwildapples.org for further information.

Revision Workshop with Wendy Mnookin3-4pm


Do you have poems that you want to take to the next level? Oen as

writers we know that a poem needs something more, but we cantidentify what that more is. In this workshop, we will identify placeswithin the poeman energetic line, a compelling stanzathat canprovide springboards to new material. Using prompts given by theinstructor, we will generate new material through free-writes andexplore how to mine this material for language, syntax and tone toenhance the poem. Please bring two poems that you would like towork on.


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CAVE CANEM READING3-4:25pm


Join organizer Jarita Davis and atalented crew of Cave Canem fellows

reading at the Massachuses PoetryFestival: Lillian Bertram, Tara Bes, Jericho Brown, DLana R.A. Dameron,Johnny Davis, Joy Gonsalves, Jacqueline Jones LaMon, Kamilah Aisha Moon, January Gill ONeil, Mea Sama andVenus Thrash. Cave Canem elder AafaWeaver emcees. Established in 1996,Cave Canem Foundation is a home forthe many voices of African Americanpoetry and is commied to cultivatingthe artistic and professional growthof African American poets. www.cavecanempoets.org.

Jarita Davis

Jericho Brown

3:00 P.m - 4:30 p.m.



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16

JackKerouacsPoetry:A PanelDiscussion,Moderatedby AnneWaldman

4:30-5:30pm

Lowell National

Historical Park

Visitor Center,

246 Market St.

Panelists:

Anne Waldman, Michael

Gizzi, Roger Brunelle, and

Steve Edington

Poet Anne Waldmanhas been anactive memberof the Outriderexperimental poetrycommunity for over40 years as writer,sprechstimme performer, professor, editor, magpie scholar, infra-structure and cultural/political activist. She co-founded The JackKerouac School of Disembodied Poetics with Allen Ginsberg atNaropa University, the rst Buddhist inspired school in the West,where she currently serves as Artistic Director of its celebrated

Summer Writing program. She is the author of over 40 books ofpoetry including Kill or Cure, Marriage: A Sentence, Structure of theWorld Compared to a Bubble, and the poetic text: Outrider whichincludes an interview with Ernesto Cardenal, and essays on LorineNiedecker and Charles Olson. A book translated into Chinese isforthcoming in 2010.

Michael Gizzi was born in Schenectady, New York. He received hisBA and MFA from Brown University, then spent the next decadeas a licensed arborist in Southern New England. In the early 1980she migrated to the Berkshire Hills in western MA, where he beganteaching. For the next twenty years he coordinated many poetryreadings and edited lingo magazine and Hard Press... Back in RhodeIsland, Gizzi taught at Brown University where he also coordinated

the Downcity Poetry Series and continued publishing, with CraigWatson in Jamestown, RI, the imprint Qua books. Gizzi is also oneof the authors of Lowell Connector: Lines & Shots from KerouacsTown. He is also known for his co-reading of the entirety KerouacsOld Angel Midnight with Clark Coolidge.

Roger Brunelle was born in Lowell, MA. He aended Saint-Louis-de-France Elementary School for 9 years, spent his teensin Qubec,obtained a BA at the University of Sherbrooke, Qubec and an MAin French from the Middlebury Graduate School of French in Paris,France. Aer his military service, he worked on the secondarylevel in Dracut, Lowell, and Ayer, MA and Nashua, NH. He was aparticipant and presenter at symposia and colloquia at AssumptionCollege, UMass-Lowell, UMO and Laval University in Qubec City.His publications appeared in the NRF in Paris, Yankee Magazine inthe USA and in Canada. He is a founding member of the Corporationfor the Celebration of Jack Krouac in Lowell. He started the KrouacTours in Lowell, the rst two of which he did in French at the requestof a group of professors and students from Laval University inQubec City.

Stephen Edington is the President of Lowell Celebrates Kerouacand the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua,New Hampshire. Hes an adjunct faculty member at UML teachinga course on The Literature of the Beat Movement. He is the author ofKerouacs Nashua Connection and The Beat Face of God.

Film Screening: LowellBlues4-4:30pm

Lowell National Historical Park

Visitor Center, 246 Market Street

Lowell Blues remembers theplace Jack Kerouac could not forgetthrough visual history, languageand jazz. Excerpts from Kerouacsnovel, Dr. Sax, are read by GregoryCorso, Johnny Depp, CarolynCassady, David Amram, RobertCreeley, and Joyce Johnson. The lmis a canvas in motion made morevivid by a haunting soundtrack by alto saxophonist Lee Konitz,drummer Jim Doherty and Bostonsown godfather of punk WillieAlexander. Itinterprets howplace activatesthe writers

imaginat ion ,and howthe writersart reshapeshis city withreverence andrespect. Byusing botharchival andcontemporaryf o o t a g e ,Lowell Bluesmelds moderne x p e r i e n c e stogether with

K e r o u a c schildhood tocreate a timelesssense of place.Lowell Blues,like Kerouacswriting, swirlsword andimage, musicand movementinto etherealimages ofA m e r i c a sa b u n d a n t ,ever morphing,character, andremembers the cityon the river wherememory and dreamare intermixed in thismad universe.

Jack Kerouac, Ink drawing by Derek Fenner.

4:00 P.m - 5:30 p.m.



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17

X.J. Kennedy

Franz Wright

Fred Marchant

Lisa Olstein

Joan Houlihan

Dara Wier

New Works Reading4:30 5:30pm


Poets from across the state read theirnew poems: Franz Wright, DaraWier, Joan Houlihan, Lisa Olstein,Fred Marchant & Jill McDonough.

X.J. Kennedy& The Light Brigade4:30-5:30 pm


Enjoy humorous and provocative poetry by Concord Poetry Centermembers X.J. Kennedy, Robert J. Clawson, Barbara Lydecker Crane, Joan Kimball and Amy Woods. Kennedys latest books are In aProminent Bar in Secaucus: New and Selected Poems and PeepingToms Cabin: Comic Verse. This year he was awarded the Robert FrostMedal of the Poetry Society of America, for lifetime achievement.And I aint even dead yet, he comments. Poems by other LightBrigadiers have appeared in Christian Science Monitor, Measure,Beloit Poetry Journal, Raintown Review, POESIS, Blue Unicorn,

Bumbershoot, Southern Review, Light Quarterly and many otherprint and electronic publications.

4:30 P.m - 5:30 p.m.



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18 Saturday, October 17th 2009

Louise Glck

Louise Glck was born in New York City in 1943 and grew up on Long Island. She is the author of eleven books of poetry, most recently, A Village Life:Poems(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009) and Averno (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006), a nalist for the 2006 National Book Award in Poetry; The Seven Ages(2001); and Vita Nova (1999), winner of Boston Book Reviews Bingham Poetry Prize and The New Yorkers Book Award in Poetry. In 2004, Sarabande Booksreleased her six-part poem October as a chapbook. Her other books include Meadowlands (1996); The Wild Iris (1992), which received the Pulitzer Prizeand the Poetry Society of Americas William Carlos Williams Award; Ararat (1990), for which she received the Library of Congresss Rebekah JohnsonBobbi National Prize for Poetry; and The Triumph of Achilles (1985), which received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Boston Globe Literary

Press Award, and the Poetry Society of Americas Melville Kane Award. In a review in The New Republic, the critic Helen Vendler wrote: Louise Glckis a poet of strong and haunting presence. Her poems, published in a series of memorable books over the last twenty years, have achieved the unusualdistinction of being neitherconfessional nor intellectual in the usual senses of those words. She has also published a collection of essays, Proofsand Theories: Essays on Poetry (1994), which won the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Nonction. Her honors include the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, the

Enjoy the 2nd Annual

Massachusetts Poetry Festival

Lannan Literary Award for Poetry, a Sara TeasdaleMemorial Prize, the MIT Anniversary Medal andfellowships from the Guggenheim and RockefellerFoundations, and from the National Endowmentfor the Arts. In the fall of 2003, she replaced BillyCollinsas the Library of Congresss twelh PoetLaureate Consultant in Poetry. In 2003, she wasannounced as the new judge of the Yale Series ofYounger Poets.

There are few living poets whose new poems one always

feels eager to read. Louise Glck ranks at the top of the list.

Her writings emotional and rhetorical intensity are beyond

dispute. -- The Washington Post

Louise (Glck) sometimes uses language so plain it can

almost seem like someone is speaking to you spontaneously

but its always intensely distinguished. -- Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinskys rst two terms as United StatesPoet Laureate were marked by such nationalenthusiasm that the Library of Congress appointedhim to an unprecedented third term. As PoetLaureate from 1997-2000, he became a publicambassador for poetry, founding the Favorite

Poem Project in which thousands of Americansof varying backgrounds and ages and from everystate shared their favorite poems. The projectsought to document that presence, giving voiceto the American audience for poetry. Elegant andtough, vividly imaginative, Pinskys poems haveearned praise for their wild musical energy andambitious range. His book Gulf Music (2007) ishis seventh volume of poetry. His The FiguredWheel: New and Collected Poems 1966-1996was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and received theLenore Marshall Award and the AmbassadorBook Award of the English Speaking Union. InMay 2006 his chapbook entitled First Things toHand was published. Pinskys books about poetry

include Poetry and the World, nominated for theNational Book Critics Circle Award, The Soundsof Poetry, and more recently, Democracy, Cultureand the Voice of Poetry. His landmark, best-sellingtranslation of The Inferno of Dante received theLos Angeles Times Book Award in poetry and theHoward Morton Landon Prize for translation. Forseven years Pinsky appeared regularly on TheNewsHour with Jim Lehrer. In 1999 he was electedto the American Academy of Arts and Leers andis one of the few members of the Academy to haveappeared on The Simpsons. Pinsky currentlyteaches in the graduate writing program at BostonUniversity.

SATURDAY HEADLINE EVENTCo-sponsored by Moses Greeley Parker Lectures

7-9 pmLowell High School Auditorium

50 Father Morissette Blvd.

Massachusetts Poetry Festival -- October 15 - 18, 2009

City of Lights Parade -- November 28, 2009

Winterfest -- February 4 - 6, 2010

Lowell Film Festival -- April 1 - 3, 2010

Lowell Folk Festival -- July 23 - 25, 2010

Lowell Summer Music Series -- through September 2010

Lowell Quilt Festival -- August 5 - 8, 2010

Southeast Asian Water Festival -- August 21, 2010

Lowell Open Studios -- September 25 - 26

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac -- October 7 - 10, 2010


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19

Anne Waldman

Anne Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community for

over 40 years as writer, sprechstimme performer, professor, editor, magpie scholar, infra-structureand cultural/political activist. She grew up on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, and movedto Boulder, Colorado in 1974 when she co-founded The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poeticswith Allen Ginsberg at Naropa University; she currently serves as Artistic Director of its celebratedSummer Writing program. Waldman is the author of over 40 books of poetry, along with the poetictext Outrider. Her most recent book is Manatee/Humanity (Penguin Poets 2009). She is editor ofThe Beat Book (Shambhala Publications) and co-editor of The Angel Hair Anthology (GranaryBooks), Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action (Coee House) and a comprehensiveBeats at Naropa (Coee House, 2009). Waldman has worked actively for social change, and hasbeen involved with the Rocky Flats Truth and with Poets Against the War. She helped found ThePoetry Project at St Marks Church In-the-Bowery where she worked as rst assistant director andthen director. She has been a student of Buddhism since 1962, a culturally active feminist, and anambassador for the oral revival of poetry, appearing on stages from Berlin to Caracas, from Mumbaito Being. Ken Tucker of the New York Times says of her, She is the fastest, wiiest woman to runwith the wolves in some time.

Anne will be performing withAmbrose Bye, musician (keyboard, guitar, voice) and composer,son of poets Anne Waldman and Reed Bye, grew up in the environment of The Jack Kerouac Schoolof Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, counting Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs aspoetic godfathers. He graduated from The University of California, Santa Cruz and is has studiedat the music /production program at the Pyramind Institute in San Francisco. He has studied andplayed Gamelan in Bali and in Santa Cruz. He has performed on stage with Anne Waldman, andBob Holman in New Yorks Issue Project Room in a program that included Steve Buscemi readingform the work of William Burroughs. He accompanied Anne Waldman at The Boulder TheatresMusic and Poetry for Progressives headlined by Thurston Moors of Sonic Youth, and Jello Biafra.His most recent CD is Matching Half with Anne Waldman and Akilah Oliver, produced byFarfalla.McMillen, Parrish. His previous composing/ production credits include In The Room ofNever Grieve, and The Eye of the Falcon with poetry by Anne Waldman. He is working on newproject which includes the poet Amiri Baraka.


Afaa Michael Weaver

Afaa Michael Weaver, formerly known as Michael S. Weaver, was born in 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland, to working class parents. Aer two years atthe University of Maryland, he entered the factory life alongside his father and uncles, where he would remain for een years. During that time,he wrote short ction and poetry during coee breaks and started both 7th Son Press and Blind Alleys, a literary journal. His rst book of poetry,Water Song, was published in 1985. He soon received a National Endowments for the Arts fellowship for poetry; he le the factory to enter BrownUniversitys graduate writing program, where he completed his M.A. Just before his move to Boston, Tess Onwueme, the Nigerian playwright, gavehim the Ibo name Afaa, meaning oracle. Weaver has published nine collections of poetry, including Multitudes, Sandy Point, and The Ten Lightsof God, all of which appeared in 2000. His full length play Rosa was produced in 1993, and his short ction appears in Gloria Naylors Children ofthe Night and in Maria Gillans Identity Lessons. Weaver has been a Pew Fellow in poetry and taught at both the National Taiwan University andTaipei National University of the Arts. At Simmons College in Boston, Massachuses, he is the Alumnae Professor of English and director of the ZoraNeale Hurston Literary Center. In addition, he is Chairman of the Simmons International Chinese Poetry Conference. To nd out more, please visithis website at www.afaamweaver.com.

featuring Robert Pinsky, Louise Glck, Anne Waldman & Afaa Weaver

from top left, clockwise: Anne Waldman

in action, Robert Pinsky, Louise Glck &

Afaa Michael Weaver.


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20 Saturday, October 17th 2009

9:00 P.m - 11:00 p.m.

Four poetry slam teams will compete to win entrance into the 2010 National Poetry Slam. This is an ocial Poetry Slam

Incorporated event. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Slam Team (NYC), Lizard Lounge Poetry Slam Team (Cambridge, MA), Bar13 Slam Team, (NYC) and the Lowell Poetry Slam Team will square o to be the rst Massachuses Poetry Festival SlamChampions. The top two nishing teams get automatic entries into the 2010 National Poetry Slam and cash prizes.

Poetry Slam9-11 pm

Brewery Exchange, 201 Cabot St.


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22/24

22

Poetry & Art with Writer &Childrens Illustrator Calef Brown1:30pm & 2:30pm

Calef Brown will read poems and stories from hisacclaimed books with accompanying visuals. Expectto see Polkabats, Skeleton Flowers, and perhaps eventhe elusive Allicaer Gatorpillar.

Sunday, October 18th 2009

Calef Brown with elephant.

Family Programs at theBoston Childrens Museum

308 Congress Street, Boston

Please note that all Boston Childrens Museum programs

require general admission tickets to the museum: $12/

adults, $9/children Visit www.masspoetry.org for more

complete program descriptions and times.


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23

Poetry at the Woodbury

Poetry Room7pmAdams House Dining Hall, 26 Plympton

Street, Cambridge

A Night of Poetry & Jazz with Robert Pinsky,Rakalam Bob Moses (drums) and Andrew Urbina

(saxophone).

Sunday, October 18th 2009

Homes for Poems: Japanese Binding withSusan Kapuscinski-Gaylord1-4pm

Make a home for your favorite poems. Youll use recycledmaterials to make a simple so cover book with a side-stitched

Japanese binding. Therell be time to decorate the coverwith collage materials and stencils or explore ideas for morebookmaking at home. While the emphasis is on using easy-to-get and environmentally friendly materials, informationwill be available for those wishing to make more polishedbooks for small editions. Recommended for adults, teens, andchildren 8 and over with a parent.

Come Explore, Imagine, Discover, Create!with Karen M. Kline, Founder/ExecutiveDirector of American Community ThinkTank1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30 & 3pm

Children will be creating poetic art on the topic of Friendship.

Using colored pencils and/or crayons, art work will be addedto each poem. Bubbles will be introduced as teaching toolsto begin the 20 minute workshop. Learn the Bubble~ologyMethod of Artistic Poetry Composition as we sail upon theHMS Friendship . . . lets discover the depths of our curiosity.We will dock at the ports of Fun & Freedom at the BostonChildrens Museum. Kids ages 6 and up and their parents arewelcomed!

Haiku for You with Jeannie Martin1:30pm & 2:30pm

Haiku is a short, 3 line poem that originated in Japan but is now wrien by people around theworld. Haiku poetry expresses a deep awareness ofnature and our connection with the natural world.Together we will read some famous haiku poetry andwrite some of our own. 6. Add Childrens Museumprogram: Writing a Group Poem with BarbaraHelfgo Hye 1pm & 2pm Barbara Helfgo Hyeplans to read aloud a contemporary poem. She willwrite the responses and questions of the group ona huge piece of lined paper in a non-linear, poetsway. By the end of the meeting, the group will havecomposed a public poem, which she will read it tothe group. Copies will be provided.

Events @ 119 Gallery119 Chelmsford Street

Lowell, MA

All Movement is Poetry, Presented by Rozann KrausSunday, 1-2:30pm October 18

Embracing the worlds of words and dance. This workshop is open to allpeople comfortable with moving in their bodies and at ease with writingand speaking. Aer a brief dance warm up, well begin by learning Parings,a dance/poem that has been performed by many groups of dancers. We willreect on sensations learning and doing the dance. Aer an open discussionof the similar components of texts and choreography, well break into smallergroups to work together in dance and poetry collaborations. The workshopwill be completed when we watch each others work and share our ideas andinsights.


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Top, left to right: Regie

Gibson, Edward Sanders, &

Lowell insignia.

Center images: Cafe reading

at Life Alive Cafe, Zephyr

Press at the Small Press Fair,

Haiku as public art.

Below, left to right: Rhina

Espaillat and Martin Espada.

Photos taken by Suzzanne

Cromwell.

Page design by Lynn Tran,

Malden High School

Images from last year

O tall redbrick

chimneys of the CottonMills of Lowell, tallredbrick goof ofBoott, swaying in theterminus clouds of thewild hoorah day anddreambell afternoon--)

Jack Kerouac Dr. Sax

Documents

MASS Poetry Program Booklet (Tabloid 11 x 17)