March is the cruelest month, breeding
ice out of vindictive snow, frosting
wintry mix with freezing nights, forcing
whimpers from our dull mouths.
But at least there’s April — National Poetry Month — to look forward to. As usual, there’s a convocation of poets at the end of the month in Salem for the Mass Poetry Festival on May 5-7. If you’re feeling like too much of an introvert for a mini-AWP though, you can attend one of the readings below instead.
All venues are in Massachusetts unless otherwise noted. If you have an event in the area not listed here, please feel free to leave the information in the comments. Posts are moderated.
Sunday, March 19, 2 pm
Frannie Lindsay and Lynne Potts
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library Main Branch in Brookline Village
361 Washington St.
Brookline
Sunday, March 19, 2 pm
Celia Gilbert, Ruth Lepson, and Ethel Rackin
Cambridge Public Library
449 Broadway
Cambridge
Monday, March 20, 7 pm
Kathleen Ossip
MIT Stata Center
32 Vassar Street
Cambridge
Monday, March 20, 8 pm
Andrea Cohen and Natalie Shapero
Blacksmith House
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
Tuesday, March 21, 7 pm
Morgan Parker
Brookline Booksmith
Harvard Street
Coolidge Corner
Brookline
Tuesday, March 21, 7 pm
Cheryl Buchanan, Michael McInnis, and Denise Provost
Center for the Arts
Arts at the Armory
191 Highland Ave.
Somerville
Tuesday, March 21, 7:30 pm
Renato Rosaldo
Neilson Browsing Room
Smith College
Wednesday, March 22, 7:30 pm
Jim Fay
Gloucester Writers Center
126 East Main Street
Gloucester
Thursday, March 23, 7 pm
David Surette, Carolyn Gregory
Rozzie Reads Poetry/Open Mic
Roslindale House
120 Poplar Street
Roslindale
Saturday, March 25, 3:30 pm
Simone John, Mary Buchinger, Martha Collins, Beatrice Greene, and Mary Bonina
Women Reading Women
Omni Parker House, Harriet Beecher Stowe Room
60 School Street
Boston
Monday, March 27, 6 pm (This event is CANCELLED)
Danielle Allen, Neil Barsky, Reginald Dwayne Betts, James Parker, Clint Smith and Jackie Wang
Poetry reading and discussion: Criminal Justice Reform Through Creative and Critical Writing
Thompson Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy Street
Harvard University
Cambridge
Monday, March 27, 8 pm
Lloyd Schwartz and Kate Rushin
Blacksmith House
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
Tuesday, March 28, 6 pm
Pete McDade, Open Mic
Amesbury Public Library Poetry Series
149 Main St.
Amesbury, MA
Tuesday, March 28, 7 pm
Anna M. Warrock
Book Launch & Reception
Porter Square Books
Porter Square
Cambridge
Wednesday, March 29, 7:30 pm
Brian Sneeden
Gloucester Writers Center
126 East Main Street
Gloucester
Wednesday, March 29, 7:30 pm
Marie Howe
Annual Robert Creeley Award Night
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
36 Charter Road
Acton
Thursday, March 30, 5-7 pm
Ruth Lepson and Timothy Ogene
Williams Hall
New England Conservatory
Boston
Thursday, March 30, 7 pm
David Ferry
The Poetry Center at Suffolk University
second floor, Sawyer Library
73 Tremont Street
Boston
Friday, March 31, 7 pm
Robert Fanning
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
Plympton Street
Harvard Square
Cambridge
Saturday, April 1, 7:30 pm
“Singing the Body Electric”: Contemporary Poets Respond to Walt Whitman
Linda Bamber, Nancy Boutilier, Robert Carr, Christine Casson, Amy Clark, Jennifer Clarvoe, Steven Cramer, Tom Daley, Regie Gibson, Joan Houlihan, Dorian Kotsiopoulos, Julia Lisella, Jonathan Weinert, Gail Mazur, Lloyd Schwartz, Theodora Stratis, Joyce Swagerty, Cammy Thomas, Daniel Tobin, and Rosamond Zimmermann
Munroe Saturday Nights at First Parish Church
7 Harrington Rd.
Lexington
Monday, April 3, 6 pm
Daniel Borzutsky, Aracelis Girmay and Ishion Hutchinson
Edison Newman Room, Houghton Library.
Harvard University
Cambridge
Monday, April 3, 6—8 pm
Nicole Terez Dutton, L’Merchie Frazier, Regie Gibson, Barbara Lewis, and Askie Toure
The Living Archive: African American Poetry
Panel 2: Black Style, Black Language
Moderated by Robert Bellinger
Boston Public Library’s Main Branch
700 Boylston Street
Boston
Monday, April 3, 7 pm
Steph Burt in Conversation with Chloe Garcia Roberts
The Poem is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them
Harvard Bookstore
1256 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge
Monday, April 3, 7 pm
Eileen Cleary, Sarath Reddy, and Open Mic
Newtonville Books
10 Langley Road
Newton
Monday, April 3, 7 pm
Mary Pinard and Moira Linehan
82 Main Street Poetry Series
Peabody Institute Library
Monday, April 3, 7 pm
Steph Burt in Conversation with Chloe Garcia Roberts
The Poem is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them
Harvard Bookstore
1256 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge
Monday, April 3, 8 pm
Tyehimba Jess and Jill McDonough
Blacksmith House
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
Tuesday, April 4, 7 pm
Jennifer Clarvoe, Robin Behn, Rebecca Morgan Frank, and Dora Malech
Still Life with Poem
Porter Square Books
25 White St.
Cambridge
Tuesday, April 4, 7 pm
Brian Turner
Charles D. and Marjorie J. Thompson Visiting Poet Series
Babson Campus – Sorenson Center for the Arts
Wellesley
Tuesday, April 4, 7 pm
Jenny Barber, Kevin Gallagher, Vivian Shipley, and Marjorie Thomsen
New England Poetry Club
Harvard’s Yenching Library Common Room
2 Divinity Ave.
Cambridge
Tuesday, April 4, 7:30 pm
Meg Day and HS Prize Winners
Neilson Browsing Room
Smith College
Thursday, April 6, 5 pm
Alice Oswald and Juan Felipe Herrera
Morris Gray Poetry Reading
Thompson Room
Barker Center
Harvard University
Cambridge
Thursday, April 6, 7 pm
Lloyd Schwartz
Harvard Book Store
1256 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge
Thursday, April 6, 5-7 pm
Kim Garcia
Stokes Hall, S195
Boston College
Chestnut Hill
Friday April 7, 6 pm – 10 pm
Ann Charters, Gordon Ball, Patrick Warner, Steve Benson, Jordan Hoffman, and Kevin Keady
Ginsberg: Green – A spoken word and musical gathering for the 20th anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s death, honoring his green consciousness, eco-activism, and advocacy for marijuana justice.
The Sprinkler Factory Artist Group
38 Harlow St.
Worcester
Friday, April 7, 7 pm
Andrea Cohen
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
Plympton Street
Harvard Square
Cambridge
Friday, April 7, 7 pm
Alden Jones, Louie Cronin, and Georgia Park
Dire Literary Series
Out of the Blue Too Art Gallery
541 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge
Sunday, April 9, 12-2:30 pm
Michael Ansara and Diane Harrison
POETRY:The Art Of Words
Plymouth Center for the Arts
11 North St
Plymouth
Tuesday, April 11, 6:30 pm
Safiya Sinclair
DMC Lecture Hall
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
621 Huntington Avenue
Boston
Thuesday, April 11, 7 pm
Martha Collins, Andrea Cohen, and Miriam Levine
Newton Free Public Library
330 Homer Street
Newton
Wednesday, April 12, 6 pm
Alice Notley and Karen Weiser
Edison Newman Room, Houghton Library.
Harvard University
Cambridge
Wednesday, April 12, 7 pm
Eugene Ostashevsky
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
Plympton Street
Harvard Square
Cambridge
Thursday, April 13, 5 pm
Rosa Alice Branco with translator Alexis Levitin
Poetry Center
Smith College
Thursday, April 13, 5:30 pm
Dodie Bellamy
McCormack Family Theater
70 Brown St.
Providence, RI
Thursday, April 13, 7:30 pm
Tom Sleigh, with BU alum Laura Marris
Robert Lowell Memorial Lecture Series
The Castle, 225 Bay State Rd
Boston University
Boston
Thursday, April 13, 7:30 pm
Susan Edwards Richmond
6 Bridges Gallery
77 Main Street
Maynard
Friday, April 14, 1 pm
Martha Collins, Alissa Leigh-Valles and Kevin Prufer
discussion of co-edited anthology (forthcoming) of multiple translations of poetry
Boston University Translation Lecture Series
745 Commonwealth, Room 625
Boston
Thursday, April 20, 6 – 7 pm
Natalie Shapero
100 Bay State Road, 3rd Floor
Boston University
Thursday, April 20, 7 pm
Alfred Nicol and Rhina P. Espaillat
with classical guitarist John Tavano
Amesbury Public Library
94 State Street
Newburyport
Saturday, April 22, 6 pm
Mary Bonina, B. Amore, Peter Covino, Gil Fagiani, Julia Lisella, and Maria Lisella
I Am Books
189 North Street
Boston
Sunday, April 23, 2 pm
Kim Garcia
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library Main Branch in Brookline Village
361 Washington St.
Brookline
Monday, April 24, 8 pm
Fred Marchant and Alex Dmitrov
Blacksmith House
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
Tuesday, April 25, 7:30 pm
Robert Pinsky
Weinstein Auditorium
Smith College
Wednesday, April 26, 6 pm
Erin Moure (2016-2017 WPR Creative Fellow)
Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library, Room 330
Harvard University
Cambridge
Wednesday, April 26, 7:30 pm
Fanny Howe
Gloucester Writers Center
126 East Main Street
Gloucester
Thursday, April 27, 7pm
Danielle Legros Georges (Boston Poet Laureate) / Open Mic
Poets of Color
Rozzie Reads
Roslindale House
120 Poplar Street
Roslindale
Saturday, April 29
Bill Coyle, David Davis, Nancy Bailey Miller, Anton Yakovlev, David Berman, A. M. Juster, Alexandra Oliver, Deborah Warren, Dan Brown, Kevin Carey, Midge Goldberg, James Matthew Wilson, Catherine Chandler, Robert Shaw, Robert Mezey
Newburyport Literary Festival
Newburyport, MA
Saturday, April 29, 2 – 3:30 pm
Poetry Nature Walk led by Anne-Marie Lambert with guest poet Kevin Gallagher
Rock Meadow parking lot
300 Mill Street
Belmont
Sunday, April 30, 3 pm
Robert Pinsky
Poetry at the Library Series
Concord Free Public Library
129 Main St.
Concord
Book signing and refreshments to follow
Photo credit: Tejvan Pettinger via Flickr, CC 2.0
Garden of Words 