Tag: boston

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Gratitude List: Fall Allergy Season Edition

• A wide social network
• Friends and family who know the me that exists beneath the facade of social media
• An emergency room just a few minutes away from my home that provides prompt, high-quality care
• A doctor’s office that knows my history and will see me when I’m sick
• Health insurance that makes it possible for me to seek out care without breaking the bank
• Knowing that many other people in my part of the world are suffering from respitory ailments — that I’m not alone in my suffering
• The kind of job that won’t fire me because I’m sick and can’t come to work
• Zyrtec, Robitussin, Tessalon pearls, and Albuterol
• A partner who’s willing and able to drive me to the doctor when I’m too sick to drive myself

There’s more to be grateful for than this. My life is changing very rapidly right now, and the stress of those changes has no doubt contributed to my getting so sick. But for today at least, I’m going to focus on resting, healing, and getting better. And on all the positive supports in my life that make that possible.

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Boston Area Poetry Readings for May and Beyond

Light lights in air blossoms red
Like nothing on earth
Now the chains
Drag graves to lie in
This is May Day! May!
The poor’s armies are veining the earth!
— Louis Zukofsky

Here’s the latest listing of poetry readings in Boston and eastern Massachusetts, just in time for Beltane and May Day. The Mass Poetry Festival is also taking place this weekend in Salem. It’s a weekend smorgasborg of readings, workshops, events, and exhibits that takes over the downtown Salem area, all for the cost of a movie. And parking is plentiful and cheap. Schedule and information here: http://masspoetry.org/category/2014-festival/ 

I also recommend the readings taking place on both sides of the river Monday, May 5 at Newtonville Books and the Blacksmith House in Harvard Square.

Thanks as always to my friend at MIT Press for compiling this list. Leave a comment if you would like instructions on how to be added to his mailing list.

Thursday, May 1, 2:30 pm
Arthur Sze
McCormack Family Theater
70 Brown St.
Providence

Thursday, May 1, 4:30 pm
Jessica Bozek, Christina Davis, Jill McDonough, Anna Ross and Rodney Wittwer
The Bookstore @ The New England Institute of Art
10 Brookline Place West
Brookline

Thursday, May 1, 7 pm
Yermiyahu Ahron Taub
Calamus Bookstore
92 South Street #B
Boston

Thursday, May 1, 7 pm
Susan Rich, Ann Easter Smith, and Rhina Espiallat
The Tannery Series
Jabberwocky Books
50 Water Street
Newburyport, MA

Thursday, May 1, 7 pm
Carrie Etter and Jennifer Militello
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
6 Plympton Street
Cambridge

May 2-4
2014 Massachusetts Poetry Festival
Salem
This event has many superb poets and the schedule is too lengthy for this email. Please find it online by using a search-engine “Massachusetts Poetry Festival” for detailed schedule

Friday, May 2, 11 am
Yermiyahu Ahron Taub
Reading and discussion with a seniors group
Sponsored by the Greater Boston area Jewish Community Center
Center Communities of Brookline, Hebrew Senior Life
1550 Beacon Street
Brookline
Open to public

Friday, May 2,7:30 pm
Yermiyahu Ahron Taub
Reading at Temple Sinai
50 Sewall Avenue
Brookline
Open to public

Friday, May 2, 8 pm
D. Foy, Robin Stratton, and Christopher Reilley
Dire Literary Series
Out of the Blue Art Gallery
106 Prospect St.
Cambridge

Sunday, May 4, 12:45 pm
Faye George and Dimitris Lyacos
Poetry: The Art of Words/Mike Amado Memorial Series
The Plymouth Center for the Arts
11 North St
Plymouth

Monday, May 5, 5:30 pm
Jill Walker Rettberg
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
East wing of Building 14
Room 14E-310
Cambridge

Monday, May 5, 7 pm
Linda Lamenza, Margie Flanders, and Margot Wizansky
Newtonville Books
10 Langley Road
Newton

Monday, May 5, 8 pm
James Arthur and Tung-Hui Hu
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
$3

Tuesday, May 6, 7 pm
Renaltta Arluk
An evening of words, prose, and melodies featuring local poets sharing their personal stories about climate change and mourning mother Earth. Inspired by Inuit spoken word artist Taqralik Patridge, whose words are at the heart of SILA.
Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge
Free and Open to the Public

Tuesday, May 6, 6:30 pm
Seán Ó Coistealbha & Tomás O’Leary
Cambridge Public Library
449 Broadway
Cambridge
(garage entrance is from Broadway, between playground and high school)

Tuesday, May 6, 7:30 pm
Lisa Starr and John Holgerson
For the Love of Words
Unity Church
13 Main Street
North Easton, MA

Thursday, May 8, 7 pm
Don Wellman and Tam Lin Neville
Cervena Barva Press Studio
At The Arts for the Armory
191 Highland Avenue
Somerville

Thursday, May 8, 7 pm
Mary Bonina
Flint Memorial Library
147 Park St.
North Reading

Friday, May 9, 7 pm
Frannie Lindsay, Barbara Crooker and Amy Hoffman
Chapter and Verse
Loring Greenough House
12 South Street
Jamaica Plain

Sunday, May 11, 3 pm
Cecily Parks
followed by Mothers’ Day Tea
Poetry at the Library Series
Concord Free Public Library
129 Main St.
Concord, MA

Monday, May 12, 8 pm
Peter Campion and Tomás Morin
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
$3

Tuesday, May 13, 7 – 9 pm
DAY ONE: readings, remarks, and riffs in honor of Professor Emeritus Fred Marchant and to support The Suffolk University Poetry Project
C. Walsh Theatre
Suffolk University
55 Temple Street
Boston
$25

Wednesday, May 14, 6:30 pm
Louise Callaghan and Mairide Woods
Cambridge Public Library
449 Broadway
Cambridge
(garage entrance is from Broadway, between playground and high school)

Wednesday, May 14, 7 pm
Jan Schreiber & Wayne Clifford
Powow River Poets Reading Series
Jabberwocky Books
50 Water Street (in the Tannery Mall)
Newburyport, MA

Thursday, May 15, 7 – 9 pm
Ken Lee and Debora Pfeiffer
Rozzie Reads
Roslindale House
120 Poplar St.
Roslindale

Saturday, May 17, 10:30 am
Elizabeth Doran, Carla Schwartz and Tara Greenblatt
Wake up and Smell the Poetry
77 Main Street
Hopkinton, MA

Saturday, May 17, 3:45 pm
Mary Bonina
Tony Brown and the Duende Project
Brockton Arts
Fuller Craft Museum
45 Oak Street
Brockton, MA

Saturday, May 17, 6 pm
Peter Shippy, Rosebud Ben-Oni, and others
Mr. Hip Presents: Reading Series at the UFORGE Gallery
767 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain
$7

Sunday, May 18, 2 to 4 pm (note earlier start time)
James Arthur, Audrey Henderson, and Sheile Whitehouse
Calliope Poetry Readings at West Falmouth Library
575 West Falmouth Highway
Falmouth, MA
Donation: $5. Refreshments provided

Tuesday, May 20, 7 pm
Marguerite Guzman Bouvard, Preston Hood, Lamont B. Steptoe
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
6 Plympton Street
Cambridge

Thursday, May 22, 7 – 8:30 pm
Haiku Reading by members of the Alewife Brook Haiku Group
Community Room, Robbins Library
700 Massachusetts Avenue
Arlington

Monday, June 2, 7 pm
Margaux Novak, Robin Pelzman, and Lani Scozzari
Newtonville Books
10 Langley Road
Newton

Sunday, June 8, 12:45 pm
Jacquline Maloney and Molly Lynn Watt
Poetry: The Art of Words/Mike Amado Memorial Series
The Plymouth Center for the Arts
11 North St
Plymouth

Thursday, June 19, 7 pm
Hanna Andrews, Eryn Green, Stefania Heim
Small Animal Project
Lorem Ipsum Books (note new location)
1299 Cambridge St
Cambridge

Saturday, June 21, 10:30 am
Teresa Mei Chuc, Elijah Imlay and Ergo Canto
Wake up and Smell the Poetry
77 Main Street
Hopkinton, MA

 

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Cranky List / Gratitude List

Things that make me cranky:

  • waking up feeling worse than when I went to bed
  • trading one set of medication side effects for another
  • feeling my body getting heavier and older
  • expecting to be able to exercise the way I used to when I was 25 and at the peak of training
  • days when the only thing I seem fit to do is putter around the house and take in a matinee
  • Boston’s schizophrenic spring weather
  • focusing on my own needs and the ways they’re not being met
  • getting away from support systems that help me feel connected
  • pollyanna-ish spiritual literature that tells me to just focus on the positive! and everything will be fine!
  • focusing on the things that make me cranky, especially when they’re things I can’t control

Things that make me happy:

  • posting cranky status updates on Facebook (and the one or two people who say they can identify)
  • comparing the treatments available today to what people used to endure 50-60 years ago
  • considering advances in genetic research that may make it easier for doctors to pinpoint which kinds of medication will be most effective for individuals with my illness
  • friends and mentors who can say the sorts of things that snap me out of negative thinking and help me focus on what will work
  • reconnecting with support systems that remind me I am part of beloved community
  • focusing on how I can be of service instead of on what I can get — or what I think I SHOULD be getting
  • remembering that work is a wonderful opportunity to be of service
  • making moderate progress while conserving energy — sometimes this is better than exhausting myself by FIXING ALL THE THINGS
  • identifying small, achievable tasks toward a larger goal — and checking them off a task list
  • putting stickers next to completed items on my task lists
  • remembering that all things pass — even the line in the Post Office on a Saturday afternoon
  • moderate exercise
  • intense exercise (in moderation)
  • dancing at weddings
  • professional massages
  • hot tubs and steam rooms
  • inexpensive (and free) self-care, like a spa day at home
  • vanilla-scented bubble bath
  • taking myself on an artist date
  • reading 101 artist date ideas
  • the unwinding feeling that comes with relaxation — in all kinds of ways, expected and unexpected. Sometimes in meditation, sometimes when I’m laying in a big bed all by myself, sometimes when I’m in a field of grass in warm weather, sometimes when I’m sitting with a cup of tea and looking at the trees as the sky fades from blue to darker blue.
  • the first time in 2014 that I smell rain on unfrozen soil
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The Lesson of Winter is Perseverance

against bare branches
and the crust of snow
red berries still hang,
saying, “persevere”

the wind stops burning
I feel sun on the face
one moment, then another

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Poetry to Get You Through the Holidays – in Boston, Anyway

First Night Ice Sculpture -- Boston Customs House
Last year’s First Night sculpture is still relevant for a few weeks or so

Here’s the latest list from my informant at MIT. Please comment or contact me if you’d like information on how to be added to his mailing list.

I’m a member of two workshops (three if you count Toni Amato”s Write Here Write Now in Somerville — I’m not often able to make the Wednesday workshops but Toni is one of my mentors and the two of us meet regularly). One of them I run. In the other, I have the luxury of being a student. And in that second one, the “host poem” of our closing session for this term was by Gary Whited, who headlines this Friday (tomorrow!) at the Chapter and Verse series in Jamaica Plain. I’ve never met the man but appreciate his work. Word on the street is that he incorporates poetry into his day job as a psychotherapist.

If you’ve already got plans on Friday, Mr. Whited makes an appearance at the Brookline Public Library’s monthly open mic in January — details below.

I’m also calling out the Small Animal Project, a regular reading series held in a space that’s near and dear to me. Until the mid 2000s, it was the back room of the New Words Bookstore and home to a feminist/queer monthly open mic. Perhaps someone in Camberville can tell me if Small Animal Project does justice to New Words’ legacy.

Friday, December 13, 7:30 pm
Gary Whited and Mary Bonina
Chapter and Verse Series
Loring-Greenough House
12 South St.
Jamaica Plain

Sunday, December 15, 2 – 4 pm
Afaa Michael Weaver and Larissa Pienkowski
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library
Main Branch in Hunneman Hall
Brookline
Open mike sign-up: 1:45 pm

Monday, December 16, 8 pm
Tamiko Beyer, Jenny Browne, and Kate Greenstreet
Small Animal Project
Outpost 186
186 1/2 Hampshire St
Cambridge

Sunday, January 19, 2-4 pm
Susan Becker and Gary Whited
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library
Main Branch in Hunneman Hall
Brookline
Open mike sign-up: 1:45 pm

February 13, 6 pm
Rowan Ricardo Phillips
Katzenberg Center, 3rd Floor
871 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston University

Sunday, February 16, 2-4 pm
Elaine Terranova and Justen Ahren
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library
Main Branch in Hunneman Hall
Brookline
Open mike sign-up: 1:45 pm

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Gratitude List

  • warm floors in the morning (radiant heat on the second floor of our townhouse)
  • a cat who comes when called
  • a cat who’s always willing to purr for you
  • that most intimate of moments when you are half-asleep next to your partner of years while the dim winter morning light filters in through the window
  • the discomfort that comes from trying new things
  • friends to call when winter blues set in
  • austere winter landscapes, with bare tree branches and empty skies
  • winter sunlight
  • walking into a heated building from a wind so cold you have to take off your glasses
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November Haiku

the mind is silent
sun slants into afternoon
the air, almost warm

bare branches tracing
against a cloudless, pale sky
sun sets them glowing

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Poetry Readings and Events in Boston, November and December 2013

I get periodic emails from a gentleman at MIT about poetry readings and events in the greater Boston area. It’s a good reminder of why I chose to move here 13 years ago, and why I stay. The list can be rather overwhelming, so I’ve highlighted two readings in November featuring poets I know and highly recommend:

  • Grey Held and other poets from the Workshop for Publishing Poets next Monday, November 4 at Newtonville Books;
  • Charles Coe and Alexis Ivy at the Newton Free Library on Tuesday, November 12

The Brookline Public Library reading series also has consistently high-quality readers both as headliners and in the open mic. The organizers can be a bit snooty as a result, but if you gird your loins appropriately it’s worth attending. You may even see me there.

If you are interested in signing up for the email list, please comment with your email address and I will send you information on how to subscribe.

And on an unrelated note, Happy Halloween, Blessed Samhain, and Feliz Dias de los Muertos.

Boston Poetry Listings follow:

Friday, November 1, 8 pm
Christopher Boucher, Carrie Causie, and Randy Wittwer
Dire Literary Series
Out of the Blue Art Gallery
106 Prospect St.
Cambridge

Monday, November 4, 6 pm
Philip Levine
Bill Bordy Theater
216 Tremont St.
Boston

Monday, November 4, 7 pm
Grey Held, Diana Cole, and Ellie Mamber
Newtonville Books
10 Langley Road
Newton
[This is the regular reading series for PoemWorks: The Workshop for Publishing Poets]

Monday, November 4, 7 pm
Scott Ruescher, Betty Buchsbaum, and Peter Filkins
and other winners
NEPC Prize Winners
Harvard-Yenching Library, Common Room 136
2 Divinity Ave.
Cambridge (off Kirkland, near Memorial Hall)

Monday, November 4, 8 pm
Mark Halliday and Anna Ross
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
$3

Tuesday, November 5, 6:30 pm
David Ferry
The Louisa Solano Poetry Series
Cambridge Public Library
449 Broadway, Cambridge

Tuesday, November 5, 7 pm
David Rivard, Edith Pearlman, Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough, and J. D. Daniels
AGNI 78 launch
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
949 Commonwealth Ave
Boston (Green Line B, Pleasant St.)

Tuesday, November 5, 5:30 pm
Martha Collins
Grolier Poetry Fall Reading Series
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
6 Plympton St.
Cambridge

Wednesday, November 6, 8 pm
Julie Joosten, Erin Morrill, Laura Mullen
Small Animal Project
Outpost 186
186 1/2 Hampshire St
Cambridge

Tuesday, November 5, 6 pm [Note: moved from Thurs, 11/7]
Transversal Kickoff Reading
Washington Curcurto, Tamara Kamenszain and Malu Urriola
in the company of their translators Forrest Gander, Laura Healy and Anna Deeny
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Auditorium
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge

Tuesday, November 5, 5:30 pm
Martha Collins
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
6 Plympton Street
Cambridge

Wednesday, November 6, 5 pm – 6: 30 pm
Rae Armantrout
Morris Gray Lecture
The Thompson Room
Barker Center
Quincy Street
Cambridge

Wednesday, November 6, 6 pm  (please note updated location)
Transversal Seminar: On Spanish Poetry and Translation
Brandel France de Bravo and Roger Santivañez
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Auditorium
Woodberry Poetry Room, Lamont Library
Harvard University
Cambridge

Thursday, November 7, 5 pm – 6:30 pm
Seamus Heaney Memorial
Harvard Memorial Church
One Harvard Yard
Cambridge

Thursday, November 7, 6 – 7:30 pm
Laura Mullen
New England Conservatory
Pierce Hall
around the corner from 290 Huntington Ave.
Boston

Friday, November 8, 7:30 pm
Elizabeth (Louie) Galloway, Elena Harap and Alice Kociemba
Chapter and Verse Literary Reading Series
Loring-Greenough House
12 South Street
Jamaica Plain Center
$5

Friday, November 8, 6 pm
Tamiko Beyer, Kate Greenstreet and Deborah Poe
Publicly Complex Series
Ada Books
717 Westminster St.
Providence

Saturday, November 9, 12 pm
Gloria Mindock and Catherine Sasanov
Poetry: The Art of Words
Plymouth Center for the Arts
North Street
Plymouth, MA

Saturday, November 9, 2 pm
Donald Wellman
Toadstool Books
12 Depot Square
Peterborough NH

Saturday, November 9, 6 pm
Frank Bidart, Moe Pope, Betsy Gomez, Elizabeth Doran, Eve Strillacci, Alex Charalambides, Eloisa Amezcua
Featured Musical Artist: Julia LiGregni with the Jordan Carter Trio
Mr. Hip Presents: Reading Series UFORGE Gallery
767 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain
$8

Saturday, November 9, 7 pm
Mathias Svalina, Stefania Heim, and Phil Cordelli
A 2×2 Reading of Poetry
Lorem Ipsum Books
1299 Cambridge Street
Cambridge

Sunday, November 10, 2 pm
Moira Linehan and Michael McCarthy
Bestsellers Café
24 High Street
Medford, MA

Sunday, November 10, 3 pm
Jillian Weise
Weekend Poetry Series of the Friends
Concord Free Public Library
129 Main Street
Concord, MA

Monday, November 11, 6 pm
Tom Pickard
Katzenberg Center, 3rd Floor,
871 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston University

Tuesday, November 12, 7 pm
George Elliot Clarke and Don Share
Grolier Poetry Fall Reading Series
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
6 Plympton St.
Cambridge

Tuesday, November 12, 7pm
Charles Coe, Alexis Ivy, and Dennis Daly
Newton Free Library Reading Series
330 Homer St
Newton, MA
Open mic follows featured readers

Wednesday, November 13, 7:30 pm
Rhina Espaillat, Barbara Lydecker Crane, David Davis
Poetry And The Experience Of Nature
Joppa Flats Audubon Center
1 Plum Island Turnpike
Newburyport, MA

Thursday, November 14, 6 pm
Christopher Ricks on T.S. Eliot
Edison Newman Room
Houghton Library
Harvard University

Thursday, November 14, 7 pm
Sophie Cabot Black and Greg Delanty
Suffolk University Poetry Center
73 Tremont Street (entrance around corner on Tremont Place)
Suffolk Poetry Center Mildred F. Sawyer Library

Saturday, November 16, 10:30 am
Henry Street Poets, Chuck Williams and Joanne Lurgio
Wake Up & Smell the Poetry at HCAM Studios
77 Main St.
Hopkinton MA

Saturday, November 16, 3:30 pm
Carol Ann Davis and David R. Surette
Fuller Café
Brockton Poetry Series at the Fuller Craft Museum
455 Oak Street
Brockton

Sunday, November 17, 2-4 pm
Lee Sharkey and Melissa Tuckey
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library
Main Branch in Hunneman Hall
Brookline
Open mike sign-up: 1:45 pm

Sunday, November 17, 3 – 5 pm
Shelby Allen, Susan Nisenbaum-Becker, Gary Whited
Calliope – Poetry Readings at the West Falmouth Library
(575 West Falmouth Hwy.  Rt. 28A)
Cape Cod
$5

Sunday, November 17, 3 pm
Lucy Ives and William D. Waltz
Jubilat / Jones Reading Series
Woodbury Room,
Jones Library
43 Amity Street
Amherst, MA

Monday, November 18, 6 pm
Omniglot Seminar: Pessoa and Other Poets in Portuguese
with Translator Richard Zenith
Woodberry Poetry Room
Lamont Library, Room 330
Harvard University

Monday, November 18, 8 pm
Sarah Arvio and Katie Peterson
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
$3

Tuesday, November 19, 2:30 pm
Rachel Levitsky
McCormack Family Theater
70 Brown St.
Providence
Free and open to the public

Wednesday, November 20, 7 pm
Len Krisak and Mike Juster
Powow River Poets Reading Series
Jabberwocky Books (in the Tannery Mall)
50 Water St.
Newburyport
Free & open to the public

Thursday, November  21, 7 pm
Danielle Legros Georges and George Kalogeris
Rozzie Reads Poetry
The Community Room of Roslindale House
120 Poplar Street
Roslindale

Monday, November 25, 8 pm
Tanya Larkin and Jamaal May
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
$3

Monday, December 2, 7 pm
Jane Bachner, Susan McDonough, and Lee Dunne
Newtonville Books
10 Langley Road
Newton

Tuesday, December 3, 6:30 pm
Frank Bidart
The Louisa Solano Poetry Series
Cambridge Public Library
449 Broadway, Cambridge

Wednesday, December 4, 6 pm
Louise Glück & Katie Peterson
Edison Newman Room
Houghton Library
Harvard University

Wednesday, December 4, 7 pm
Denise Bergman
Porter Square Books
25 White Street
Cambridge

Sunday, December 8, 12 pm
Dennis Daly and Lawrence Kessenich
POETRY:The Art of Words
Plymouth Center for the Arts
North Street
Plymouth, MA

Monday, December 9, 8 pm
Albert Goldbarth and Sharon Bryan
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge
$3

Sunday, December 15, 2 – 4 pm
Afaa Michael Weaver and Larissa Pienkowski
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library
Main Branch in Hunneman Hall
Brookline
Open mike sign-up: 1:45 pm

Monday, December 16, 8 pm
Tamiko Beyer, Jenny Browne, and Kate Greenstreet
Small Animal Project
Outpost 186
186 1/2 Hampshire St
Cambridge