Other Readings and assorted links

This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Please visit the new Poets' Asylum website at http://worcesterpoetsasylum.wordpress.com/ for the latest info on what is happening poetically in and around Worcester.

Central Massachusetts readings

Regularly Scheduled Readings -- listed alphabetically by the name of reading or venue

• The Coffee Loft Poetry Reading meets every Thursday night at The Coffee Loft (406 Lincoln Street, Marlboro). If you enjoy puns, metaphors, prose, rhymes, near-rhymes, vocab extension, syllable placement, run-ons, grammar and grammar tricks, please join us to bear your soul with local writers and poets. They plan to start with an open reading for the first few weeks then start having features. Poetry slams will come along as an audience builds. Check it out and stay tuned for updates.

  The reading will meet every Thursday night from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. For more information contact Jarad at Jarad.T.Bushnell @ gmail.com.

• The d'Alzon Arts Series: Poetry Reading takes place at Assumption College (500 Salisbury Street, Worcester) in the Emmanuel d'Alzon Library on the third Friday of each month during the academic year. The format is an open mic for the first half-hour or so, a short break with refreshments and then 2 featured poets. The reading starts at 7:00 p.m. and typically runs for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Readings run throughout the school year.

  For more information e-mail the host, Dawn Thistle, at dthi...@assumption.edu.

• The Dirty Gerund Poetry Show is held every Monday night starting at 9:00 p.m. The reading is being held at Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner (148 Grove Street, Worcester) and is hosted by the dynamic duo of Nick Davis and Alex Charalambides. There will be an open mic every week with a mix of poetry slams and featured poets.

  No cover; donations accepted. 21+

  Visit the Dirty Gerund website for more info.

• The First Monday Poetry Series meets on the first Monday of each month at the First Unitarian Church (90 Main Street, Worcester). The reading runs from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. and is held in the Bancroft Room. This is a collaborative project between First Unitarian Church & the WCPA. For more info visit the reading website.

• The Little "a" Poetry Series meets every Thursday night at 7:00 p.m., with an open mic preceding the feature. It is free and all ages, and will be held at The Strange Attractor (97D Webster Street, Worcester). Hosted by "Cowboy" Matt Hopewell, who also does the booking and can be reached at themadecowboy @ gmail . com or by phone at (508) 479 8311.

• Cigar Masters (1 Exchange Street, Worcester) hosts Poetry Cove on the third Friday of every month. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the show runs until midnight. There will be live music and spoken word performances. 18+ and $10 cover. Proper dress preferred.

  Poets & Musician interested in performing at this event contact: Efua at 508-615-1149 or email ellitepromotes@yahoo.com.

• The Saturday Evening Open Mic meets on the fourth Saturday of the month at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Lincoln Plaza (541D Lincoln Street, Worcester). There is an open mic at 7:00 p.m. which is followed by a featured poet. Hosted by Carle Johnson.

• The Shrewsbury Senior Writers is a group that meets every Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, at the Shrewsbury Senior Center (100 Maple Avenue, Shrewsbury). The meeting is open to all, and welcome both you and your contributions. The group includes novel and biography authors, short story and essay writers, as well as some extremely gifted poets, all of whom give readings (when they feel like it) at the meetings. Come visit! You will enjoy a very pleasant, relaxed morning.

  For more info please contact ahweiss @ yahoo . com.

• The Street Beat meets at the WCPA offices at the Village Arts Gallery, 1 Ekman Street, Worcester on the second Thursday of each month. Hosted by Anne-Marie Lucci the reading consists of an open reading followed by a feature. The reading starts at 7:00 p.m.

• The Worcester Youth Slam (Speakout! Poetry Collective) usually meets on the third Friday of every month. The reading takes place from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. in Razzo Hall (Clark University, Traina Center for the Arts, 92 Downing Street, Worcester).

  $5-10 suggested donation. This event is free and open to the public, but we ask for community support to help raise funds for both Clark Poetry Slam & OPEN Clubs. For more info please visit the Worcester Youth Slam website.

• Carle Johnson runs a writer's workshop on the second Thursday of each month at the Richard Sugden Library in Spencer. The group meets at 1:00 p.m. There is a a mix of fiction, poetry, and prose and everyone seems to profit from paying attention to the others' problems and attempted solutions.

  For more information contact Carle Johnson at cajo...@aol.com.

Back to the top

Other New England readings

Cambridge and parts east of Natick

• The Boston Slam takes place each Wednesday in the basement of the Cantab Lounge, 738 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. with the reading starting at 8:00 p.m. The usual format is an open mike begins followed by a featured poet and then a slam.

  The cover is usually $3. Check their website for more information and an updated schedule of events.

• The Lizard Lounge, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA holds a reading every Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. An eight person slam every week followed by a feature and then an open mic backed by the Jeff Robinson Trio. The cover is $4. More info can be found at their web site.

• Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. every Monday. They gather at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery (106 Prospect Street, Cambridge) with an open mic sign-up at 7:30 p.m. A donation of four dollars is requested. All money goes to the gallery, and the feature poets do not currently profit from a reading (unless they have books to sell).

  Learn more about this long time reading by visiting their blog, stonesouppoetry.blogspot.com.

• Down in New Bedford, MA there is an occasional reading series called Whaling City Review LIVE. They meet for periodic poetry events at Gallery X, the Unitarian Church, Seamen's Bethel, and other venues in New Bedford and environs. For more information, email whalingcityreview @ gmail . com.

  There is also a blog for Whaling City Review LIVE available at whalingcityreview.blogspot.com and they can also be found on Facebook.

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

Western Massachusetts

• Join the poets every Thursday night at the Green Street Cafe in Northampton (64 Green Street, next to the Smith College Campus) for an evening of music and poetry. Music starts at 7:00 p.m. with the poetry following at 8:00 p.m.

• Word In Westfield takes place every Wednesday night and starts at 7:00 p.m. The reading is held at Teapot Gallery, 22 Elm Street (route 10/202) in Westfield, MA. The reading will be hosted by Eli Baenziger and Maurice Soulfighter Taylor.

  Sign up is at 6:30 p.m. and open mic starts at 7:00 p.m. followed by a guest feature.

  Lori Desrosiers, former co-host of Word In Westfield, keeps a blog of poetry happenings in Western Massachusetts. Give it a read by visiting here.

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

New Hampshire

• Audio Graffiti meets on the third Saturday of every month at MindFull Books & Ephemera (29 Main Street, Jaffrey, NH). The read runs from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m. and consists of an open mic and feature. The reading is hosted by Brandi MacDonald.

  More info is available at their Facebook page or via e-mail to brandi_603 @ hotmail . com.

• If you have a hankering for a roadtrip head to Slam Free or Die, the New Hampshire Poetry Slam. They meet every Thursday night at Milly's Tavern (500 North Commercial Street, Manchester, NH). The poetry takes place every from 7:00 - 11:00 p.m. and there is a $3 cover. Come on down, recite poetry, tell stories, do free-verse, whatever!

• The Stone Pigeon Poetry and Spoken Word Open Mic occurs the second Monday of every month from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The reading takes place at at "Breaking New Grounds" Coffee Shop (14 Market Square) in Portsmouth, NH.

  The format consists of two featured readers, followed by an open mic. This is a family freindly reading, with an atmosphere of fun and good-natured heckling. Please come join us to read or just take it all in!

  Visit stonepigeon.com for more info.

• Every third Thursday of the month Beat Nite takes place at the The Press Room (77 Daniels Street) in Portsmouth, NH. The reading takes place from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Featured poets are backed by the band Groove Bacteria. An Open mic takes place at 8:00 p.m. hosted by Ryan McLellan and Ayanna Gallant.

  Contact groo...@comcast.net for booking information.

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

Rhode Island

• GotPoetry Live meets at Blue State Coffee (300 Thayer Street, Providence, RI 02906 ) every Tuesday night. The reading runs from 8:00 - 10:00 p.m. The format will be an open mic followed by a feature. $3 Cover.

• The MondaySLAM @ The Spot Undergound meets on the first and third Monday each month at, you guessed it, The Spot Underground (15 Elbow Street, Providence, RI). The usual format is a small open mic, a cash Slam, a poetry feature and a music mini-feature. The reading runs from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. $3 cover.

  More info on the reading is available on their Facebook group. Venue info is available at thespotprovidence.com.

• The Providence Poetry Slam takes place at AS220, (115 Empire Street, Providence, RI). The start time varies based on the schedule. Cover is normally $4.

  Their schedule is now:

  • 1st Thursday - open mic, feature, open slam (8:00 p.m. start)
  • 3rd Tuesday - music & poetry open mic, feature, late night slam (9:00 p.m. start)
  • 4th Thursday - writer's club

  Check out their MySpace page for more info on the Providence Poetry Slam.

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

Connecticut

• Check out the poetic scene in Connecticut via the The Connecticut Poetry Calendar at www.poetz.com/connecticut. It is updated weekly. .

Back to Other New England readings ... Back to the top

Other poetic links

• The Worcester County Poetry Asssociation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the writing arts. Founded in 1971 to provide a forum for local poets, students, and others to celebrate the rich literary history of Central Massachusetts, the WCPA sponsors readings, workshops, and other activities involving both local and nationally known poets and writers.

  They are the publishers of The Worcester Review.

• gotpoetry.com is a kick-ass website from our friend John Powers down in Providence. There's a plethora of info on upcoming events (both in Providence and the region), poetic news, regular columns from the likes of Victor Infante, Joe Fusco Jr. and Tony Brown, serialized novels from Sou MacMillan and Ryk McIntyre and much more.

  Plus you can submit things that you think are of interest... check out this article for all the details.

• Ballard Street Poetry Journal is a local journal for and by poets and lovers of poetry. The journal comes out twice a year and the organizers host workshops and events. For samples of published poems, submission guidelines, workshop schedules and more please visit their website.

   

• The Dead Poets of New England is a grassroots group of people who love poetry and enjoy learning about our past poets. They are affiliated with the Dead Poets Society of America, and are especially focus on documenting the gravesites of Massachusetts' past poets, as well as discussions about their poetry related to cemeteries, elegy, and death. Their map of the gravesites of Massachusetts poets is growing thanks to public participation.

  For more information please visit their blog.

• Haven't had a chance to read the travel journals of Deb Middleton and Lia Klunk's time at the 2001 Taos Poetry Circus yet? Well head on over to the Taos Travel Logs page.

• The Boston Poet web site has articles, poetry, interviews and an open mike + venue guide.

• The Academy of American Poets sounds pretty pretentious. However their website, poets.org provides a poet database with information on 400 poets, over 600 poems, forums and even a listening booth so you can hear poetry the way the author meant it to be heard. As if that weren't enough the academy started National Poetry Month in 1996.

• Poetry Slam, Inc. is the mother organization of poetry slams around the world. Info on what slam is all about, past slams, etc. can be found at this sight.

• livepoets.com is dedicated to promoting quality spoken word and providing an interface for poets and their audiences.

• You'll find some good information about the Midwest Poetry Slam League, as well as other information about the Detroit Poetry Slam online at http://www.detroitslam.com.

• Located in Washington, DC Myth @ Teaism is a house of slam and an amazing poetry reading. Check it out.

• http://www.ColumbusPoetry.com will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the poetry scene in Columbus, OH.

• Southern California has a wealth of performance poetry to offer as well. Visit http://poetix.net for loads of info, articles, and "the most comprehensive and inclusive calendar and venue listing anywhere in So Cal".

• http://www.daytonslam.net offers up info on the Slam scene in Dayton, Ohio.

• Heading to Chicago, IL? The following sites provide a wealth of info on poetry performances in and around the Chicago, IL area.
  • http://www.chicagopoets.com
  • http://www.e-poets.net
  • http://www.freshpoetry.com

• SWOT stands for Spoken Word of Tulsa and their new website is pretty cool. With a calendar of events, info on the Tulsa poetry scene and CD reviews and samples it's wicked cool. Check it out and let them know what you think.

• About.com's Contemporary Poetry web site has a wealth of info about poets, poems and all things poetic.

• Previous No Poetry Haikus can be found here.

Back to the top

Miscellaneous links

This is a spot for the strange, bizarre and down right nutty things that are referred to during readings.

• The Darwin Awards are a perennial favorite at the Poets' Asylum reading. The stories of bad luck, bad planning and just plain stupidity make us laugh and cringe. At least the gene pool is getting a good cleaning.

• Peeps Research looks at the ubiquitous holiday marshmallow snack known simply as Peeps. Learn about the basic science of Peeps, what makes them tick, what makes them burst into flame.

  Editors note: I find it mildly disturbing that Peeps do not dissolve in sulfuric acid. It's just wrong.

• Utilikilts Co. - the official kilt of the Poets' Asylum. OK, not really but it sounds cool to have an official anything and both Bill + Andrew have them so they can't too weird, right. :-)

• It only takes a click to donate food to those in need. Head over to the The Hunger Site . All it takes is a click of the mouse and a little bit of your time.

Back to the top