Poetry Sundays on WCAI – Call for Submissions

 

Cape Cod’s NPR affiliate, WCAI, will be featuring readings by local poets on their radio station on Sunday mornings beginning in December. By ‘local’, they mean anywhere in their listening area (Cape, Islands, Southcoast – even RI if you can still catch them on the dial).

I’d like to encourage you all to submit your work for consideration – and to please share this call for poems with your own communities of writers. They are looking to feature a diverse representation of poets – different styles of poetry, different subjects or areas of focus, beginning poets as well as poets who are more experienced, etc. There are no formal education or past publication requirements or restrictions, just send them your work. Poets of color, bilingual poets, and poets with disabilities are especially encouraged to send in work!

One thing I really like about this submission process is that they are asking poets to send both text & audio (see below). Poems operate on so many different levels; this gives the advisory panel and the folks from the station a chance to consider poems with that in mind.

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Here’s the information from the WCAI website – visit http://capeandislands.org/topic/poetry-sundays to learn more.

Poetry Sundays

Each Sunday morning WCAI features a different local poet.

The Cape and Islands region has long provided inspiration to artists. Now WCAI is giving poetry a place in its weekly line-up. Every Sunday morning during Weekend Edition the work of a different local poet will be featured. Join us at 8:44am for Poetry Sundays, beginning in December.

Want to submit your poetry to WCAI? Here’s how.

Submission Guidelines:

• Poems for this upcoming round may only be submitted between September 1 – October 1, 2015. Poets will be notified in November if their poem is accepted or not. (Note from Maggie – if your poem isn’t selected the first time around, there will be another call for submissions in the winter.)
• Poems must be less than 2 minutes when read aloud.
• Please email 3 poems, a brief bio or personal statement (100 words or less), and contact information including name, address, and telephone number, to:poetry@capeandislands.org
• Call our poetry line and read one of your poems as a recorded message. Remember, it must be less than 2 minutes – time yourself beforehand, please, to ensure it meets the time criteria. (Don’t worry: this is not what will go on air! This is just so you have a chance to convey your poetry in your own voice. Mistakes aren’t a problem.) The phone number is:(508) 731-IAMB  (that’s 508 731-4262).

Additional Guidelines:

• No hate speech or expletives.
• Please do not contact the station or the advisors regarding your submission.

Poets for each week are selected by WCAI, with assistance from an advisory panel of published poets and editors. Final decision on what goes on air belongs solely to WCAI.

A new event is coming to New Bedford this August – the Hollihock Writers’ Conference (http://www.hollihock.org).

This is a project put together by the folks at Groundworks Creative Space (LLC), the same people who run the coworking space that’s been in the news this year (http://newbedfordcoworking.com/).

Dominic Perri, who is leading the project, shared with us the news that UMass Dartmouth’s College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Visual and Performing Arts is sponsoring the conference. It will be held at the CVPA building on Purchase Street in New Bedford from 8/21-8/23. They’re also planning an evening Lit Crawl at local businesses in the downtown area.

Through July 15th, Dominic is accepting proposals from people in the community who are interested in teaching classes and organizing panel discussions and readings. These are volunteer positions, but if you have a proposal accepted, you can attend all of the weekend’s events for free.

For more information, including a schedule, ticket pricing, and a list of some of the folks who’ve signed on so far, visit http://www.hollihock.org.

For a proposal form, or if you have any questions, please contact Dominic at dom@hollihock.org.

Everett Hoagland, Recipient of 2015 Langston Hughes Society Award, to Launch New Book at UMASS Dartmouth Reading

Poet Everett Hoagland will give a rare solo reading to debut his latest book, THE MUSIC & Other Selected Poems, on Tuesday April 21, 2:00-3:30pm, in the Main Reading Room of the UMass Dartmouth Library. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to hear Professor Hoagland read in person, LISTEN to me when I tell you that you do not want to miss this reading. If you have heard him read before, you’ll understand why it’s so exciting that he’s giving an extended reading of his work.

Everett Hoagland is Emeritus Professor at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and former Poet Laureate of New Bedford, Massachusetts (1994-1998). He is the recipient of the 2015 Langston Hughes Society Award, the author of several books including This City and Other Poems, and Here: New and Selected Poems, and the editor of the poetry anthology Ocean Voices (Spinner Books, 2012). Professor Hoagland is published in anthologies such as The Best American Poetry 2002, The Oxford Anthology of African American Poetry, The Body Electric, African American Literature (eds Wardi & Gilyard), Liberation Poetry, Bum Rush The Page, and many others. His periodical publications include The Massachusetts Review, The American Poetry Review, The UUA WORLD. He has read his work to audiences in Asia, Africa, Latin America and all over the USA. He is especially beloved in southeastern Massachusetts, where he has been a teacher, mentor, and friend to poets across the region.

Memorial Reading for Joe Gouveia this Sunday, 11/2/14

Join us as a community of poets gathers to celebrate a beloved friend: José “Joe” Gouveia.

The son of Portuguese immigrants, Joe Gouveia was a poet, journalist, organizer and radio personality. He received his MFA in Poetry from New England College and served as Poet in Residence at Cape Cod Community College. He was the Poetry Curator at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, wrote the “Meter Man” poetry column for the Barnstable Patriot in Hyannis, and hosted the “Poets’ Corner” radio show on WOMR in Provincetown. He published one full-length collection of poems, Saudades, with Casa Mariposa Press, and three chapbooks: What We Do; Ginsberg is Dead; and The Slaughter of the Sacred Cow. He also edited three anthologies: Dancing on Water; Common Roots, Common Ground; and Rubber Side Down, the first and only anthology of biker poetry.

Of Saudades, Alicia Ostriker wrote: “In this marvelous collection of poems, Joe Gouveia rides English like a Harley.” Marge Piercy called these poems “powerful and emotionally touching works.” Said Robert Pinsky: “I admire his laughter in the presence of death, his embrace of life and his loving attention to particular provinces and the world at large.“ Copies of the book will be available for sale at the reading.

Joe, who passed away in May, would have turned fifty on November 2nd. Sixteen poets will read their poems—as well as poems by Joe—to remember him on this day.

There is a suggested donation of ten dollars at the door (proceeds will benefit Joe’s family). For more information, please contact Chase Berggrun at cberggrun@gmail.com or Lauren Wolk at lwolk@cultural-center.org.

Please SHARE, and spread the word!

Sonia Sanchez Reading and Speaking in New Bedford this Thursday and Friday!

The NB Historical Society is delighted to host a celebration for the 80th birthday of Sonia Sanchez with a short program of poetry and greetings from local folks including Everett Hoagland, Iva Britto, Amanda deGrace, and New Bedford Poet Laureate Pat Gomes. We honor her legacy as a writer, artist, poet, activist, and voice of our people.

Sonia Sanchez will also be a keynote speaker at next weekend’s Connecting for Change Bioneers Conference, organized by the Marion Institute. She’ll be speaking at the Zeiterion Theater from 9:00 AM – 12:15PM (details at http://www.marioninstitute.org/connecting-for-change/events/sonia-sanchez).

Poet. Mother. Professor. National and International lecturer on Black Culture and Literature, Women’s Liberation, Peace and Racial Justice. Sponsor of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Board Member of MADRE. Sonia Sanchez is the author of over 20 books including Homecoming, We a BaddDDD People, Love Poems, I’ve Been a Woman, A Sound Investment and Other Stories, Homegirls and Handgrenades, Under a Soprano Sky, Wounded in the House of a Friend (Beacon Press 1995), Does Your House Have Lions? (Beacon Press, 1997), Like the Singing Coming off the Drums (Beacon Press, 1998), Shake Loose My Skin (Beacon Press, 1999) and most recently, Morning Haiku (Beacon Press, 2010).

In addition to being a contributing editor to Black Scholar and The Journal of African Studies, she has edited an anthology, We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans. BMA: The Sonia Sanchez Literary Review is the first African American Journal that discusses the work of Sonia Sanchez and the Black Arts Movement. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts, the Lucretia Mott Award for 1984, the Outstanding Arts Award from the Pennsylvania Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Community Service Award from the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, she is a winner of the 1985 American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades, the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Humanities for 1988, the Peace and Freedom Award from Women International League for Peace and Freedom (W.I.L.P.F.) for 1989, a PEW Fellowship in the Arts for 1992-1993 and the recipient of Langston Hughes Poetry Award for 1999. Does Your House Have Lions? was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the Poetry Society of America’s 2001 Robert Frost Medalist and a Ford Freedom Scholar from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Her poetry also appeared in the movie Love Jones.

Sonia Sanchez has lectured at over 500 universities and colleges in the United States and has traveled extensively, reading her poetry in Africa, Cuba, England, the Caribbean, Australia, Europe, Nicaragua, the People’s Republic of China, Norway, and Canada. She was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University and she held the Laura Carnell Chair in English at Temple University. She is the recipient of the Harper Lee Award, 2004, Alabama Distinguished Writer, and the National Visionary Leadership Award for 2006. She is the recipient of the 2005 Leeway Foundation Transformational Award and the 2009 Robert Creeley Award. Currently, Sonia Sanchez is one of 20 African American women featured in “Freedom Sisters,” an interactive exhibition created by the Cincinnati Museum Center and Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition. In December of 2011, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter selected Sonia Sanchez as Philadelphia’s first Poet Laureate, calling her “the longtime conscience of the city.”

Fourth Annual 100 Thousand Poets for Change in New Bedford

 

September 28, 2014 marks the fourth annual 100 Thousand Poets for Change, an event that brings poets, artists and musicians (new this year) around the world together to call for environmental, social, and political change. Voices will be heard globally through concerts, readings, workshops, flash mobs and demonstrations that each focus on their specific area of concern, within the framework of peace and sustainability, such as war, ecocide, racism and censorship.

“Peace and sustainability is a major concern worldwide, and the guiding principle for this global event,” said Michael Rothenberg, Co-Founder of 100 Thousand Poets for Change. “It’s amazing to see how many people have joined in around the world to speak out for causes they believe in, and to see so much heart and creativity expressed in their diverse approaches to this event.”

With over 80 countries participating, Gallery X in downtown New Bedford will be the site of our own local event that includes acoustic musicians along with area poets.

Hosted by New Bedford’s Poet Laureate Patricia Gomes, the reading starts at 1PM in the lower level (Frederick Douglass Gallery) of Gallery X, 169 William St., New Bedford. This event is free and open to the public, but parental guidance is suggested as not all poetry may be suitable for younger listeners.  Poets will read from 1:00 pm until 3:00 pm on Sunday, September 28, 2014.   Visit 100 Thousand Poets for Change at http://100tpc.org.

100 Thousand Poets for Change in New Bedford

Bring your poems of hope and change, peace and acceptance —  be the change you want to see. Hosted by local poets Patricia Gomes and Maggie Cleveland.

100 Thousand Poets for Change is a “live” worldwide initiative featuring nearly 700 events in 110 countries. Plan to be a part of this event! New Bedford’s 100 TPC will be held on Sunday, September 29th at Gallery X in New Bedford.

For the first time, we are including acoustic musicians in addition to poets. Sign-up begins at 12:30 pm sharp, no more than 2 poems, please.

E-mail for info: patg73@hotmail.com, or visit www.100TPC.org

Photo credit: Drew Pion

Mass Poetry Festival Features SouthCoast & Cape Area Poets

The Massachusetts Poetry Festival, the state’s biggest annual gathering of poets and poetry lovers, takes place this weekend. From Friday, May 3, through Sunday, May 5, in Salem, SouthCoast and Cape Cod poets will be well-represented. Everett Hoagland of New Bedford, and Alice Kociemba and Jarita Davis, both of Falmouth, will lead readings.

The festival includes over 100 events – readings, workshops, panels, performances, concerts, open mics, a small press fair, activities for children and teens, and more.

Sharon Olds, winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her 2012 collection, “Stag’s Leap,” will speak Saturday evening. The Pulitzer Board described “Stag’s Leap” as a “book of unflinching poems on the author’s divorce that examine love, sorrow and the limits of self-knowledge.”

She compares her husband’s departure, after 30 years of marriage, to the image of a leaping stag a wine label: “When anyone escapes, my heart  / leaps up. Even when it’s I who am escaped from.”

Other headliners include Tracey K. Smith and Terrance Hayes. Smith won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for “Life on Mars,” a collection of poems in part an elegiac tribute to her late father, one of the engineers who worked on the Hubble Telescope. For Smith, poetry is a way of “stepping into the mess of experience,” being part of the “ongoing conflict” of life and surviving nonetheless.

Hayes has won numerous awards and honors. His most recent collection, “Lighthead,” explores how we construct experience: “the light-headedness of a mind trying to pull against gravity and time.”

Many other nationally recognized poets and emerging poets from all across Massachusetts will read from their works and share their ideas on writing about everything from love and sexuality to global warming. There are workshops on how to write surrealistic poetry, how to give voice to objects, how to incorporate rhythm and movement into poems, how to run a poetry group, and how to stage a slam poetry event, and much more.

“Imagine your town full of poets—every coffee shop, every restaurant, every arts center, every library—each hosting inspiring poetry readings, excellent writing workshops, poetry slams, and even a place where you can read your worst poetry. That’s what Salem is like during the Mass Poetry Fest,” said Alice Kociemba, who directs Calliope Poetry Readings at the West Falmouth Library.

“Imagine coming in second in the worst poetry contest,” she added. “There are poets on trolleys reading their poems; there are poets on the train from South Station reading their poems. There are poets everywhere.”

Kociemba, who serves on the board of Mass Poetry, will moderate “From Every Corner of the Commonwealth,” a panel discussion and reading on Saturday, May 4, from 1:30 to 2:30 PM at the Hawthorne Hotel.  Kociemba has selected six “poet ambassadors” who have created a sense of community in their own area of the state by directing poetry reading series, holding workshops, sponsoring collaborative projects with artists, musicians, and other writers, and promoting creativity about their craft and performance.

The panel will be of interest to those who direct poetry readings and workshops or are thinking of starting one, as well as to poets who are looking for venue hosts. Among those participating on the panel are two Cape Cod poets: Lorna Blake of Brewster and Alan Feldman of Natick and Wellfleet. Each will describe their reading series, workshops, and collaborative endeavors and read from their own work.

Everett Hoagland of New Bedford has organized a reading for the Ocean Voices Anthology, featuring an array of poets from various cultural traditions and writing influences. Ocean Voices, an intergenerational, multicultural anthology of “ocean poems,” was published this fall by New Bedford’s award-winning small press, Spinner Publications. The reading will take place on Saturday in the Hawthorne Hotel, Essex Room, from 12:15 – 1:15 PM and features Martin Espada, winner of the Poetry Society of Amer’ca’s Shelley Memorial Award, vocalist Candida Rose, and several poets who have work in the Ocean Voices anthology.

Jarita Davis will lead “Poems for the Invention of Glory” on Saturday, May 4, from 11 AM to noon, at the Peabody Essex Museum. Davis and five other panelists will read ekphrastic poems written in response to the museum’s exhibition, “The Invention of Glory: Alfonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries.” All are members of a new collective of over 100 Luso-American (Portuguese-American) poets.

Mass Poetry Fest buttons, which allow admission to all events except workshops, are $15, $7 for seniors and students. For an additional $5, workshops are included. Because workshop attendance is limited, it is advisable to register online in advance at masspoetry.org.

For more information, visit masspoetry.org or contact Alice Kociemba at calliopepoetryreadings@verizon.net.

Next Big Thing

Maggie Cleveland’s new blog has launched with a NEXT BIG THING post – check it out here.

Ocean Voices – Book Release: Poetry Reading and Book Signing To Be Held at New Bedford Whaling Museum Sunday, February 24, 2013

New Bedford, MA— Local poets whose work appears in Ocean Voices: An Anthology of Ocean Poems will read their poems at a book release event held in New Bedford Whaling Museum’s auditorium, Sunday, February 24, 2013 from 2-4 p.m. Readers include: Everett Hoagland, Laurie Robertson-Lorant, Susan Grace, Claudia Grace, Askia Toure, Ken Hartnett, Maggie Cleveland & Catherine McLaughlin. The poetry reading will start at 2 p.m. with a book signing following the reading. Ocean Voices will be available for purchase on that day. The event is free and open to the public. Ocean Voices: An Anthology of Ocean Poems is edited by Everett Hoagland and published by Spinner Publications.

Ocean Voices is a collection of poems inspired by the sea. Walt Whitman is one of these voices, as are masters such as Melville, Dickinson and D.H. Lawrence. Celebrated twentieth-century and modern-day poets appear in the book, such as Pablo Neruda, Askia Toure, Amiri Baraka, Mary Oliver, Robert Francis, Derek Walcott, Lucille Clifton, Catherine McLaughlin and authentic fisherman poet, David Densmore. New England poets Claudia Grace, Laurie Robertson-Lorant, Susan Grace and former New Bedford poet laureates John Landry and Everett Hoagland also lend their voices.

Editor Everett Hoagland chose poems that speak directly about the ocean, using it as an evocative backdrop, poems written with a mix of autobiography, literary skill, and artful personification. “Since many of us in the New Bedford area live in or near a seaside community” explains Hoagland, “I put together this collection by poets from cultural backgrounds who variously give voice to the ocean’s impact on our thoughts and lives. The hope is that the anthology will help foster appreciation for the ocean and raise consciousness about the immediate need to care for it. As the ocean goes, so go we.”

In his Foreword, Hoagland advises us to hold this book to our mind’s ear, “just as we held sea shells to our outer ear during childhood visits to the seashore, and we shall hear the sea’s measured music…as well as moans from slave and convict ships.” In the book’s Introduction, Laurie Robertson-Lorant, noted author and Melville biographer, reminds us that although the ocean has been a source of creative inspiration and spiritual insight to human beings for millennia, human ignorance, greed and heartless disrespect for it have produced a continent-sized island of plastic known as “the Pacific gyre.”

Everett Hoagland is Emeritus Professor at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and former Poet Laureate of New Bedford, Massachusetts (1994-1998). He is the author of several books including This City and Other Poems, and Here: New and Selected Poems. Professor Hoagland is published in anthologies such as The Best American Poetry 2002, The Oxford Anthology of African American Poetry, The Body Electric, African American Literature (eds Wardi & Gilyard), Liberation Poetry, Bum Rush The Page, and many others. His periodical publications include The Massachusetts Review, The American Poetry Review, The UUA WORLD. He has read his work to audiences in Asia, Africa, Latin America and all over the USA.

Spinner Publications is a New Bedford-based, award-winning publisher of books, videos, and calendars focusing on the history and culture of southeastern New England. Among its most popular titles are Lincoln Park Remembered, A Picture History of Fairhaven, Drifting Toward the Southeast, Portuguese Spinner, Cranberry Cooking for All Seasons, Brick by Brick, Branded on My Arm and in My Soul and the Spinner anthology series, People and Culture in Southeastern Massachusetts. Perennial favorites are the two calendars, The New England Fisherman and Historic Southeastern New England.  For more information, contact Spinner Publications at (508) 994-4564, visit http://www.spinnerpub.com/Ocean_Voices.html or look up Spinner Publications on Facebook.