Lisa Stott, who teaches at the Wetherbee School in Lawrence and organized a Student Day of Poetry, contributed the following story. Lately it seems that Lawrence has been in the news only to highlight the state’s designation of the Public School System’s “underperforming status” and announcement of its newly appointed receiver. But on January 10, [...]
CommonThreads: Poems for national poetry month
Back by popular demand, Mass Poetry offers its second annual Common Threads group reading and discussion program for April, National Poetry Month. The texts of the poems, videos of the poets reading their own work and poems from those no longer with us, plus a discussion guide, questions, and links will be available on [...]
Louder Than a Bomb: a slam festival that expands on Student Day of Poetry
Friday March 30th through Sunday April 1st Massachusetts Institute of Technology will play host to Massachusetts’ first Louder Than a Bomb festival. The festival, founded by Anna West and Kevin Coval in 2001, originated in Chicago. It is the largest youth poetry slam in the world. The Louder Than a Bomb festival allows youths [...]
Spoken word — the durability of a universal tradition
We have presented several stories about the value of spoken word poetry including Dr. Susan Weinstein’s study of the literacy value of spoken word and Nicole L Rodriguez’s President’s Volunteer Service Award for her work in schools as a spoken word poet. Here is a story about what MassPoetry is doing in that area. Spoken [...]
POEM OF THE MOMENT:
by Frank Bidart
What none knows is when, not if.
Now that your life nears its end
when you turn back what you see
is ruin. You think, It is a prison. No,
it is a vast resonating chamber in
which each thing you say or do is
new, but the same. What none knows is...
Read the complete poem here.
Or hear Frank Bidart read Saturday afternoon at the festival in Salem.
Or study this poem as part of Common Threads--a National Poetry month celebration.
MORE ON THE MASS POETRY FESTIVAL
- Festival Announcements
- New Addition to Saturday Headliners
- The MPF Schedule of Events Is Now Online!
- The Festival Needs Your Help — Volunteer!
- Bidart, Collins and Dunn Headline Sunday Afternoon at MPF
- Small press fair: a place to discover and share
- Friday night headliners for MPF: Pinsky, Jackson and Dietz
- 2012 Massachusetts Poetry Festival–April 20-22
Local Poetry Events
Recent Tweets
Follow @masspoetry on Twitter
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An amazing April:
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Food for Festival Thought: Stephen Dunn and Frank Bidart (Sunday Poets) on PingPong and Hollywood
- Title
- Stephen Dunn - Poets in Person - Episode 2
- Runtime
- 3:15
- Description
- The Cortland Review presents Poets in Person: Epis...
- Title
- James Franco and Frank Bidart - mausoleum (clip 4)
- Runtime
- 1:50
- Description
- A talk with James Franco and poet Frank Bidart
- Title
- Massachusetts Poetry Festival Trailer (2011)
- Runtime
- 2:54
- Description
- Watch this video highlighting some of the wonderfu...
- Creating a Poetry Community for Students May 15, 2012
- New Poetry Craft Book by Annie Finch May 7, 2012
- Can’t Get Enough? May 4, 2012
- MPF Videos: First — Louder Than a Bomb Slam … May 3, 2012
- MPF Videos: Second — Bad Poetry May 3, 2012
- Can’t Get Enough? May 4, 2012
- MPF Videos: Second — Bad Poetry May 3, 2012
- MPF Videos: First — Louder Than a Bomb Slam … May 3, 2012
- At the All-Star Slam at Victoria Station April 29, 2012
- The Morning After April 23, 2012


















