Mass Poetry is co-sponsoring two events at the virtual 2020 Boston Book Festival (October 5th – 25th, 2020).
Boston Book Festival
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Blog
Nathan Mcclain’s “Against Melancholy”
Against Melancholy by Nathan McClain At first it is Beethoven’s Ninth I’m thinking of— not all of it—mostly the fourth movement, that rousing crescendo you might hear at the end of a movie where the protagonist has graduated or overcome some great hurdle, cello,...
Cliff Notez’s “Completely Dishonest” & Emily Duggan’s Tomorrow After the End of the World
Completely Dishonest by Cliff Notez To live in this skin,When being completely dishonest with the worldDo not tell them how you snore like lightning Tell them that you are only 5’9’’Tell them you hate to read Do not tell them that you are...
Getting To Know Steven Cramer & His New Book, Listen
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? There was no poetry in my parents’ house, and mostly genre prose. Ian Fleming, not Henry Fielding. From first to twelfth grade, I read what teachers assigned, too often less than...
Danielle Legros Georges’ “Only”
Only by Danielle Legros Georges Nature hides the most beautiful design: the norm, the anomaly, the rare, the rarest, which is to say, the only, and aren’t weeach, twins even, only? “Only” from The Dear Remote Neamess of You. Copyright 2016 by Danielle Legros Georges....
Tim Hall’s “Autumn Leaves” & Kali Lightfoot’s “Grocery Gavotte, 5:30 a.m.”
Autumn Leaves by Tim Hall To live in this skin,Is to fear breathing,Is to have no control of breathing,Is to walk around with two puffs left in my inhaler,hesitant to use it,worried that I won't be able to breath someday. To live in this skin,Is to scream...
Getting To Know Eman Hassan & Her New Book, Raghead
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? It was the summer I turned eleven. I discovered T.S. Eliot’s collected poems on my mother’s bookshelf, along with Emily Dickinson’s work. I was blown away by how you could use...
Sarah Dickenson Snyder’s “I am From the Church of Human Hands”
I am From the Church of Human Hands by Sarah Dickenson Snyder the Hands that tighten the lug bolts on rotated tires, the Hands that picked the hen-of-the woods (and not death caps) I buy to make wild mushroom soup, the hundreds of steady Hands clasping...
Interview with Brookline Poetry Series
Interview with Aimée Sands, Co-Director
August 26, 2020: Hannah Wagner’s “A Tarot Reading (5 of Cups)” & David Giannini’s “Outside, Before Entering”
A Tarot Reading (5 of Cups) by Hannah Wagner The cups hang above me andthe wine drizzles down the sides of my mouth. I let dreams by Fleetwood Mac play on repeat. 5 was always my lucky numbersays every fortune cookie I never ate. I am alone in the kitchenat...
Getting To Know Aly Pierce & Her New Book, The Visible Planets
Everyone comes to writing from different places -- how did you first encounter poetry? Did you have an ‘a-ha!’ sort of moment where you realized you wanted to be/already were a poet, or was it more gradual? I first encountered poetry in elementary school in fifth...
Cameron Awkward-Rich’s “Bad News, Again”
Bad News, Again by Cameron Awkward-Rich after the June 2015 Charleston AME church shootingafter Mary Oliver There are so many reasons to stay inside, to lock the room around my heart. I don’t even like it. My heart. Bitter little fruit. Little lead stone, carnation...
María José Giménez’s “a flor de piel (blooming on my skin)” & Kim Baker’s “Let Grief Come”
a flor de piel (blooming on my skin) by María José Giménez blooming on my skinbloodied fieldsof unbloomed childrenblooming on my skinwilted traintracksof weeping eldersblooming on my skintu país, mi paísblooming on my skina nation builtby blistered handsblooming on my...
Getting To Know Enzo Silon Surin & His New Book, When My Body Was A Clinched Fist
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? As a Haitian-born writer, storytelling is something ingrained in my Caribbean DNA and as such I was always interested in telling stories. However, as most Caribbean children can...
Steven Cramer’s “Rereading Tranströmer in a Pandemic”
Rereading Tranströmer in a Pandemic by Steven Cramer I’ve seen next to no one.My street, which I’ve namedThe Busiest in the Known Cosmos,I could lay my body down on. Nobody’s sick, goes the newsfrom Antarctica, where snowpetrels, to repel predators, spewstomach oils...
Interview with Newton Free Library Reading Series
Interview with Doug Holder, organizer for Newton Free Library Reading Series
Claudia Wilson’s “Chloe says the earth wants to grow things” & Dawn Paul’s “Soften Your Eyes”
Chloe says the earth wants to grow things by Claudia Wilson We spend somuch timestanding on theground,but we nevertouch it She says thiswhile giving meseeds and atomato plant We pick a spotmy fingerstouch the earth. It’s drylike my belief...
Getting To Know Ilyus Evander & Their New Book, Heavier Than Wait
A lot of this book is written using language/formatting tied to computer programming, with even the title being formatted in a way that is reminiscent of HTML. Do you have a background in that sort of area, and how did you come to start writing in this mode? The...
Jennifer Jean’s “Poetry”
Poetry by Jennifer Jean Sometimes a poem says it first. Says: “The Pacific Coast boardwalk cyclists will pedal, churn, chargemobile carbon collectors! Stuck above a back tire!Will vacuum & compress breathable particulates! Till, each cycler has...
Deborah Leipziger’s “If I must wear a mask” & Martha Collins’s “Benediction”
If I must wear a mask by Deborah Leipziger Let it be a mask of flowersViolets and magnoliaPansies, buds of allkinds, wrapped around my earscovering my lipsLet me smile in irisFlower the first syllable Previously published in Amethyst Review (June 2020)....
Getting To Know Fae Kayarian & Her New Book, Journals Of A Visitor: A Medical Scribe’s Accounts Of Love, Healing And Self-discovery
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? Growing up in a small New Hampshire town, I found solace in many places- the woods, the estuary, the railroad tracks- but always seemed to find myself returning to the same spot:...