our interview with No GLykon & meagan masterman of reality handsNo Glykon and Meagan Masterman run a Somerville-based literary journal called Reality Hands, as well as Clouds and Other Louds, a festival of poetry and fiction readings. This year’s festival will be...
April is National Poetry Month! Here Are a few Ways to Celebrate. Read a poem every day! You can find daily poems via Poetry Daily, the Poem-a-Day on poets.org, and by listening to U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith’s podcast, The Slowdown.Mass Poetry is part of...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? A long time ago, at the university, I had already taken all my required courses for Computer Science. I spent the last year in all arts classes, including Creative...
Available now from Indie Bound When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover you wanted to write poems? I was born into a family of avid readers and learned to read quite early, before I went to school. My mother read to me every night when I was small. A...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I loved the beats in high school (of course!), but I didn’t start writing poetry until college. I really wanted to be a novelist, or write a short story, but I could never get...
A Massive Bronze Door Pays Tribute to Poetry —by Ken Bresler Vestibule in the McKim Building at the Central Library in Copley Square A massive bronze door at the Boston Public Library by the American master Daniel Chester French pays tribute to poetry. What a...
Available now on Timothy Gager's website When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover you wanted to write poems? More or less in High School. I was a big music listener as a kid—it drew me in and that was the age of the singer songwriter. Lyrics told...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I compare my poetry encounters in middle and high school with being forced to swallow regular tablespoons of cod liver oil. I was told it was good for my literary health; all I...
Available Now from Press 53 When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I first came upon poetry in elementary school, some rhyming ditties I guess, and then, in what used to be called Junior High School, I remember having...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I first encountered poetry in middle school. Honestly, I don’t remember why, but I decided to write a poem for one of those middle school poetry anthologies. My sixth grade...
Ten Tips For starting a Poetry Discussion Group in your Libraryby Alice Kociemba Recently, Mass Poetry’s website shared exciting news from the National Endowment for the Arts: Nearly 29 million adults in the United States read poetry not required for work or school....
Now Available on Amazon When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? Like most people, my first encounter with poetry was in middle school when the curriculum demanded it. But my first time experiencing poetry as an art...
Longfellow Bridgeby Ken Bresler Bridges named for poets are rare. The Walt Whitman Bridge does connect Philadelphia and Gloucester City, New Jersey, spanning the Delaware River. Boston and Cambridge have the Longfellow Bridge over the Charles River, named for Henry...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover you wanted to write poems? Children encounter poetry quite naturally through nursery rhymes and schoolyard games. As a child, those rhymes are full of rules and rule-breaking, magic and play. Poetry has always...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Van Stone, was a poetry lover. She made us memorize poems and act them out, even making props during our art classes. I remember doing a puppet of a...
public art recognizes poetsby Ken Bresler Cummings typically used lower-case letters in his poems and sometimes spelled his name all in the lower case – but not always. His lower-case initials in The Massachusetts Artifact reflect the spelling “e.e. cummings” that...
MFA/Mass Poetry - Poets in the galleries In fall of 2018 - from September through November - three poets were Poets in Residence at the galleries in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The workshops took place on Wednesday evenings 6:30 - 8:30 pm (Wednesday nights after...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I first “discovered” poetry when I was a senior in high school, although I remember my mother reading me poems when I was a child. I had a great teacher, who’ stop at nothing to...
Available now from Finishing Line Press When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover you wanted to write poems? I first encountered poetry through Dr. Seuss books, and through Mother Goose nursery rhymes. I started writing poems when I was about eight...
Boston Poetry Marathon Set for August 10-12 in CambridgeA much-loved writing community tradition is returning to the Hub again in 2018. The Boston Poetry Marathon will be held August 10th - 12th, at Outpost 186 in Cambridge’s Inman Square. Over three days, nearly 100...
On Coming Home: A Note from Executive Director Daniel JohnsonDaniel Johnson | July 2018 Joining Mass Poetry recently as its newest executive director feels like a homecoming to me. I mean this in the deepest sense. Poetry, for many winters and springs, has given me...