I’m sure you’ve already heard about all the interesting events taking place on Saturday, May 14, during the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in Salem. There are the poetry trains and trolleys which sound like a ton of fun to me. On the trains, poets have volunteered to help shepherd travelers from Boston’s North Station to Salem by designating a special train car for the Festival. The volunteer then essentially reads poems for the duration of the trip or offers to sort of moderate an impromptu open mic. Then the Salem Trolley pick up passengers and takes them to the various venues again with a volunteer reading poetry as the trolley travels around.

Otherwise I’m pretty torn about what events to attend and how to best schedule my time to get the most out of this very educationally packed day. So, I thought I’d share my preliminary schedule with you and hope that you’ll weigh-in to help me decide. What are you going to? It will be great to be in sessions with other NSPF friends… everything’s better when you’re doing it with friends, isn’t it?

I’ll be volunteering as a “guide” 9-11 a.m. a perfect time as far as that goes because it seems like that will be the key “arrival” period. And it doesn’t seem like I’ll miss too many of the Festival “sessions.”

At 11 a.m. there is “The Art of Critique and the Development of Craft” panel at Colonial Hall. I’m hoping this will provide some insight on different methods to help us NSPF members critique each others’ works when we meet again next time.

At 12:15 p.m., I was thinking about heading over to the Morse Auditorium at the PEM for “Speaking Pictures: Beyond Ekphrastic Workshop” led by Susan Rich. This goes until 1:45 p.m.

I wanted to also make it to the Boston Haiku Society reading 1-2:30 p.m. as preparation for the 2:30 p.m. haiku writing workshop.

At 1:45-2:45 p.m., there’s a workshop called “Becoming the Other: Writing the Dramatic Monologue” which I’d hoped might help provide a little insight on how to enhance “perspective” and “personae” in my poems. But this workshop is all the way over at the House of Seven Gables.

At 2-3:30 p.m. Kim Richey leads a workshop on songwriting that I thought would be a blast to attend with my singer/songwriter/artist/teacher hubby (if, of course, I can rope him into coming with me!).

But… I will be presenting as part of a panel of poets regarding the somewhat controversial topic of why poets should seek to obtain a master of fine arts degree at 3-4 p.m., upstairs in the Old Town Hall. I would really really really love to see some friendly faces in the audience if you don’t already have something scheduled.

Phew! At 4-5 p.m. I’m rushing over to the Salem Anthenaeum for a workshop with Patricia Smith, author of “Blood Dazzler” a collection of poems about Hurricane

Katrina that she tells from a variety of perspectives including personifying the city of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina herself. I just started reading it and it is pretty powerful stuff.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to catch the evening headline readings which feature poets Mark Doty, Kim Richey, and Patricia Smith which starts at 7:30 p.m. at the First Universality Society of Salem. My nephews and nieces need some time with their Aunti.

You’ve probably already received this little “Top 10” list if you are the Massachusetts Poetry Festival e-mail list but I thought it was kinda cute (who doesn’t love poetry jokes?) so I’ll put it in this post:

10. Witch persecutions in Salem no longer an issue.

9. Poetry Trolleys!

8. Watch MC Christopher Lydon try to pronounce “Aimee Nezhukumatathil.”

7. Rare opportunity to hear barbaric yawps.

6. Borders is closing—buy books at the Small Press Fair and book sellers.

5. See secret “eighth gable” in basement of the House of Seven Gables.

4. No problem parking — plenty of meter.

3. Long-form birth certificates not required for entry.

2. Bad poetry—this means you!—celebrated by Steve Almond.

 1. Free Versers/Formalists food fight!

Okay then my NSPF friends… help a girl out! What sessions are you going to and where we can meet each other? Maybe next year we can have a NSPF poets reading session in some little Salem café?

See you soon!

As many of you already know, the Massachusetts Poetry Festival takes place this weekend, Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14 in Salem.  I thought I’d take a moment to let you know about a few items and tell you what I’m most excited about/signed up to attend.

During the day Friday, more than 600 high school students will descend on Salem State University to participate in writing workshops from the likes of poets X.J. Kennedy, Sarah Kay, Jericho Brown, and Brian Turner. In the middle of the day the acclaimed documentary Louder than a Bomb will be shown, with an introduction by Adam Gottlieb, one of the featured poets, and Anna West, co-founder of the Chicago slam poetry contest that is the focus of the film. Incidentally if you cannot make it to this screening of the film it will be shown on Saturday also at the Salem Cinema and in June at Boston’s Coolidge Corner Theatre starting Friday, June 3 and at the Salem Cinema starting Friday, June 17.

Workshops for the non-student population begin Friday afternoon. At 4:15 p.m., there’s a presentation on Anne Bradstreet and one on Elizabeth Bishop (some of you may have had the pleasure of listening to Lloyd Schwartz when he came to the Hamilton-Wenham Writer’s Guild back in February or when he presented at the Salem Athenaeum in March). I’m signed up for a program with Richard Hoffman and Robert Gibbons that takes place at The Gathering called “The Rhythm of Resistance and Desire” which promises to help me “find expression that creates a second life in language” by exploring examples of new writing.

At 5:30 p.m., I’ve signed up for a session hosted by Newburyport poet and Powow River Poets founder Rhina P. Espaillat regarding Federico Garcia Lorca (I love him!). During the presentation which takes place at the Peabody Essex Museum, vocalist Ann Tucker will sing five of Lorca’s poems accompanied by guitarist and composer John Tavano. The “melopoeia,” an ancient art form, is a combination of poetry and music. I’ve seen Rhina present a “melopoeia” arrangement before at the Newburyport Arts Association a few years back and it was terrific. I’m sure this event will be great too.

Then, at 7:30 p.m., at the Peabody Essex Museum, there will be readings by four featured poets including:

• Brian Turner, author of Here, Bullet, a prize-winning book about the poet’s experience in Iraq, and most recently, Phantom Noise, which was shortlisted for the

  

  2010 T.S. Eliot Prize.

• Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of three poetry collections: Lucky Fish; At the Drive-in Volcano, winner of the Balcones Prize for the best collection of poetry published in 2007; and Miracle Fruit, winner of the Tupelo Press Prize.
• Jericho Brown, author of Please, his first book, which won the American Book Award, and recipient of the Whiting Writers Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Krakow Poetry Seminar in Poland.
• Enzo Silon Surin is a Haitian-born poet, writer, playwright, advocate and the author of Higher Ground (Finishing Line Press, 2006), which was nominated for the Massachusetts Book Award. Surin’s poem, Blues Prelude (Chicago), is a Pushcart Cart nominee and his poem, Events on Paper Smear, won the Boston Mayor’s 2010 Poetry and Prose Competition.

If you’re not exhausted by the time the featured readings end, head over to the Gulu Gulu Café for the “intercollegiate poetry slam” that takes places from 9:30 to 10:15 p.m. I’m not sure my stamina will take it, especially as I’ll need to be awake to volunteer at 9 a.m. the next morning, but I bet it will be a blast.

There is so much going on I think I’ll end this blog post here and talk more about Saturday’s events in a different post. Are you going to the Festival? What events are you looking forward to most?