Tag Archives: MSPS

Melissa’s book is available!

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Beverly native Melissa Varnavas, a terrific poet who wrote many wonderful poems, left us too soon, in August 2022, at age 48, after a hard battle with cancer. Her husband and some of her poet friends decided to gather a number of her poems into a book, stealing the title of one, “Instructions for Performing Cartwheels,” for the book title. It is now available on Amazon for $12.

In an “Appreciation” at the beginning of the volume, Colleen MIchaels, former director of the Writing Studio at Montserrat College of Art, writes: “There should be future collections for us to spend time with, more poems from a writer with this talent … This beautiful collection is the fingerprint, the unique mark, made by a poet who cannot be forgotten.”

J.D. Scrimgeour, an author and Salem State professor, said, “Her voice is both light and profound…(the book) made me long for more.”

“Grace is a word that occurred to me many times while reading this book,” wrote Melissa’s graduate program professor Kathleen Aguero in her Appreciation.

Here is a one of her poems.

Morning, 2011

Morning, 2011

Did you hear
that one, solitary song
in the dark before

the earth spun
round enough for the
shine to show over

our sleeping?
A blink of wakefulness and
you would have heard it,

soft as it was, the small of its
rising crest

loud against the morning,
calling

all its kind
to rise.

To be the bird, the sweet
solitude of it, and yet
the desperate

aloneness.

Come, it calls, come and sing
into the new day
that is not yet

dawned.
Come, we can be
here at its breaking.

Slowly, slowly, the chorus
of the angels of this earth
joins in.

Baystate Poetry group on Facebook!!

Since Jeanette Maes is retiring as director of the Mass. State Poetry Society and Cathryn O’Hare (me) is also a bit weary, some of us are starting a Facebook blog so that we can stay in touch and maybe keep poetically vibrant with meetings or feedback of our own work in some way. Rachel Meyer is the genius behind all this. I am sending invitations to some of you whose e-mail I know. But, please join us on Facebook Groups, Baystate Poetry.

The Ides of March Meeting

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The North Shore Poets’ Forum is meeting on March 15 in the Barnet Gallery of the Beverly Public Library at 11 a.m. We obviously weren’t thinking about Julius Caesar or Brutus when we chose the date! However, I expect no one will be in a murderous mood, since Spring is definitely in the air. (Or am I delusional?)

If you are at all like me, you are finding the politics today a bit overwhelming. So, I found a neat website that invites writers of all sorts to submit work on politics and society. Here’s a quick summary:

“Writers for Democratic Action is thrilled to announce our … new online publication (which) is an opportunity to submit your writing on politics, society, and the world. We welcome and encourage diverse perspectives from across the US and abroad. No minimum publications or experience–we want powerful writing relevant to our time.”

Check it out and submit something of your own, perhaps.

March isn’t just about traitors and murder. It also celebrates the Irish, and I will bring a few poems. If you choose, please bring a favorite poem either about the Irish or Spring, which is really, per the Farmers’ Almanac, on the way. Also, bring a poem of your own to share at the meeting for gentle critique.

I usually end with a poem for you to peruse, but I am finding the changes to WordPress too hard. I just can’t figure out how to format a poem, since there is no poetry format. Sorry! So, I’ll leave with good wishes for a nice spring and an invitation to join the Poets’ Forum.

Happy New Year at the Poets Forum

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The North Shore Poet’s Forum will meet Saturday, Sept. 28, at 10:30 a.m., in the Sohier Room of the Beverly Public Library. This is a bit unusual since we normally meet on the 3rd Saturday of the month, but I couldn’t make it last week, and members voted to postpone one week. You may bring food, but be discreet, as usual.

I had no great ideas for a program this month, but I do have lots of poetry magazines that I decided to give to any of you who may want them. They include Poetry, Rattle, Ploughshares, Alaska Quarterly Review (one copy….I don’t know why I have it), and The Sun. There may be more. I have too, too many. And, I thought, it might be fun to read a few and vote on whether we would have chosen to publish them. I think that would be a refreshing and heartening exercise. Oh, I also get The New Yorker, and we all know how many great poets have had work published there. I’m not that impressed with many these days, but it could be because I’m not that smart.

It’s Autumn! Today! First day! So, I’ll leave you with a Fall poem, by Robert Gibb, For the Chipmunk in My Backyard. I like this one so much, I might look up more of his poems.

For the Chipmunk in My Backyard


I think he knows I’m alive, having come down
The three steps of the back porch
And given me a good once over. All afternoon
He’s been moving back and forth,
Gathering odd bits of walnut shells and twigs,
While all about him the great fields tumble
To the blades of the thresher. He’s lucky
To be where he is, wild with all that happens.
He’s lucky he’s not one of the shadows
Living in the blond heart of the wheat.
This autumn when trees bolt, dark with the fires
Of starlight, he’ll curl among their roots,
Wanting nothing but the slow burn of matter
On which he fastens like a small, brown flame.

Spring dreams

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North Shore Poets’ Forum members gathered at the Beverly Public Library on March 16, an almost-spring day, for our first meeting since last year. Susan Hathaway presented information about self-publishing her lovely children’s book, “Who will Speak for the River,” focused on the Ipswich River.

The Ipswich River has been recognized as the eighth most endangered river in the US, serving as the water supply for 14 North Shore communities and as a very popular recreation area for canoeing, fishing, picnicking, hiking. Susan is a member of the Middleton Stream Team and knows the issues — too little water for too many people to rely on for day-to-day living. She hoped to garner more attention to the need for conservation with the book and to inspire children to cherish and care about this precious resource.

Actually, she has two version of the same book, one in English and Spanish, the other in English and Vietnamese. She found a high schooler, Molly, and a seventh grader, Jack, to draw colorful and graceful pictures that capture the beauty of the river and environs.

Susan is now learning how to market the book. As a first step, you are invited to email her at schmwl02@yahoo.com. Put your interest in the subject line. Cost is $13.95 plus shipping. Profits will go toward conservation of the river.

After much discussion, we then read our poems for gentle critique. Our next meeting is Saturday, April 20, 10:30 to 12:30, in the Will Barnet Gallery of the Beverly Public Library. Sandy Hokanson will give a presentation, topic to be determined.

A new season begins

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The North Sore Poets’ Forum will meet on Sat., March 16, in the Barnet Gallery, Beverly Public Library, from 10:30 to 12:30.

Susan Hathaway will give a presentation on self publishing, with which she has experience. We will discuss future meetings, a possible Round Robin, and share a bit of Irish poetry, since St. Patrick’s Day is the next day.

Spring is on our doorstep, and even though it was a pretty easy winter, Spring is always a welcome respite from cold and dreary landscapes. I hope you all bring good cheer and  your poems — with copies — for gentle critique.

Until then, here’s a poem by John Hewitt

The Ram’s Horn

I have turned to the landscape because men disappoint me:
the trunk of a tree is proud; when the woodmen fell it,
it still has a contained Ionic solemnity:
it is a rounded event without the need to tell it.

I have never been compelled to turn away from the dawn
because it carries treason behind its wakened face:
even the horned ram, glowering over the bog-hole,
though symbol of evil, will step through the blown grass with grace.

Animal, plant, or insect, stone or water
are, every minute, themselves; they behave by law.
I am not required to discover motives for them,
or strip my heart to forgive the rat in the straw.

I live my best in the landscape, being at ease there;
the only trouble I find I have brought in my hand.
See, I let it fall with a rustle of stems in the nettles,
and never for a moment suppose that they understand.

May meeting: a Spring treat

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The Noth Shore Poets’ Forum met on May 15 in the Sohier Room of the Beverly Public Library, with 8 of us in attendance: Cathryn O’Hare (me), Jennifer Revill, Sandy Hokanson, Mary Miceli, Ellie Nelson, Beverly Barnes, Susan Picole, and Nancy Pantano.

Susan introduced us to the extraordinarily poignant poetry of Warsan Shire, born in 1988 in Kenya to Somali parents. She was brought to England as a one year old and grew up there. She now lives in the U.S.

Shire focuses on abuse, love, war, and more. Susan read a number of Shire’s poems, including “Home.”

I found this You Tube clip of Shire reading that poem.

Shire has published three volumes of poetry to date, and her poems have appeared in many journals. Here’s a fun fact: her poems were adapted to music for Beyonce’s album Lemonade. Quite a resume for this 25 year old!

After this wonderful introduction to such a proficient poet, we then shared our own poems for gentle critique.

We also decided to have a summer outing. However, the Mass State Poetry Society is meeting on June 17 at the Beverly Public Library, which some of us forgot (me). Therefore, if there is enough enthusiasm, we would have to choose a different date. Please let me know your thoughts.

Cheers!

On the Autumn Agenda

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Autumn glory

The leaves are leaving us in spectacular fashion, as usual for this time of year, showing off their colors in the cool breezes while promising lots of cleanup ahead. So, it is time for new beginnings, in a sense, and I will try to send news more frequently of other poets and groups, as well as share favorite poems now and then.

First, it is with great sorrow that I relay the death on August 11 of my dear friend and poet Melissa Varnavas. She was only 48 years old. We shared the same birthday, many years apart, which was a nice note on which to build a friendship that started at the Beverly Citizen in 1996 or 1997. She was kind enough to think of me as a mentor in the news business and, because I encouraged her to join the North Shore Poets’ Forum, in poetry as well. She outstripped me there, for sure, gaining her MFA in poetry and publication in a number of journals. I loved her, and I will miss her forever.

https://www.lyonsfuneral.com/obituaries/Melissa-Varnavas/#!/Obituary

On a cheerier note, I have been asked to tell you about the Massachusetts State Poetry Society meeting at the Winthrop Public Library on Saturday, Oct. 15, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Ever since the pandemic unnerved us all, we no longer serve food or drinks at the meetings, but attendees are encouraged to bring their own. Bring a pen and paper, too, since Jeannette Maes, president of the society, will present a “mystery” program and  will no doubt ask you to jot down a creative thing or two. In addition, the Waterfront CREW Poet group will present a challenging program entitled “The Meaning of Life.” Google maps or other such site will help you find the library.

The Winthrop Library also hopes you can attend a special program by poet and Winthrop native Cynthia Bargar, who will discuss and read from her new book of poetry, “Sleeping in the Dead Girl’s Room,” on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 6 to 7:30 p.m. The poems deal with mental health issues and possible suicide of a dear aunt.

Click to access wpl-sleeping-bargar-horz-1-4.pdf

And, now for a favorite poem, this one by Stanley Kunitz

End of Summer

STANLEY KUNITZ

An agitation of the air,
A perturbation of the light
Admonished me the unloved year
Would turn on its hinge that night.

I stood in the disenchanted field
Amid the stubble and the stones,
Amazed, while a small worm lisped to me
The song of my marrow-bones

Blue poured into summer blue,  
A hawk broke from his cloudless tower,
The roof of the silo blazed, and I knew
That part of my life was over.

Already the iron door of the north
Clangs open: birds, leaves, snows,
Order their populations forth,
And a cruel wind blows.

Summer Outing coming up

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We are having a Summer Outing this year with a particular twist — to say goodbye to Diane Giardi, who is moving to New York to start a new chapter in her life. Because of her busy schedule, we are changing the date to the fourth Saturday, June 28. We’ll meet , at Captain Carlo’s in Gloucester, 27 Harbor Loop, at 11:30 a.m., when the restaurant opens. Bring some poetry!

I’ll post more information as the date nears. Please let me know if you can come, so that I can be sure to reserve a table for all of us.

 

Cheers!

Annual Poetry Reading date and time change!

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Life is full of changes. So, the North Shore Poets’ Forum has a little change to announce. The annual Poetry Reading in celebration of National Poetry Month that features readings by winners of the Naomi Cherkofsky contest followed by an Open Mic is from the third Saturday in April to the last one. That’s April 26, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at the Beverly Public Library.

I have been a sleepy, lazy, cold lady this winter and haven’t posted much. Still am. But, here’s a little poem by Billy Collins to give you — and me — hope. (Note: WordPress does not allow all poetic formatting! So, I have an ellipse to indicate stanza breaks.)

TODAY

By Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
…
that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
…
and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
…
a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies
…
seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
…
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,
…
releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage
…
so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting
…
into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.