“Words have the power to both destroy and heal. The latter is needed now more than ever.”
–-Town Manager Mark Pruhenski.
Tag: poetry
What’s My Lion? A Zooful of Poetry
Lively animal poems to share with children and grandchildren
So That’s Where It’s From!
So, that line you love comes from a poem. Who knew?
Sports canceled: Poetry to the rescue
It is early May of 2020, and the world of sports is at a standstill. So what is a bereft sports fan to do? Why, turn to poetry, of course.
Introduction to a New Column.
Introducing a new bi-weekly series, a kind of Berkshire Poetry Protection Program that would offer cultural affirmation, a necessary degree of solace and uplift, and overall, a wealth of joy and pleasure in troubled times.
Haikus for winter
At this point, obsessed with grayness as I am and as are so many of the people I know, I’ll stick to the weather, daily life, my neighborhood, Mutzl (my dog) and Hermes (my cat) bad politics and delicious food.
Bits & Bytes: WordXWord January 2020
WordXWord barges into the new year with three January events in Pittsfield, Mass.
December haikus
When I wake up at 7 in the real morning and hear the long, detailed weather report, I feel… What can I say?
BOOK REVIEW: ‘The Future Only Rattles When You Pick It Up’ by David Giannini
What succeeds best is Giannini’s elevated grasp of writing poetry that holds up the freedom and inventiveness of words, positioning words as Emily Dickinson might: spare, poignant and celebratory.
BOOK REVIEW: David Giannini’s poems summon a careful cultivation of daily life
The most alluring kernels in Giannini’s nearly five dozen poems seem to lie at the intersection of the past and the present.
GB ArtWeek: Spoken-word performance by slam poet Kofi Dadzie plus youth poetry slam and open mic at Fuel Bistro
As a genre, spoken-word poetry has its roots in oral traditions and performance. Spoken word can encompass or contain elements of rap, hip-hop, storytelling, theater, jazz, rock, blues and folk music.
POEM: Demons on the half shell
And like it or not we continue to drink from the same salted cup
Toe tapping perhaps to Lonesome Sundown
On being a writer: From poet to novelist
After poetry’s compressed, telegraphic form, I couldn’t let all the nouns and verbs just hang out in sentences.
POEM: Skipping with a rope in Pa
Soft whispers and the cure of moonlight/ Fade into what might have been/ A waking dream foretold perhaps/ Amongst popcorn and a silent movie
POEM: The Backwards Geese (from the gate outside South Egremont School)
as if time could run backwards at their beckoning;
as if winter could recede from my fingers and the white gate swing wide,
with the fall riot returning to the bracketing treelimbs,
thence to turn verdant and alive, the schoolyard now summer-empty.
CONNECTIONS: Poetry and journalism mingled in William Cullen Bryant
The following year, Bryant was 22 years old. He was living in Great Barrington, working for the town, and practicing law. He would remain in Great Barrington from 1816 to 1825—out of place and out of sorts.
BOOK REVIEW: David Giannini’s ‘The Future Only Rattles When You Pick It Up’ are poems witty, wise, with bold truth straight on
“It is all a matter of persistence, discipline, and long love for what I must try to accomplish. I have the feeling, the sense, every day when I wake, of rising into poetry.”
— David Giannini
POEM: The Launching of the Slingshot Ride
you grip the sides and start
to scream with something that is akin to laughter
Belle Fox-Martin’s ‘Stone Pears’ blends poetry, micro-stories in a refreshing, unexpected collection
Within her collection, Fox-Martin touches on those auspicious moments that mark the end of months, the change of seasons and the passage of time.
POEM: Barefooted Dogs
Swaying,
barely anchored, I make my way to the bottom pilings
of the Mississippi Bridge and begin to climb.
Bits & Bytes: Five Senses Festival; 45th annual Gather-In; WordXWord Festival; crossword puzzles at Sandisfield Arts Center; Vera Quartet at Southfield Church
The main stage at the Gather-In will feature folksingers Kim and Reggie Harris, a performance of Jacob’s Pillow’s Pittsfield Moves! community engagement initiative, the Soul Steps dance troupe from New Jersey, Youth Alive and Funk Box Studio dancers, and more.
Poet Sarah Trudgeon offers refreshing perspective on motherhood in new chapbook
Coupled with the wildly unconventional dialogue that ensues between her poems’ speaker and the composite character of Baby—as the pair navigate drug stores, strip clubs, arcade games and garden patches—the reader is both drawn in and captivated by each encounter.
REVIEW: ‘See the Wolf,’ poems by Sarah Sousa, innocence lost
These poems don’t demand pity; their tone is strong like the women ultimately are. She is reading her poems this Tuesday, May 22, at the Lee Library, along with the renowned poet Charles Rafferty. The reading is at 5:30 p.m.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘daddy closet’ by CD Nelsen
The chapbook is a brilliant work of art in its way of revealing how seemingly fleeting events in our lives can have enormous impact on memory, leaving lasting impressions in spite of or because of the careless actions of others.
WordXWord celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.
In his letter to the editor, William Yehle writes: “WordXWord encourages poets to accept a greater role in the cultural landscape, to provoke and bear witness, to use their voice to advocate for social justice, to act as agents of change.”
Poets Live! Poet Jayne Benjulian, editor David Scribner on The Live Poets Society salon
Poets are interested primarily in death and commas.
— Carolyn Kizer
The Live Poets Society quiz
Top scoring quiz takers will be eligible to win an autographed book of poems by one of our salon authors.
Take the Live Poets Society quiz; join us for a literary salon
Live Poets Society and the Berkshire Edge will be hosting a literary salon Friday, December 8, at Lauren Clark Fine Art on Stockbridge Road. Take the quiz to be eligible for an autographed book of poems by one of our authors.
POEMS: Grooming; Taps muted
Two poems about President Donald Trump: “Of him it can truly
be said he is all bully
and no pulpit.”
BOOK REVIEW: David Giannini’s new poems, summoning transcendent moments overlooked
There is a transcendent quality to his themes, one that delineates the continuum in life rather than the specific entries and exits, beginnings and endings.
POEM: Without Fingerprints
A poem upon the occasion of citizens being arrested for standing in the way of a fracked natural gas pipeline conveying climate change.
POEM: Poor Rex
What’s more, a man who’s made deals
with Vladimir and his oligarch pals