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Poet Sara Letourneau: A Poet who explores the maw of creation
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Interview with Doug Holder (Board member of the New England Poetry Club)
I decided it was a good time to interview poet Sara Letourneau, as this accomplished poet and New England Club Poetry member has her debut poetry collection out titled Wild Gardens. And it seems that Wild Gardens is an apt label for her book because there is nothing “tame” about her work. It is a collection that drills deep and goes beyond what you see – to what it means – a full-faced exploration.
April 16
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Vijaya Sundaram is the current Poet Laureate (2023-2025) for the City of Medford, Massachusetts. Her first collection of poems titled Fractured Lens was published in 2023 by Červená Barva Press. She has written short stories, plays and a short novel (not yet published). Her poetry and short pieces have appeared in publications like The Rising Phoenix Press, The Stardust Review, and TELL Magazine, among others. Vijaya’s statement about poetry: Poetry, to my mind, is the clarion call that urges us to see both the fullness and barrenness of life along with its joys and griefs; to experience the world with empathy and love; to create new landscapes and stories in distilled language, and to share our experiences in words that might be able to evoke those same experiences in others.
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‘Capital’s Grave’ by Jodi Dean, The New Era of Lords and Serfs
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The New Era of Lords and Serfs
Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Ed Meek
Jodi Dean, an American political theorist and professor in the Political Science Department at Hobart and William Smith College, made the news last year when she lost her position because she expressed her pro-Palestinian stance on campus. She has since been reinstated. Although Bernie, AOC and the Squad, and other progressive democrats, are characterized by Republicans as radicals, they are really center-left politicians willing to work within the system to enact change. Jodi Dean is a radical who wants a different system. She is not alone. Many Americans on the left and right want major changes. Hence the return of Trump.
April 9
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Our poet writes: “I am Sahiba Mohammady, a poet and writer from Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. Currently, I am majoring in biotechnology with a minor in English at Endicott College. I work independently on poetry and journal writing, and I published two of my poems during high school at Governor’s Academy. Through my writing, I explore themes of identity, culture, and the experience of injustice, whether I have experienced it myself or have witnessed it in others.”
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A Conversation with poet Jean Flanagan about the anthology ‘The Silver Note: Poets of Arlington, Massachusetts’
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Recently, the Ibbetson Street Press of Somerville, MA. published an anthology of Arlington Poets, titled The Silver Note: Poets of Arlington, Massachusetts. I spoke with one of the editors of this book, Jean Flanagan. Flanagan is the poet laureate of Arlington, MA, and is an accomplished poet and publisher.
April 2
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Emily (Pineau) Lacey’s poetry has appeared in The Bluebird Word, The Raven’s Perch, Evening Street Review, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Solstice’s MFA program at Pine Manor College.
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Poet Deborah Priestly returns to the Out of the Blue Gallery
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Article by Off the Shelf Correspondent Parma Chattopadhyay
On March 24, from 6 to 9 p.m., Co-Founder of Out of the Blue Community Arts, Deborah Priestly, hosted the first of several poetry nights at the Out of the Blue Art Gallery in studio performance space B6 on the Basement Floor of the Armory at 191 Highland Ave., Somerville, MA 02143.
March 26
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Alexander Levering Kern is a poet, editor, university chaplain, Quaker educator, and interfaith community organizer. Author of What an Island Knows (Shanti Arts, 2024) and a forthcoming poetry collection from Červená Barva Press, Alex is editor of the anthology Becoming Fire: Spiritual Writing from Rising Generations. Founding editor-publisher of Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts (www.pensive.com), Alex serves as Northeastern University’s founding Executive Director of the interfaith Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service. Recently selected for a Residency at T.S. Eliot House in Gloucester, Massachusetts and as an Advisory Council member of the New England Poetry Club.
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For a Readerly Companion ‘On the Other Side of Goodbye’
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The new book by g emil reutter
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Article by Off the Shelf Correspondent Michael Todd Steffen
We’ve learned to appreciate hybrid writing for itself, for the wide palette and integration that makes today’s poetry uniquely liberal and balanced, striking and robust. But it’s good also sometimes to recognize definitions in a progression, as g emil reutter dispatches them to us in the three parts of his new book On the Other Side of Goodbye, from POEMS to FLASH to STORIES. One’s different sense of genre joins the conversation.
March 19
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Thomas DeFreitas was born in Boston. The first three words he ever spoke were ravioli, Woolworth’s, and McGovern. Thomas was educated at the Boston Latin School and at the University of Massachusetts. For the last decade and a half, he has lived in Arlington, MA, where he guzzles black coffee in the dead of night, venerates Hart Crane’s ghost, strikes up conversations with the spectre of Raymond Carver, and strives each day to do The Next Right Thing. His fourth collection of poems, Walking Between the Raindrops, was published by Kelsay Books in March 2025.
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Somerville Artist Carol Moses brings math and logic to her work
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Interview conducted by Doug Holder
Recently, I caught up with Somerville artist Carol Moses. Moses has been affiliated with the Vernon Street Studios, and Brickbottom for many years. From her website:
“Carol Moses paints in watercolor and oil, on paper and canvas. The artist also produces series of photographic portraits with interviews of the subjects. With an affinity for math and logic, and a background in cultural anthropology and linguistics, communication and connection are at the forefront of both the non-representational painting work and the portrait/interview series.”
March 12
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Robert K. Johnson, now retired, was a Professor of English at Suffolk University for many years. His poems have appeared in a variety of magazines. Two of his most recent full-length collections of poetry are FROM MIST TO SHADOW and WINTERBERRIES. Dorian Brooks’ poems were also included in WINTERBERRIES.
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‘Plastic’ by Scott Guild
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Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Ed Meek
— Life is plastic. It’s fantastic. (Barbie Girl)
The multi-talented Scott Guild has created both a novel and an accompanying musical version of the novel. The novel focuses on live plastic figurines existing sometime in the not-too-distant future after nuclear war.
March 5
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Scott Ruescher’s new collection of poems, Above the Fold, will be out from Finishing Line Press in March 2025. In his retirement, he has been writing promotional materials for The Neighborhood Developers in Chelsea and helping to teach ESOL and citizenship classes at The Immigrant Learning Center in Malden.
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sidebody: a band of friends who experiment
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I recently hooked up with Somerville artists Cara Giaimo, Lena Warnke, Martha Schnee, Hava Horowitz, a band of friends who experiment with music, performance, and zine publishing.
They call themselves “sidebody.” They are part of the fabric of Somerville, MA, the “Paris of New England.”
February 26
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Dan Sklar, our poet writes: “The chair of Endicott College’s English Department hired me in 1987 because of this poem about my paper route. He had one too. I have been teaching creative writing at Endicott ever since. I was the youngest member of the faculty, now I am the oldest. This spring I will be done. Who says poetry doesn’t do anything?”
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