April’s Writers Night Out at Forbes Library in Northampton was a hit. Our featured reader was the amazing, brilliant, powerhouse of a poet, Michael Joshua Stewart reading from three of his collections, Break Every String, Love Something and The Bastard Children of Dharma Bums. It seems we’ve hit on the right spot for our monthly open mic at Forbes with newcomers adding their unique voice to to the mix. You never know what you’re going to hear. This month, Carla read her golden shovel poem. It’s a form created by Terry Hayes – a way to create a new poem using words from a poet you admire. Joshua’s interest in the haibun, a poetic form from Japan that combines prose and haiku inspired one of our steadfast readers. We also heard work from newcomers such as Laura who whose retelling of the classic fairytale, Cinderella, casts our title character as a femminiello. Newcomer Bill shared his Clinical Notes, poetry he began writing while working as a therapist. Elaine made me hold my breath with the intensity of her prose. As usual, the night held incredible variety; moments of breathless music, intense prose, and observations that seem, well, almost mystic. I can’t wait to get to know all comers even better. It’s obvious that the writers of this Valley and beyond have knitted together a pretty incredible community. It seems to me that we are all leaning into our craft, learning from each other and cheering each other on. And thank you to those audience members for listening!
See you next month, first Tuesday, at the Forbes Library at our new time, 6:00pm. Come early to sign up for a chance to read at the open mic. Write your own blog post and tell us what YOU think!
Best to you all,
Beth