Pier Poetry Project

Poetry Potluck at the Armory Community Garden

2009-09-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

When: Saturday, September 26th at 4 P.M.

Where:Armory Neighborhood Community Garden
On the corner of Chapin and Sycamore Streets, in the Armory Dist. (west side) Providence, 02909.
4-6pm, Potluck + byob (but keep it on the DL).

What: Poetry and fiction read by Wayne Cresser (Dean College), Jo-Ann Reid (fiction Dean College) andBrian Smith (poetry URI) followed by open mic

September is the bittersweet month...

2009-09-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

Come listen and read poetry in a lovely community garden in Providence! After our great evening at the gazebo in Narrgansett Pier last month, we are lucky to have another and perhaps a last for the season, outside poetry event. Did you ever notice how food tastes better outdoors? and music sounds better sitting beneath the blue sky. The same is true for poetry. Plan on coming to Providence on Saturday, September 26th, at 5 P.M. bring something to drink if you wish and a poem to read during the open mic. The garden is located in the Armory District and I will publish directions very shortly.

Jake reads about the hearts of an earthworm...all five of 'em

2009-08-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Shannon reads a poem in the gazebo on a sunny afternoon

2009-08-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

July 2009

2009-08-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Gazebo in Wilcox Park... just waiting for a poet or two to arrive.

Poetry by the Sea!

2009-08-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

August 17th at 6 P.M. at the gazebo on the green across from Narragansett Beach...join us for an evening of poetry writing and reading. We are lucky to have a featured poet, Peter Covino, who will read from his award winning , Cut Off the Ears of Winter, as well as from his forthcoming book.
6- 6 :45 a collaborative poetry writing workshop
7:00 Featured poet Peter Covino
7:30 Open mic pierpoetry challenge, share an ocean-themed poem to close out the night!

Bring a beach chair or blanket and your love of words!

Monday at the Gazebo

2009-07-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

It's tomorrow night when those who love words and all the stuff that goes along with that love should come to the gazebo in Westerly's Wilcox Park ( a pretty neat place). Hope for the water to abate, and don't get lost in the fog. See you at 6 P.M.

Poetry in the Park!

2009-07-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

Please plan on joining us for an outdoor poetry reading on July 27th, from 6-8 P.M. in Wilcox Park in Westerly. If you've never been there, you're in for a treat, this is a rambling lushly planted park, a gem, the emerald of Westerly. You'll have to park on the street ( easy) and wander the park to find the gazebo ( also easy) and bring a picnic, a blanket on which to sit, and a poem to share ( hey most of that is pretty easy, too). We are looking around for other gazebos to invade for a poetry party, so let me know if you know of one...August 17th we'll be at the gazebo in Narragansett Pier across from the surf and if you can drag yourself off the sand, come over between 6 and 8 P.M. More on that one later.

Wonderful Writing Conference

2009-07-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

This is a bit overdue, but what a wonderful writing conference held at URI ( its third annual Ocean State Writing Conference) a few weeks back. Terrific talent, wonderful workshops, and great gossip ( not really, I just wanted to alliterate). But really, a ray or rather many rays of much needed light on this tiny corner of humanity. Patricia Smith was a delight for the featured reader, I think she sold out her books and, more importantly, made us all fall in love with her wordplay. The food was delicious, especially the cheese, crackers, and fruit for the late afternoon. Thanks to the great team who puts this together: our muse Peter Covino, Clea Liquard ( what would we do without her? and she dresses so well!) Tatiana and Shannon -- a great big thank you!

Ocean State Writing Conference!!!

2009-06-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

It's almost here folks and it looks like it's gonna be a whole lot of fun! Make your way to the University of Rhode Island's Kingston campus to listen to some of the hottest ( you know what I mean...) writers around talk about their craft. And you better not miss poet Patricia Smith wow us on Saturday!!! It begins this Thursday afternoon, the 18th of June, runs all day Friday and Saturday. There's a dinner Friday night where you can schmooze with other people who love language, I mean really, what else is going on for the heart and mind in these parts??? Can we all give Peter Covino, the founder of the conference and the conference organizer, Clea Liquard, a big hug and applause, please?

Go check out their website at http://www.uri.edu/summerwriting/ or their facebook page ( but of course) at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kingston-RI/Ocean-State-Summer-Writing-Conference/87222136117?ref=ts.

What poets are you reading?

2009-06-02T18:35:00.000-07:00

Today my students picked some contemporary poets to study ( only criteria was that he/she was alive and had published at least one book). So...here goes, Sharon Olds, Louise Gluck, Ada Limon, Peter Covino, Michael Cirrelli, Gary Snyder, Denise Duhamel, Kay Ryan and others that I cannot remember right now. Hmmm...what poets are you reading these days? Ada Limon just got a poem ("Crush") published in the New Yorker!!! I love Ada, she came to read at URI via the wonderful Peter Covino and she is terrific, funny, and gracious. Go read her poem at www.newyorker.com /fiction. Oh and visit her blog, too. Link's on this page. Send me any interesting poetry stuff that is happening or that you want people to think about.

long time coming...

2009-05-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

Five weeks since I've visited these parts and lots of stuff has happened in the world of poetry ( the world I am bouncing around in these days)...since the slam, I took a class to Yale to hear two young poets read at the Bienecke Library and to see the Picasso and the Allure of Words show with recordings of Gertrude Stein playing above your head while you looked postcards they sent to each other. Jennifer Moxley and G.E. Patterson read from their work-- always good to hear new stuff. Moxley has a new collection that sounds pretty wonderful, Clampdown. A couple weeks ago saw Patricia Smith at the Mystic Arts Center - she blew the house away. Pretty amazing stuff and cool, cool, cool delivery. Her performance from her latest collection, Blood Dazzler, was truly mesmerizing. Don't miss her at the upcoming Ocean State Summer Writing Conference happening at URI's Kingston campus on June 18, 19, and 20th with featured Guests: Louise DeSalvo, Robin Hemley & Patricia Smith. Visit their website, http://www.uri.edu/summerwriting/, for details and to register.

Slam and Happy National Poetry Month

2009-04-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

First, Providence Poetry Slam at AS220 is a good, fun, cool thing to do the first Thursday of each month. Packed room, neat artwork, and lots and lots of poetic energy. You have to go and volunteer to be a judge, as I did, which made the whole experience.. ummm, visceral.
I am looking around as always for more poetry out loud and surprise, surprise, it is everywhere! Friday night, April 17th at Mystic Arts Cafe heard Brian Turner read from his miraculous new book,Here, Bullet, but he didn't really read so much as recite, deliver, expound, he had those poems in his head without having to read them. He calls himself, or somebody calls him a "soldier poet" as he spent a year in Iraq and wrote there about there...He was very good, his poems troubling, disturbing, making me squirm, but wanting more. Patricia Smith reads there on May 15th at 7:30 and you need to go see her, according to Brian Turner and a whole lotta other people! Rhonda Ward opened for him, she's a New London poet and while she read I got the feeling that Williams is absolutely right, all the news, the "important stuff" as Ray Carver called it, is in the poem.

You all have to go to Perks and Corks on May 4th for the Pier Poetry Project's monthly poetry bash from 6 to 8 P.M. It's in Westerly, at 45 High Street, come and listen or read, or both, and have a drink, too.

Thursday afternoon with D.A. Powell

2009-03-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

It was good to be in the cozy Hoffman Lounge ( is it a lounge or a room?) last Thursday surrounded by people who care about poetry. D.A. Powell has a wonderful, dreamy voice, at least to this listener, and he savored each word so deliberately it reminded me of why it is so essential to listen to a poet read his/her work aloud. Glad to see the old members of the "avant garde poetry society" ( I think we should name ourselves that)... Shannon and Tatiana. The brie and crackers were delicious! Thank you Peter Covino for everything you do ( even if you told me you never read blogs) and everybody do come to the next southside of the state poetry reading which I believe will be on May 4th, at 6 P.M. at Perks and Corks in Westerly, RI. They have very good martinis I've been told. More info to follow.

Amazing Beginnings!

2009-03-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

First ever poetry night at Perks and Corks a fabulous success! Thanks to all you lovers of words who came and listened, read, performed, and drank! Thanks to P&C for hosting it. What a cool way to spend a Monday night... we hope to be back next month. Meanwhile take note that National Poetry Month approaches and watch this blog for upcoming poetry events worthy of your gasoline money.

Poetry LIVE!

2009-03-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

Just a week till the first ( we hope monthly) poetry reading at the delightful Perks and Corks, a wine/coffee bar at 40 High Street in downtown Westerly, RI. This is a cool place with sofas and comfy chairs, intimate, as they say...it's just staying open on this Monday from 6-8 PM for poetry so come on down and listen, listen, and read your own poem or someone's that you admire. It's a wonderful thing to have a local place for poetry. That's March 23, a week from this Monday, and a fine way to pass the time until Spring and all...

Some words for March

2009-03-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

READ/WRITE at URI:
Two Events:
This Thursday 3/5/09 at 4 P.M. at Lippitt Hall ( new stone building on the Quad) come hear Jan Clausen read from her work ( two novels, a memoir and five books of poetry). She teaches at the New School and the MFA program at Goddard.
Joining her will be Jane Lazarre who will read from her new novel, Some Place Quite Unknown.

Thursday 3/26/09 at 4 P.M. in Hoffman Lounge in Swan Hall Do not miss the miraculous poet, D.A. Powell. He teaches at U San Francisco and will read from his recently released collection Chronic.
Both events are free, offer food and drink, and a book signing immediately after the reading. What more could you ask for?

Following Poetry Around

2009-03-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

John Ashbery at Brown Thursday, February 26... introduced as " capacious and unpredictable" with a " demotic lexicon" as well as " the most influential poet writing in English." A somewhat holy event, Mr. Ashbery walked slowly across the stage, a very old man now, read from Imperfect Sympathies, but what was most wonderful was his brand new work, sheets of papers in a manila folder from which sprung " self-forgetting trees," and " They were living in America fictitiously," as well as " what the lurching moon taught us." The last line of the night,
" Love me anyway, he said." It was worth the drive to Providence and a sell-out crowd for a free event.

Mark your calendars for March 23rd, a Monday, and what better thing to do on a blue Monday than to come out at 6 P.M. to Perks and Corks ( wine and coffee bar) to hear and share poetry. Featured poets from the Peer/Pier Poetry Project as well as open mic. Read your own work or someone else's but do come to downtown Westerly ( right around the corner from the lovely library) for poetry.

Stormy Sunday

2009-02-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

Well, congratulations are in order for our resident poet and dear friend, Peter Covino, who read this afternoon while the rain slashed the windows and the surf built below us. Just brought the house down. I hope he sold all his books. For a poetry reading there were many, many people there, though the free chocolate and wine helped, no doubt. Mairead Byrne was pretty wonderful, too. It was a heartening thing to do on a rainy Sunday, listening to words, words, words. Oh, for you fans of him, or to simply expand your thinking and your heart, go hear the master himself, John Ashbery, read at Brown's Salomon Center this Thursday at 7:30 P.M.

" What's this talk about not understanding!
you're just a person who refuses to see."
-- Gary Snyder from "Amitabha's Vow"

Sunday Poetry at the Towers

2009-02-17T11:36:00.000-08:00

There is a poetry and music event this Sunday, Feb 22 at the Towers in Narragansett at 2 P.M. Hosted by the poetry loft.org and Friends of the Towers. Looks like fun, our good friend Peter Covino will read and there will be an open reading as well so bring something to share. Come out to support poetry and look at the ocean from the lovely Towers in Narragansett. See you there.

praise song

2009-02-10T05:49:00.000-08:00

Am I the only person on the planet who loved Elizabeth Alexander's poem for Obama's inauguration?? Let me go on record for loving it and loving how she read it. If you were too distracted to listen to her or otherwise numbed by the enormity of the event as they say, then go read it at poets.org for goodness sake. We crawl towards spring and perhaps will find a space for a poetry reading, at the very least in April, National Poetry Month! Perhaps in Narragansett, but somewhere it will happen. Looking forward to this year's URI Writers Conference...make plans to attend!

New Year...new poetry

2009-01-06T11:07:00.000-08:00

Ah, winter in New England. Well, at our last meeting of writers of poems I learned that the earthworm has five hearts and that if you order a pizza in Mystic, CT it's best to check the price first or you may as well have filet mignon. I do believe the days are creepingly gathering length, but if you are feeling the need to share a poem (yours or anyone else's) and you do not have an invitation to the Inaugural Ball that night, please join us for poetry at 7 P.M. at the Wakefield Brewed Awakenings coffee shop on January the 20th.

Some good news

2008-12-16T07:32:00.001-08:00

Just got the brand new, luscious looking 10th anniversary edition of Barrow Street ( thank you Peter Covino!). Lots to savor... David Lehman's " On Humility" just knocked me out --
" Best to lead your life
as if you must leave the house
and never come back."

You can get your very own copy via the link to Barrow Street on this page. Oh, and go visit Ada Books in Providence ( it's right across from Central HS on Westminster Street) where you will find a ton of poetry books all gently used and at gentle prices.

Rainy afternoon

2008-12-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

So our little writer's group met yesterday amid the jumbled furniture and Christmas lights at Dave's Coffee. We forgave each other for writing so little since we last met, but we did a bit of scribbling and talking and laughing. I'm working on a poem about three vultures on the beach and Jake seems to know a lot about these hunched over birds.
Oh, and here's a line from a poem by Michael Dickman (in this week's New Yorker) that I read over coffee this morning...

"The invisible floating universe of kisses, rising up in a sequinned
helix of dust and cinnamon"

Something for a stormy Sunday

2008-12-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

If you want to listen to some wonderful poetry come to the Stonington Borough tomorrow, December 7, Sunday, 5 P.M. at the Stonington Free Library to listen to poet in residence at the James Merrill house, Piotr Gwiazda read from both his work and that of James Merrill. Reception to follow.
It'll be worth the trip. Promise.

Some words from W.S. Merwin

2008-12-04T11:28:00.000-08:00

While thumbing through the latest Copper Canyon Press catalog I came upon this page with thoughts from the poet and they are worth sharing...
"Take a moment to think about why you read poetry. Take a moment to savor the many treasures available to you within (this catalog). " Or any other poetry publisher's I might add. He continues, "
During these times of economic crisis and political uncertainty the need for poetry is felt ever more strongly, for poetry offers us the vehicle to express our anxiety, gives us hope, and empowers us to better understand our lives. This at a time when most profit-driven publishing houses have all but abandoned poetry because sales of poetry books cannot support the costs required to create them."
Just wanted to put this up here for anyone to think about.

December blues

2008-12-01T05:20:00.000-08:00

Pier Poetry Reading Postponed! For any and everyone just a note that this particular poetry lover suffers a mighty headcold and is postponing tonight's reading until next month. Things are looking up as far as a semi-permanent venue. We may have a warm weather space in Narragansett Pier come spring. Hey, it's indoors, an art gallery, but no heat... more later. Let's try to gather at Brewed Awakenings in January to bring in 2009 and ( let's hope ) better times for all on the planet.
Peace,
Andrea

December Coffee and Poetry

2008-11-23T08:58:00.000-08:00

I think it's time to just go ahead and gather already. If you have a poem you want to share -- yours or someone else's-- come to Brewed Awakenings in Wakefield's South County Commons at 7P.M. on December 1st, if that's a Monday.

Oh, and the James Merrill house is absolutely magical ...special thanks to the poet in residence, Piotr Gwiazda. Sitting up on the top floor watching the sun set over Stonington Harbor, talking about poetry, eating dates and apricots and feeling perfectly happy.Go hear him read at the Stonington Free Library the first Sunday in December at 5 PM, before he leaves town.

Still looking for a home

2008-11-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

Well, it's almost the end of November and still no home for our monthly meetings. Still haven't given up. Can't. A few leads. If you weren't at the Poetry Forum a couple weeks back in NYC you missed a pretty wonderful thing...Gary Snyder, Sharon Olds, all the bigshots, but Kay Ryan really stole the show. For a gal like me it was the perfect day - listening to amazing poets talk about my favorite topic. Tomorrow we ( some fellow PPP members) are visiting the Merrill House ( where James M. lived) in Stonington, CT where the resident poet has promised us a tour and poetry talk. ML assures me he is a most kind-hearted man. Oh, and happy birthday to two of my favorite local poets, ML and Jake, who keep me going with this poetry thing.

coffee and poetry

2008-10-30T05:58:00.001-07:00

It takes a great deal of effort ( for some reason) to push aside the magazine, the newspaper, the book I'm slogging through at the kitchen counter this morning, to read instead a poem by C.K. Williams. It's a thick book, all his poems(?) and I read one, a long one, as I begin to wake up at this insane hour, 6 A.M. But it's worth it, as it always is, and I wonder just why I don't do this every morning.
Go ahead then, go read a poem today.

Alas!

2008-10-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a always a tough row to hoe for poetry and the finer arts... our locale for poetry is closing its doors at the end of this month so we are homeless for our next gathering. I am looking for a replacement venue, have a few ideas...

Some things to consider

2008-10-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

Some poetry stuff going on around these parts:

Philip Schultz will read his work at the Mystic Arts Cafe Friday, 10/17 at 7:30

Ada Books hosts a reading Saturday, 10/18 at 6 P.M. by Christopher Schmidt and Douglas Martin

Pier Poetry Project regular first Monday of the month readings rolls around again 11/3/08 at 7:30

The Academy of American Poets is hosting its annual Poets Forum in NYC 11/6-8. Tons of good stuff, including readings and discussions on contemporary poetry by Frank Bidart, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Louise Gluck, Lyn Hejinian, Sharon Olds, Ron Padgett, Kay Ryan, Gary Snyder, C.K. Williams and many others! Check out details by clicking on the prayer flags below!

why words

2008-10-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since our last Pier Poetry Project meeting...the brave journeyed out Monday night to share their love of language and sound. We are determined to keep this nugget of word-lovers alive, but we'd love it if you would come too! Thanks to Peter Covino for joining us, sharing new ideas and supporting the event. Look for flyers everywhere readers may wander...let me know if you would like to distribute some yourself. Our next gathering is November 3rd at 7:30, the night before election day!For a good read about the politics of language see last week's article by James Wood "Verbage: The Republican War on Words" in the New Yorker. Also, the north end of the state has readings at Ada Books in Providence, hosted by the wonderful Kate Schapira.