Molly Lynn Watt Reads Poetry of Resilience at Massachusetts Poetry Festival Friday, October 16 at 4 PM at Dharma Buns Cafe, Lowell

Poetry as a companion to recovery and a source for resilience in Hard Times will be celebrated at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in Lowell October 15,16, 17 and 18. On Friday, October 16th from 4:00 to 5 PM, Molly Lynn Watt and 5 other poets from Cambridge, Boston and West Falmouth, will read poems offering hope and demonstrating personal, cultural and environmental recovery at the Dharma Buns Café, 26A Market Street in downtown Lowell.

Molly Lynn Watt, the curator of the popular Fireside Reading Series in Cambridge, uses the healing power of song in her poem RiverSing, "lined along the river banks / in vollies of quadraphonic harmonies / uniting two cities . . . a bridge of song." Lisa Beatman resonates in Hot Flash, “Sacrifice yourself / your white-hot pure self / will emerge / from the ashes / winged”. Susan Eisenberg follows her sister after she has been shot, “after 30 hours trolling the universe, / her mind finds its own way home // when it snags on — Where’s my purse? / — last memory, and rubs / to smooth the jagged edge from where it broke. / Her bag is not in her hand..! And, the very object // that catapulted this horror becomes / the hook to lash / for mooring.” Holly Guran, imagines the life of a new “mill girl” in the 19th century: “spare hand to one/ who knows the weaving — / strong warp to the soft weft / interlacing into fabric, the colors / will show, but oh, my ears ring — I pray to hear / this throbbing as music”. Alice Kociemba reads “Death of Teaticket Hardware”, a reminder of the vulnerability of small businesses in this corporate age. Elizabeth Quinlan summons a stone-burying ritual, which gave hope: “as if we believed the soil / in those backyards / of our childhood / would grow treasures”.

At the Massachusetts Poetry Festival you will hear teenagers, graduate students, slam poets, famous and emerging poets lend their voices in celebration of contemporary poetry. Some sessions feature theater or music as well as poetry. All events at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival are free, advanced reservations are advised. For a full schedule, visit www.masspoetry.org/schedule

The Lowell National Park location is easy to find. Market Street Public Parking is convenient. Public transportation from North Station runs frequently to Lowell’s Gallagher Terminal. A short ride on the Downtown Shuttle (route 18) takes you to Market Street. (End)