PoemWorcesterWorks

PoemWorks Worcester: Barbara Helfgott Hyett (left), 

& workshop members celebrating with tapas at Bocado 

after the WCPA 2010 Winner's Reading.

Enjoyed a wonderful afternoon at the Winner's Reading for the Worcester County Poetry Association's 2010 Poetry Contest: Frank O'Hara Prize, at the First Unitarian Church in downtown Worcester, followed by a PoemWorks West gathering at Bocado in Worcester.  At the Winner's Reading, Barbara Helfgott Hyett judged and graced us with personal commentary on each of the winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners, and 4 honorable mentions) -- and a reading of her work from 2 of her 5 books:  Rift  and The Tracks We Leave.   To view the winning poems and bios on each of the poets, check out the website of the Worcester County Poetry Association (if not posted yet, they will be up soon).


Since 2002, I have been a member of the Workshop for Publishing Poets, a poetry workshop run by Barbara out of her home in Brookline, MA.  The workshop is a hotbed of creativity, intensity of purpose, and the making of marvelous poems in a supportive community of incredibly talented and generous poets.  More than 90 poetry books have been published by PoemWorks members (including my 2007 book The Alchemy of Grief).  For information about the workshop, check out Barbara's website at "PoemWorks"