Past Events
Most Recent Events:
Apr 14: Essential Queer Voices
Essential Queer Voices of U.S. Poetry, was edited by Christopher Nelson and introduced by Jack Halberstam. The Essential Voices series from Green Linden Press intends to correct misrepresentation and misunderstanding in the broader culture. It has at its heart the ancient idea that poetry can reveal our shared humanity. Joining editor & publisher Christopher Nelson on The Poets Corner are the following major voices in American poetry today: Rick Barot, Ellen Bass, Richard Blanco, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Charif Shanahan.
Mar 10: Ochre & Rust - The Poetry of Sergey Gandlevsky
Join us for a timely reading and discussion of the poetry of Sergey Gandlevsky, translated by Philip Metres and published by Christopher Nelson of Green Linden Press. Sergey Gandlevsky is one of the most celebrated contemporary Russian poets. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, his poetry and prose have received nearly every major Russian literary prize.
Feb 11: Richard Blanco Reads from Homeland of My Body
Enjoy this special reading and conversation with Richard Blanco as he shares his new book: Homeland of My Body.
About the book: A rich, accomplished, intensely intimate collection with two full sections of new poems bookending Blanco’s selections from his five previous volumes
Jan 14: The Nine Poets Collective
The Nine Poets group has been meeting since June of 2020 when they each signed up for a chapbook intensive offered by Maine Media led by presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco. The group continues to write and support each other with monthly gatherings on Zoom, and an annual poetry picnic.
In January, with the launch of the new literary journal from DownEast books, The Maine Standard, the Nine Poets will be featured with selections of poems that speak to each of their “obsessions” and an introduction by Richard Blanco. In this event with The Poets Corner, we’ll celebrate the launch of the Maine Standard with readings from all nine poets.
Screenshots of past events and readers:
July 2022. Meg Weston, Alli Cruz, Mark S. Burrows, Ellen Goldsmith, Carla Sarett, Catherine Marenghi, Marita O’Neill, Monique Avakian, Sandra Hutchison, Lynne Ellis
June 2022. Meg Weston, Jeffrey Bean, Kathrin Seitz, Naomi Shihab Nye, Richard Reitz Smith
May 2022. Meg Weston, Richard Blanco, Rajiv Mohabir, Carrie Fountain
February 2022. Meg Weston, Anna Limontas-Salisbury, Margaret Haberman, Gibson Fay-LeBlanc
January 2022. Meg Weston, Ellen Goldsmith, Lynne Ellis
April 2022. Meg Weston, John Paul Caponigro, Gary Lawless, Meghan Sterling, Iris Elise L
November 2021. Meg Weston, Kathrin Seiz, and many readers and poetry lovers gather for Poetry in Motion: Poets’ Selection
October 2021. Laura Reece Hogan, Stephanie Dowrick, Pádraig Ó Tuama, Meg Weston, Marc Burrows, Kathrin Seitz
September 2021. Meg Weston, Anne Riesenberg, Kathrin Seitz, Megan Grumbling, Andrea Read, Abby Flanagan
June 2021. Kathrin Seitz, Rick Barot, Meg Weston, Tess Taylor, Richard Blanco
August 2021: Featuring Natalie Goldberg (bottom right).
July 2021: Open Mic reading, featuring a musical performance by Elvis & the Mopes
2023 Events:
Dec 3: Reading Rilke Today: A Conversation
Rilke’s poems and writing remind us of what it means to “bear witness” to life in those “dark hours” we face when we experience things “falling asunder.” He also invites us to “dance the orange,” celebrating the exuberant beauty that shines, even in the darkness.
Award-winning Rilke translator and poet, Mark S. Burrows, explores the writings of poet Rainer Maria Rilke and why Rilke’s words challenge and inspire us, offering “words that still ripen in the silences.”
Mark is joined by poets Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marie Howe to share selected Rilke poems and enter a conversation about the significance of these words, calling us to embrace “a second life, timeless and wide.”
Nov 12: Ekphrastic Poetry 2023
For this collaborative, creative event, poets submitted poems written in response to a painting or photograph in the Page Gallery exhibition: Art & Ekphrastic Poetry.
Ten poets were selected to read on The Poets Corner zoom event on Sunday, November 12th; another ten poems will be selected by the artists and read live in the gallery on Saturday, November 18th. These will be read by the poet, if local and available, or by someone else in their stead. Please join us!
Oct 8: Words from the West
Spencer Reece, an episcopal priest and a poet who has lived in Spain, Honduras, Connecticut and now Rhode Island, and Matt Daly, creative writing teacher and poet from Wyoming, zoom in together from Wyoming for this reading.
Sep 10: Obsessions & Harmonies
Meg Weston reads from her first full-length collection of poems, Magma Intrusions, along with Betsy Sholl, former Maine Poet Laureate, who reads from her tenth collection, As If a Song Could Save You. The readings are followed by a conversation about the obsessions and harmonies in their poems; poetic influences and writing practices; and other topics that intrigue us as poets.
Jun 11: Disclosures: Kathleen Ellis and Claire Millikin read from their newest books
Join us as Kathleen Ellis reads from her new book Body of Evidence, winner of the 2022 Grayson Books Poetry Contest, and Claire Millikin reads from Elegiaca Americana and Transitional Objects - her two books just published in the past six months.
May 7: Clock of Cream and Flame: Mothers on Motherhood
Join poets Katherine Hagopian Berry, Sonia Greenfield, Abby Murray and Meghan Sterling as they look closely at the role of mother, reading their poems that celebrate, and reveal, the complex experience of motherhood.
April 23: “Malama ‘Aina” honor the earth
This year our Eco-Poetry reading was open for submissions. Poems were selected to be read on The Poets Corner with John Paul Caponigro and Meg Weston as co-hosts.
April 2: The Wandering Radiance with Mark S. Burrows
The Poets Corner welcomes Mark S. Burrows to present his newly published volume of poems by the German-Jewish poet Hilde Domin (1909 – 2006), The Wandering Radiance: Selected Poems of Hilde Domin.
What does it mean to live with hospitality towards others? To go back to a place where we’ve been betrayed and create beauty?What more daring thing can we do after facing horror and trauma than to make art?How does our longing for "homeland" bring us hope, even in exile?
March 5: Story! with Morgan Talty and Laura Bonazzoli
Guests were in for a treat as these two Maine writers shared with us the pleasures that flow from their short stories. While each story stands alone, together each of these books forms a story-cycle revealing new truths and enhancing our understanding of people and place.
February 12: Love Letters
This year’s annual Valentine’s Day reading is LOVE LETTERS – submissions of epistolary poems. This follows an ancient tradition since some of the earliest forms of epistolary poems, or poems that read as letters, were love letters such as Ovid’s Heroides—love letters from the great women of antiquity. Hear poems selected for originality, wit, humor, pathos, and passion, but not sentimentality, on The Poets Corner.
January 8: Poems from the Night Skies
The stars shine on The Poets Corner this January 8 with an event featuring filmmaker Tara Roberts Zabriskie who documented Maine’s efforts to “save the stars” in her film “Defending the Dark.” We show a trailer from the film, and hear about the efforts of Dark Sky Maine.
We also hear from author and poet Midge Goldberg who shares selections from her recently published anthology: Outer Space, 100 Poems, along with a few other poets reading their contemporary poems about the night sky. Share the wonders of the night sky with us on Zoom.
2022 Events:
December 28: Pop-Up Poetry: Letters from the White Queen
A Pop-Up Poetry reading featuring Meg Weston reading from her book, Letters from the White Queen.
Learn about Letters from the White Queen and order a copy here.
December 4: Celebrating Rilke, on his birthday
Three writers journey with Rainer Maria Rilke.
Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama and award-winning author Barbara Mahany join Mark S. Burrows for a conversation about Rilke’s poems and writings that remind them of what it means to “bear witness”—to life in those “dark hours” we face when we experience things “falling asunder.” Can such times call us, with Rilke, to embrace “a second life, timeless and wide”? Each of these writers read and talk about selected poems of Rilke’s that have challenged or inspired them, offering what the poet described as “words that still ripen in the silences.”
Learn more about these poets here.
November 13: Ekphrastic Pairings
For this event, poets submitted work in response to a painting or photography in the exhibit at The Page Gallery, October 20-November 19th. Poets selected to read include: Sheila Aldous, Matt Bernier, Beth Fox, Margaret Habermman, Annaliese Jakimides, Judy Kaber, Kathleen March, Robbi Nester, Lindsay Rockwell, Nancy Sobonik, Meghan Sterling, and A Garnett Weiss.
These poets read on The Poets Corner zoom event on Sunday, November 13th; another fifteen poems were selected by the artists and read live in the gallery on Saturday, November 19th.
October 9: New Voices Rising
Hear the voices of young poets as they express their views of our world. The poets are University of Maine students active in campus creative writing activities and the campus literary magazine, The Open Field. Readings are followed by a conversation among the poets facilitated by Kathleen Ellis and John Paul Caponigro, and Q&A from the audience. Poets reading include Samuel Mills, Iris Lecates, Paige McHatten, Starla Straub, and Rachel Ouellette.
September 11: Black Coffee: A Conversation with Ellen Bass
In conversation with The Poets Corner founder Meg Weston, Ellen Bass talks about the craft of poetry, her creative process, influences, and recurring themes that appear in her poems and intrigue her in the poems of others. She reads from her various collections, including the most recent, Indigo.
July 10: Finale: In celebration of our finalists
Out of 250 submissions to The Poets Corner and Maine Media 2022 Chapbook Contest, 10 rose to the surface as our finalist choices. Eight of these poets read from their chapbooks. Listen to the innovative ideas, lyrical language, and thematic concerns of these poets. Each poet was introduced by one of our readers in a fast-paced, fascinating presentation that will inspire you.
June 12: Reading with Jeffrey Bean
Chapbook Contest judge, distinguished poet Naomi Shihab Nye, selected Ella’s Plan by Jeffrey Bean saying, “I could not look away from these magical poems.” Watch this reading with Jeffrey Bean, hosted by Naomi Shihab Nye.
May 1: Poetry Week Poets
The Writers Harbor® Poetry Week at Maine Media will be happening on campus in Rockport, Maine, in June 2022 with three amazing poets: Richard Blanco, Carrie Fountain, and Rajiv Mohabir. These three poets met virtually on The Poets Corner for a special reading and conversation on Sunday, May 1st from 4:00-5:30. Each poet read some of their poems, talked about their work with Meg Weston, and answered questions from our audience.
April 10: Ecopoetry: Voices for the Future
Cohosts Meg Weston and John Paul Caponigro joined Kathleen Ellis, Gary Lawless, Iris Elise L, and Meghan Sterling in a celebration of our place in nature by Maine poets.
March 13: Wordplay: Poems with a Sense of Humor
David Jewell is a co-host with Meg Weston to bring you an afternoon of wit, whimsy and whackiness to welcome the spring equinox. Special guest Kevin Pilkington joins to read a couple of his playful poems.
No limericks allowed, just selections of poetry and short prose that employ humor for fresh perspectives.
February 13: Love is Still Possible
Three poets read and discussed contemporary love poems for February's event, Love is Still Possible: Margaret Haberman, Gibson Faye-LeBlanc, and Anna Limontas-Salisbury.
January 9: Poems for Healing
This first reading of the year featured Ellen Goldsmith reading from her recently published collection LEFT FOOT, RIGHT FOOT. Lynne Ellis, a West Coast poet, also read from her poetry that addresses the body, health, and healing. The conversation touched on writing and reading poetry as a path to healing.
Learn more about these poets here.
2020–2021 Past Events
November 14: Poetry in Motion
An ekphrastic poetry collaboration between The Poets Corner and Page Gallery in Camden, Maine.
Making connections between visual art and poetry
to deepen our experience.
Hear readings from the ten poets whose poems, inspired by the work on exhibition at Page Gallery, were chosen by The Poets Corner to be shared at this event.
October 10: Reading Rilke
Join Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama and American poet Laura Reece Hogan together with Australian writer Stephanie Dowrick for a conversation about Rilke’s poems, hosted by the award-winning Rilke translator, scholar, and poet Mark S. Burrows. Each will read and talk about poems that have influenced their lives and work, probing what Rilke called “words ripening in the silences.”
September 21: The Red Thread
For The Red Thread, poetry from four women’s voices was shared. Megan Grumbling read from Persephone in the Late Anthropocene, along with Andrea Ballou Read, Anne Riesenberg, and Abby Flanagan.
August 22: Natalie Goldberg reads from Three Simple Lines
Natalie Goldberg returns to The Poets Corner for a special reading from her newest book, Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage Into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku. She discusses the book, as well as Zen, haiku and writing with host Meg Weston.
July 18: Summertime, and the living is easy OPEN MIC
In celebration of summer, hear from a variety of readers who read for our the first OPEN MIC on The Poets Corner. Hosted by the fabulous Elvis and the Mopes, this was truly a reading to remember!
June 13: Richard Blanco, Tess Taylor, & Rick Barot
Richard Blanco, Tess Taylor, and Rick Barot joined The Poets Corner to kick off Maine Media’s The Writers Harbor® Poetry Week. These three amazing poets joined us in celebration of the one year anniversary of thepoetscorner.org.
April 11: Reading from Enough!
"We do not speak with one voice but with many."
Enough! edited by Claire Millikin and Agnes Bushell, is a collection of poems, by Maine poets, about resistance and protest. Ten poets from this collection joined The Poets Corner to read on April 11th: Claire Millikin, Donna Loring, Laura Bonazzoli, Katherine Hagopian Berry, Ellen Goldsmith, Lois Anne, Carol Bachofner, Meghan Sterling, Kathleen Ellis, and Myronn Hardy.
March 7: The Art of the Book
For "The Art of the Book" on The Poets Corner, Cig Harvey, Richard Reitz Smith, and Meg Weston read from their work and discussed book design, creation, and publishing.
February 14: Love Unmasked
LOVE UNMASKED: a Valentine's Day reading, took place on Sunday, February 14, 2021.
The Poets Corner received almost 100 submissions and curated selections based on different aspects of love, welcoming a diversity of voices, ideas, and approaches into the mix. A total of 17 readers were selected for this event.
January 10: Natalie Goldberg Reading
Natalie Goldberg, author of fifteen books including the best-seller Writing Down the Bones and recently released Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage Into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku, reads on The Poets Corner to kick off the New Year 2021. Joining her are five accomplished writers who have worked with Natalie for many years: Carolyn Cervantes Antonio, Dara Kalima Marsh, Armely Maras, Dorotea Mendoza, and Aomawa Shields.
December 13: Poetry of Fire & Ice
Meg Weston and John Paul Caponigro share poems and images of fire and ice.
November 8: Poetry
Kevin Pilkington, NYC poet and author of nine poetry collections, reads along with these accomplished poets who have taken his workshops at Maine Media Workshops + College: Alexandra Beers, David Jewell, Bonnie Larson Staiger, and Lucinda Watson. Kevin and Meg co-facilitate the conversation among the poets.
October 11: Poets from the British Isles
This reading featured poets from England and Ireland, with conversations facilitated by Mark Burrows.
Learn more about these writers here.
September 13: Poetry
Reading featuring five poets, including Betsy Sholl, former poet laureate of Maine and author of nine books of poetry, Éireann Lorsung, a 2016 NEA Fellow in Prose and author of three collections of poetry, along with Moon Machar, a spoken word poet who in an instructor in the after-school program at The Telling Room and two authors from The Telling Room Young Emerging Authors program: Emma Dawson-Webb and Lulu Rasor, both of whom had their first poetry collections recently published.
August 9: Short Prose and Prose Poetry
Reading featuring short prose and prose poetry: Eric Evans, Judy O’Dell, and more to be announced. Q&A and Discussion following the reading.
July 12: Five Poets
Reading featuring five poets: Laura Bonazzoli, Gibson Faye-LeBlanc, Ellen Goldsmith, Mihku Paul, and Bruce Spang. Q&A and Discussion after the reading.
June 7, 2020
This inaugural Poets Corner Reading features Mark Burrows, Margaret Haberman, Tom Sperduto, Sandy Weisman, and Sal Taylor Kydd.