Community/Arts

Historical Fact of the Week

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‘Pink Dust’ by Ron Padgett
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A H a n d p i c k e d P o e m

Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Michael Todd Steffen

From his new book of poems, Pink Dust, in a section with the title Geezer, Ron Padgett writes,

June 4

Mollie O’Leary is a poet from Massachusetts. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Washington. Mollie’s chapbook The Forgetting Curve was selected for publication in 2023 through Poetry Online’s chapbook contest and is currently in its fifth printing. Her poetry has appeared in Chestnut Review, wildness, McNeese Review, and elsewhere. Find more of her work at mollieoleary.com.

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Somerville’s Vie Ciné: Provides healing with the stroke of the brush
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Recently, I caught up with Somerville artist and therapist Vie Ciné, the founder of the therapeutic arts organization Paint Your Truth.

Doug Holder: How has it been for you working your craft in Somerville?

Vie Ciné: I’m the founder and lead facilitator of Paint Your Truth, a mobile process painting workshop series I began in 2016 in response to the #MeToo Movement, inspired by the work of Tarana Burke. Our mission is to prioritize self-care and healing for those most often excluded from traditional mental health services – especially survivors, BIPOC communities, and others at the margins.

May 28

Richard Hoffman is the author of five books of poetry: Without Paradise; Gold Star Road, winner of The Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize and the Sheila Motton Book Award from The New England Poetry Club; Emblem; Noon until Night, which received the 2018 Massachusetts Book Award for Poetry, and his most recent, People Once Real. His other books include the memoirs, Half the House and Love & Fury; Interference and Other Stories, and the essay collection Remembering the Alchemists. He is Emeritus Writer in Residence at Emerson College and Nonfiction Editor of Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices. He can be found on Facebook at richard.hoffman.718, and on Instagram at hoffman9422. His website is richardhoffman.org.

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In ‘Shadows of the Seen’ Timothy Gager Offers a Raw, Relentless Portrait of Inner Lives on the Brink
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Review By Off the Shelf Correspondent Charles Felster

Timothy Gager has long been a fixture in Boston’s literary underground – a prolific writer, spoken-word regular, and a familiar face to anyone who’s spent time at the intersection of art and recovery in New England. With Shadows of the Seen, his latest and most ambitious novel to date, Gager steps fully into the national conversation with a work that confronts the psychic aftershocks of gun violence, addiction, and political hypocrisy in modern-day America.

May 21

Sandra Kolankiewicz’s poems and stories have appeared widely over the years. Her most recent chapbook is Even the Cracks from Finishing Line Press. More of her work can be found at sandrajkolankiewicz.blogspot.com.

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Good Grief: Poet Steven Ratiner dances with ‘Grief’ in his new collection of poetry
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Interview conducted by Doug Holder

I am a member of the Board of Directors of the New England Poetry Club, so I was pleased to find out that our president, Steve Ratiner, has a new collection of poetry out titled Grief’s Apostrophe (Beltway Editions 2025). I caught up with a very busy Ratiner, and he graciously agreed to answer my questions about his new book, etc.

May 7

Keith Tornheim, a biochemistry professor at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, has six recent books, The Sacrifice of Isaac; I Am Lilith, Dancer on the Wind; Spirit Boat: Poems of Crossing Over; Can You Say Kaddish for the Living?; Fireflies; Spoiled Fruit: Adam and Eve in Eden and Beyond. His poems have appeared in Ibbetson Street, The Somerville Times, Boston Literary Magazine, Muddy River Poetry Review and Poetica.

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‘The Thirty-Two Directions’ by CD Collins
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The Thirty-Two Directions
By CD Collins

I wake before the innocent fire of dawn, the pulsing tangerine sun above the chicken coop. I take a photograph to send to California, letting her know about the grandeur of this small farm in rural Kentucky where you might assume you know what motivates the movement of the stars and the people as you sit on the front porch and count the ratio of cars to trucks. Always more trucks, some loud without mufflers and no one stopping them. Some trucks built so high up you need the running board even if you’re a grown man.

April 30

As a prolific author from the Boston area, Peter F. Crowley writes in various forms, including short fiction, op-eds, poetry and academic essays. His writing can be found in Pif Magazine, New Verse News, Counterpunch, Galway Review, Digging the Fat, Adelaide’s Short Story and Poetry Award anthologies (finalist in both) and The Opiate. He is the author of the poetry books Those Who Hold Up the Earth and Empire’s End, and the short fiction collection That Night and Other Stories.

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Slice of Life: 3 AM of the Soul
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I have had a number of friends who lost loved ones over the past few months. When I first lost Dianne– my wife – she spoke to me – through subtle ways–through birds (we agreed on those as messengers), my dreams, my cat Klezmer, and even her voice – when I was in the limbo between sleep and wakefulness As the years went by – I felt less connected. The other day, while in bed,” I asked the universe, god, or a benevolent spirit, “Is Dianne still here?” It was of course a rhetorical question, during my 3AM night of my soul. Just after I asked the question, the cat jumped on my bed and started sniffing furiously, and my Alexa turned on and started to say something – I couldn’t hear it – but I was surprised because I didn’t prompt it, and it was in the next room. Now of course, this can be explained logically. But I chose to believe it was Dianne – she is still around – her spirit hovers over my bed, my bald, and freckled head. So, for those of you who have lost a loved one – he, she or they – they are there, accept that ethereal stroke of your hair… “Ah! Sweet mystery of life…”

April 23

Our poet Michael Coles writes: “This poem was written in response to Marge Piercy’s Barbie Doll, a beautifully written piece of feminist literature from 1971. Piercy’s poetry inspires many women and still upholds modern feminist ideals. Barbie Doll details experiences such as bullying and body dysmorphia, both of which I have struggled with, and which most if not all women have struggled with as well. The assignment that prompted me to write this poem was to write a poem as if attending the funeral of the narrator from the Barbie Doll poem. It is crucial that all women across the world are reminded how truly unique and beautiful they are, and that beauty standards are nothing, but a social construct made to empower men and weaken women. You are gorgeous and perfect exactly as you are, no matter your size or shape, no matter the color of your skin, no matter what.”

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Poet Sara Letourneau: A Poet who explores the maw of creation
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Interview with Doug Holder (Board member of the New England Poetry Club)

I decided it was a good time to interview poet Sara Letourneau, as this accomplished poet and New England Club Poetry member has her debut poetry collection out titled Wild Gardens. And it seems that Wild Gardens is an apt label for her book because there is nothing “tame” about her work. It is a collection that drills deep and goes beyond what you see – to what it means – a full-faced exploration.

April 16

Vijaya Sundaram is the current Poet Laureate (2023-2025) for the City of Medford, Massachusetts. Her first collection of poems titled Fractured Lens was published in 2023 by Červená Barva Press. She has written short stories, plays and a short novel (not yet published). Her poetry and short pieces have appeared in publications like The Rising Phoenix Press, The Stardust Review, and TELL Magazine, among others. Vijaya’s statement about poetry: Poetry, to my mind, is the clarion call that urges us to see both the fullness and barrenness of life along with its joys and griefs; to experience the world with empathy and love; to create new landscapes and stories in distilled language, and to share our experiences in words that might be able to evoke those same experiences in others.

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‘Capital’s Grave’ by Jodi Dean, The New Era of Lords and Serfs
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The New Era of Lords and Serfs

Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Ed Meek

Jodi Dean, an American political theorist and professor in the Political Science Department at Hobart and William Smith College, made the news last year when she lost her position because she expressed her pro-Palestinian stance on campus. She has since been reinstated. Although Bernie, AOC and the Squad, and other progressive democrats, are characterized by Republicans as radicals, they are really center-left politicians willing to work within the system to enact change. Jodi Dean is a radical who wants a different system. She is not alone. Many Americans on the left and right want major changes. Hence the return of Trump.