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Memoirist Brittany Perham: Pens a poetic memoir that meets the demands of memory
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Recently, I caught up with Brittany Perham, the author of the memoir Executrix. Brittany is an associate professor of English at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. She is an accomplished poet, and as she told me this memoir is very much a poet’s memoir. It is written in an original style, and exhibits the sensibility of a poet. Her publisher writes of the book:
August 26
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Richard Wilhelm is a Somerville resident. He is an artist and poet. He was one of the founders of the Ibbetson Street Press in Somerville, MA.
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Review of ‘Conversations with Michael S. Harper’
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Reviewed by Rishabh Kumar and Vivek Singh
There’s a moment, decades into this book, where Michael S. Harper stops explaining himself and just says it plainly, “to survive as an artist in America is always an endurance contest, particularly if you are Black.” By then you believe him as you’ve watched him prove it, interview after interview, for almost forty years.
August 19
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Marilyn Jurich is a poet, author, and Associate Professor Emerita of English at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. During her long academic career at the university, she specialized in a diverse range of subjects, including fantasy and folklore, speculative literature, children’s literature, and modern British poetry.
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Poets Beth Rosenberg and Charles Levenstein explore ‘secret cities’
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I recently caught up with Somerville professor and poet Beth Rosenberg. Along with her mentor, Chuck Levenstein, they have written a book of poems about the workers in the nuclear industry.
August 12
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Poet Doug Holder writes: “You know, I have taught Ray Bradbury’s short story There will come soft rains for years now at Endicott College. The story is about the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. The date for the piece is set on Aug. 4, 2026. And now with wars around the world … I wrote this small poem that was inspired by Bradbury.”
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‘The Language of Two’ by Jean Flanagan
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Reviewed by Lee Varon
Jean Flanagan’s latest collection of poetry, The Language of Two, brings us breathtaking poems of remembrance, loss, acceptance, and paying homage. Her finely crafted lyrics help us see how to live a rich and fulfilling life, despite intense moments of grief.
August 5
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Our poet Barbara Reynolds writes: “These were inspired by my frequent visits to Bloc Cafe. One day I was taken with the sensual act of eating a muffin, which led to memories of the 1940 film Fantasia. Another time led to recurring dreams of a coffee shop existing exclusively for raspberry muffins.”
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A New England Archive of Jewish History revives the past for all of New England
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While I was having my usual bagel at the Bagel Bin on Shirley Ave., City Councilman Ira Novosesky told me about an event that was presented by the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center. The program was a presentation regarding Jewish life and history in the city of Revere.
July 29
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Rachel Kushner writes poems, children’s books, and research papers. The research papers and briefs focus on Boston’s public pre-K programming. The poems and children’s books are sick of hiding. She works for the Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood as a data analyst and research coordinator. Rachel lives in Union Square with her six housemates in an unofficial co-op. She really likes jumping on her mini trampoline.
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‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ presides for Boston’s Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s 30th-Year Presentation
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By Michael Todd Steffen
Shakespeare’s wonderful fantasy comedy of otherwise and elsewhere, all about the confusion of young lovers and the curative transformations brought about by the woodland fairies – A Midsummer Night’s Dream is back, for its third performance in the 30-year life of Shakespeare on the (Boston) Common, directed by Steven Maler.
July 22
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Zvi A. Sesling, Poet Laureate of Brookline, MA, 2017-2020, has published poetry and flash fiction nationally and internationally. He won First Prize in the Reuben Rose International Poetry Competition held in Israel and was featured at the 2010 and 2019 Jewish Poetry Festivals. He edited Muddy River Poetry Review and edits 10×10 Flash Fiction. He reviews for The Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene. He is a five-time poetry Pushcart Prize nominee. His flash fiction story was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
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Steve Ratiner: Mastermind of WE (too) THE PEOPLE series at the Longfellow House in Cambridge
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Steve Ratiner is the president of the New England Poetry Club. I talked with him about the WE (too) THE PEOPLE poetry series at the Longfellow House in Cambridge this summer. On July 12, the club hosts Tracy K. Smith, the former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner. There will be readings throughout the summer.
July 15
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Gary Metras’s 10th poetry book, Counting Bricks, was just published by Dos Madres Press. His essays, reviews, and chiefly poems have appeared in hundreds of periodicals since the 1970s, including Chiron Review, English Journal, Ibbetson Street, Poetry, Poetry East, and Yankee. He has worked as tobacco picker, short order cook, mason tender, air traffic controller (U.S. Air Force), book store manager, high school English teacher, and college writing instructor. He fly fishes the rivers and streams of western Massachusetts for recreation and inspiration.
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Poet Lisa J. Sullivan has a ‘Theory of Impact’
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I caught up with New England Poetry Club poet Lisa J. Sullivan about her debut collection of poetry, Theory of Impact.
July 8
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Tom Driscoll is a poet and essayist who lives and works in Lowell, Massachusetts. His poetry has appeared in Abraxas Review, Rock Salt Journal, Scapegoat Review, The Worcester Review, Oddball Magazine, Carcosa Magazine, The Ekphrastic Review, Decadent Review, Drawn To The Light, What Rough Beast and Second Coming from Indolent Books and in several Moonstone Arts Center’s Poetry Anthologies. Tom’s poem Leave Home won the Robert P. Collén Poetry Prize in 2017. Notes on Demolition was selected as an Editor’s Choice for the Allen Ginsberg Prize, and This isn’t the first time received Third Place in The Frank O’Hara Prize, both in 2021. Upon Stealing Smithsonian Folkways from Franklin Library, Summer 1974, won The Letter Review Poetry prize in 2024. His most recent book is Echoes, A Collection of Ekphrastic Poems.
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Review of ‘The Only Song We Have’ by Lawrence Kessenich
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Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Marcus Breen
Creative lives offer insights into the human condition that are not replicated elsewhere. No one reads a biography of a business executive to discover insights about the meaning of life and relationships: at least I don’t. Then again, if I was obsessed with learning the nefarious ways of making money by robbing the poor and enriching myself, then business biographies would take me to the ethically challenged world of all-money-all-the-time, or more technically “economism.” Somewhat ironically, artists and creative people offer insights to the human condition because their work reaches the public through the commercial processes of business.
July 1
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Our poet writes: “My name is Lizzie Rutberg. I’m a local artist and sometimes-poet living in Somerville.”
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