Polis: este jardin zine launch, September 17

Of course I would go to Gloucester & stumble on a poetry reading, one with old poetry friends no less. I had been on Main St. after lunch & ran into Donald Wellman who asked if I knew about the reading. It was at the Gloucester Writers Center, the former home of Gloucester poet Vincent Ferrini in East Glouceser. I grabbed my camera & headed out there.



James Cook at Polis reading.

 This issue of Polis was edited by James Cook, Zachary Vincent Martin & David Rich, with illustrations by Greg Cook. The readers, who sometimes read from the zine & sometimes read something else were Donald Wellman, Joe Torra, Susan Sklan, Jim Cocola, Peter Anastas, James Cook (who also read Zach Martin’s selection),  David Rich, Greg Cook (no relation to James), Danuta Borchardt & Gerrit Lansing. The reading included poetry, poetics, memoir, even translations, just like Polis itself, expansive just like the figure of Charles Olson himself, whom the zine (& the reading) invoked, along with the whimsical figure of Vincent Ferrini.

It was also great to be in Ferrini’s old home, with pictures & books, now a place for visiting writers to stay, & for readings. Check it out at it’s website here.