Rockport Poetry Festival, April 24

As many of you know, I’m a great fan of Cape Ann, MA & when I saw on the Gloucester Writers Center weekly newsletter about this event I decided to go. The date was a Sunday, & since I had tickets for the Albany Symphony Orchestra concert on Saturday night, I drove over Sunday morning. I got a later start than I had wished & so missed a “Bard’s Brunch” & the “Poetry at the Pond” at the Millbrook Meadow Park in Rockport. 

When I go to Cape Ann I always stay in Gloucester which is a 365-day working city, while Rockport is more of a Summer destination. But for years I had seen the Bearskin Neck Motor Lodge almost to the end of Bearskin neck, busy in the tourist season with its shops, art galleries & all the kinds of things that draws tourist in the Summer, & had always wondered what it would be like to spend the night there with its backside facing Sandy Bay. I booked a room for 2 nights. My room was perfect, a porch facing the bay, watching the tides & the gull & ducks.

After checking in I walked to the Rockport Public Library for “Global Voices,” not sure what was what. It turns out this was an international Zoom event, with a slowly building local audience in the Library auditorium. I didn’t know anyone there & most were what I’m now calling “grey-haired contemporaries,” &, course, there were the usual glitches with setting up a Zoom connection & the connection to the big screen TV for those in the live audience to see the readers on Zoom. But the problems were resolved & we settled in for short segments from poets from Dubai, from Palestine, South Africa, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark & elsewhere. This was followed by a segment of readings by poets from the U.S.

Later there was a reception at Brackett’s Oceanview Restaurant on Main St. where there was a nice spread of light food & a cash bar. I talked with Roger Davis who is the host of the Open Mic out of the Gloucester Writers Center on the 1st Monday of each month, & he introduced me to Bob Whalen who had been the host of the “Global Voices” event at the Library. Then later I ran into a poet from Albany (we’re Everywhere!), or at least one who had been in the Albany poetry/music scene in the past, Jason O’Toole, who gave me copies of his work, Spear of Stars (The Red Salon, 2018), & a proof copy of Poison Moonlight (Blood Pudding Press, 2021). His mother, whom I was in high school with in a journalism class, still lives in the Capital District. As a result, Jason will be reading in the 2022 Poets in the Park series in July. 

Back to my room by the bay to dial in to a Zoom Open Mic, the finale of this one-day Rockport Poetry Festival. There were about 20 folks signed in & a dizzy array of poets & styles of poems.

Dan & Angela were the most performance oriented, as Angela rang a gong while Dan read a piece playing off Kerouac’s “Old Angel Midnight,” then Angela read her poems. 

Pamela Bailey read selections from her book. 

Barrie Levine read “Ukraine Haiku.” 

Muriel read some simple philosophy. 

Sandra Williams’ “Brothers” was from a picture of Christ & the Buddha. 

Amy Seabrook read about planetary music. 

Jorgelina Zeoli’s poems were on friendship. 

Nancy Hewitt has a new book of memoirs from Finishing Line Press. 

Jon Wesick breathlessly read a couple of clever, hyped up satiric pieces. 

James Inman’s piece about how folks around the world celebrate Easter was also humor, as was Franz's political piece.

Jennie Meyer shared some sci-fi based on Mary Oliver. 

I read a couple of my poem cards, they’re short. 

Kevin Perrin read pieces about Cape Ann & Holyoke.

Then my phone rang & by the time the call was over so was the open mic, & for that matter the Rockport Poetry Festival.

If you are interested in more information about poetry in Rockport, email rockportpoetry@gmail.com; & be sure to check out the activities of the Gloucester Writers Center .