Poet Swap at Print
Kate Kearns, Mike Bove and David Stankiewicz are shaking up the usual poetry reading format.
Why? Because at a normal reading, there’s surprise and discovery for the audience, but there’s none for the poet. In a poet swap, the poet gets to see their own work in a new and likely uncomfortable way, and the audience gets the added bonus of watching them squirm.
What’s a poet swap? It’s like a body swap for a body of work. A trust fall. A torture wheel. Instead of presenting their own writing, each reader will present one of the other poets’ work, which they’ve had time to read and prepare.
At this event, Kate Kearns will present Mike Bove’s poetry, Mike will present David’s, and David will present Kate’s. The poet whose work is being read has no idea what poems the reader has chosen, what order they’re in, or what context will come with them. The only rule is all poems must be read word for word, true to the original.
Acadia National Park Writing Workshop
Acadia National Park Artist-in-Residence Mike Bove will lead a free writing workshop at 11 am Sat Nov 9 at the Northeast Harbor Library, 1 Joy Road, Northeast Harbor, ME. Please register at nehlibrary.org/events or by calling 207-276-3333.
Maine boasts a rich poetic tradition celebrating the natural landscape. This two-hour workshop will include an interactive reading activity featuring a selection of Maine-based nature poems, followed by a guided writing activity after a short break. Participants are asked to bring a small natural object or landscape photograph for inspiration.
Mike Bove is a prize-winning author of four books of poetry and a 2024 Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park. He is Professor of English at Southern Maine Community College, and lives in Portland where he was born and raised.
More at go.nps.gov/AcadiaArt
Book Launch for David Stankiewicz's "Night Garden"
Friday, July 5th at 6:00 pm. Free and open to the public. Registration is requested through the Maine Historical Society website.
From mainehistory.org:
What better way to spend a summer’s eve than by taking in some verse in one of Portland’s loveliest outdoor settings and the shadow of the home of its most celebrated writer? Join us for Poetry in the Longfellow Garden as local poet David Stankiewicz celebrates the launch of his latest collection, Night Garden, with poet friends Mike Bove, Betsy Sholl, and Kevin Sweeney. Following the reading, we invite you to stay for a while to enjoy the First Friday Art Walk and visit our exhibit Music in Maine!
About the presenters:
Mike Bove is the author of four books, most recently EYE (Spuyten Duyvil, 2023). He serves as a 2024 Writer-in-Residence at Acadia National Park and is Professor of English at Southern Maine Community College. Mike lives with his family in Portland, Maine where he was born and raised.
David Stankiewicz is the author of the poetry collections Night Garden and My First Beatrice. David grew up in Wayland, MA, and holds graduate degrees from Andover Newton Theological School and the Stonecoast MFA program. Since 2008, he has taught writing, literature, and ethics at Southern Maine Community College. He resides in Cape Elizabeth, Maine with his wife, two daughters, and dog.
Betsy Sholl's tenth collection of poetry is As If a Song Could Save You, University of Wisconsin Press, 2022, winner of the Four Lakes Prize. She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program of Vermont College of Fine Arts and served as Poet Laureate of Maine from 2006 to 2011.
Kevin Sweeney’s latest book is Imminent Tribulations from Moon Pie Press. He has taught at Southern Maine Community College since 1983 and is an assistant poetry editor at the Café Review for which he has done interviews with poets Carl Dennis, Kim Addonizio, Martin Esapda, Gerald Locklin, William Carpenter, and Margaret Randall.
Book Launch for EYE
Please join Print: A Bookstore, MWPA, and Mechanics’ Hall for a celebration of Maine winter through poetry.
The poems in Mike Bove’s newest collection, EYE, were written over the course of a nor’easter that buried Southern Maine in heavy snow. Meditations on memory, grief, family, and nature, they reveal the power of icy weather to inspire reflection and exploration.
Part poetry reading, part conversation, this event will feature Mike in poetic discussion with six acclaimed Maine poets, joining together in warm, wintry community.
To register, please click here.
Portland Poetry Festival
The first Portland Poetry Festival, hosted by Littoral Books, Hole in the Head Review and Back Cove Books, will be held on Saturday, October 7, 10 AM to 6 PM, at Odd Fellows Hall, 651 Forest Ave, above Back Cove Books. All events are free and open to the public.
The Portland Poetry Festival, coinciding with Littoral’s fifth anniversary, will be a celebration of Maine poetry. The morning will be devoted to poetry writing workshops for children led by poet Katherine Hagopian Berry.
The afternoon will include a number of scheduled events:
– readings by sixteen Maine poets
– the announcement of the finalists for Hole in the Head Review’s Charles Simic Poetry Prize
– a panel discussion on “The Role of Poetry in This Dangerous New World”
– a performance by members of the group “Songs from Here” of a poem by the late poet, Jacqueline Moore
– and a reading of some of Moore’s poems from her collection Chasing the Grass.
In between these scheduled events there will be ample time for refreshments, book signings, and informal conversations.
Reading at the Tate House
Mike will join two other writers for an outdoor reading in the historic Tate House garden, 1267 Westbrook Street in Portland.
4/26/23: WAIT Poems from the Pandemic
Reading in support of WAIT: Poems from the Pandemic