Events
First Light: Poems for the New Year
Join us for the first poetry reading of the year at The Poets Corner—a poetry reading and discussion with five poets reading work to welcome in the new year in community, inviting in both joy and sorrow, and most importantly a chorus of uplifting voices. Each poet will be read from their own work, and also introduce a poem by a poet they admire, whose work uplifts them in their own lives.
We’ll be joined by Margaret Haberman, co-author of To the Point and Back: Swimming Poems (2024), Didi Jackson, author of My Infinity (Red Hen Press, 2024), Alison Luterman, author of In the Time of Great Fires (Catamaran, 2020), Migwi Mwangi, MFA Writing Candidate at NYU. and Maya Stein, author of How We Are Not Alone.
This event is FREE and will be live on Zoom at 4:00 PM EST
Read more about the presenters:
Danusha Laméris reading
Danusha Laméris is a poet and essayist raised in Northern California and born to a Dutch father and Barbadian mother. Her newest book, Blade by Blade (Copper Canyon Press, 2024). Copper Canyon calls it a “book of hungers: Hunger for the bright glare of poppies, for the hidden name of the beloved, for the cracked continental edge, for all we keep in ‘the heart’s farthest chambers’ …These poems are luminous missives tossed on the wind asking us to re-enter the world we’ve forsaken, to set foot, as if for the first time, on the green earth and begin again.”
Join us on Sunday February 9 to hear Danusha read from this collection and other poems, and talk about her practice and the craft of poetry with our host, Meg Weston.
This event is FREE.
They Say the Heart Wants
what it wants, but no one tells you what it gets.
So here’s a list, mine: tall grasses, blowing in the wind,
swirled glass cups, peacock blue, bought in Lebanon.
Fog off the California cliffs, dark boulders on the shore.
Billie Holiday’s I’ll be seeing you in all the old
familiar places, cycling through my auditory cortex.
Dogs pulling at the leash. Small white plates
of wild greens and beets. The time a man kissed
my hand when we met, then pressed my palm
to his cheek. Sei Shōnagon’s eleventh-century list
of Things That Give One a Clean Feeling: an earthen cup,
a new metal bowl, a rush mat, the play of light on water
as one pours it into a vessel, a new wooden chest.
To which I add a drawer of beeswax candles,
steam rising from a pot of tea. So much stored
in the heart’s farthest chambers. And though
he’s been dead for decades now, I still feel the kiss.
My whole arm shivers with its half-life.
Reading Rilke Today
Join us for this annual event celebrating the visionary poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. Led again this year by poet and translator Mark S. Burrows, together with poet Pádraig Ó Tuama (host of the “Poetry Unbound” podcast), the conversation widens to welcome award-winning broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author Krista Tippett, founder of the “On Being” public radio show and podcast.
Art & Ekphrastic Poetry Reading
Join us for a reading of our fourth annual ekphrastic poetry challenge, a collaboration between Page Gallery and The Poets Corner. The art will be available for viewing both online and in-gallery.
Billy Collins
Billy Collins, two term U.S. Poet Laureate, author of thirteen books of poetry, and one of the most popular poets in American today, will join us on The Poets Corner on October 13. If you’re new to poetry, this is one of the best introductions you can have. If you’re already a fan, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to listen to Collins read and share his insights into the craft of writing poetry.
An Evening Reading with Poet & Essayist Ross Gay (IN PERSON)
Poet and essayist Ross Gay, author of Inciting Joy, The Book of Delights, Bring the Shovel Down, and The Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, comes to Camden! Presented by the Camden Festival of Poetry and the Belfast Poetry Festival. Sponsored by The Poets Corner and Toad Hall Editions.
to the Point and Back : Swimming Poems
In the summer of 2023 two friends decided to write a poem every time they swam - the result is this wonderful book we want to share with you! It’s a series of love letters to the water, to swimming, and to friendship. Come be inspired by the poetry of friendship with Meg and Margaret.
Natalie Goldberg reading from her new book, Writing on Empty
This special event is a fundraiser for the Millay House Rockland Writer-in-Residence program. Natalie Goldberg, best-selling author of Writing Down the Bones, will be reading from her new book— Writing on Empty : A Guide to Finding Your Voice.
LOCAL EVENT: POETRY READING AT NORTON POND
Join Us Sunday at 2:00 at the Breezemere Bandstand on Norton Pond in Lincolnville for a poetry reading with Margaret A. Haberman and Meg Weston reading from their collaborative collection of swimming poems — To the Point and Back.
Finale! A reading with our finalists.
Join us on July 14th for a reading with nine poets whose chapbooks were selected as finalists from among over 400 submissions to the 2024 Chapbook Competition. Each of these talented poets will be introduced by one of our readers in a fast-paced lively presentation that will inspire and fascinate you with fireworks of lyricism with a variety of themes and chapbook styles.
Reading with Molly Bolton, Chapbook Contest Winner
Join this reading with the 2024 Chapbook Competition winner Molly Bolton, hosted by our contest judge, poet Marie Howe.
This reading will be hosted by distinguished poet, Marie Howe, the judge for this year's competition.
Leaning Toward Light: Poems for gardens & the hands that tend them
We’re delighted to offer a reading from a beautiful new anthology, hosted by the editor: Tess Taylor, reading along with poets: David Baker, Sophie Cabot Black, Mark Doty, Kirun Kapur, Danusha Laméris, and Gary Lawless (reading Nanao Sakaki).
Essential Queer Voices
Essential Queer Voices of U.S. Poetry was edited by Christopher Nelson and introduced by Jack Halberstam. The Essential Voices series from Green Linden Press intends to correct misrepresentation and misunderstanding in the broader culture. It has at its heart the ancient idea that poetry can reveal our shared humanity. Joining editor & publisher Christopher Nelson on The Poets Corner will be the following major voices in American poetry today: Rick Barot, Ellen Bass, Richard Blanco, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Charif Shanahan.
Ochre & Rust: The Poetry of Sergey Gandlevsky
Ochre & Rust: new selected poems of Sergy Gandlevsky translated by Philip Metres
HeartWork: Exploring Rilke's Poetry with Mark S. Burrows
Heartwork explores Rilke’s insistence that we are to “live the questions” in our lives before we can hope to discover any “answers.” How do we do this?
The Inaugural Issue of The Maine Standard Launches in 2024 with a special section on Obsessions featuring the Nine Poets Collective.
The Nine Poets group has been meeting since June of 2020 when they each signed up for a chapbook intensive offered by Maine Media led by presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco. The group continues to write and support each other with monthly gatherings on Zoom, and an annual poetry picnic.
In January, with the launch of the new literary journal from DownEast books, The Maine Standard, the Nine Poets will be featured with selections of poems that speak to each of their “obsessions” and an introduction by Richard Blanco. In this event with The Poets Corner, we’ll celebrate the launch of the Maine Standard with readings from all nine poets.
Reading Rilke Today: A Conversation
Rilke’s poems and writing remind us of what it means to “bear witness” to life in those “dark hours” we face when we experience things “falling asunder.” He also invites us to “dance the orange,” celebrating the exuberant beauty that shines, even in the darkness.
Award-winning Rilke translator and poet, Mark S. Burrows, will explore the writings of poet Rainer Maria Rilke and why Rilke’s words challenge and inspire us, offering “words that still ripen in the silences.”
Mark will be joined by poets Pádraig Ó Tuama and Marie Howe to share selected Rilke poems and enter a conversation about the significance of these words, calling us to embrace “a second life, timeless and wide.”
Ekphrastic Poetry 2023
For this event, poets were invited to submit work in response to a painting or photography in the Art & Ekphrastic Poetry exhibit at The Page Gallery. The ten poems selected read on The Poets Corner; another ten poems selected by the artists will be read live in the gallery on Saturday, November 19th.
Words from the West
Spencer Reece, an episcopal priest and a poet who has lived in Spain, Honduras, Connecticut and now Rhode Island, and Matt Daly, creative writing teacher and poet from Wyoming, zoom in together from Wyoming for this reading.
Obsessions & Harmonies
Meg Weston reads from her first full-length collection of poems, Magma Intrusions, along with Betsy Sholl, former Maine Poet Laureate, who reads from her tenth collection, As If a Song Could Save You. The readings are followed by a conversation about the obsessions and harmonies in their poems; poetic influences and writing practices; and other topics that intrigue us as poets.
CORNER CRAFT TALK Publishing Poetry Today: a panel discussion with Q&A
Ever wondered what editors are thinking when they read our work? How they make decisions? Curious about common submission mistakes we might be making? How to find the right journal or magazine to submit to? Online or in print? What to consider when submitting a manuscript for publication? This craft talk will cover these topics and more, presenting our panelists with many frequently asked questions about publishing poetry in today’s ever-changing world.
Learn more and register here.
Disclosures: Kathleen Ellis and Claire Millikin read from their newest books.
Join us as Kathleen Ellis reads from her new book Body of Evidence, winner of the 2022 Grayson Books Poetry Contest, and Claire Millikin reads from Elegiaca Americana and Transitional Objects - her two books just published in the past six months.
Clock of Cream and Flame: Mothers on Motherhood
Motherhood is a great leveler--a cause for fear, for joy, for ambivalence. Join poets Katherine Hagopian Berry, Sonia Greenfield, Abby Murray and Meghan Sterling as they look closely at the role of mother, reading their poems that celebrate, and reveal, the complex experience of motherhood. Learn more and RSVP here.
Draft: An Open Mic for Poets and Writers
Live Event at Marshall Wharf in Belfast, Maine
We write sh*tty first drafts to get something on the page. How about bringing those sh*tty first drafts to the stage? Join us for an evening of first drafts, rough drafts, and everything in between drafts. Bring your works in progress to share in a warm, welcoming atmosphere! Poetry or short pieces only (4-6 minutes per reader).
“Malama 'Aina” honor the earth
This year our Eco-Poetry reading will be open for submissions. We’ll select 10-12 poems to be read on Zoom on The Poets Corner Sunday April 23, 2023. Learn more here.
The Wandering Radiance with Mark S. Burrows
Mark S. Burrows presents his newly published volume of poems by the German-Jewish poet Hilde Domin (1909 – 2006), The Wandering Radiance: Selected Poems of Hilde Domin, a translation project that was more than a decade in the making. He will be joined by his publisher, Christopher Nelson of Green Linden Press; Marion Tauschwitz, a German writer who was a confidante of Domin’s and her biographer; and the British poet and literary critic Hilary Davies.
Learn more and RSVP here.
Story! with Morgan Talty and Laura Bonazzoli
Guests were in for a treat as two Maine writers shared with us the pleasures that flow from their short stories. While each story stands alone, together each of these books forms a story-cycle revealing new truths and enhancing our understanding of people and place.
Love Letters
This year’s annual Valentine’s Day reading will be LOVE LETTERS – submissions of epistolary poems. This follows an ancient tradition since some of the earliest forms of epistolary poems, or poems that read as letters, were love letters such as Ovid’s Heroides—love letters from the great women of antiquity. So we asked you to write to your love or loves, and submit your poems for Love Letters!
Draft: An Open Mic for Poets and Writers
Live Event at Marshall Wharf in Belfast, Maine
We write sh*tty first drafts to get something on the page. How about bringing those sh*tty first drafts to the stage? Join us for an evening of first drafts, rough drafts, and everything in between drafts. Bring your works in progress to share in a warm, welcoming atmosphere! Poetry or short pieces only (4-6 minutes per reader).
Poems from the Night Skies
The stars shine on The Poets Corner this January 8 with an event featuring filmmaker Tara Roberts Zabriskie who documented Maine’s efforts to “save the stars” in her film “Defending the Dark.”
Pop-Up Poetry Reading: Letters from the White Queen
A Pop-Up Poetry reading, featuring Meg Weston reading from her book, Letters from the White Queen.