Woodstock Poetry Society
Featured Reading and Open Mike
Saturday, April 8th, 2023 at 2pm
Woodstock Library

HYBRID: in-person and virtually via Zoom

Darcy Smith
Dennis Wayne Bressack

Poets Darcy Smith and Dennis Wayne Bressack will be the featured readers, along with an open mike when the Woodstock Poetry Society when the Woodstock Poetry Society meets in person and streamed via Zoom on Saturday, April 8th, 2023 at 2pm(eastern).

WPS meetings are held the 2nd Saturday (2pm) of every month.

Woodstock Library
5 Library Lane, Woodstock, NY 12498
(845) 679-2213
www.woodstock.org

*** We ask all people who wish to attend in person to self-test for Covid within 24 hours prior to the event. Self-test kits are reasonably priced and available at nearly every pharmacy. ***

The Zoom app can be downloaded here: Zoom Download Center

To attend virtually: contact phillip@woodstockpoetry.com to receive Zoom info
If attending, please indicate if you would like to be on the open mike. Thank you.

The reading will be hosted by poet Phillip X Levine. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

Features:

Darcy Smith - Darcy Smith’s debut collection, River Skin, Fernwood Press June 2022 was a semifinalist for the 2020 Hillary Gravendyk Prize. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications including Grub Street, Two Thirds North, River Heron Review and Anti-Heroin Chic. Smith is a Pushcart nominee, Certified Sign Language Interpreter, Buddhist, kickboxer, wife and mother. She lives with her husband and their cat, Miley in New York’s Hudson Valley. For more information visit www.darcysmith.org



Half Life

When you die, where will we meet?
Will you wake me with tinny shouts eh eh uh?
Your fisticuffs, the devil’s head, you have to—
his pronged tongue, a captious hiss.

You remember him, the crack of the hemlock.
When you die, if we meet, will the soft dent
of your pillow feel repeated? Will I forget
our lips, our legs, our yesterdays, will your hands

speak to me of first love, avocado slivers? When our hips
give way to soil, our toes, like hungry ants, will file inside
these peony-drunk petals. When you die, we’ll meet
in dreams of stamen nectar. You didn’t mean to

punch my cheek, you were kerosene when you hit.
Dolls hang from strings above our bed. When I snap
their plastic heads, our room smells giddy. The wind,
umami. When you die, come find me in the peonies.

-Darcy Smith

Shared with permission from Smith’s River Skin. Please visit www.darcysmith.org for more information.



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Dennis Wayne Bressack - Dennis Wayne Bressack lives in Woodstock with his wife, Abby. He is a retired Dentist who is now enjoying his second career as a successful Real Estate Agent. They have 2 sons, Noah and Justin, 4 grandchildren and 1 great granddaughter. He has been writing personal, social, and political poetry, articles, and essays for almost 60 years. Dennis is a member of The Woodstock Poetry Society and Calling All Poets and has been a featured reader at their meetings as well as many other venues in the Mid-Hudson Valley, New York City and New Jersey. He has been published in many anthologies, magazines and journals, and has self-published 7 chapbooks and recorded 2 music CDs. You can find samples of his poems, writings, songs and photos on his website, denniswaynebressack.com.



Shakespeare Within

I wish I could write poetry like Shakespeare in love.
Humbled by the depth of his beautiful words,
I am envious of his ability to create passion with his quill,
wistful, unable to express my love with equal fire.

I seek to match him with phrases that roll easily off my tongue,
manifesting images of leaves spinning into fables,
orchid blossoms flowing through my veins and
lilac bushes fanning the blush off of her skin.

I envision our bodies stretched breath to shallow breath
over plush hillsides tinged with her laughter.
inhale the fragrance of her lips,
recline into the quilt of her essence.

I discover that the space into which my love unfolds
follows the channel into her heart,
explores the songs that resonate within me
until my music vibrates the stars.

I savor her in a lifetime of narration,
ponder the poetry that I have penned.
I may not have forged a Shakespearean sonnet,
but believe I have fashioned a play.

-Dennis Wayne Bressack

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Developing WPS 2023 Schedule - February-December readings Hybrid: in-person and now at the Woodstock Library and via Zoom
All WPS Events: Events

01/January 14th - Danielle Woerner; Virginia Konchan (via Zoom only)
02/February 11th - Alison Koffler; Dayl Wise
03/March 11th - Allison Argueta; Brianna Heller
04/April 8th - Darcy Smith; Dennis Wayne Bressack
05/May 13th - Jerrice J. Baptiste; Mary K O'Melveny
06/June 10th - Irene Sipos; Perry S. Nicholas
07/July 8th - Kateri Kosek; Raphael Kosek
08/August 12th - David Messineo; TBA
09/September 9th - Barbara Ungar; Lucia Cherciu
10/October 14th - Bracha Nechama Bomze; Reagan Upshaw
11/November 18th - George Quasha; Sam Truitt 3rd Saturday
12/December 9th - Lisa St. John; TBA and Annual Business Meeting

Also, why not become a 2023 Member of the Woodstock Poetry Society?

Membership is $20 a year. (To join, send your check to the Woodstock Poetry Society, P.O. Box 531, Woodstock, NY 12498. Include your email address as well as your mailing address and phone number. Or join online at: www.woodstockpoetry.com/become.html). Your membership helps pay for meeting space rental, post-office-box rental, the WPS website, and costs associated with publicizing the monthly events. One benefit of membership is the opportunity to have a brief biography and several of your poems appear on this website.

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