Woodstock Poetry Society
Featured Reading and Open Mike
Saturday, May 13th, 2023 at 2pm
Woodstock Library

HYBRID: in-person and virtually via Zoom

Jerrice J. Baptiste
Mary K O'Melveny

Poets Jerrice J. Baptiste and Mary K O'Melveny will be the featured readers, along with an open mike when the Woodstock Poetry Society meets in person and streamed via Zoom (and streamed live on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WoodstockPoetry) on Saturday, May 13th, 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:

Jerrice J. Baptiste - Jerrice J. Baptiste is a published author of seven children’s books and one adult poetry book Wintry Mix. The founder of Authentic Poetry workshops in The Hudson Valley for eighteen years. She has facilitated poetry most recently at The Omega Institute in NY, and as the Poet-in-Residence at The Prattsville Art Center & Residency since 2021. Her poetry has been included in the Poetic License—Exhibitions at The Arts Society of Kingston (ASK), and in many reputable journals & magazines such as Mantis, Artemis Journal, Penumbra Literary & Art Journal, Kosmos Journal, The Banyan Review, The Dewdrop and many others. She has been nominated as Best of The Net for 2022 by Blue Stem. Jerrice has been the featured poet on Planet Poet-Words in Space, The Woodstock Poetry Society, and The International Women’s Writing Guild.



Spring Wonderful

Sun stacked through
bamboo blinds.

Vibrant life resurrects,
as strings pulled up
reveal miracle
within perimeter of rectangle.

Body snugs into window frame.
Feet tap on windowsill.

Profile view of lake thawing,

bare maple tree casts

ample shadow on ice pockets.

Citrine glow bounces in eyes.
Fingertips fill with sunlight.

-Jerrice J. Baptiste

*

Mary K O'Melveny - Mary K O’Melveny, a Pushcart Prize nominee and award-winning poet, is the author of three poetry collections: A Woman of a Certain Age, Merging Star Hypotheses (Finishing Line Press 2018, 2020) and Dispatches From the Memory Care Museum (Kelsay Books 2021). Her poetry has appeared in numerous print and on-line journals, anthologies and national blog sites, including Minerva Rising, Voice of Eve, FLARE: The Flagler Review, Split Rock Review, Allegro Poetry Journal, Anthology Magazine, Slippery Elm Literary Journal, Lightwood, The Poet’s Billow and The New Verse News. Her book Merging Star Hypotheses was a semi-finalist for the 2019 Washington Prize sponsored by The Word Works. Mary is a member of The Hudson Valley Women’s Writers Group and a co-author of their anthologies An Apple In Her Hand (Codhill Press 2019) and Rethinking The Ground Rules (forthcoming from Mediacs Press 2022). Her web site is www.marykomelvenypoet.com.



Murmurations

My friend and I are talking indignant politics
We are about to cross the Mid-Hudson bridge,
steel sky above, chilly water below,
when a cloud of birds twists, spins above us.

They seek every bare branch, fill them
as if they were summer leaves, then scatter
again like confetti in wind. No one in charge,
yet balance animates all.

Like scat singers, each vibrating note resounds,
rebounds. Each airborne thrum and trill,
purr and prattle sweeps the skies, harmony
clear, like a drummer’s brush technique.

Their grace is a loose coordination:
Swing. Smooth. Bebop. Hip Hop. Cool.
Aerial musicians in synchrony, each linked
to the next. We discontented humans drive on.

-Mary K O'Melveny

Previously published in Jerry Jazz Musician

Developing WPS 2023 Schedule - February-December readings Hybrid: in-person and now at the Woodstock Library and via Zoom (and streamed live on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WoodstockPoetry)
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; Will Nixon
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; Lissa Kiernan 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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