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Photo by Lynne Viti. Westwood Poet Laureate Lynne Viti has edited a compilation of poetry produced through workshops she leads at Westwood Public Library.
11-01-2023 11:28pm
Westwood Poet Laureate Announces Publication of Limited Run Poetry Chapbook (Updated)
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Editor's note: The Poetry Trivia contest referenced in this article has closed, and the winner has been awarded her prize. Congratulations to reader Mouay Wong from West Roxbury! She correctly answered, "Tiger."
Westwood Poet Laureate Lynne Viti has announced the publication of a limited run poetry chapbook, Anthology of Poems By the Tuesday Evening Poets, edited by Dr. Viti, with works by poets who have met locally at Westwood Public Library for poetry workshops over the past two years. Recently, Dr. Viti had the idea to publish their work, and asked the group of ten poets to each select one example of their very best work for inclusion in a chapbook.
The chapbook was printed in late September with a run of only about 25 copies. Dr. Viti provided the initial funding for the printing, an economical $50, which she guesses may be the advantageous result of her emeritus relationship to Wellesley College, whose printing service produced the copies. Support also came from Westwood Public Library Director Elizabeth McGovern, who later was able to find money in her budget to cover the cost.
Each poet received a personal copy of the publication, six copies were reserved for Westwood Public Library circulation and for its board of trustees, and other copies were distributed to family members.
However, one copy remains, and this collectible will be awarded to the first Westwood Minute reader who correctly answers the trivia question contained in this article. Read on to find out more.
When Dr. Viti distributed the anthology to the authors at the Tuesday meeting following the print run, their reception was enthusiastic.
“I gave it out before we started the meeting, and it was a big mistake,” she remembers with good humor. “They were so excited. It was a chaotic [ ] meeting.”
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Dr. Viti began the series of Tuesday evening poetry workshops in January 2022, and the group's members have met regularly, first via Zoom because of Covid, and then in person meetings at the library, every other week. They meet to discuss the new poetry that each person has written in response to a prompt that Dr. Viti has provided at the prior meeting. Each prompt usually draws on a personal experience in the poets’ lives.
“One prompt was to go to a place you have never been before and to have an interaction with a stranger,” says Dr. Viti. “Another prompt was to describe what’s the worst summer job you ever had. . . . One summer job was about dipping ice cream, and it talked about living with girls in a tiny apartment in Long Island and gaining ten pounds,” recalls Dr. Viti.
After writing to the prompts, the poets bring their work to the group's next meeting, where each poem is read by its author and/or by a person other than the author. The latter is an exercise which Dr. Viti believes provides the auditory experience for the creator of hearing the poem in another person’s voice. Then, comments and suggestions are voiced, and clarifications can be provided. The poet must wait and listen to all comments before responding. This can be an exercise in patience, and it helps lessen the occurrence of immediately defensive remarks.
“I try not to make it too academic,” says Dr. Viti. “It should be fun,” she notes, although she acknowledges, “The old hands can be very intense while being supportive.”
The group is very committed. Some think of the workshop as a class, and writing poetry as homework, says Dr. Viti. Once, a member who lives in Plymouth drove to Westwood's library for the group's meeting in a snowstorm. When she arrived, along with Dr. Viti, they found the library closed. “So, we all ran home and did it on Zoom. They were great. They really pivoted,” says Dr. Viti.
Dr. Viti also remembers when the group stayed at the library until closing. They finally left because the custodian wanted to go home.
While some group members have come and gone, at its core, there has remained a group of about seven people who were among the first to join and who have never left, says Ms. Viti.
“There are people in this group who have been writing poetry privately for years. Then, I had people who never wrote poetry before,” she says, describing the group's members.
Currently, there's a waiting list. Dr. Vivi would like to keep the participants to around nine in number.
“At some point, we had twelve to fourteen people, and it’s too many people. If you do what you need to do for each poem, you can’t fit it into two hours. It’s a free flowing discussion," explains Dr. Viti.
The poets whose work can be found in Anthology of Poems By the Tuesday Evening Poets are: Jan Brogan, Melissa Burrage, Debra David, Mike Dwyer, Avi Glaser, Marilyn Gove, Elizabeth Johnston, Brian Mich, Karen Michelson and Sherri Stepakoff. Gina Maranto designed the layout and cover art.
Thanks to Dr. Lynne Viti, Westwood Poet Laureate, for speaking with Westwood Minute. Dr. Viti is also generously contributing a copy of Anthology of Poems By the Tuesday Evening Poets to the winner of Westwood Minute's Poetry Trivia.
Updated 11/3/2023 at 1:03 p.m. An Editor's Note has been added to announce that the Poetry Trivia contest has been closed.
