Westwood Town-Wide Poetry Event Draws Poets and Poetry Fans

April is National Poetry Month,  when poets all over the  U.S. declaim and presenting poetry in schools, community centers, parks, libraries,  formal readings, spoken word events, and poetry slam competitions almost every day of the month.  

Westwood is no exception:   the town's  poets and their friends and family gathered at the Westwood Library on April 15 to celebrate the art of poetry. Featured guest poet David Surette, author of eight poetry collections, entertained and moved the audience of poets and poetry lovers at this year's Town-Wide Poetry Reading  Open Mic.  His poems of growing up in Malden, born into what he called, "two religions--the Catholic Church and hockey"--were at turns poignant and hilarious, sometimes in the same poem. His memory poems of his mother and  father,  youthful crushes,  his family and his thirty-three year teaching career in the public schools of Waterville, Maine, Waltham and West Bridgewater, kept the audience engaged and responsive, with sighs, groans, laughter,  finger snaps and applause. 

Youth Poet Laureate Elizabeth Lowney and  Westwood Library Tuesday Evening poets Avi Glaser, Jan Brogan, Karen Michelson, Marilyn Gove, Brian Mich and Sherri Stepakoff recited poems they had written and workshopped in the past year, and several open mic poets--Kathleen Latham, Jess and Henriette "Queen" Hodge-- rounded out the evening by presenting  their original work. Poet Laureate Lynne Viti served as emcee, and read her 2025 Founding Day poem, "The Last Trolley, 1924."

David Surette found some new fans, as evidenced by the many copies of his most recent collection, Tonic, that attendees purchased and asked him to sign.

The  Tuesday Evening Poets Workshop currently has two openings for the series beginning in mid-September. Those interested in joining the workshop, which meets from 6:30-8:30 PM on alternate Tuesdays,  whether new to poetry or  more experienced  in writing poetry,  may  contact Westwood Poet Laureate Lynne Viti via the contact form at https://www.townhall.westwood.ma.us/departments/library/poet-laureate, or leave a note for her at the main library circulation desk, with your contact information.

David Surette's reading was funded in part by Lynne Viti's 2025 grant from the Westwood and Massachusetts Cultural Councils, for Poets in the Schools and in the Community.

Photo credits: Evan Cardimino