Poetry Contest Winners Take the Stage
The Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest celebrates local poets at the Wellfleet Preservation Hall
Provincetown, MA, 20 April 2023: Poet and contest judge Marge Piercy will be joined by local winning poets at a celebratory reading at the Wellfleet Preservation Hall on Wednesday, May 3rd, at 7pm, contest sponsor and community radio station WOMR announced today.
The contest is divided into two sections, based on location: an open section and a special “local” section open to Cape Cod-based poets. Both sections are judged by award-winning poet Marge Piercy,
MARGE PIERCY
Poets submitted poetry in the fall of 2022 and received notification of the results in early 2023. Winning local Cape Cod-based poets include: Jennifer M. Phillips, M. Bleichman, Lucile Burt, Wayne Miller, Betty-Ann Lauria, Mary Ellen Redmond, Jen Sexton-Riley, Jim Kubat, Gregory Hischak, and Anne Hoffman.
The contest is named for the late Joe Gouveia, who hosted the weekly Poets Corner radio show on WOMR and was best known as a poet and pioneer of the Cape Cod poetry community. His many honors and awards include Poet-in-Residence at Cape Cod Community College, Cape Cod Poet Laureate 1999-2000, Massachusetts Poet of the Year 2001, and Poetry Curator at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod. He served as editor of several poetry anthologies including Rubber Side Down; his last book was titled Saudades.
Gouveia believed words were meaningless without action; this social consciousness fueled his work mentoring at-risk teens through the Rise & Shine program. He loved riding his Harley-Davidson and cheering for the Red Sox.
His unbreakable spirit and passion for life were unparalleled and touched the lives of many.
WOMR will launch the Outermost Poetry literary journal later this year that will include copies of the winning poems.
Judge Marge Piercy will also read a selection of new poems at the event. Piercy is the author of over eighteen volumes of poems, among them The Moon Is Always Female (1980, considered a feminist classic) and The Art of Blessing the Day (1999). Her most recent volume of poetry is On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light.
A cash bar will be available at the event which, like the contest, is sponsored by WOMR.
ABOUT WOMR/WFMR:
WOMR is a noncommercial, nonprofit educational community radio station offering an eclectic blend of music and spoken-word programming since March 21st, 1982 and broadcasting from Provincetown, Massachusetts—making it “outermost radio.”
WOMR is not affiliated with any educational institution and derives its financial support from listeners, businesses and funding organizations.
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