Outdoor Poetry Reading – From the Farther Shore: Discovering Cape Cod and the Islands Through Poetry

In-person, outdoor event!

On September 11, at 3pm, the West Tisbury Library hosts an outdoor poetry reading from the recent anthology, From the Farther Shore: Discovering Cape Cod and the Islands Through Poetry. This new book contains 118 contemporary poems which meld the outer and interior landscapes of the Cape and Islands so that the reader discovers, as if for the first time, the spirit of a place that calls us home. Not only do these poems converse with one another, they are poems that could not have been written about anywhere else. Poets represented in the book range from the well-known, including Mary Oliver and Stanley Kunitz, to lesser-known and up-and-coming.

This event will be hosted by island poet Donald Nitchie, and joined by the three editors of the book, Alice Kociemba, Robin Smith-Johnson, and Rich Yeomans. Also expected to attend and read is Brooks Robards, as well as other Island and Cape poets whose work is in the anthology. 

The reading will end with an open mic. If you want to read at this event, please email calliopepoetryanthology@gmail.com and copy Donald Nitchie (banjonews@comcast.net) who is organizing this reading.

Alice Kociemba is founding director of Calliope Poetry and the author of Bourne Bridge (Turning Point, 2016). Alice was guest editor of Common Threads, the poetry discussion project of Mass Poetry (2015 & 2016).

Robin Smith-Johnson teaches at Cape Cod Community College. She is the author of two books of poetry: Dream of the Antique Dealer’s Daughter (Word Poetry, 2013) and Gale Warnings (Finishing Line Press, 2016), as well as being a co-founder of the Steeple Street Poets in Mashpee.

Rich Youmans is the associate director of Calliope Poetry. His books include Under a Gulls Wing: Poems & Photographs of the Jersey Shore (co-edited with Frank Finale) and Shore Stories: An Anthology of the Jersey Shore, both published by Down the Shore Publishing.

Donald Nitchie, who leads the Poetry Drop-in writing sessions on the Vineyard, has four poems in the anthology. His poetry chapbook Driving Lessons came out in 2007

This event meets in-person on the library lawn. No sign up required to attend. Free and open to the public! Anthologies will be for sale at the reading. Rain date: October 9.