We understand, you worked on Friday and missed the first day of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. But fear not, ’tis more than one day in length. It will be shared among attendees on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend!
Here are a couple of links you might want to keep handy when you arrive. There is a lot going on, so be prepared to make some choices.
Not only are there many, many speakers. But they are also quite a diverse group.
Another interesting twist on a poetry festival is The Small Press and Literary Fair which takes place outside of the Peabody Essex Museum on Saturday. You will most likely find materials from literary journals, library organizations, university libraries and academic programs. 
And just where does this grand festival take place in Salem? Perhaps ask where it is not. Seriously…
- Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St.
- Salem Five Community Room, 210 Essex St.
- Hawthorne Hotel, 18 Washington Square, W.
- Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square
- New Liberty Charter School, Museum Place Mall, 1 E. India Square Mall
- The Bridge at 211, 211 Bridge St.
- Howling Wolf, 76 Lafayette St.
For a larger version of map go to www.masspoetry.org/venues-2016.
According to the Festival website “We encourage those who have the means, to add a donation to their button purchase to help us continue to offer the festival experience at a low price.”
It is a worthy cause.
Roger Housden, author and public speaker, has said in an edition of the Huffington Post “Poetry at its best calls forth our deep being. It dares us to break free from the safe strategies of the cautious mind; it calls to us, like the wild geese, as Mary Oliver would say, from an open sky. It is a magical art, and always has been — a making of language spells designed to open our eyes, open our doors and welcome us into a bigger world, one of possibilities we may never have dared to dream of.”
But this weekend you may dare dream and experience. Visit Salem and you will hear and see poetry come alive at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival.
