Ocean State Poets
A nonprofit dedicated to the promotion and sharing of poetry
PRESS INFO January 26, 2011 For PCL libraries project
The newly named poets group, “Ocean State Poets” will begin offering poetry workshops for adults and teens at the Providence Community Library in January. Poets will form groups at Olneyville, Rochambeau, and Mount Pleasant libraries. On Saturday, January 22 poets Ira Schaeffer, Pat LaRose and Stephen Celico, held the first session for adults at the Rochambeau PCL location. This group will meet every other Saturday at Rochambeau from 1:30 to 3 pm, with their next meeting on Saturday, February 5.
This Saturday, January 29 at 2 p.m. poets Judy Gamble, Helen D’ Ordine and Juliana Anderson will begin the sessions to be held monthly at Mount Pleasant. The first session scheduled for the Olneyville location is Wednesday, February 9 at 4:30 p.m. for teens. Poets Erik Crook, Julianna Anderson, and silent lotus will be on hand to share their poems, conduct a brief writing exercise, and offer critiques to participants. These two groups will meet once a month. Librarians at each site are coordinating these sessions. Contact the libraries for more information.
These workshops are free and open to the public. In April, National Poetry Month, Ocean State Poets hopes to visit all nine Providence Community Library locations with a contingent of poets, and possibly participants in the poetry workshops, for poetry readings. Lisa Starr, Rhode Island’s current Poet Laureate, will headline the readings in April. The April reading at Rochambeau has already been scheduled for Thursday, April 7 at 7 pm. Contact Librarian Tom O’Donnell for more information.
These volunteer poets are part of “Ocean State Poets – giving voice”, formerly “Power to the Poets”. This project was created by Rose Pearson, Creative Director of The Writers’ Circle in September 2008 and continued in 2009-2010 under the aegis of Praying Mantis Press. This year we are forming a new non-profit under the name “Ocean State Poets”. We are a community-outreach group of volunteer poets who share poetry, and promote poetry reading and writing.
To date, we have visited over 20 sites around the state, bringing poetry workshops to under-served populations in alternative schools, the prison, homeless shelters, group homes, addiction-recovery residences, and nursing care facilities. We have conducted poetry readings for Newport Public Library, Providence Public Library, Salve Regina University, Custom House Coffee, and Prudence Island Community Center. Some of the Ocean State poets volunteer by recording their poetry in ½ hour programs for Insight Radio, a closed-circuit broadcast for the visually impaired; and 2 of our poets were featured on “Good News Rhode Island”, a cable access television program.
Currently, Ocean State Poets has 20 members who are involved in the workshop teams, including Lisa Starr, Rhode Island Poet Laureate. Our volunteer poets’ professional backgrounds are as diverse as our individual poetic voices: some work in the fields of social services and teaching; others in engineering and strategic planning; we are musicians, technology experts, librarians, inn keepers, business owners, life coaches, ministers, and spiritual guides. What unites us is a true desire to build community through the writing and sharing of poetry, to inspire others through the beauty and honesty of language.
Contact Pat LaRose: plarose2@cox.net
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