Professor /Poet Janet Sylvester to Read at Endicott College April 24, 2023 4PM

Janet Sylvester

 

Winner of a Pushcart Prize, a PEN Discovery Award, a DeWitt-Wallace Reader's Digest Fellowship to the MacDowell Colony and fellowships to Yaddo and VCCA, Janet Sylvester's poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including the Best American Poetry, Georgia Review, Poetry Daily, Boulevard, Harvard Review, Sugar House Review, and Colorado Review. She teaches writing courses at Harvard Summer School, Harvard Extension and Endicott College.

Open to the Public.

Handicap Accessible.

Open Mic.

Halle Library

Endicott College/

4PM.

Endicott Undergraduate Poet: Megan Donahue

 

Megan Donahue is a freshman at Endicott College studying English with a minor in Digital Media: Concentration in Film and Television Production. She hopes to one day be a screenwriter and director. She is passionate about film watching and film making, and she loves storytelling as well as poetry, reading, and painting.

Confessions of an Amateur Plant Owner

I over water my plants, though they never see much sunlight-not a lot comes in through dusty dorm windows.

And I tend to like the smell of wet soil, and for some time,

the resilient spider plant found comfort in its dark, damp home.

But recently, some of the leaves have turned brown, the consequences are beginning to show.

Perhaps I was not taught the proper way to love and care for this nature thing, perhaps my approach has been wrong all along.

Perhaps it was the routine put into place, after being told I water it too much-once every five days, rather than every other.

Don’t overfeed, it will grow sick and tired, its roots will rot and it will lose its vigor.

Don’t underfeed, the leaves will wilt and crumble, and the roots will rot the same.

Yet I tried everything in between, and the conditions were unchanging.

But then again, maybe it is the shifting of the seasons-

the spider plant survived the winter, inside with the heat on. And now it’s spring, and I keep the windows open a crack, mild air in the day, cool ocean breeze at night-so, resilience does have an Achilles heel.

All my methods and alterations have been wrong, but this feels wrong too.

Maybe it’s time to cut off the supply,

end the biting of my hand.

Tamaracks: Poetry Edited by James Deahl

Poetry often presents tiny glimpses into the honest, raw, and, sometimes painful, aspects of life, inviting readers to take a look inside a writer’s thoughts and relive their most vivid memories alongside them.  The first book of its kind for decades, Tamaracks: Canadian Poetry For the 21st Century contains poems that offer descriptive biographical and bibliographical information on the wide array of Canadian writers featured.  Commonly expressed topics in the collection include heavy-hitting subject matter, such as Canadian involvement in past wars, losing family members to tragic events, and staying faithful to God during pressing times.  Poems like Ian McCulloch’s “Poppa” - I listened for some echo of the concussion that had pressed him, still only a boy, into a premature and crowded grave - remind us of the thin line that separates life from death, while others, such as Joseph A. Farina’s “Morning Essence” - The sun has not risen, the darkness still owns us outside in the pre-dawn, spirits are waiting, I hear them like music stirring my soul - emphasize the importance of anticipating the blessings that await us even in the midst of tragedy and devastation.  Highlighting the works of 113 Canadian poets, this contemporary anthology of poetry successfully paints a complete picture of life in all its forms, giving light to untold stories that reveal the barest of human emotion.     

 

 ------ Allison Hastings

 Allison Hastings is a freshman at Endicott College in Beverly, MA, working towards her bachelor's in English/Creative Writing. On campus she is involved in Pep Band and two writing clubs: Her Campus, which is an online magazine targeted towards the female college student demographic, and the Endicott Review, which publishes a collection of student's writing and artwork every spring.

Ibbetson Street 43 due out in late June!

Interview with Israel Horovitz with Doug Holder

  Here is an excerpt of an interview I did with playwright, filmmaker Israel Horovitz. This was several years back when he had a new book of poetry out.  He also released the movie " My Old Lady" with Kevin Kline and Maggie Smith.  at this time...

The Yellow Vest-- A Poem for Craig Sampson by an Endicott College Student

** This is a poem  for Craig Sampson, the Endicott College student who tragically died in a car accident.  The author, Julia Gilloran, a student in my Introduction to Creative Writing class knew Craig and offers us this poem. 


The Yellow Vest


The yellow vest
A light jacket
worn during all seasons
The one with that fluorescent yellow glow
detected from even the furthest of distances

The yellow vest
Never without the infectious grin
of its jubilant owner
A smile so warm
filled with peace and serenity

The yellow vest
Its neon color
warned us that trouble was soon to follow
As the car turned the corner
to the battered old Freshman dorm
The one right up the hill

The yellow vest
"He never takes that off,"  we’d complain
Acting as if that flamboyant shade
was the utmost form of embarrassment
But secretly loving every stitch of its being

The yellow vest
Craig’s favorite
Paired with that devious grin
he mastered so well
You’d think it came
with the coat

The yellow vest
those carefree vibes of the boy
we once laughed with
Talked with
And even cried with

The yellow vest
Its doofiness that we would all kill
to see just one more time
Not on the back of his defeated best friend
But on the back of Craig himself 

The yellow vest
Brings me back to all the laughs
Like that time he dressed up as Zeus for Halloween
His long, lanky figure unable to fit in the small white sheet
Or how he’d always knock on his neighbor’s door
Only to sprint away in a fit of laughter as it slowly creaked open

The yellow vest
It's soft puffy fabric
Like a hug filled with love and warmth
That we always found ourselves wanting
And sometimes even needing

The yellow vest
It’s just a jacket after all
colors will eventually fade
And stitches will begin to loosen

But that’s the greatest thing about the yellow vest
Clothing can age and become battered
But its owner’s spirit
can live on for eternity
Forever...
tattooed
in our hearts.

Ibbetson Street Press celebrates the release of the 38th issue of the literary magazine Ibbetson Street-- Jan 13, 2016

Article by Doug Holder

 Somerville, Mass.

In 1998, in a Brueger's Bagel shop in Cambridge, Mass. the Ibbetson Street Press was founded by Doug Holder, Dianne Robitaille, and Richard Wilhelm. Since then the Press has put out 38 issues of the magazine Ibbetson Street, and has published close to 100 collections of poetry and some memoir. Ibbetson Street has been included in the Pushcart Anthology, featured in such noted websites as Poetry Daily and Verse Daily, and has published the work of hundreds of poets since its inception. The press  was located on 33 Ibbetson Street in Somerville until 2001, but now is located on School Street in Union Square in Somerville, Mass. In the current issue you will see poetry by the likes of Marge Piercy, Andrea Cohen, Ted Kooser and many others. We are also grateful to have great photographs on our front and back covers by Glenn Bowie and Jennifer Matthews. Lawrence Kessenich has an insightful review of Endicott Professor Charlotte Gordon’s new book, Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley.  Our core staff of Harris Gardner ( Poetry Editor), Lawrence Kessenich ( Managing Editor), Rene Schwiesow  (Managing Editor), and Steve Glines ( Designer) have produced another fine issue as usual.

Ibbetson will be having a reading at the Somerville Central Library on Highland Ave. in Somerville. A potluck dinner will be served at 6PM, and the reading will start at 7PM. Open to the public.


**** Ibbetson Street is now affiliated with Endicott College in Beverly, Mass.