CHESTER, Vt. – In case you forgot, April is National Poetry Month.
But don’t worry, Chester’s Stone Village Poetry Experience has remembered. More importantly, the two-year-old organization has arranged a series of Saturday events that will touch the hearts of poetry lovers of all ilks.
Poetry Month in Chester will begin with a presentation by former Vermont Poet Laureate Sydney Lea at the Chester Town Hall at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 8. Lea, who has published 14 books of poetry and was granted the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2021, will read from his works and discuss “Poetry in the World Today.” His latest collection of poetry, “Here,” and recently published collection of essays, “Seen from All Sides: Lyric and Everyday Life,” will be available for purchase – please bring cash or checks.
The following Saturday, April 15, the celebration will continue with a poetry slam, which will take place in the town hall at 7 p.m. Overseen by slam-master Tuck Wunderle, poets will be invited to participate in the light-hearted competition or simply to read their poetry.
The next Saturday, April 22, Poetry Month will be combined with Earth Day. Poetry lovers will be invited to bring what the Poetry Experience is calling “Poems of the Earth”—including everything from Chaucer to Budbill—and meet at the entrance to Chester’s new one-mile Brookside Trail at 3 p.m. After readings of poems about the earth at the bridge, the group will proceed along the trail, stopping occasionally to listen to a few more poems the hikers have brought. (In case of rain, the gathering will begin at 3:15 p.m. in the UU Church, 211 North St. in Chester’s Stone Village.)
Poetry Month will conclude at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 29, with readings by six local poets: Elise Hopkins, Margaret Lark-Russell, Art Sorrentino, Damien Connolly, Richard Pierce, and Tuck Wunderle. The readings will take place in front of the Academy building across from the Chester green. (In case of rain, the gathering will begin at 3:15 p.m. in the UU Church, 211 North St. in Chester’s Stone Village.)
All programs are free and open to the public. For further information, get in touch with Tuck Wunderle at tuckerman@terrigenous.com.
Major funding for these events has been provided by the Windham Foundation, with local support coming from Blair Books and More, DaVallia Gallery and Boutique, Erskine’s Grain and Garden, Fischer Arts, the Fullerton Inn, Terrigenous Landscape Architecture, Sharon’s on the Common, Six Loose Ladies Yarn and Fiber Shop, Smitty’s Chester Market, and the Southern Pie Café.