WORDS OUT LOUD
Shining a light on
Vermont writers reading their work
Words Out Loud
Each autumn, bards speak from the pulpit
in prose and poetry
while we listen in hard wooden pews
of Old West Church,
outside maple leaves waver
seen through panes of rippled glass.
After, at Kent Museum,
we gather with artists—
authors, painters, sculptors, and musicians,
one friend recalls her ancestors here,
we meet visitors from near and far,
autumn and art in Vermont.
—George Longenecker
Words Out Loud sprouted from a seed first planted by the organizers of Art at the Kent in 2014, and it’s been growing ever since. For a few consecutive Sunday afternoons each Fall, visitors come to Calais from near and far to hear contemporary Vermont writers read from their work in the Old West Church, an exquisite, light-filled, spacious, and still-unplugged 1823 meetinghouse just down the road from Art at the Kent, where listeners and presenters gather for receptions following the readings to meet the authors and enjoy refreshments and conversation amid the art on display.
Who is the coordinator?
Invited to present her own work as part of that first year of readings at the Old West Church in 2014, poet Mary Elder Jacobsen fell in love with the curators’ idea of such a series. She offered to help coordinate the readings held in tandem with Art at the Kent the next year, and she’s been organizing, with their support, ever since. She happily commutes from the hinterlands of North Calais.
Previous presenters of prose and poetry in the series include:
2014 Reflections • Jody Gladding • Thomas Christopher Greene • Darren Higgins • Mary Elder Jacobsen • Ron Padgett • Ellen Bryant Voigt • 2015 VERVE in Verse • Karin Gottshall • Major Jackson • Kerrin McCadden • Julia Shipley • Diane Swan • Ryan Walsh • 2016 Poetry & Parables, Fantasy & Fables • William Alexander • Chard deNiord • Geof Hewitt • Laura Williams McCaffrey • Verandah Porche • Bianca Stone • 2017 refuge • James Crews • Greg Delanty • Madeleine May Kunin • Howard Norman • Alison Prine • Jane Shore • 2018 Backstory • Rick Agran • Elena Georgiou • George Longenecker • Burr Morse • Angela Patten • Karla Van Vliet • 2019 reVision • Sue D. Burton • Daniel Lusk • Janet Pocorobba • Elizabeth A. I. Powell • Susan Ritz • Rick Winston • 2021 Wrought & Written • Benjamin Aleshire • Megan Buchanan • Kathryn Davis • Martin Philip • Mary Ruefle • Toussaint St. Negritude • 2022 Where Text Meets Sound • M. T. Anderson • Judith Chalmer • Brian Clark • Erica Heilman • Michiko Oishi • Jericho Parms • 2023 Poetry, Place, and the Passage of Time • Sarah Audsley • Nadine Budbill • Nadell Fishman • Sydney Lea • Scudder Parker • Sean Prentiss
A peek back at past years’ presentations:
Madeleine May Kunin (left), following her 2017 reading, joined by her husband John Hennessey and Words Out Loud Co-organizer Mary Elder Jacobsen at the reception.
George Thomas has a go at the Japanese shamisen brought to the reception by author Janet Pocorobba after her reading.
Longtime poet friends and 2016 presenters Verandah Porche and Geof Hewitt embrace outside the Kent.
Janet Pocorobba, author of The Fourth String, in the Old West Church in 2019, with her shamisen beside her.
Words Out Loud is just a beautiful way to unplug.