A Poetry by the Sea Conference Workshop with Melissa Balmain This May at Poetry by the Sea, we’re delighted to have Melissa Balmain, the Editor-in-Chief of Light and author of four acclaimed books, leading our first-ever workshop on how to be more prolific: “Getting Your Butt in the Chair.” We invited her to say a … Read More
The Maze by Steven Monte The hero finds himself within the maze:the minotaur awaits him. He’s pulled stringsto get this far. And since he has no wings,he must stay grounded, thinking of the waysto make sure, even down the paths he strays(all the wrong turns and false imaginings),he’s moving forward in the scheme of things—which, … Read More
Walking with My Daughter After a Funeral When she asks me if trees live a long time,I tell her longer than a person lives.She says that she won’t die. We start to climbour hill and she brings up the relatives who wheeled the casket on a squeaky bier:Am I as strong as them? Her stroller rocksas … Read More
“When my heart fills up and I can’t hold something in there anymore, I write,” Kai Coggin says in an interview with Billy Lezra for Rough Cut Press. “When my heart breaks for some cruel injustice, I write. When my heart longs, I write. When my heart is bursting with love or sex or joy … Read More
Cornelius Eady is having, quite deservedly, a great year – and at Poetry by the Sea, we’re happy and proud to be part of it. In addition to the many other honors Eady has gotten, last year he received the Academy of American Poets’ Wallace Stevens Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in Poetry. And just … Read More
THE ETERNAL RETURN: NIETZSCHE AND THE MONSTERS by R. G. Evans When darkness falls at last, what’s there to fearfor Freddy, Michael, Jason, and the rest?They laugh at death they know is always near. We resurrect our monsters, hold them dear.Return Eternal: Nietzsche said it best.When darkness falls, for them, what’s there to fear when … Read More
A “thank you” and “welcomes” for the Poetry by the Sea Board of Directors and Advisory Committee. With profound thanks for her unstinting commitment to Poetry by the Sea, the Board announces that Nicole Caruso Garcia has stepped down as Vice President of the Board of Directors. Nicole has been with the Conference nearly from … Read More
Ten years since the first Poetry by the Sea Conference, founded by Kim Bridgford! We celebrated at the 2025 Conference with a champagne toast, an anniversary cake, and a display of memorabilia, among other happenings. Now, to keep the Conference vibrant into the future, we’re launching our 10X Challenge. If you look forward to the Conference … Read More
This year’s Conference is lucky to have as one of our Spotlight readers Oliver de la Paz, the 2023-2025 Poet Laureate of Worcester, Mass. You can read his bio here. In one of his recent books, The Boy in the Labyrinth, de la Paz engages deeply with the experience of raising his neurodivergent sons. Asked in a … Read More
Perhaps no major poet other than Thomas Hardy rivals W. H. Auden in the variety of verse forms, meters, stanzas, and rhyme schemes the poet makes use of. If you’re interested in a deep study of Auden with like-minded poets, this year’s Master Poets Critical Seminar: The Forms of Auden might be for you. Seminar attendees gather over … Read More
