It’s time to pull out your poetry notebook. Or, better yet, start a poetry notebook. You’ll want to be ready to take part in or just enjoy the Thursday-evening Stone Village Poetry Experience in March, April and May. Or just to come listen—it’s a lot of fun! You can also attend on Zoom (link below).

Co-sponsored by Chester’s Whiting Library and the First Universalist Parish of Chester, the Poetry Experience will offer monthly poetry slams and poetry-writing workshops that are open to all.

The slams will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, April 14 and May 5. The workshops will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday,  March 31, April 28 and May 19.

Poetry slams are light-heartedly competitive events in which judges made up of audience members rate the quality of each poet’s reading. Green Mountain Union High and Emerson College graduate Tuck Wunderle will serve as slam master. The slams will take place at the UU Church, at 211 North St., in Chester’s Stone Village.

The poetry-writing workshops will be led by Wunderle and Nick Boke. These published poets will facilitate discussions of the poems brought to the workshop by would-be or highly experienced poets, including but not limited to those who want to practice their slam presentations.

The workshops will take place in the Whiting Library, 117 Main St. in Chester. Slam poets who participate in all three Thursdays can compete for $25, $50 and $100 prizes. For more about slams, click here.

For more information about the Stone Village Poetry Experience, contact Tuck Wunderle at tuckerman@terrigenous.com, Nick Boke at nickboke@gmail.com or Whiting Director Deirdre Doran at whitinglibrary1@gmail.com.

To attend the Poetry Slam on Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89720546568?pwd=aWpmZXNINlNnVkl4K1pJSkZmMHdidz09

Enter the passcode: poetry