Montserrat College of Art’s Improbable Places Poetry Tour will kick off the New Year with a night of poetry in the newly reopened Cabot Theatre. Poetry will take center stage for one night only on Thursday, February 19, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. at 286 Cabot Street in Beverly. Opened in 1920 as a dream palace of vaudeville and silent movies, the beautiful Cabot Theatre has recently been renovated. The event is free and open to the public.
The Improbable Poetry Tour is Montserrat’s way of bringing together local poets, area businesses, student writers and enthusiastic listeners to celebrate the power of poetry and community. At each tour stop a new venue and theme is selected. Tour stops of the past have included tattoo parlors, laundromats and swimming pools. The last tour stop was at the recently decommissioned and iconic Footprint Power’s Salem Harbor Station in Salem, MA, built in the 1950′s.The massive turbines were quiet, but poetry spoke loudly to the power of work and the work of power.
Montserrat College of Art’s Writing Center Director and poetry tour organizer Colleen Michaels invites the community to share poems that focus on the theme of movies and magic. “We are seeking poems in any style that speak to the rich history of the Cabot,” said Michaels. “We also want movie poems, from blockbusters to cult classics to poems about magic, disappearing acts and gold capes. Someone must have a villanelle about buttery popcorn and Snow Caps. We promise a night of magic and drama.” www.montserrat.edu