Improbable Places Poetry Tour at Footprint Power’s Salem Harbor Station

June 11, 2014

The Improbable Places Poetry Tour
Wednesday, July 2, 7 – 9 pm
Footprint Power’s Salem Harbor Station
24 Fort Avenue, Salem, MA

What’s this tour all about? It’s Montserrat College of Art’s way of bringing together student writers, local poets, area businesses and enthusiastic listeners to celebrate the power of poetry and community. At each tour stop a new venue and theme is selected.  Built in the 1950’s, the recently decommissioned and iconic power plant in Salem, MA will be the unique setting for our next reading.

A power plant?  That right, folks. In conjunction with the exhibition of  “Across the Bridge,” a collaboration between Montserrat College of Art and Footprint Power, this reading will continue the goal of creating to honor and document the lives and work of the power plant employees, most of whom will lose their jobs and move on to other opportunities when the coal plant closes this summer. On this tour stop, the massive turbines will be quiet, but poetry will speak loudly to the power of work and the work of power.

I’ve got a poem about work, industry or power. Can I read it in this industrial space that will be opened to the public for the first time?  We are accepting submissions via email at colleen.michaels@montserrat.edu and in the Writing Studio, located at 238 Cabot Street, Montserrat College of Art. If you would like to mail your submission, please address it to Colleen Michaels at 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA 01915. We’d love to read your work!

The deadline is Friday, June 27th. 

I don’t write poetry, but I sure am interested in this tour. Can I still attend the event? Sure! In addition to the reading, there will be an opportunity to see portions of the power plant itself, with mini-tours of the vintage operating equipment and control room.

The event is free and open to the public but pre-registration is required. Please email ArtandPower@FootprintSalemHarbor.com and include the name(s) of those attending the July 2nd poetry tour. Please note that you will be required to produce a valid photo ID to enter the site.  

Wait! I still have questions. Just ask Colleen Michaels, Montserrat’s Writing Studio Director. She’s at colleen.michaels@montserrat.edu.


www.montserrat.edu