Poetorium Too Poetry Reading & Open Mic Featuring Joanne Johnson, Joe Fusco Jr., & Linda Wlodyka
Advertisement
Please join us for a special Wednesday triple feature edition of our monthly open mic and featured poetry reading series Poetorium Too at TidePool Bookshop (located at 372 Chandler Street in Worcester, MA) on August 26th from 5 pm to 7 pm hosted by Paul Szlosek and (hopefully) Ron Whittle. It will be a full two hours of poetry and spoken word featuring 15 minute readings each by poets Joanne Johnson, Joe Fusco Jr., & Linda Bratcher Wlodyka, followed by the passing of a hat to pay our features, a short intermission, and then an open mic with 5-minute slots for each reader if time allows (in order to fit everything planned into our allotted time, if the event runs too long, readers may be restricted to one poem).
Joanne Johnson is a Massachusetts-based poet and author of An Imperfect Journey. Her work has appeared in Worcester Magazine, The Grief Digest, and Academy of the Heart and Mind.She has also performed her poetry at featured readings and open mic events, sharing work that explores resilience, healing, and everyday life.
Joe Fusco Jr. is a well-seasoned humorist/stand-up poet/storyteller from Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of six books of semi-amusing poems and essays: Here We Go Again (2026), Random Thoughts from a Curmudgeon (2023), Pondering the Pandemic during The Rust Years (2021), Hmm…That’s Different (2020); Three Score (2014), and The Lost and Found Essays (2012), all available at local bookstores and Amazon. Joe’s musings have appeared in Damfino Press, Ballard Street Poetry, Worcester Review, Asinine Poetry, Soul Lit, and the e-zine Clean Sheets. He was a co-winner of the Jacob Knight Poetry Award in 2002 and was named Best Poet by Worcester Magazine readers in 1999 and 2002. Joe is a Humor Columnist for Worcester Magazine and the last Worcester Mega-Slam winner in 2017. He features at bookstores, libraries, clubs, and coffeehouses throughout Central Massachusetts and Belgium. He is the host of The Poetry Extravaganza at The Mill in West Boylston and The Richard Fox Poetry Series in Worcester. Joe is the Vice-President of Programming for the Worcester County Poetry Association. Joe has lived in lovely Worcester with his better-half Cyndi and their large family for forty-one years. He is a registered Independent and sleeps with one eye always open.
Linda Bratcher Wlodyka is an Emerita Massachusetts, Beat Poet Laureate (2023-2025) residing in Berkshire County. Linda previously self-published 3 chapbooks, Her Spirited Cameo, Voices from the Blue Room and Tick Tock. Her full length books include: If Brambles Were Bookends Collected Poems (2023) and Mistress of the Wick (2026). Linda has been commissioned to create an ekphrastic poem for a sculpture at the Mount in Lenox, MA. She will be presenting, "The Belles" poem, by Edgar Allen Poe, with Claire Conroy and Meg Smith, at the Edgar Allen Poe celebration in Lowell on October 16th this year. She is on the editing board for Silkworm, the yearly anthology of the Florence Poet's Society.
Joanne Johnson is a Massachusetts-based poet and author of An Imperfect Journey. Her work has appeared in Worcester Magazine, The Grief Digest, and Academy of the Heart and Mind.She has also performed her poetry at featured readings and open mic events, sharing work that explores resilience, healing, and everyday life.
Joe Fusco Jr. is a well-seasoned humorist/stand-up poet/storyteller from Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of six books of semi-amusing poems and essays: Here We Go Again (2026), Random Thoughts from a Curmudgeon (2023), Pondering the Pandemic during The Rust Years (2021), Hmm…That’s Different (2020); Three Score (2014), and The Lost and Found Essays (2012), all available at local bookstores and Amazon. Joe’s musings have appeared in Damfino Press, Ballard Street Poetry, Worcester Review, Asinine Poetry, Soul Lit, and the e-zine Clean Sheets. He was a co-winner of the Jacob Knight Poetry Award in 2002 and was named Best Poet by Worcester Magazine readers in 1999 and 2002. Joe is a Humor Columnist for Worcester Magazine and the last Worcester Mega-Slam winner in 2017. He features at bookstores, libraries, clubs, and coffeehouses throughout Central Massachusetts and Belgium. He is the host of The Poetry Extravaganza at The Mill in West Boylston and The Richard Fox Poetry Series in Worcester. Joe is the Vice-President of Programming for the Worcester County Poetry Association. Joe has lived in lovely Worcester with his better-half Cyndi and their large family for forty-one years. He is a registered Independent and sleeps with one eye always open.
Linda Bratcher Wlodyka is an Emerita Massachusetts, Beat Poet Laureate (2023-2025) residing in Berkshire County. Linda previously self-published 3 chapbooks, Her Spirited Cameo, Voices from the Blue Room and Tick Tock. Her full length books include: If Brambles Were Bookends Collected Poems (2023) and Mistress of the Wick (2026). Linda has been commissioned to create an ekphrastic poem for a sculpture at the Mount in Lenox, MA. She will be presenting, "The Belles" poem, by Edgar Allen Poe, with Claire Conroy and Meg Smith, at the Edgar Allen Poe celebration in Lowell on October 16th this year. She is on the editing board for Silkworm, the yearly anthology of the Florence Poet's Society.
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
TidePool Bookshop, 372 Chandler St, Worcester, MA 01602-3300, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
