`Thursdays at 2' unveiled at Barrington Books Retold event

The Cranston Herald ·

A group of poets gathered together on Sept. 8 to discuss poetry, just as they have for years.

This time, however, their gathering was extra special. The poets from the West Bay Residential Services collaborative poetry group were gathering at Barrington Books Retold in Garden City to host an author meet and greet and unveil their newly published book, “Thursdays at 2: Poems to Gladden the Heart.”

The book is the result of their years of work reading and discussing poetry each week and writing their own individual and collaborative poems. The room was abuzz with excitement as guests waited to get their books autographed and hear some of the poets read their work aloud.

“We’ve been doing collaborative poetry for five or six years,” said Susan Raposo, employment and inclusion specialist at West Bay. “One of our clients at West Bay had always been interested in poetry and in fact had won the Allen Ginsberg award for his work in 1996, and he suggested we do a weekly poetry group. So we began to meet every Thursday at two o’clock to discuss poetry. At first I didn’t know how it would go, but it really snowballed into something big. A few years ago, we decided to put all our work into a book.”

It was a serendipitous meeting with Tracy Lee Karner at the Corner Bakery in Garden City a few years ago that led to the publishing of the book.

“We were so fortunate to have met her in the coffee shop. She gave us her card and wanted to learn more about our poetry. I held onto it for a little while and then I emailed her,” Raposo said. “She was able to make our dream into a reality, and it’s been great.”

Approximately half of the group of 12 to 15 poets from West Bay was present at the book unveiling, and four were giving autographs to anyone who purchased the book. On hand for the celebration were a host of friends, family and West Bay Residential staff.

“It is really, really important for us as an organization to express everybody’s unique gifts and talents, and this is a group of gifted poets,” said Gloria Quinn, executive director at West Bay Residential. “Everyone is very proud of their own work, the work they did as a group, and of the whole book. They’ve been doing readings in other places too, and have partnered with the Ocean State Poets.”

Carol Anderheggon, one of the Ocean State Poets, was on hand for the celebration and spoke of the special partnership that had been established over a shared love of poetry.

“We worked with this wonderful group of poets,” Anderheggon said. She read aloud from the book, sharing a set of poems that had been written on a day when the theme was “color.”

“It was a particularly gloomy day outside, and I decided we would work with color,” she said. “We talked about our favorite colors, and wrote poems about them.”

James Boucher discussed his love of poetry and read aloud his selection from the book, “I Put Pen to Paper.” He told the audience he had been looking for ways to express himself.

“I decided to write about how I write, and that’s how this poem came to be,” he said.

Prior to signing autographs, each author had the opportunity to share a poem they had written. It was also noted that the book was dedicated to a member of their group, Mark Brown, who passed away in May.

In addition to the poems contained in the book, there are descriptions of the collaborative work that was done, as well as a discussion of well-known poets and their work that was used as the focus of many of the group sessions, including poems by Robert Frost and Christina Rosetti.

There is also a guide for others who wish to use the book as a means of starting their own collaborative poetry group, and a biography for each of the West Bay Residential poets whose work is contained in “Thursdays at 2.”

All proceeds from sales of the book will be used to support the creative ventures for individuals served by West Bay Residential Services Inc.