Greetings! I’m Carolyn A. Cushing, a poet inspired by the places where life and death meet.
Receiving my Poet Laureate proclamation from City Council President Homar Gomez
In April 2023, I was named Poet Laureate of Easthampton, MA for 2023 – 2025. As Poet Laureate, I explore the power of poetry and bring poetry to unexpected places like the supermarket, an apple orchard, our city council meetings. Along with sharing my own work, I organize events like Voices of Easthampton and We Speak to Each Other: An Intergenerational Climate Change Reading to support diverse groups of poets to offer their work to the community.
Since 2006, I have published poems in local, regional, and national journals, and was a finalist for the Providence Athenaeum’s Philbrick Poetry Award (2012) and Pilgrimage Journal’s Tarantula Poetry Contest (2018). A recipient of grants from the Massachusetts and Easthampton Cultural Councils, I am particularly proud when my poems are shared in ways that speak to collective needs of the moment, such as Mass Poetry’s Hard Work of Hope series and CitySpace’s memorial tribute to those who lost their lives to COVID-19.
Inspired by seeing the collaborations of Easthampton creatives since moving here in 2000, I seek out ways to collaborate with fellow writers and artists as well as share poetry in dynamic formats to reach beyond the literary community, resulting in projects such as the Poetry Oracle (working with 9 other poets in 2020-2021) and Chapbook in the Street (a collaboration with visual artist Malika Ross in 2022).
Poems are sometimes part of my moonthly missives and writings about soul tending here at Soul Path Sanctuary. Find these posts collected here. Sporadically, you can find me on Instagram and Facebook.
Upcoming Events
From Protest to Action: Tabling and Teach In
To increase power following the Hands Off and No Kings protests, participants are invited to connect with local groups to build sustained non-compliance with the regime, work toward liberation, and renew our democracy. Because art and action are not separate throughout the event you’ll inspired by the words of Easthampton’s current and previous Poet Laureates: Carolyn Zaikowski and Carolyn Cushing. Register
Poetry Pamphlet
Past Events
Echoes in Community Reading at EMedia
Listening to me and other inspiring Easthampton-connected poets read as part of this multi-media event.
Concert for the Children of Gaza on Saturday, June 14 at Pulaski Park in Northampton, 2pm to 6pm.
I will be reading poems toward the start of this fundraising event for the Sumud School in Gaza.
“We, the Poets, Grant You Refuge: How Palestinian Poetry Inspires Activism
Designed and participated in this panel that was choose for the May 2025 Mass Poetry Festival.
a hidden seed, a dove’s moan in the Easthampton City Arts Gallery for April 2025
This exhibition will be on view from April 5-26 at ECA Gallery in celebration of Poetry Month. ECA Gallery is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12-2pm and is located at Old Town Hall, 43 Main Street in Easthampton, MA. Additional times to see the show are:
- Opening reception on Saturday, April 5th from 4-7pm with 10-minute readings on the half hour (4:30pm, 5:30pm, and 6:30pm);
- Quiet viewing hours on Thursday, April 24th, from 5pm to 7pm with a short reading at 6pm;
- In conjunction with the Voices of Easthampton group reading on Saturday, April 26th. The gallery will be open from 1pm to 4pm.
If no time works for you, do check in with me about the possibility of a Wednesday afternoon viewing.
Voices of Easthampton 2025 with a reading on Saturday, April 26th at 2pm in CitySpace’s Blue Room
I will once again facilitate the creation of a chapbook and organize a reading for poets who live, work, or are active in Easthampton. Apply to participate if you are an Easthampton-connected poet.
Press On: Indie Publishing Fair on Saturday, April 27, 2024 from 11am to 5pm
I hosted We Speak to Each Other, an intergenerational reading of poets who weave nature and climate into their poetry and practice. During this interactive reading, poets and audience created a collective poem.
Voices of Easthampton on Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 2pm in the Blue Room at City Space
We heard from a dozen dynamic poets who live, work, or are active in the city of Easthampton in a themed reading that I hosted. We also created a City Voices chapbook that was given out to the audience and shared at the Have a Heart for Public Art fundraiser later in the month. Full details in our Facebook event.
Poetry & Practice: A Presentation by Easthampton’s Poet Laureate Carolyn A. Cushing
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 from 6:00 – 7:00pm at the Easthampton Public Library (9 Park St.) Learn More.
Featured Reader at Straw Dogs Writers Night Out at the Forbes Library ~ December 5, 2023
City Poets ~ Poetry in Unexpected Places ~ September 2023
I created a gift chapbook of poems by all five Poet Laureates to-date and about 150 copies were picked up in the Deli/Bakery section of Big E’s or at our Art Walk reading in the parking lot. Check out the Hampshire Gazette’s story about this project (or read on the ECA site if you can’t get through the paywall).