Poetry Reading at Bear & Bee Bookshop

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Boiler House Poets Collective celebrates its annual residency with a reading at the Bear & Bee Bookshop, 28 North Holden Street in North Adams at 7 PM on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

The Boiler House Poets Collective will be in residence on the MASS MoCA campus from Oct. 7-13, an annual event since 2015. Ten poets spend their studio time creating new work, honing works in progress, and collaborating with their fellow artists in residence. Individually and collectively, they explore creating work including ekphrastic poetry inspired by museum installations, exquisite corpse poems, cleave poems, and video poems.

"MASS MoCA's art and the Berkshires' beauty, coupled with the support of my fellow poets, have been central to my work, resulting in a chapbook and a full-length poetry collection," said Joanne Corey, who is one of the original members of the Collective.

Wendy Stewart, who joined the Collective in 2022 added, "Spending a week dwelling in art, practicing art, talking with artists, sharing art: what could be better? The Boiler House Poets Collective Residency at MASS MoCA is a bright spot in my year."

This will be the Collective's second year reading at Bear & Bee Bookshop. The event is free (and there will be light refreshments). For more information, visit the websites of The Boiler House Poets Collective and The Bear and Bee Bookshop.

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Drury Senior Writes Song About Overcoming Challenges

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Drury High senior and Berkshires' Academy for Advanced Musical Studies student drummer Zach Hillard has composed a song, "Here I Am," as a personal anthem of overcoming challenges.
 
"If you want to do something, go do it. That's the whole point behind 'Here I Am,'"  Hillard said. "Any obstacles and challenges you may face in your life, if you have something you want to do, go for it. There is not one person on earth who does not have a dream or something they want to overcome. Whether it is physical or mental, it does not matter, if you want to do it."
 
The song is personal and showcases Hillard's struggles with cerebral palsy and how those struggles have shaped who he has become. 
 
The song opens with the lyrics:
 
Look — my name is Zach.
I was born early, eager to see the world
and drop some knowledge.
Doctors said that I would not talk, walk,
and be wheelchair bound.
But look at me:
Here I am.
I'm talking, walking, and can do anything
I wanna do; nothing can stop me.
 
Hillard said he never knew writing music would be so important to him and was surprised by how much he took to the BAAMS assignment that asked students to pen some lyrics and themes for an original song.
 
Hillard decided to write about his own life. 
 
"I've got a pretty cool life story. So I went home, I thought about it, and in about one day, I had most of it written," he said. "...The end of verse one I wrote ‘look at me here I am.' I thought 'Here I am' that is sort of catchy."
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