FLORENCE POETS SOCIETY          PO BOX 60355    FLORENCE, MA 01062-0355    POETRY IS PART OF EVERYONE OF US. Who we are............. Florence Poets Society was founded during the summer of 2004 by Carl Russo and Thomas Clark for the purpose of poets promoting and sharing their work with other poets and the public.  The group met regularly mostly at the Florence Community Center until fall of 2006 when we began meeting at the Lilly Library Community Room a larger more modern venue.   In march of 2005 the founding co-directors applied for and received a Northampton Arts Council grant for an outdoor Poetry Festival. This event was a great success.  That Festival was again funded with a dramatic increase in funding for 2006 and in 2007 for the third time.  This success has continued in 2008 and 2009.   The Society has further reached out to promote poetry with a Poetry Slam in January of 2006, 2007 and our most successful to date 2008,  The 2009 event appeared on cable television Northampton Community Televison as well as the Internet Video site VIMEO,  readings at local art galleries, the William Cullen Bryant Homestead and numerous special events throughout Western Massachusetts. We also work with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Library to collect and archive the written works of local poets in a special collection. Florence Poets Society cosponsored the INAUGURATION POETRY EVENT to celebrate Barack Obamas swearing in as the President of the United States on January 20, 2009.  Also televised locally and on the Internet.  In addition a highly promoted and very successful international contest ran for three years.  The contest is on hiatus until winter 2010 and will return with a different format then. The Society has published its first printed Annual Review , SILKWORM, in October of 2006 and  each year since currently SILKWORM 4 is in process all made possible with the help of a Northampton Arts council grant and both for sale on this site. Local public and academic libraries include it in their poetry collections. The Florence Poets Society is reaching out  with poetry to our community via a radio program TWILITES POETRY PUB hosted by co director Tommy "Twilite" Clark for one hour weekly on a local FM radio outlet, a publishing organization Florence Poets Society Press and soon a community cable television program. Monthly meetings are open to all poets free of charge.  Any poet of any age or ability is welcome at Florence Poets Society.  Poets with short formats, long formats, no formality,  formal training, no training all welcome.  Florence Poets Society Membership is growing at a rapid pace. In five years of existence our membership increase sixfold.  Our group is very active in numerous community poetry venues.  Many members are published in numerous poetry journals, many members have published books and chapbooks both with established presses and independently some members chose not to publish their work.  All the while the group continues to meet regularly. Members seek to be informed on and active in all local poetry resources and events.  Membership  fee is unchanged for year six,  $15.00 per year beginning in September of each calendar year and running to August 31 of the following year. postmaster@florencepoetssociety.org