BHPC residency ’26

(Joanne Corey reading with the Boiler House Poets Collective at the North Adams (MA) Public Library, October 17, 2026. Photo credit: Deborah Marshall)

Since Thursday, I have been at the Boiler House Poets Collective’s annual residency at the Studios at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art).

If you look back through my archive, you will find many, many posts that I made during residencies, in most years, daily, going all the way back to the residency which formed the basis for BHPC in November, 2015. The subsequent resdiencies have been in September or October.

I’m pleased to say that our reading on Saturday at the North Adams Public Library was great. We read in alphabetical order, so I was first, which I like because I then get to relax and enjoy everyone else’s work. With ten poets, we each do a 5-minute sampler of our work, so there is lots of variety for the audience. We had an unusually lively question and answer session after the reading and time for snacks and conversation.

Admittedly, I am low on energy this year, as I await surgery for Chiari malformation later this month. (Link has a lot of good information for Chiari in people with hEDS like me but, please, ignore the pitch for the practice at the end.) My focus had been to get through the reading, and I met that goal. I have tried to do a bit more since, like visiting the Museum, but I pushed a little too hard and am now having to pull back and rest more. I regret missing most of our workshopping sessions this residency but I hope that, next year, I’ll be in better shape to participate more fully.

I’m very grateful to my fellow Boiler House Poets Collective members for supporting me in my current, challenging circumstances and look forward to our future residencies together. Long live BHPC!