Milford Town Library Will Feature Worcester Poet Joe Fusco

MILFORD, MA — Worcester poet Joe Fusco Jr. will be the featured artist in August at the Milford and Uxbridge libraries, part of a series of poetry events in 2023 sponsored by the Shawna Foundation — a local nonprofit honoring Shawna Shea, an Uxbridge High School student who died in a car crash in 1999.

Here's more on the upcoming poetry event from a Shawna Foundation news release:

The Shawna Foundation presents The Library Poetry Tour with Worcester poet and humorist Joe Fusco Jr. on Aug. 9, 7 p.m. at the Milford Town Library and on Aug. 17, 7 p.m. at the
Uxbridge Free Public Library.

Joe is the author of four books of semi-amusing poems and essays: “Pondering the Pandemic during The Rust years”(2021); “Hmm…That’s Different” (2020); “Three Score” (2014); and “The Lost and Found Essays” (2012), all available at local bookstores and Amazon.

Joe’s musings have appeared in Damfino Press, Ballard Street Poetry, Worcester Review, Asinine Poetry, Soul Lit, and the naughty ezine Clean Sheets. He was a co-winner of the Jacob Knight Poetry Award in 2002 and was named Best Poet by Worcester Magazine readers in 1999 and 2002.

Joe is a humor columnist for Worcester Magazine and the last Worcester Mega-Slam winner in 2017. He features at bookstores, libraries, clubs, and coffeehouses throughout central Massachusetts and Belgium. He is the host of the Poetry Extravaganza at Redemption Rock Brewery in Worcester.

Joe taught “Humor 101” for high-school students at Gateways Academy in Shrewsbury and for adults at the Worcester Senior Center and Eisenberg Assisted Living. He is the vice president of Programming for the Worcester County Poetry Association.

The Library Poetry Tour is a program of the Shawna Foundation, bringing live poetry readings to the Milford Town Library and the Uxbridge Free Library quarterly throughout 2023. The program is hosted by Worcester poet Tony Brown, the winner of the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal, endowed by the late U.S. Poet Laureate and Worcester native and awarded annually to a poet for lifetime achievement and service to the central Massachusetts poetry community.

The Library Poetry Tour is supported in part by the Milford Cultural Council, the Uxbridge Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The Shawna E. Shea Memorial Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to support and showcase artists in filmmaking, performance arts and creative endeavors with a focus on underrepresented communities.