“In the 35 years since AIDS began,” says Northampton poet laureate Patrick Donnelly, “there has been not only a medical and social-service response to preventing and treating the disease, but also a response from artists of all kinds, mourning the losses and celebrating the victories. Specifically, American poets have created an entire literature of AIDS, leaving for the future an important record of this time.”
On Saturday, Donnelly will host “Poets for Life: Poets Respond to AIDS,” a benefit reading for A Positive Place (formerly AIDS Care/Hampshire County), an organization that provides services for people with HIV in Hampshire and surrounding counties.
In addition to Donnelly, the event will feature readings by poets Eduardo C. Corral, Michael Klein and Joan Larkin. Valley artist Barry Moser has designed and engraved a poetry broadside specifically for sale at the reading, with proceeds to benefit A Positive Place.
Co-sponsored by the Northampton Council for the Arts and the Poetry Center at Smith College, the event begins at 3 p.m. at the Smith College Conference Center, Smith College at 51 College Lane in Northampton.