“When people tell me, ‘I know it’s somewhere I’m not going to be judged, where I don’t have to worry about anyone saying anything to me,’ that’s something I very much enjoy, being known as a queer space.”  In a lot of ways, while the Gerund is probably the longest running poetry series in the city, it’s also a tabula rasa, which makes for an interesting internal dynamic, as a whole new generation of Worcester poets begin to find their footing. ”

Lessard said they want people to know that the Gerund is a place to come where people still have talent, but it’s also a place for anybody who would like to come out and express themselves through poetry. For them, the best outcome for the movie would be “being able to show that this community exists, that it’s been here. With all the up-and-coming things in Worcester,” they say, pointing toward the effects of gentrification, there are still places that have “the grit that makes Worcester Worcester, that we still have things that aren’t perfectly curated.”

Victor D. Infante

for Worcester Magazine

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