Category Archives: community

A community poetry project by San Mateo County Poet Laureate Aileen Cassinetto in partnership with the San Mateo County Office of Community Affairs as part of the Welcoming Week 2021 Program. Belonging Begins With Us A San Mateo County Community Poem As you walk outside on your first morning hereput out seed, and see whatContinue reading “Belonging Begins With Us”

A poetry fundraiser by San Mateo County Poet Laureate Aileen Cassinetto in support of the San Mateo County Health Foundation’s COVID-19 fund for San Mateo County hospitals and clinics. For every line submitted, a dollar was donated to SMCHF. The community poem was completed on April 10, 2020, and presented at the San Mateo CountyContinue reading “Love in the Time of Covid-19”

From the introduction to Speak Poetry Vol. 1: When I was appointed Poet Laureate of San Mateo County, I was tasked with creating a poetry campaign to bridge and engage communities through the literary arts. My project, titled, “Speak Poetry,” is an ongoing conversation, where we’re given the opportunity to get to know people andContinue reading “Speak Poetry Anthology, Vol. 1”

From the introduction to Speak Poetry, Vol. 2: We are the language(s) we learned, the dragons we slayed, the monsters we defeated, the “gods we created”—we are all of our stories and every story read to us. We are also everything that we have forgotten. For this anthology, I’ve sent out a call to allContinue reading “Speak Poetry Anthology, Vol. 2”

From the introduction to I Have a Dream: Inaugural Poems for a New Generation: We begin with hope. This was perhaps why poems were traditional New Year’s gifts—for what is poetry but a stockpile of possibilities. The past year has been shaped by the coronavirus pandemic, by economic recession and racial unrest, by distance learningContinue reading “I Have a Dream: Inaugural Poems for a New Generation”