Poet/teacher/ community arts activist

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I’m the inaugural Poet Laureate of Westwood, Massachusetts, a two-year term that runs through June 2025.

For a list of my upcoming readings in and around Boston, Cape Cod, and beyond, see this list.

Born and bred in Baltimore, I attended college in New York, earned a graduate degree in English and attended law school in Boston, worked as a lawyer for 15 years, and taught high school English and college writing. I write and publish poetry, teach classes in poetry, fiction and memoir in the greater Boston area, and facilitate a poetry workshop at the Westwood (MA) Public Library.

My work as Poet Laureate of Westwood, Massachusetts

In 2021 and 2022, I received grants from the Town of Westwood and Massachusetts Cultural Councils to produce a poets-in-the schools program in my town during school year 2022-2023 I expanded my program to every grade level, from elementary through high school.

Funded by another successful grant proposal to the Mass. cultural Council (which I wrote on behalf of my town library) the Westwood Library’s Children’s Poetry Festival will take place on February 20-22, 2024.

Poetry Collections

My second full-length book, The Walk to Cefalù, was published in 2022 by Cornerstone Press/Portage Poetry Series of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

If you’d like a signed copy of any of my books, contact me at Lynne.Viti@comcast.net and I will give you payment options, sign or dedicate the book, and ship it to you.

For multiple copies of The Walk to Cefalù quickly for book club or classroom use, order directly from Cornerstone Press, https://www3.uwsp.edu/english/cornerstone/Pages/BOOKS.aspx.<y earlier books are avaiable from Bookshop.org and other online booksellers.

My first full-length collection, Dancing at Lake Montebello (Apprentice House Press of Loyola University Maryland, 2020), is available in both e-book and in paperback from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or from your local independent bookseller.

“Viti’s Charm City overflows with survivors and ghosts, yet avoids the minefields of sentiment. Snapshots from decades past—euthanasia coasters and backfin, mean girls and pheromones, talismans and to-do lists—collapse time. And “love” is in the details, the dance of the natural world, the white foam where the sandy shore and frothy water embrace. Viti has mastered the music and the moves in a collection that pierces the darkness.”
—Richard Peabody, editor, Gargoyle Magazine

“What you cannot know unless you hail from Viti’s hometown is that on the far side of Lake Montebello is a rehab hospital by the same name. It’s a place one goes to, to gain strength after something bad has happened. This collection by the Crabtown poet-in-exile offers the same.” —Rafael Alvarez, author, The Orlo & Leini Tales

My poetry chapbooks, Baltimore Girls (2017) and The Glamorganshire Bible (2018), and my short fiction collection, Going Too Fast (2020) are published by Finishing Line Press.

My short story collection, Going Too Fast, was published in 2020 (Finishing Line).

To purchase any of my Finishing Line Press books, click here, or order from your go-to online or local indie bookseller.

My essay, “’I Got the Shotgun, You Got the Briefcase’: Judging, Lawyering and Ethics,” appears in the The Wire: Urban Decay and American Television (ed. Potter and Marshall, Continuum Press, 2009)

Honors and Awards

Appointed Poet Laureate of Westwood, Massachusetts, two-year term through June 1, 2025

Third Prize, 2023 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest, for “Westwood Lodge, the Summer Hotel”

2023 Miriam Chaikin Award for Poetry, Westbeth Artists, New York, NY

Finalist, 2022 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards competition

Honorable Mention, WOMR/Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022

Fish Publishing Poetry Contest, 2021, longlisted for “Meditations at Newcomb Hollow”

Mass. Center for the Book nominations for Baltimore Girls 2017, The Glamorganshire Bible, Dancing at Lake Montebello 2020 and The Walk to Cefalù 2022

Pushcart Prize nomination, 2017, 2018

Finalist, Concrete Wolf Louis Chapbook competition, 2017

Finalist, Grey Borders Poetry Chapbook Contest, 2016

Best of the Net Nomination, 2016, for “Higher Math”

Honorable Mention, 2015 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest, for “Pâtissière”

Honorable Mention, Glimmer Train 2014 Short Fiction Contest, for “Tony Bennett, Aldous Huxley, and Eddie”

See the complete list of my poetry publications in magazines and online here.