Thanks for the Fish / voices against greed - Nine days following the presidential inauguration, poets and spoken word artists will bear witness to a world where greed appears to have no limits, and yet, every day holds moments of generosity and compassion.

WordXWord introduces 10 fresh, brave new voices in a fast paced program of poetry/spoken word in collaboration with guest curators Doni Smith, Jadesola James and Sage. With Marg Antonio, Dee Davis, Mordred Duffy, Alyssa St. Franc, Jadé James, Izabella "Izzy" Nunes, Hannah Pimenta, Sage, Mikaela Serrano-Moore, Doni Smith, Taylor Simpson, and Zuri Wilson.

Following the 10x10 Festival Fireworks on the First Street Common, The Whit plays host to some verbal fireworks! For this invitational poetry slam, WordXWord has invited a field of fantastic female poets to put their work on the line. For this event the Whit will be set up cabaret style with a cash bar. Hosted by Melissa Quirk Cairns with Elizag, Natalia Whalen, Grace Rossman, Ashley Wonder, Mariah Barber, Liv McKee, and AT Halaby.

No Fools Slam / Poetry & Spoken Word from poets 14-24 - Straight from the heart/unfiltered - some content may be challenging for younger children (and for some adults)!.

Outspoken / 3 day youth poetry festival. Outspoken inspires and fosters creativity, collaboration, teamwork and empowerment and provides a shared, supportive, safe space to explore identity, life’s challenges, differences and common experiences, culture, society and the world around us. WordXWord is committed to changing lives by giving voice and audience to the real truths of diverse individuals. We all have something to learn and something to teach. OutspokenYouth.com

The Inconvenience of Truth / it's getting hot in here -Poets on the intersection of climate, the environment, and humankind at the Berkshire Environmental Action Team Expo.

Walking the Plank / WXW takes on the Mastheads Project - Working with bits and scraps of Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau, Holmes, and Longfellow, poets present their work at Melville's Arrowhead.

LEV/WXW Poetic Response to Nick Cave's UNTIL - Lift Ev’ry Voice and WordXWord collaborate for this site specific spoken word response to Nick Cave’s UNTIL and the questions it raises - including - “is there racism in heaven?”

Team Poetry Slam - In partnership with The Mount, WordXWord brings several northeast-based teams to the Berkshires for a friendly face off ahead of their departure for the National Poetry Slam competition in Denver. Teams expected to compete include House Slam (Boston); Boston Poetry Slam; Lizard Lounge (Boston); Mill City Slam (Lowell); Union Square (NYC); Nitty Gritty (Albany); Northampton Poetry Slam; and Home Team (Berkshire).

Poetry Slams are spirited, yet friendly, spoken word "competitions" with free ranging styles. The audience is advised that this program may contain explicit content. FREE.

Poetry sCrawl - A multi-stop poetry stroll through the Upstreet Cultural District of Downtown Pittsfield. Starts at Dottie’s and ends at the Whitney Center for the Arts. FREE.

Poetry Brawl - Opening Reception & Poetic Games including head-to-head haiku, rap battle, insta-collabs, etc. Games are open to sCrawl poets and anyone in the room who wants to give it a go. FREE.

Intersection - Following up on last year's Ragged Edge of Truth, the 2017 WXW Festival will continue to drill down to explore what makes truth relative and more than a little bit slippery. We all exist at the intersection of multiple identities. Some we inherit, others are fluid. Some we own from the inside, and some are layered onto us by others. This program explores the intersection of those identities. The audience is advised that this program may contain explicit content. FREE.

For Excuse Me While I Kiss The Sky, WordXWord - in harmony with the Berkshire Museum's exhibition Guitar: The Instrument That Rocked The World - WXW has invited and challenged poets, representing a wide range of styles and an even wider range of ages, to use iconic guitar solos as prompts - or jumping off points - for original poetry/spoken word. FREE.

WXW Poetry Slam - Through a preliminary round in multiple venues and a set of semis, four finalists are identified for a two round, mind boggling, word tossing, eye gouging fight for the crown and title of WordXWord Poetry Slam Champion 2017. The audience is advised that this program may contain explicit content. FREE.

For Fiction of Now, WordXWord has challenged poets - across multiple generations - to create original work to be presented in the context of the Berkshire Museum's Morgan Bulkeley: Nature Culture Clash, a career retrospective of the artist's work, which - in his own words - is intended to "make people think of the fragility in which we exist.”

“I try to make paintings that are beautiful, frightening and funny all at once, similar to The Theater of the Absurd, which assumes things are so bad that you can only laugh." - Morgan Bulkeley

In this, the age of post truth, the audience is invited to strap in for a wild ride.

For Politics of Identity / Poetry of Inclusion & Exclusion - Poets are invited to zoom in or zoom out; re-aim their telescope or grab a magnifying glass; to build a fence, or tear one down; to examine the politics of identity from the personal, social, or cultural perspective. Who belongs? Who gets to decide

Wear your walking shoes as poets and other performers respond to the SculptureNow exhibition on the grounds of The Mount. In partnership with Jacob’s Pillow, Lift Ev’ry Voice, and The Mount.

From fast food to not enough food. Farm stands to factories. Eat this, not that. We’re asking poets to help us sort it out.

Two days before Halloween we’re asking poets to talk about what REALLY scares us.

Faith (noun) fāTH/ - 1) trust or confidence in someone or something; 2) belief in the doctrines of a religion. We’re asking poets to pick their poison or their cure and put a pen to it. .

WordXWord has invited poets to take a look back at 2018 through the lens of the Poets Creating Conversation series. There's been some great stuff over the course of the 8 PCC events and we want to hear it again! Plus sometimes it's just good to get together with friends and fellow passengers and celebrate.