America Publishers Author Spotlight celebrates Dr. Matthew C. Johnsen and an upcoming Worcester gathering that gives readers a compelling reason to discover his poetry. On Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 3:00 p.m., an afternoon of music and poetry will mark the launch of his music CD, Murmuration, alongside the audiobook of To Make the World a Better Place: Poems of Hope and Healing. For anyone looking for writing that encourages reflection and meaningful action, this occasion offers an inviting introduction to a collection concerned with how we live together.
Presented as Words and Music, the All Saints Day event will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester. Johnsen will perform live piano, while Ellen O’Neall-Waite, who narrates the audiobook, will read poetry. The program brings two forms of his creative expression into one afternoon, allowing audiences to hear his musical work and encounter the poetry through a speaking voice. It is an opportunity to celebrate the releases while spending time with the ideas that animate the book.
The collection begins with an ambitious title, but its appeal lies in the human scale of its concerns. Making the world a better place can start with noticing someone who feels unheard, responding thoughtfully to suffering, or choosing a more generous way to speak. Across the poems, questions about peace and social responsibility sit alongside observations of ordinary life. That combination gives readers several ways into the work, whether their first interest is contemporary poetry, community life, or the search for purpose.
Johnsen brings a distinctive perspective to these subjects. A Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Worcester State University and a Rotary Peace Fellow alumnus, he has worked with questions of social change and public engagement. Poetry offers him a different form for exploring the relationships between individuals and the world around them. Readers encounter those concerns through images, invitations, and personal reflection, with room to consider what the poems mean within their own circumstances.
The book’s structure supports that exploration. Its seven sections move from Prelude through Creativity and Awareness, Love, Community and Peace, Day’s Journey, Seasons, Purpose, and Epilogue. Together, they give the collection a broad emotional and thematic range. Readers can follow that progression or spend time with a poem that speaks to a particular moment. The arrangement encourages returning to the book as attention shifts between personal experience and wider questions about living responsibly.
One entry point is The Gift of Life, a poem that directs attention toward the world around us and the feelings within us. Beauty, affection, and music become things to recognize and share. Its invitation to live attentively gives readers a practical place to begin: look more closely at what is already present. For someone moving through a crowded day, a poem like this offers a reason to pause and consider what deserves fuller attention.
That act of noticing connects with the gentleness at the center of A Space to Blossom. The poem considers the time and room people need to be heard, appreciated, and able to become themselves. Its language of belonging makes a social concern deeply personal. Readers might think about the people in their families, workplaces, or neighborhoods whose voices need more space. The poem invites that reflection without requiring an elaborate starting point; it begins with how we treat ourselves and others.
These are useful reasons to bring the collection into a reading group or a conversation with a friend. A discussion could begin with a simple question about what makes someone feel welcome, then move toward the choices that create belonging. The poems provide material for such exchanges while leaving readers free to respond differently. Sharing a book in this way can extend the experience beyond solitary reading and make its concerns part of everyday conversation.
The collection also addresses the difficulty of remaining hopeful when public life feels unsettled. In Do Not Despair, Johnsen draws on the movement of seasons while considering justice, nonviolence, and the effort involved in change. The poem asks readers to stay conscious of the world around them and to consider the direction of their actions. Its determination gives substance to the book’s hopeful outlook, connecting encouragement with participation in the life of a community.
Finding the Path of Love approaches purpose through the relationship between personal joy and the needs of others. The poem’s focus on service opens a question reader can carry beyond the page: where might something we love doing become useful to someone else? That question can resonate with an educator, volunteer, artist, or neighbor. It offers a way to think about contribution that begins with an individual’s interests and reaches outward toward shared needs.
Be a Voice develops that outward movement by encouraging expression on behalf of what matters. Its concerns include human dignity, honesty, and people experiencing hunger or homelessness. It also considers the manner in which a person speaks, asking for criticism that avoids belittling others. For readers thinking about their role in difficult conversations, the poem offers a thoughtful point of reflection. Conviction and care can shape the same response, giving advocacy a more humane character.
Together, these poems explain why To Make the World a Better Place deserves attention beyond its title. Readers can find specific questions to consider and recognizable situations to connect with their own lives. Some may respond most strongly to its social conscience; others may enter through its appreciation of beauty or its reflections on belonging. The collection allows those interests to meet, inviting an attentive reading in which personal feeling remains connected to the experiences of others.
The timing also creates a meaningful connection with the collection itself. In All Saints’ Day, Johnsen urges attention to the people who cross our paths and the goodness we can share through our actions. The poem gives the date a literary resonance, offering readers another reason to open the book before the November gathering. Its emphasis on generosity can prompt reflection about a small act of kindness, an overlooked relationship, or an opportunity to help. Read alongside the other poems, it brings the title’s broad aspiration closer to daily choices. It invites readers to consider how love might become something they practice in ordinary encounters with a little more attention and generosity.
The forthcoming audiobook opens another way to approach that reading experience. With Ellen O’Neall-Waite as narrator, the collection will reach listeners through spoken language. Hearing a poem can draw attention to a pause, a repeated phrase, or the movement from one thought to another. People who already know the printed book may find fresh points of emphasis, while newcomers can begin by listening and decide which poems they want to revisit on the page.
Murmuration adds a separate musical release to the celebration. The CD and the audiobook represent different parts of Johnsen’s creative work, brought together for the November gathering. His live piano performance will give attendees an opportunity to hear him as a musician, while the poetry readings will introduce the collection aloud. For audiences interested in both forms, the shared occasion offers an appealing way to spend an afternoon attending closely to words and music.
The setting gives the occasion a local connection. Johnsen serves as music director of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, where the event will be held at 140 Shore Drive, Worcester, MA 01605. Admission and parking are free. Worcester residents and visitors can make plans around the 3:00 p.m. start and share the invitation with someone who enjoys a reading, a piano performance, or a chance to discover an author’s work in person.
Following the performance, guests are invited to stay for a book and CD sale and signing. This gives the afternoon a natural continuation: hear the work, explore the book and music, and choose something to take home. A signed book may become a personal reminder of the occasion or a thoughtful gift for a reader interested in hope and community. Those who connect with the performance can continue exploring Johnsen’s work after the event.
For readers discovering the collection now, a rewarding approach is to start with one poem and give it time. Notice the image or question that stays with you, then return to it after an ordinary day. Consider sharing that response with another reader or using it to begin a conversation about a concern you both recognize. A book becomes part of life through such encounters, and this collection offers many opportunities to make them your own.
America Publishers Author Spotlight invites readers to celebrate this next chapter in Dr. Matthew C. Johnsen’s creative work. Explore To Make the World a Better Place: Poems of Hope and Healing, share the event with fellow readers and music lovers, and join the Worcester gathering on November 1. Come for the live piano and poetry, then stay for the book and CD sale and signing. Give yourself an afternoon to listen, discover the collection, and consider the possibilities its poems open for your own contribution to a better world.
🔗 Official Event Details: View the November 1 event
🔗 Author Website: Explore Dr. Matthew C. Johnsen’s work
🔗 Book: To Make the World a Better Place: Poems of Hope and Healing
🔗 Venue and Directions: Plan your visit to the church
