Poetry reading with Maggie Bloomfield, author of the poetry books Trains of Thought (Local Gems Press) and Sleepless Nights (Finishing Line Press).

WWBA is delighted to present a reading with poet and Emmy-winning lyricist for Sesame Street Maggie Bloomfield. She is reading from her new poetry collection “Sleepless Nights” and some more recent poems during the quarantine.

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/iYxJ1FdQmW0

Maggie Bloomfield is a published, award-winning writer, Emmy-winning lyricist for Sesame Street, and graduate/MFA Program at Stony Brook, Southampton (SBSH). Her book of poetry, Trains of Thought, was published by Local Gems Press, and a new collection, Sleepless Nights, will be out in May, 2020, published by Finishing Line Press. Maggie and Susan Dingle performed their one-act play, BREAK OUT! AS PART OF THE 2017 LI FRINGE FESTIVAL and Maggie’s one-act,The Dispatchment Society was part of NYC’s New Works Emerging Artists Festival in 2019.

Poetry reading with George Wallace, Writer in Residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace.

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/1kuN26pJmiw

WWBA is delighted to present a featured reading with George Wallace: Writer in Residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, first poet laureate of Suffolk County NY, former laureate of the International Beat Poetry Festival and author of 31 chapbooks of poetry.

George Wallace is Writer in Residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, first poet laureate of Suffolk County NY, former laureate of the International Beat Poetry Festival and author of 31 chapbooks of poetry. An adjunct professor with the English Department at Pace University in Manhattan and at Westchester Community College, Wallace is editor of Poetrybay, Poetryvlog, Walt’s Corner, and co-editor of Great Weather For Media and Long Island Quarterly.

“Whitman, Race, & Racism”, a discussion with Distinguished Whitman Scholar and Professor Ed Folsom, Ph.D.

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/D18TAJvASKs

WWBA is delighted to present “Whitman, Race, & Racism”, a discussion with Distinguished Whitman Scholar and Professor Ed Folsom, Ph.D. This historical program focuses on Whitman, a Civil War era poet, who proclaimed his love for democracy in his writing. Professor Folsom will include facts about Whitman’s writings on race, Black writers’ responses to Whitman over the past 125 years, and the current conversation about the Whitman statue situated at Rutgers University-Camden.

Ed Folsom’s teaching and research have centered on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American poetry and culture. He has been particularly interested in the ways American poets have talked back to Walt Whitman over the years, and how Whitman tapped into American culture in surprising ways to construct a radical new kind of writing. He has written, edited, or co-edited a number of books on Whitman, including Walt Whitman: The Measure of His Song (Choice “Outstanding Academic Book,” Independent Publisher Book Award for Poetry), Walt Whitman’s Native Representations (Choice “Outstanding Academic Book”), Walt Whitman and the World, Walt Whitman: The Centennial Essays, Whitman East and West, Whitman Making Books / Books Making Whitman, Leaves of Grass: The Sesquicentennial Essays, Walt Whitman’s Democratic Vistas: The Original Edition, and Re-Scripting Walt Whitman (co-authored with Kenneth M. Price). Ed has directed or co-directed a number of the major national and international Whitman conferences of the past few decades, including a symposium on Whitman in Translation, the 1992 Walt Whitman Centennial Conference, a 2000 conference on Whitman in Beijing, China, and a 2005 symposium at Iowa on Whitman as a bookmaker. In 2005, the sesquicentennial of the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass, he gave the keynote talks at four national and international Whitman conferences. In 2011, he organized a symposium of ten Whitman scholar/translators from around the world. He helped organize and has frequently taught the Transatlantic Whitman Seminar, held each summer in a different international location. Ed has also written about twentieth-century American poets like William Carlos Williams, W.S. Merwin, and Gary Snyder, as well as other nineteenth-century writers like Frederick Douglass and Emily Dickinson. He has been a leader in the development of Digital Humanities, co-editing a CD-ROM archive of Whitman’s work, co-directing the Walt Whitman Archive, preparing the Whitman bibliography for Oxford Bibliographies Online, and in 2014 teaming up with Christopher Merrill to teach “Every Atom: Walt Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself,’” Iowa’s first MOOC. Winner of Iowa’s Collegiate Teaching Award, the Graduate College Outstanding Mentor Award, the university’s President and Provost’s Teaching Award, and the Regents’ Award for Faculty Excellence, Ed teaches courses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature, including a survey of American poetry, and doctoral seminars on Whitman, Dickinson, and the history of American poetry. He edits the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review and the Whitman Series for the University of Iowa Press.

A reading with Long Island poet and stellar friend to the arts Russ Green.

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/wJd_tVo4VAs

WWBA is delighted to present a featured reading with Long Island poet and stellar friend to the arts Russ Green. Green describes his poetry as “edgy and bold, introspective and vulnerable while exploring truths, both political and societal, with a deep thirst for the healing salve of nature. And, always with a dab of humor and with some culinary bliss sprinkled in.”

Over the years, Russ Green has been co-editor at Great Weather for Media, put on poetry and arts events around Long Island and NYC, and has raised funds through some of these events for humanitarian and social justice organizations such as Tahirih Justice Center, The Trevor Project, and an the earthquake victims of Nepal. Additionally, Russ hosted and curated poetry stages at various festivals and has read his work from New York to New Orleans, Cleveland, Santa Fe, and cities in between. His book, Gimme Back My Radio, is out with Night Ballet Press. Currently, he runs a monthly workshop with poet Christina M. Rau called South Bay Sundays and also hosts and curates poetry and music events in Port Jeff called Saturdays on the Sound. You can usually find him communing with the mountains in Vermont with interesting artist friends or roaming the docks of Port Jefferson Harbor at night looking for signs of life in the starry night sky.

Susana H. Case’s “Dead Shark on the N Train” has questions of gender and violence threaded throughout her poems. Jami Macarty’s “The Minuses” is an ecofeminist book of poems, concerned with endangerments to women and ecology. Dayna Patterson’s “If Mother Braids a Waterfall” is a book obsessed with motherhood and daughterhood, ancestry, and transition—of home, family, faith, and the narratives woven to uphold the Self.

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/KnJlKpAWMlc

WWBA is delighted to present “Shark Minus Mother” with Susana H. Case, Jami Macarty, and Dayna Patterson. (Please scroll down in this description for links to their books and WWBA information/donation links). Three women with poetry books released during the pandemic offer their poems to you from New York City, Tucson/Vancouver, and Bellingham, Washington. Join us for this exciting event!

Susana H. Case’s “Dead Shark on the N Train” has questions of gender and violence threaded throughout her poems. Jami Macarty’s “The Minuses” is an ecofeminist book of poems, concerned with endangerments to women and ecology. Dayna Patterson’s “If Mother Braids a Waterfall” is a book obsessed with motherhood and daughterhood, ancestry, and transition—of home, family, faith, and the narratives woven to uphold the Self.

Jack Coulehan, MD discusses The Talking Cure, his latest book publication.

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/PD05Nra1K6M

WWBA is delighted to welcome Emeritus Professor of Medicine and WWBA Board of Trustees President Jack Coulehan for a reading of his recently released book “The Talking Cure”. (See below for links mentioned in this video). Author Cortney Davis writes: “Coulehan writes about the joys of medicine, of family, of love and faith, while not ignoring the frustration of caring deeply for others, how sometimes even the most compassionate must struggle to “squeeze a portion” of the heart, allowing “a few drops of compassion” to escape (“Lift Up Your Heart”).” Jack Coulehan shares his experiences during thirty years of healing through dynamic writing and storytelling.

Jack Coulehan is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine and former director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. Jack’s essays, poems and stories appear frequently in medical journals and literary magazines, and his work is widely anthologized. He is the author of seven collections of poetry, including The Talking Cure: New and Selected Poems (Plain View Press, 2020) His other books include Blood & Bone and Primary Care (University of Iowa Press), two co-edited anthologies of poems by physicians; Chekhov’s Doctors, a collection of Anton Chekhov’s medical tales (Kent State University Press); and an award-winning textbook The Medical Interview: Mastering Skills for Clinical Practice (F. A. Davis Co,). Among Jack’s honors are a Pennsylvania Council for the Arts poetry fellowship; the American College of Physicians poetry award; American Nursing Association book of the year award; Master Scholar humanities fellowship of the Philadelphia College of Physicians; Humanities Medal of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; and the Nicholas Davies Scholar Award of the American College of Physicians for “outstanding lifetime contributions to the humanities in medicine.”

Karen De Mauro’s workshop on Performing Poetry: teaching approaches to performing poetry to embodying the unique voice of each particular poem.

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/wFZLbCKzxO4

WWBA is delighted to welcome Karen De Mauro, Artistic Director of The Acting Center in New York City.

De Mauro focuses on teaching students to approach poetry performances with the goal of embodying the unique voice each particular poem needs; encouraging the reader to “take a leap” into the poem itself. Through educational exercises, demonstrated by poet Wayne Mennecke, participants come away with a new understanding of exercises that honor the integrity of the poem they are reading. Exercises review reading poetry on Zoom, breathing patterns, reading speed, and finding the poem’s own spirit and breath. This program is extremely valuable to both seasoned and new poets, as well as any individual that wants to grow their public-speaking skills.

Jayne’s Hill Hike with Andrew Rimby: a guided hike to the highest point on Long Island to see the hike Walt Whitman took when visiting his childhood home in Long Island, New York.

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/Cdn7g_NjetI

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association is delighted to present a guided hike with Andrew Rimby on Jayne’s Hill; the highest point on Long Island. (See below for links mentioned in this video) July 4th, Independence Day, is the anniversary of when Whitman self-published his first edition of “Leaves of Grass”; our event takes place the day afterward when Whitman would be excitedly promoting his monumental new book.

Sea-beauty! stretch’d and basking!” are the opening lines of Walt Whitman’s “Paumanok,” a poem that explores Long Island’s natural beauty, especially the Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Whitman’s fascination with the natural water that surrounds Long Island comes from his knowledge of Jayne’s Hill, the highest point on Long Island. Whitman returned to Jayne’s Hill at least twice after moving from West Hills in 1823 with his family. He enjoyed the view that captured the woods, fields, and beaches of Long Island. He was known for venturing out from dawn to dusk taking in Long Island’s scenery with some food, water, and a good book in his hand. What better way to capture Whitman’s spirit than walking the same trail that he would have taken to get up to Jayne’s Hill and take in a few poems about Paumanok (how Whitman referred to Long Island).

Walking With Whitman: Poetry in Performance Featuring Octavio Quintanilla and Wayne Mennecke! With Musical Performance by Rorie Kelly!

Event Video Link:  https://youtu.be/ji9AzwudV4k

Season 10 of Walking With Whitman! (see links for performers and WWBA below). Join 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of San Antonio, TX Octavio Quintanilla, 2017 recipient of the New York State Senator Phil Boyle “Teacher of Excellence Award” Wayne Mennecke, & the incredible “ladybeast” singer-songwriter Rorie Kelly.