Walking With Whitman: Poetry In Performance

WWBA mourns the loss of beloved poet Wendy Barker. We offer our condolences to her family and friends.

With sorrow, Walking With Whitman: Poetry in Performance on May 5th is cancelled

Date: Friday, May 5, 2023
Start Time: 7:00 pm EST

ZOOM Six-Week Reading & Discussion Series: “Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War”

Sponsored by Humanities NY – Six Wednesday evenings, 6:00-7:30PM – April 12, 19, 26 & May 3, 10, 17  (2023)  – ZOOM only

Theme – “Land, Liberty & Loss: Echoes of the American Revolution”

Book – Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War by Lisa Brooks

  • One time registration fee:  $10 Registration Fee
  • Watch for the ZOOM link from  events@waltwhitman.org. The link will be sent the first week of the book discussion. The same link will be used for all 6 sessions.
  • You can purchase a copy of Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War online, or borrow a copy from your local library.

Sarah Kautz is an archaeologist, historical anthropologist, and preservation planner with nearly 20 years of professional experience. She has worked collaboratively with stakeholders and governments in the United States, Japan, and South Africa to study and preserve heritage sites. Her work seeks to make understandings of the past relevant and useful in our everyday lives. Click here for Sarah Kautz bio.

 


 

Facilitator Sarah Kautz presents Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, a book selection by Humanities NY for their Series “Land, Liberty & Loss: Echoes of the American Revolution.” Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War offers a thought-provoking account of conflict, captivity, resistance, and survival from an Indigenous perspective. Focusing on the experiences of Weetamoo (a female Wampanoag leader) and James Printer (a Nipmuc scholar), this book gives readers fresh insight into commonly heard stories about the period, such as Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, in which both Weetamoo and James Printer appear. In this discussion group, we will consider how legacies of settler colonialism frame American history. We will also explore how Our Beloved Kin opens up new possibilities for re-telling American history.

The Digital Companion website for Our Beloved Kin includes visualizations and additional content developed by the author, including links to Maps (the full color maps created for each chapter), Documents (images of original manuscripts and other documents associated with each chapter) and/or Connections (maps and documents in historical and geographical context, contemporary images of places and other related media).

 


April 12

Introductions, review the reading list, and discuss the major themes of our readings.

Reading:

  • Our Beloved Kin “Introduction: The Absence of Presence”
  • Our Beloved Kin “Prologue: Caskoak, the Place of Peace”

Recommended (videos):

  • We Still Live Here–Âs Nutayuneân, documentary about the revitalization of the Wampanoag language https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3h1myn. As you read Our Beloved Kin, you’ll encounter many Wampanoag words. Does language matter in the stories we tell? Why?
  • Partnership of Historic Bostons lecture: Whose Name, Whose Place? Native Placenames In Southern New England (September 2022) https://historicbostons.org/events/1

 


April 19

Our Beloved Kin–Part 1, The Education of Weetahmoo and James Printer: Exchange, Diplomacy, Dispossession

Reading:

  • Chapter 1: Namumpum, “Our Beloved Kinswoman,” Saunkskwa of Pocasset: Bonds, Acts, Deeds
  • Chapter 2: The Harvard Indian College Scholars and the Algonquian Origins of American Literature
  • Interlude: Nashaway, Nipmuc Country, 1643–1674

 


April 26

Our Beloved Kin–Part 2, No Single Story: Multiple Views on the Emergence of War

Reading:

  • Chapter 3: The Queen’s Right and the Quaker’s Relation
  • Chapter 4: Here Comes the Storm
  • Chapter 5: The Printer’s Revolt: A Narrative of the Captivity of James the Printer

 


May 3

Our Beloved Kin–Part 3, Colonial Containment and Networks of Kinship Expanding the Map of Captivity, Resistance, and Alliance

Reading:

  • Chapter 6: The Roads Leading North: September 1675–January 1676
  • Interlude: “My Children Are Here and I Will Stay” Menimesit, January 1676
  • Chapter 7: The Captive’s Lament: Reinterpreting Rowlandson’s Narrative

Recommended (video):

 


May 10

Our Beloved Kin–Part 4, The Place of Peace and the Ends of War

Reading:

  • Chapter 8: Unbinding the Ends of War
  • Chapter 9: The Northern Front, Beyond Replacement Narratives

 


May 17

At our last meeting, we will have an open discussion of Our Beloved Kin. We will also discuss how Our Beloved Kin inspires retelling Long Island’s colonial history from an Indigenous perspective.

Reading:

Recommended:

 


 

This Series is Sponsored by a Humanities New York Reading and Discussion Grant.

This program is made possible with funds from NY State Parks, Suffolk County, Town of Huntington, and NYS Council on the Arts through Huntington Arts Council.

Date: Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Start Time: 6:00 pm EST

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES Series 2, April 29, 2023 – LA Beyond Baroque, Ireland, Dallas TX/Kindred Creatives Press

George Wallace and Walt Whitman Birthplace proudly present season two of POETS BUILDING BRIDGES: A TRIANGULATION PROJECT, inaugurated in March 2022 with the purpose of enhancing dialogue between communities of writers across the US and internationally. Based on a shared small-group experience, these Saturday zoom sessions engage three distinct and well defined communities of poets with each other to share work and foster further interaction. THIS IS A ZOOM ONLY EVENT.

Season One triangulated groups by location — from the US, UK, Italy, South America, the Balkans, the Near East and India.

(47) Poets Building Bridges: A World Poetry Day Triangulation Project – Day 1 – 5Mar2022 – YouTube

In Season Two, POETS BUILDING BRIDGES will build on that experience, triangulating national and international groups based not only on location but additionally offering key small press publications an opportunity to form a participating group.

LA Beyond Baroque:  Richard Modiano  |  Iris Berry  |  S.A. Griffin  | Ellen Maybe

Richard Modiano attended the University of Hawai’i and New York University. While a resident of New York City he became active in the literary community connected to the Poetry Project where he came to know Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, William S. Burroughs and Ted Berrigan.  In 2001 he was a programmer at Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, joined the Board of Trustees in 2006 and from 2010 to 2019, he served as Executive Director. In that time he produced and curated hundreds of literary events. Richard is a rank and file member of the Industrial Workers of the World. In 2019 he was elected Vice President of the California State Poetry Society. The Huffington Post named him as one of 200 people doing the most to promote American poetry. In 2022 the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor Labor Coalition awarded Modiano the Joe Hill Prize for labor poetry. His collection The Forbidden Lunch Box is published by Punk Hostage Press.  

Iris Berry is a native Angeleno and one of the true and original progenitors of the  L.A. punk Scene. She is the author and editor of several books and has a vast fan base for her unique voice and formidable writing style. She’s an L.A. Pop culture historian, actress, and musician. She’s appeared in numerous films, TV commercials, documentaries, and iconic rock videos. In   the 1980s & 90s she sang, performed and wrote songs with the Lame Flames, the Ringling Sisters, the Dickies, the Flesh Eaters and Pink Sabbath. She served four years on the Board of Directors for Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center. In 2009 she received her 2nd Certificate of Recognition Award from the City of Los Angeles for her contribution as a Los Angeles writer, and for her extensive charity work. On Friday the 13th of January in 2012 she co-launched with A. Razor their imprint PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS where she continues to champion and advocate for original voices.

S.A. Griffin, co-editor of Beat Not Beat and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry (Firecracker Award) and Carma Bum progenitor. In 2010 he created The Poetry Bomb, a former Vietnam era practice bomb converted into an art object filled with over 900 poems from around the world in an effort to inspire civil disagreements culminating in The Poetry Bomb Couch Surfing Across America Tour of Words. Named Best Performance Poet by the LA Weekly, in 2011 he was the first recipient of Beyond Baroque’s Distinguished Service Award. His most recent book, Pandemic Soul Music is forthcoming from Punk Hostage Press. Husband, father and USAF Vietnam era veteran, S.A. lives, loves and writes in Los Angeles.

Ellyn Maybe, Southern California based poet, United States Artist nominee 2012, has performed both nationally and internationally as a solo artist and with her band. Her work has been included in many anthologies and she is the author of numerous books. She also has a critically acclaimed poetry/music album, Rodeo for the Sheepish (Hen House Studios). In addition to her band, her latest poetry/music project is called ellyn & robbie.  Their album, Skywriting with Glitterhas also received high praise. 

 

Ireland:  Afric McGlinchey | Annemarie Churreain  | John Fitzgerald | Stephen Sexton

Afric McGlinchey is based in West Cork, Ireland. Winner of the 2010 Hennessy Award for Poetry, 2012 Northern Liberties Prize (USA) and the 2015 Poets Meet Politics Prize, her collections include The lucky star of hidden things (Salmon Poetry, 2012), Ghost of the Fisher Cat, (2016) – both translated into Italian  – and Invisible Insane (SurVision, 2019). Her most recent publication is a prose poetry memoir, Tied to the Wind (Broken Sleep Books, UK, 2021), for which she received an Arts Council of Ireland Literature Bursary. A freelance editor and reviewer, she also mentors for the Munster Literature Centre and Words Ireland.

Annemarie Ní Churreáin comes from the Donegal Gaeltacht. Bloodroot, published by Doire Press in 2017, was shortlisted for the Shine Strong Award and the Julie Suk Award. She is a recipient of a Next Generation Artist Award and co-recipient of the Markievicz Award. She has received literary fellowships from USA, Germany and Scotland and was Writer-in-Residence at NUI, Maynooth, and Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. The Poison Glen is her first collection with The Gallery Press.

John FitzGerald was born in Cork in 1962. He won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 2014 and was shortlisted for a Hennessy Award in 2015. A chapbook, First Cut, appeared in 2017, followed by Darklight, a limited edition, in 2019. A recipient of a Key West Literary Bursary, John FitzGerald has lived in Dublin, London and Florence, and since 1995 has worked as University Librarian at University College Cork. He lives with his family on their farm in Carrigdarrery, County Cork. The Time Being is his first collection with The Gallery Press.

Stephen Sexton’s first book, If All the World and Love Were Young was the winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2019 and the Shine / Strong Award for Best First Collection. He was awarded the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2020. He was the winner of the National Poetry Competition in 2016 and the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award in 2018. Cheryl’s Destinies was published in 2021, and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection.

 

Dallas Tx/ Kindred Creatives Press: Paul Koniecki | Reverie Koniecki | M.H. Clay

Paul Koniecki lives in Dallas, Texas. He was once chosen for the John Ashbery Home School Residency. His poems feature in Richard Bailey’s movie “One of the Rough” distributed by AVIFF Cannes. Paul proudly sits on the editorial board of Thimble Literary Magazine. His poems have appeared in Henniker Review, Chiron Review, Gasconade Review, As It Ought To Be Magazine, Trailer Park Review, Poetry Bay, and many more. Paul is currently finishing his MFA at VCFA.

Reverie Koniecki is a writer living in Dallas. She earned her MFA in Poetry and Nonfiction at New England College. Her work can be found at Guernica, Multiplicity, Rigorous, and other places.

M.H. Clay was born outside Royston, England, Cambridgeshire, and has traveled the world, made music, poetry, plays, and worked in corporate America, but his primary badge of self-identification is his art. Having made his professional living in many places throughout the southwestern United States, Europe, and Asia, he credits his experiences during these years of travel with helping to shape his world view, and by extension his writing and literary personality. He has been a thrice-featured poet at the Blackwater International Poetry Festival in Ireland, as well as a panelist at Poetry International Rotterdam. His appearances have included readings for Wordspace Dallas, the Pandora’s Box Poetry Showcase, Lucky Dog Books, Inner Moonlight, Verse & Rhythm, and various open mics around the Dallas/Ft. Worth area since 2003, and, since 2009, has served as poetry editor of the Mad Swirl zine and website. 

 

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Date: Saturday, April 29, 2023
Start Time: 12:00 pm EST

2023 Long Island Poet of the Year Award Reception & Reading

Please join us on Saturday, April 29th, as Walt Whitman Birthplace Association Celebrates 2023 Long Island Poet of the Year, Paula Camacho. Join us in person at WWBA for an award reception and reading.

Paula Camacho, as President of the Nassau County Poet Laureate Society, serves the poetry community in countless ways by encouraging discovery of the poetic voice, elevating appreciation for the written word and enriching the lives of local poets through events, contests, anthologies, scholarships and more. She is a breast cancer survivor and participated in various poetry organizations over the years. She moderated the Farmingdale Poetry Group for 20 years to empower and evolve the poetic skills, artistry form and creativity of participants. She taught a poetry class, You Can Write Poetry, in the Adult Education program at the Farmingdale High School. She served on the Nassau Council for the Arts for three years.  Her poetry has won various awards, including the Alice Abel National Literary Contest. She has published nine collections of poetry. Her latest collection, Transmutation, is a 2021 finalist in the Blue Light Poetry Prize. She holds degrees in Nursing and Theology and lives with her family in Farmingdale.

This award is given annually to a Long Island poet recognized for the excellence of his or her work and who is active in supporting and promoting poetry on Long Island.

This is a free event and no registration required.

Date: Saturday, April 29, 2023
Start Time: 2:00 pm EST

Celebrate National Poetry Month – April 2023

Carry a poem with you on April 27th to share with family and friends.

Submit your poem in your pocket and it will be featured here, on our website. We will also post some of your poems on our social media on April 27th!

Poem in Your Pocket Day is an international movement that encourages people to centre poetry within their daily interactions. On PIYP Day, select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others.

Keep watch on our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter on April 27th for your poem:

Facebook:  @WaltWhitmanBirthplaceAssociation    |    Instagram:  @waltwhitmanbirthplace  |  Twitter:  @wwbirthplace

 


 

Poem In Your Pocket Submissions

Song of the Open Road

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.

Entered by:  Cynthia Shor, WWBA Executive Director

 


The Beautiful Ugliness of Being

The body buzzes electric,
pulse of life, beating of heart,
rush of blood, rhythm of breath,
All intermingled, a symphony apart.
Celebrate the self, the soul, the spirit,
The endless possibilities,
of all we can be,
The dynamism of diversity,
the power of difference,
A grand tapestry,
an entanglement
of you and me.

I am the dirt beneath my feet,
The sun that blinds my eyes,
the wind ruining my hair,
I am the earth and sky, the mountains, worms, and fleas,
All that is, and all that can be,
I am.
I see the universe in all its glory,
In every weary face, every smile,
In every tear, in every story,
I find my own, and I’m beguiled
I am
a part of all that is,
A thread in the fabric of life,
Connected to every thing,
In a world of wonder, a world of strife.
I celebrate this gift of being
And all the chaos it entails,
we are one,
and we are many,
And in all our ugliness,
beauty prevails.

Joe Maldonado

 


 

She breathes out Water.
A flood of food with music
pours into loops. Colorful tunes
swings Her body towards the sun:
an orchestra in bloom.
Her feet make a beat.
In the heat of it all
sweat slips n’ slides beneath Her eyes.

She breathes in Life;
shuffled mountains in waves,
kissed the moon in all its shades;
She Untethered, never the one to pass blame
breathes out Water
breathes in Life
dances to Her delights;
among the stars of the night
She reflects the greatest Light.

Nathalie E. Amazan

 


 

The face of Walt Whitman

Dripping down the window pane,
the face of Walt Whitman

etched in rain,

his beard spilling
to the sill

in the pointillist light
of a cold, gray day.

Old man!

What do you have to say
as I wait
for the changes to come,
the cloud-break, the sun,

if only I’m patient, if only we
get past the next one,
and the next one,
and the one after that…

all the small trials,
some so petty
they don’t belong
in any poem,

not even yours?

John Tessitore

 


 

Betrayal 

“My body betrayed me” my father said
The rugged but,sensitive farmer turned accountant /bookkeeper said.
Hand to aching  head he massaged his temples.
Allergies laid his sinus cavities especially low.
Off to fresh Vermont, not ski ,but  breath

Betrayal in the ether,
Country gone to Nazis
America my honest beloved.

Alice Byrne LCSW CGP FAGPA 

 


 

HEROS

This year
make a wish.
Your hopes can come true.
If a young poet can write “Heart Songs”,
you can write the story of your life.
If saints can find food on the side of the road, you can bake a batter of Christmas cake.
If a president can build homes for the homeless,
you can construct years of happiness.
If guides directed explorers through continents,
you can reveal the way to a child.
Because like them …
you are a hero
and heroes make wishes!

Paula Curci, Nassau County Poet Laureate

 


 

If Only I Could Draw

I would release all the words
stored up in my language house
to be snagged by another poet or songwriter.
Please, have at them.

I’d much prefer to show than tell you,
but pictures turn to verse
before my clumsy hands
can guide them onto canvas.

So I am left with words —
nocturnal, feral. They paw
through sleep’s deep layers,
clamor for attention, then
bunch up silent in a sunlit corner.

When I poke at them, they scamper off,
taunt me into a game of hide-and-seek.
Long after I’ve lost interest, they turn up
again with those sad eyes, looking
to be welcomed home.

Emily-Sue Sloane

 


 

April Shower

A ribbed fabric sky
folds the midday light
into layered stripes,
yellow and dust
accenting new-green fuzz
on old-black branches.
The sun wanders off to watch the show.
Clouds take center stage,
their deep gray pockets filled
to overflowing.
The rain they let fall
clings to newborn leaves.
Each drop sparkles with delight
when the sun steps out again
from the rainbowed shadows.

Emily-Sue Sloane

 


 

Zahara (no. 137 of Women’s names sensual series)

Please don’t wake the woman
who’s sleeping on the 1 train.

Her houndstooth trousers & gray sweater
are still clean, if a little worn,
& she’s got some chopped apples & blueberries
safely housed in a plastic container,
a half-eaten yogurt in a plain carton,
& a Yerba drink waiting on the floor
on this drizzly Sunday morning.

Only if you are a doctor,

or a well-meaning subway worker,
please don’t disturb her.
She’s keeping the peace,
Mr. Police Officer—
please don’t disturb her dreaming;
the train is rocking in her sleep.

Who cares if she’s a vagrant
or a wayward woman
carrying the weight of the world?
It looks like she hasn’t slept
for a hundred years—
a hard-enough life is finally
catching up with her.

Please let her sleep.
Don’t steal her breakfast or her gold,
or her knockoff Swatch
with a white plastic band on her wrist.
Her arms are crossed
upon her chest
as she rests—

Let her go; she’ll be okay.
I hope she is okay—
Please God, watch after her.

She— She—
She—

Carrie Magness Radna

 


 

Breakthrough

The seed removes its rough scored coat
Deep in dark earth,
Investing the soil with beauty.
Celebration shoots out in bright green leaves,
Sunshine laughs with growing promise,
Tendrils tie faith to the harvest.
O happy reign!

Tammy Green

 


 

At Huntington Station with Whitman

“You shall possess the origin of all poems here”

As grey light filtered
through
uncurtained windows
we counted the steps –
reverent footfall
across uncarpeted floors
where shadows and
ghosts
whispered his song
in rooms of Prussian blue

Kate McCarroll Moore

 


 

Butterfly Travels

With wings in flight,
Silent it arrives.
A mysterious sight,
As it gently lands,
Upon the flower.

Its wings are spread,
Yellow and black.
As thin as thread,
Yet strong to fly,
For miles and miles.

It feeds a while,
Flower to flower.
Causing us to smile,
At its beauty,
As it dances in the breeze.

Silent on its journey,
Through distant travels.
It has an untold story,
Which can’t be shared,
And remains a mystery.

Jeannine Sharkey

 


 

April 27

Poem in your pocket day
poem in my pocket day
every day
poem in my heart
poem on my lips
each day
poetry fills the sky
with crystal possibilities
poetry fills the garden
with blooming verifications
poetry fills a night sky
with a thousand twinkling smiles.
Keep poetry alive
feed poetry vibrant moments
read poetry every chance you get.
Poem in my pocket
poem in your pocket
April 27.

J R Turek

 


 

Ithaca. The waiting

And then I came to Ithaca
with my white mask.
I walked by the shore and along the cliffs,
among the olive trees.
And then I entered into the clear blue water.
I wanted to get lost in the embrace of the waves,
listening their stories and telling mine.
I fell asleep on seaweed, it was soft, smelling brackish.
I dreamed and talked with the shadows,
they knew everything about me and Penelope,
she who is always in the words or in the looks of others,
she who is always in lands foreign to me,
they knew that I came to Ithaca for her.
I was looking for her but I found Odysseus waiting.

Brigidina Gentile

 

For My Grandfather (“At Whitman’s House at Close of Day—”)

You probably don’t remember — that’s OK.
I was that kid-kind of miserable when we left the store,
And you said why aren’t you saying anything,
And I told you about the book I didn’t finish,
And you said I’ll buy it for you.

And I have my prize in hand — I am
That kid-kind of selfish when we reach our destination,
A wooden house across the way in the memory of
The local boy, the favorite son, the poet,
Who wrote of eagles’ beaks and grasses’ leaves,
And announc’d of all to all himself,
Container of multitudes (like you, as many sides as polyhedral).

I don’t know who he is — he is old (with a
Beard like a wizard, and my book is about wizards,)
And you do not try to distract me.
You let me listen, as you listen
To me; you are the unraveler of woes despite your woes,
The analyzer of symphonies and sympathies; and, in time, I listen.

And there are you and I: —
The unpeopl’d but unempty hallways wandering,
The house wherein the poet spent his boyhood exploring,
What ev’ry docent learns and teaches learning,
The device “sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite,”
As if it is the unplumbable secret.

But do I care? And, again, but do I care?
Sometimes I care and sometimes I do not —
I am not a poet, but my head abounds
With figures and with images and tales,
And lo! a secret passage and a secret calmness
Of you and me as hours sigh and day loses its light.

And there are two of us and Spirit Sancti,
There at the close of the day, and I think looking back
The employees were glad to be rid of us. —
But that’s OK. You brought me there
Because you thought I ought to know.

You bought me a book because you,
Sphinx, solver and keeper of mysteries,
Holder of angles ever expanding,
Singing, sighing, misunderstanding, understanding, knowing
God and man and oak for a moment,
Want to be with me for that moment.

I know that now. I wish
I knew that then. But I was a child, and
To be with you at Whitman’s house at close of day was poetry.

Karl J. Salzmann

 


 

her pocket poem
had dried roses
enclosed
she wrote on occasion
rhythms exposed
it was the quiet cool wind
who kissed violin
into her skin
and silver bells summoned
the frail poem
to be washed ashore
enclosed in
the severed bottles
fragments of gold

tiffany vlasenko

 


 

the twisting winding
crevices of timing
i was only trying
to see what i could find

i was a spy
a spy of your findings
with narrow road and
slithering snake highways

your eyes are forged
by crystal caves
moon lit shadows
ocean waves

lunar halo
angel wings
for you the world
is on display

tiffany vlasenko

 


 

The Blanche DuBois of Westbury

Life often feels like
the slow, deliberate pace
of automatic revolving doors

when a stranger turns
and smiles or waves
I suddenly feel free
sprung loose from circular infinity
fierce, almost ten feet tall

my mind tries to shake
the cacophony of cliches
born of this random event

it costs nothing to be kind
a smile lights up darkness
blah blah blah

I shake my head
drink a cup of cynicism

and yet…

while stuck in that revolving door
who hasn’t, at some point,
depended on the
kindness of strangers?

Sherri London Pastolove

 


 

The Women Gather

Nikki Giovanni

Entered by:  Sherri London Pastolove

 


 

Poetry Locket

Poetry forms letters
tell us a story,
the scent of lavender
a horse’s neigh
a Morning Glory.

Stanzas and couplets
rhymes and reasons
the use of all
the four seasons.

Honor the living
elegy the dying
sonnets like bonnets
classical, not lying.

Free verse the meanings
hearts are still beating.

Sestina is what you meana
inside 39 lines.

Ghazal will say inside
ten instead of in nine.

Haiku ties the shoe
in seventeen syllables
it’s true.

Tanka is when we wanta
say it in a few more.
So many poetry forms
for sure.

Ballad’s a story
ABAB in its glory.
Acrostic letters form
a crowd.
Alliterations noticed
Metaphors are proud.

All these formations
inside one’s pocket
kept close like this
special golden locket.

Margarette Wahl

 


 

Portrait in Black and white

a fly
is
standing
at the bar
on a lady in a white dress
drinking.

Marjorie Kanter

 


 

Bro-ken Drought

I am awakened (by lovely sounds.)
The birds are
s-i-n-g
i
n
g
in the rain.

Marjorie Kanter

 


 

Winter in Madrid 2008-2009

The clouds were
stuffed and puffed and blackened
for days on end, weeks on end.
It was a long time of dark skies
and grey black(ended) clouds.
(Finally) after a long time
the rain began to squeeze out,
first in drops and there came a loud
explosion and the/a deluge began.çIt rained and rained and rained.
We all got wet.

Marjorie Kanter

Entered by:  Jose Luis Delgado Guitart

 


 

in another place

the lights dimmed
and then brightened a little later
and then went through it
again and again and again
until daylight came
and the switch was turned off,
then the sun beat down for hours on end.
there was no relenting
until (once more) nighttime came.
it was still hot
but the lights dimmed and
brightened in a pattern of: off and
on, on and off, giving a feeling
of time stopping and
coolness.

Marjorie Kanter

Entered by:  Jose Luis Delgado Guitart

 


 

Remembering Tom

Robert Windorf

 

The Language of Fog   

pale calligraphy curls
around Japanese maples
through zebra grass

slithers in the woods
along the brook gurgling down
to ferny wetlands

swashes, flourishes, ligatures
layered and elemental
all blurred edges—limb, leaf, loam

and soft vowels
the tenseless now
of what’s behind it

holly unberried in the mist

Anne Hampford

 


 

“Poetry”

And it was at that age … Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don’t know how or when,
no they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesimal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.

Pablo Neruda

Entered by:  Robert Savino

 


 

I STAND ALONE

My three daughters have a bond,
the result of my actions, but solely their own.
Shared trust, their survival,
and also my envy.
I’m forbidden the laughter
in clever use for their mending.

Personally blessed with a mom’s natural instinct,
I still flounder in a fogged absence that blinds.
Maternal yearning daily
is my monotonous conflict.
Acrimony, my prison,
bi-polar depression, my disease.

Inside my core, a cultivated wit, the truth of me lives;
engaging and clever, intermittently bright to the ones who love me.
But that explosive allure, though admittedly captivating,
is also quite fickle to even my most treasured ones.
If we all only knew with forewarning, we were prey to the trap,
we maybe could have tamed the erosive disease free.

Tortured life chaos,
my intimate nemesis.
A warped ‘TLC,’
imposed on the innocents born out of me.
This con-cave institution
is my only cement.

Masked relief from nights past, endures on their faces,
yet spontaneous fun days present our hopeful illusion.
A puzzle my family lives inside with me,
we wake to unpredictable and insoluble days.
Collectively plagued in onerous love,
but I stand alone, the castrated outsider.

These daughters I adore,
cling in love’s unity, the vestige unwavering.
The familiar acronym, T.L.C. forms their guild,
the simple necessity: tender loving care for each other.
Yet juxtaposed, in harrowing position,
an infected ‘TLC’ stays trapped inside me.

Persecution un-ceased,
I lament my lost life;
it’s a maze with no exit.
Self pity, my lover:
guilt lives only in regrets that are felt.
My starring role cast: the victim forever.

Inescapable twists tighten,
inner torment ferments,
angry pain never stops,
my perceptions distorted.
My life’s struggle is family:
raging love in my heart.

Alas, in the winter of life,
my swan song indulged, emancipation comes gently.
Any lingering fury holds less harm and no menace.
Once deemed hurtful, brash or shaming in public,
my outspoken candor is more easily reined.
I’m slowly accepted as quirky and charming.

Old wounds on us all are hidden scars healing.
The bi-polar grip, now frail and anemic,
ancient agonies among us, are discussed and acknowledged.
New parents are grateful, generations pass on to the next.
As our love is remembered, grandkids play in less volatile space,
and in this court of past suffering, our clemency is granted.

___________________________

 

These words are written in reverence to my mother loved, and at times hated.
I was gravely touched by her uttered cries:
her punished experience still remnants in my head.
She was a powerful force, pernicious and amazing,
our grace and shared trauma left me who I am.
Here I offer her voice, forever in me, adage to withered dreams and others not yet set free.

Charlotte Leslie

 


 

Meme’re’

There is a poem in my pocket
And it’s corners are all worn
I’ve read it many times you see
It is tender though it’s torn

The words speak of a pine tree
so clearly I can smell it
and the needles snap so musically
I could sing, not tell it!

Blueberries grow ‘neath it
so round and plump and blue
I can hear my grandmother
calling “Let’s go pick a few!”

Her breath smelled of the Violet Mints
she shared when we would roam
I thought that I could even smell
them through the telephone!

The poem in my pocket
paints a love filled picture so
I keep it with me always

Wherever I may go.

Linda Trott Dickman

 


 

DEAD LAST

Breezing out the door, his confidence exhumed.
A man of his work, precision a must.
His final contract secured,
Authentic bone,
Delivery guaranteed.
“Did I tell you I came in dead last?”

He shrugs off the random words behind him.

Slipping on his gloves,
His thoughts lamenting,
“This is it. Make it count!”
Down the assassin’s spine… goosebumps,
Eager anticipation of his kill.
“Did I tell you I came in dead last?”

He shrugs the whisper away. Maybe retiree’s remorse?

His coveted checklist,
Efficiency his trademark,
But for this final one,
Deviation unearths his every nerve ending,
“Before a last breath, I’ll dig deep for the proof.”
“Did I tell you I came in dead last?”

A shrug no longer useful, his head whips around.

Uncharacteristically rattled,
The slayer murmurs to his haunting,
“I’ll stray not from my archives!”
“Pain free I adhere,”
“I promise bone after death, not before.”
Did I tell you I came in dead last?

Charlotte Pezzo

 


 

Behind The Masked Door Of Spring

It lurks behind the bursting blossoms of the brilliant pink Azaleas

The vail of Lilacs trailing across the white wood crisscross trellis

A bright ball of glowing fireball Sun that match the vibrant yellow Daffodils

Chirping Robins that hop eagerly across my lawn their orange breasts adorning

The pleasant scent of sprigs of Lavender growing wildly as they frame the green grass

Sparrows, Crows and Bluebirds that fly down from the powder blue sky

As they land gracefully on the roof of their birdhouse and peek beneath the roof

To steal the tiny seeds so perfectly and grasp them in their beak, then darting down

As they grab a squiggly worm below the rich soil and carry it back to their babies

Hidden so tenderly and perfectly in their woven twig filled nests

Beautiful, brilliant, inviting spring, that makes me melt and brings me boundless joy

So inviting, it serves me, and helps to mask the nagging sadness that pulls at me

The sorrowful, wearing, unrelenting sadness that pierces my aching heart

Sandra Gallof

 


 

Date: Thursday, April 27, 2023
Start Time: 12:00 am EST

ZOOM Six-Week Reading & Discussion Series: “Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War”

Sponsored by Humanities NY – Six Wednesday evenings, 6:00-7:30PM – April 12, 19, 26 & May 3, 10, 17  (2023)  – ZOOM only

Theme – “Land, Liberty & Loss: Echoes of the American Revolution”

Book – Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War by Lisa Brooks

  • One time registration fee:  $10 Registration Fee
  • Watch for the ZOOM link from  events@waltwhitman.org. The link will be sent the first week of the book discussion. The same link will be used for all 6 sessions.
  • You can purchase a copy of Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War online, or borrow a copy from your local library.

Sarah Kautz is an archaeologist, historical anthropologist, and preservation planner with nearly 20 years of professional experience. She has worked collaboratively with stakeholders and governments in the United States, Japan, and South Africa to study and preserve heritage sites. Her work seeks to make understandings of the past relevant and useful in our everyday lives.

 


 

Facilitator Sarah Kautz presents Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, a book selection by Humanities NY for their Series “Land, Liberty & Loss: Echoes of the American Revolution.” Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War offers a thought-provoking account of conflict, captivity, resistance, and survival from an Indigenous perspective. Focusing on the experiences of Weetamoo (a female Wampanoag leader) and James Printer (a Nipmuc scholar), this book gives readers fresh insight into commonly heard stories about the period, such as Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, in which both Weetamoo and James Printer appear. In this discussion group, we will consider how legacies of settler colonialism frame American history. We will also explore how Our Beloved Kin opens up new possibilities for re-telling American history.

The Digital Companion website for Our Beloved Kin includes visualizations and additional content developed by the author, including links to Maps (the full color maps created for each chapter), Documents (images of original manuscripts and other documents associated with each chapter) and/or Connections (maps and documents in historical and geographical context, contemporary images of places and other related media).

 


April 12

Introductions, review the reading list, and discuss the major themes of our readings.

Reading:

  • Our Beloved Kin “Introduction: The Absence of Presence”
  • Our Beloved Kin “Prologue: Caskoak, the Place of Peace”

Recommended (videos):

  • We Still Live Here–Âs Nutayuneân, documentary about the revitalization of the Wampanoag language https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3h1myn. As you read Our Beloved Kin, you’ll encounter many Wampanoag words. Does language matter in the stories we tell? Why?
  • Partnership of Historic Bostons lecture: Whose Name, Whose Place? Native Placenames In Southern New England (September 2022) https://historicbostons.org/events/1

 


April 19

Our Beloved Kin–Part 1, The Education of Weetahmoo and James Printer: Exchange, Diplomacy, Dispossession

Reading:

  • Chapter 1: Namumpum, “Our Beloved Kinswoman,” Saunkskwa of Pocasset: Bonds, Acts, Deeds
  • Chapter 2: The Harvard Indian College Scholars and the Algonquian Origins of American Literature
  • Interlude: Nashaway, Nipmuc Country, 1643–1674

 


April 26

Our Beloved Kin–Part 2, No Single Story: Multiple Views on the Emergence of War

Reading:

  • Chapter 3: The Queen’s Right and the Quaker’s Relation
  • Chapter 4: Here Comes the Storm
  • Chapter 5: The Printer’s Revolt: A Narrative of the Captivity of James the Printer

 


May 3

Our Beloved Kin–Part 3, Colonial Containment and Networks of Kinship Expanding the Map of Captivity, Resistance, and Alliance

Reading:

  • Chapter 6: The Roads Leading North: September 1675–January 1676
  • Interlude: “My Children Are Here and I Will Stay” Menimesit, January 1676
  • Chapter 7: The Captive’s Lament: Reinterpreting Rowlandson’s Narrative

Recommended (video):

 


May 10

Our Beloved Kin–Part 4, The Place of Peace and the Ends of War

Reading:

  • Chapter 8: Unbinding the Ends of War
  • Chapter 9: The Northern Front, Beyond Replacement Narratives

 


May 17

At our last meeting, we will have an open discussion of Our Beloved Kin. We will also discuss how Our Beloved Kin inspires retelling Long Island’s colonial history from an Indigenous perspective.

Reading:

Recommended:

 


 

This Series is Sponsored by a Humanities New York Reading and Discussion Grant.

This program is made possible with funds from NY State Parks, Suffolk County, Town of Huntington, and NYS Council on the Arts through Huntington Arts Council.

Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Start Time: 6:00 pm EST

ZOOM Six-Week Reading & Discussion Series: “Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War”

Sponsored by Humanities NY – Six Wednesday evenings, 6:00-7:30PM – April 12, 19, 26 & May 3, 10, 17  (2023)  – ZOOM only

Theme – “Land, Liberty & Loss: Echoes of the American Revolution”

Book – Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War by Lisa Brooks

  • One time registration fee:  $10 Registration Fee
  • Watch for the ZOOM link from  events@waltwhitman.org. The link will be sent the first week of the book discussion. The same link will be used for all 6 sessions.
  • You can purchase a copy of Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War online, or borrow a copy from your local library.

Sarah Kautz is an archaeologist, historical anthropologist, and preservation planner with nearly 20 years of professional experience. She has worked collaboratively with stakeholders and governments in the United States, Japan, and South Africa to study and preserve heritage sites. Her work seeks to make understandings of the past relevant and useful in our everyday lives. Click here for Sarah Kautz bio.

 


 

Facilitator Sarah Kautz presents Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, a book selection by Humanities NY for their Series “Land, Liberty & Loss: Echoes of the American Revolution.” Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War offers a thought-provoking account of conflict, captivity, resistance, and survival from an Indigenous perspective. Focusing on the experiences of Weetamoo (a female Wampanoag leader) and James Printer (a Nipmuc scholar), this book gives readers fresh insight into commonly heard stories about the period, such as Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, in which both Weetamoo and James Printer appear. In this discussion group, we will consider how legacies of settler colonialism frame American history. We will also explore how Our Beloved Kin opens up new possibilities for re-telling American history.

The Digital Companion website for Our Beloved Kin includes visualizations and additional content developed by the author, including links to Maps (the full color maps created for each chapter), Documents (images of original manuscripts and other documents associated with each chapter) and/or Connections (maps and documents in historical and geographical context, contemporary images of places and other related media).

 


April 12

Introductions, review the reading list, and discuss the major themes of our readings.

Reading:

  • Our Beloved Kin “Introduction: The Absence of Presence”
  • Our Beloved Kin “Prologue: Caskoak, the Place of Peace”

Recommended (videos):

  • We Still Live Here–Âs Nutayuneân, documentary about the revitalization of the Wampanoag language https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3h1myn. As you read Our Beloved Kin, you’ll encounter many Wampanoag words. Does language matter in the stories we tell? Why?
  • Partnership of Historic Bostons lecture: Whose Name, Whose Place? Native Placenames In Southern New England (September 2022) https://historicbostons.org/events/1

 


April 19

Our Beloved Kin–Part 1, The Education of Weetahmoo and James Printer: Exchange, Diplomacy, Dispossession

Reading:

  • Chapter 1: Namumpum, “Our Beloved Kinswoman,” Saunkskwa of Pocasset: Bonds, Acts, Deeds
  • Chapter 2: The Harvard Indian College Scholars and the Algonquian Origins of American Literature
  • Interlude: Nashaway, Nipmuc Country, 1643–1674

 


April 26

Our Beloved Kin–Part 2, No Single Story: Multiple Views on the Emergence of War

Reading:

  • Chapter 3: The Queen’s Right and the Quaker’s Relation
  • Chapter 4: Here Comes the Storm
  • Chapter 5: The Printer’s Revolt: A Narrative of the Captivity of James the Printer

 


May 3

Our Beloved Kin–Part 3, Colonial Containment and Networks of Kinship Expanding the Map of Captivity, Resistance, and Alliance

Reading:

  • Chapter 6: The Roads Leading North: September 1675–January 1676
  • Interlude: “My Children Are Here and I Will Stay” Menimesit, January 1676
  • Chapter 7: The Captive’s Lament: Reinterpreting Rowlandson’s Narrative

Recommended (video):

 


May 10

Our Beloved Kin–Part 4, The Place of Peace and the Ends of War

Reading:

  • Chapter 8: Unbinding the Ends of War
  • Chapter 9: The Northern Front, Beyond Replacement Narratives

 


May 17

At our last meeting, we will have an open discussion of Our Beloved Kin. We will also discuss how Our Beloved Kin inspires retelling Long Island’s colonial history from an Indigenous perspective.

Reading:

Recommended:

 


 

This Series is Sponsored by a Humanities New York Reading and Discussion Grant.

This program is made possible with funds from NY State Parks, Suffolk County, Town of Huntington, and NYS Council on the Arts through Huntington Arts Council.

Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Start Time: 6:00 pm EST

ZOOM Six-Week Reading & Discussion Series: “Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War”

Sponsored by Humanities NY – Six Wednesday evenings, 6:00-7:30PM – April 12, 19, 26 & May 3, 10, 17  (2023)  – ZOOM only

Theme – “Land, Liberty & Loss: Echoes of the American Revolution”

Book – Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War by Lisa Brooks

  • One time registration fee:  $10 Registration Fee
  • Watch for the ZOOM link from  events@waltwhitman.org. The link will be sent the first week of the book discussion. The same link will be used for all 6 sessions.
  • You can purchase a copy of Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War online, or borrow a copy from your local library.

Sarah Kautz is an archaeologist, historical anthropologist, and preservation planner with nearly 20 years of professional experience. She has worked collaboratively with stakeholders and governments in the United States, Japan, and South Africa to study and preserve heritage sites. Her work seeks to make understandings of the past relevant and useful in our everyday lives. Click here for Sarah Kautz bio.

 


 

Facilitator Sarah Kautz presents Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, a book selection by Humanities NY for their Series “Land, Liberty & Loss: Echoes of the American Revolution.” Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War offers a thought-provoking account of conflict, captivity, resistance, and survival from an Indigenous perspective. Focusing on the experiences of Weetamoo (a female Wampanoag leader) and James Printer (a Nipmuc scholar), this book gives readers fresh insight into commonly heard stories about the period, such as Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, in which both Weetamoo and James Printer appear. In this discussion group, we will consider how legacies of settler colonialism frame American history. We will also explore how Our Beloved Kin opens up new possibilities for re-telling American history.

The Digital Companion website for Our Beloved Kin includes visualizations and additional content developed by the author, including links to Maps (the full color maps created for each chapter), Documents (images of original manuscripts and other documents associated with each chapter) and/or Connections (maps and documents in historical and geographical context, contemporary images of places and other related media).

 


April 12

Introductions, review the reading list, and discuss the major themes of our readings.

Reading:

  • Our Beloved Kin “Introduction: The Absence of Presence”
  • Our Beloved Kin “Prologue: Caskoak, the Place of Peace”

Recommended (videos):

  • We Still Live Here–Âs Nutayuneân, documentary about the revitalization of the Wampanoag language https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3h1myn. As you read Our Beloved Kin, you’ll encounter many Wampanoag words. Does language matter in the stories we tell? Why?
  • Partnership of Historic Bostons lecture: Whose Name, Whose Place? Native Placenames In Southern New England (September 2022) https://historicbostons.org/events/1

 


April 19

Our Beloved Kin–Part 1, The Education of Weetahmoo and James Printer: Exchange, Diplomacy, Dispossession

Reading:

  • Chapter 1: Namumpum, “Our Beloved Kinswoman,” Saunkskwa of Pocasset: Bonds, Acts, Deeds
  • Chapter 2: The Harvard Indian College Scholars and the Algonquian Origins of American Literature
  • Interlude: Nashaway, Nipmuc Country, 1643–1674

 


April 26

Our Beloved Kin–Part 2, No Single Story: Multiple Views on the Emergence of War

Reading:

  • Chapter 3: The Queen’s Right and the Quaker’s Relation
  • Chapter 4: Here Comes the Storm
  • Chapter 5: The Printer’s Revolt: A Narrative of the Captivity of James the Printer

 


May 3

Our Beloved Kin–Part 3, Colonial Containment and Networks of Kinship Expanding the Map of Captivity, Resistance, and Alliance

Reading:

  • Chapter 6: The Roads Leading North: September 1675–January 1676
  • Interlude: “My Children Are Here and I Will Stay” Menimesit, January 1676
  • Chapter 7: The Captive’s Lament: Reinterpreting Rowlandson’s Narrative

Recommended (video):

 


May 10

Our Beloved Kin–Part 4, The Place of Peace and the Ends of War

Reading:

  • Chapter 8: Unbinding the Ends of War
  • Chapter 9: The Northern Front, Beyond Replacement Narratives

 


May 17

At our last meeting, we will have an open discussion of Our Beloved Kin. We will also discuss how Our Beloved Kin inspires retelling Long Island’s colonial history from an Indigenous perspective.

Reading:

Recommended:

 


 

This Series is Sponsored by a Humanities New York Reading and Discussion Grant.

This program is made possible with funds from NY State Parks, Suffolk County, Town of Huntington, and NYS Council on the Arts through Huntington Arts Council.

Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Start Time: 6:00 pm EST

Cost: $ 10

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES Series 2, April 8, 2023 – Erie PA, South Asian Diaspora, St. Louis

George Wallace and Walt Whitman Birthplace proudly present season two of POETS BUILDING BRIDGES: A TRIANGULATION PROJECT, inaugurated in March 2022 with the purpose of enhancing dialogue between communities of writers across the US and internationally. Based on a shared small-group experience, these Saturday zoom sessions engage three distinct and well defined communities of poets with each other to share work and foster further interaction. THIS IS A ZOOM ONLY EVENT.

Season One triangulated groups by location — from the US, UK, Italy, South America, the Balkans, the Near East and India.

(47) Poets Building Bridges: A World Poetry Day Triangulation Project – Day 1 – 5Mar2022 – YouTube

In Season Two, POETS BUILDING BRIDGES will build on that experience, triangulating national and international groups based not only on location but additionally offering key small press publications an opportunity to form a participating group.

Live on zoom. archived on Youtube.

Erie PA:  Chuck Joy  |  Matt Borczon  |  Mark Borczon

Chuck Joy, publishing fun poetry since 1980. Early poems in Medicinal Purposes and early appearances at the Orange Bear and did graduate from Fordham University (Rose Hill) but born in Cleveland and lives in Erie, about as far away as you can be from Philadelphia and still be in Pennsylvania. More about Chuck: www.chuckjoy.com  Chuck Joy, publishing fun poetry since 1980. Early poems in Medicinal Purposes and early appearances at the Orange Bear and did graduate from Fordham University (Rose Hill) but born in Cleveland and lives in Erie, about as far away as you can be from Philadelphia and still be in Pennsylvania. More about Chuck: www.chuckjoy.com

Matt Borczon recently retired from the US Navy and lives works and writes in Erie Pa. He is the author of 17 books of poetry the most recent, PTSD a living will, is available from Rust Belt Press.

Mark Borczon Is a poet from Erie Pennsylvania. He is a custodian at Penn West university. He has 3 children and lives with his long term fiance Janice.

 

South Asian Diaspora:  Pramila Venkateswaran  |  Sophia Naz   |  Indran Amirthanayagam  |  Usha Akelia

Pramila Venkateswaran, poet laureate of Suffolk County, Long Island (2013-15) and co-director of Matwaala: South Asian Diaspora Poetry Festival, is the author of Thirtha (Yuganta Press, 2002) Behind Dark Waters (Plain View Press, 2008), Draw Me Inmost (Stockport Flats, 2009), Trace (Finishing Line Press, 2011), Thirteen Days to Let Go (Aldrich Press, 2015), Slow Ripening (Local Gems, 2016), The Singer of Alleppey (Shanti Arts, 2018), and more recently, We are Not a Museum (Finishing Line Press, 2022). She has performed the poetry internationally, including at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival and the Festival Internacional De Poesia De Granada. An award winning poet, she teaches English and Women’s Studies at Nassau Community College, New York. Author of numerous essays on poetics as well as creative non-fiction, she is also the 2011 Walt Whitman Birthplace Association Long Island Poet of the Year. Her critical essays on Dalit poetry appear in recent issues of International Women’s Studies Journal, Journal of Contemporary Poetics, and Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics. She leads writing workshops for breast cancer patients in their healing journey. She is a founding member of Women Included, a transnational feminist association and the current President of NOW Suffolk, Long Island.

Sophia Naz is a bilingual  poet, artist, author, editor and translator. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize; in 2016 for creative nonfiction and in 2018 for poetry.  Her work  features in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Poets, The Night Heron Barks, Singing in the Dark:A Global Anthology of Poetry Under Lockdown, Berfrois,The Bombay Literary Magazine, Rattle, The Punch Magazine, Poetry At Sangam, Poetry International Rotterdam, The Adirondack Review,  The Wire, Chicago Quarterly Review, Blaze Vox, Scroll, The Daily O, Cafe Dissensus, RAIOT, Ideas And Futures, Chapati Mystery, Guftugu, Pratik, Gallerie International, Coldnoon, VAYAVYA, The Bangalore Review, Papercuts, Madras Courier, The Yearbook of Indian Poetry and many others. She has authored the poetry collections; Peripheries (Cyberhex 2015), Pointillism (Copper Coin 2017)  Date Palms (City Press 2017) Open Zero (Yoda Press 2021), and Shehnaz, a biography (Penguin Random House 2019). Her website is www.SophiaNaz.com

Indran Amirthanayagam is an award winning poet, editor, publisher, translator, you tube host and diplomat. He has published twenty two books and writes in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian

Usha Akelia has authored nine books that include poetry, one chapbook and two musical dramas. Her latest poetry book is I will not bear you sons, published by Spinifex, Australia. She earned an MSt. in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge, UK.  She is the founder of Matwaala (www.matwaala.com) and www.the-pov.com, a website of curated interviews. She was selected as a Creative Ambassador for the city of Austin in 2019 & 2015. She is widely anthologized and has been invited to numerous international poetry festivals all over the world.

 

St. Louis:  Brett Underwood  |  Andrew Belz  |  Stefene Russell

Brett Lars Underwood  is a St. Louis writer, bartender and promoter of happenings and mishaps. He is the author of MUSH (Spartan Press, 2018) and MUSHARONA (Kung Fu Treachery Press, 2020).

Aaron Belz has an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University and a Ph.D. in American Literature from Saint Louis University. He has published four full-length collections of poetry, most recently Soft Launch (Persea, 2019), and given readings at venues across the country, ranging from universities to comedy clubs. He is online at belz.net and on Twitter at @aaronbelz

Stefene Russell is the food reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune. She’s the former culture editor for St. Louis Magazine and was the 2018 poet-in-residence at Laumeier Sculpture Park. Her books include Inferna (2013, Intagliata Press), The Possum Codex (2015, Otis Nebula), and 47 Incantatory Essays (Spartan Press, 2019). Find her on Instagram (@stafene7) or on Facebook or Twitter (@voltarine). 

 

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POETS BUILDING BRIDGES is produced by Poetrybay Productions for the Walt Whitman Birthplace.

Date: Saturday, April 8, 2023
Start Time: 12:00 pm EST