This past week, we had the good fortune to have Jan Beatty as our visiting writer for the Mature Adults Workshop. She provided excellent prompts, read some of her poems, and gave lots and lots of encouragement to the writers in the group. She brought her energy and enthusiasm to the workshop and was kind and supportive. It was an exciting session and I got many emails extolling her virtues from people who participated. Check out her new memoir and collection of poetry.
I have to admit I miss in-person workshops and readings, but I am finding great joy in virtual workshops as well. The wonderful thing about them is that we can bring people from very far away to participate whereas in-person, we normally only recruit from New York and New Jersey. This past summer, we had someone from Vancouver, Canada, and several from California. In a couple of interviews and virtual readings I have done, I had people write to me afterward from France, Italy, Wales, and other parts of Great Britain. It’s exciting to think of how poetry connects us and how it forms bridges between us.
I fell in love with poetry when I was a very young, immigrant child. I did not speak English when I went to school. I feel great gratitude for the teachers who read aloud to us in Public School #18 in Paterson, New Jersey. They shaped the way I heard English, heard poetry and they made me want to read more and more and to write. One of the functions of the poetry center which I established officially in 1980, is that it brings poetry to people. It allows other people to enter the house of poetry with its many rooms, as Lucille Clifton said. I think poems teach us how to be human and have compassion. For me, poetry has always been a kind of salvation. I want to share it with others the way my mother shared food.
Meanwhile, until we can get back to in-person meetings, I am loving the reach of Zoom and I hope to continue to run virtual programs even when we can have in-person programs again.
We have our Distinguished Poets Series program scheduled monthly through January 2022. You can watch live and each is archived and available on our YouTube channel. These poets also offer a poetry workshop before their reading which you need to register for in advance. They are very popular, so be sure to check it out and sign up as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Maria
