PLRWe got a sneak peek at the top poems in the upcoming Paterson Literary Review #36 which is due out in a few weeks. (It would make a great gift for the poetry lover in your life!)
The Distinguished Poets Series at The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College sponsored a poetry reading and awards ceremony Saturday for the upcoming PLR36.
We heard first place winners Kenneth Hart and Glenn Morazzini, as well as second place winner Linda Radice read the judges top selections.
If you were there, then you know why this anthology is so highly anticipated. If you weren't there, well, it's like trying to tell a stranger about rock n' roll. You had to be there. Or wait for the book.
We heard the honorable mention poems from Christine Anne Amato, Susan Gerardi Bello, Linda Cronin, Susan Deer Cloud, Michelle Lerner, Maria Lisella, Bruce A. Lowry, Dorothy McLaughlin, Robert Rosenbloom, Metta Sama, Mattew J. Spireng and Steve Hillard Swartz.
In the center hall where refreshments were served, there was a table with books that said, free, take one.
Looking over the back PLR issues, I asked if I could take only one or one of each.
To my delight, they said take one of each. So, without being a hog about it, I grabbed one copy each of PLR 28, 29, 30 and 31 (1200 pages of fresh poetry!). They should go nicely with my PLR 34 and PLR 35 at home. Oh, by the way, the PLR is no lightweight chapbook, each issue is about 300 pages.
The more Jersey poetry events I attend it seems that I am getting to know some people and actually be recognized, too, from some of my open readings.
Warren CountyOne woman told me recently that she recognized me from the open reading session at Warren County Poetry Festival in September.
Susanna Rich, a scheduled reader at WCPF, read Saturday. I could see her looking at me when I was looking at her. I figured she might have remembered me, but who knows. Finally, she said, Who are you? and I told her I had spoken with her at Warren and emailed a few things.
I can still see you reading your 'baseball' poem on the stage at Warren, I said, apologizing for making her guess who I was. I said I didn't come over because I thought she might think I'm stalking her. The more of these things I go to, the more people I'm starting to know.
She said, don't apologize. And, by the way.
The man standing next to her said this is a small group, the Mutual Stalking Society.
I asked about her publishing prospects and she said she'll be doing a one-woman show at Kean in March, I should check the calendar.
After a break, we heard the Editor's Choice awards from Laurie Byro, Gil Fagiani, James D. Gwyn, Gloria Rovder Healy, Charles Johnson, Laine Sutton Johnson, Don Lynch, Howard Nelson, Susanna Rich and Kelly Vande Plasse.
The scene, at the beautiful Hamilton Club Building in Paterson, could hardly have been more conducive to enjoying an afternoon of poetry.
And, by the way, if you're wondering, I did not enter the PLR competition this year. I did enter the Ginsberg competition, but I think that might be apples and oranges.
Check out the Poetry Center web site for submissions for the William Carlos Williams tribute they are doing next year, and while you're at it, write a north Jersey poem, too.
Writers' grief, fury, love is in work is a story about Maria Mazziotti Gillan and the Allen Ginsberg Awards from the North Jersey Herald on Friday.
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival 2008
TELEVISION DADDY: A ONE-WOMAN AUDIENCE-INTERACTIVE POETRY PERFORMANCE; Sponsored by The Women's Studies Program, Kean University, Union, NJ 07083; Vaughn-Eames Theater 119, 7:30-8:30 PM; MARCH 11, 2008; Contact: Susanna Rich, (908) 737-0395
Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
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