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POETRY at S.L.U. - John Berbrich ---May Edition - Volume 2 - Issue 11

NORTH COUNTRY POETRY

April 18 the 2008—SLAP (St. Lawrence Area Poets) hosted its fifth open-mike poetry reading, this time at the St. Lawrence County Arts Council on Market Street in Potsdam. Dale Hobson, a familiar voice from North Country Public Radio, was the featured reader. Hobson opened with selections from his latest chapbook, The Water I Carry. He also read numerous poems from an even newer collection, as yet unpublished. Hobson is an excellent reader with his radio-modulated voice. He was followed by three SLAP members: JeanMarie Martello read with muted passion a number of her older poems regarding mythological goddesses and mostly somber times; John Berbrich read from his chapbook Balancing Act, a celebration of his adventurous youth growing up on Long Island; and Nancy Berbrich read her pithy unsentimental poems of childhood along with a diatribe regarding the current state of public education. Then the open-mike was turned over to the listeners. Kathy Cassel read a series of moody poems concerning observations of nature and animals—dogs, birds, squirrels, et cetera. The reading was concluded by high school student Erin Hutchins who read a poem (she laughingly referred to it as teenage drama) written with Andrea Cox about life’s crossroads. Lots of good energy was created on this full moon Friday night. If you try, perhaps you can sense the lingering echo on the breeze.---

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The Water I Carry by Dale Hobson is a lovely and personal collection of poems. It presents water in so many forms—rain, ice, sweat, snow, rivers, even wet feet—all in a North Country context. People are trapped in a house by a tremendous snowstorm; we see old stone quarries drowned by rivers; water becomes ice becomes water again, reminding us of cycles, the summers and winters and springs and falls of life. “Looking out over this weary farmland,” begins one poem, “abandoned to November, abandoned / to trailers, car-dumps and second growth— / seeing endless wires on weathered poles, / shot-riddled road signs.…” I see it. I’m home. The book’s title also refers of course to the water we all carry with us on this journey through life, the, what is it, 90% or so of our bodily weight. The reader can relate, lugging around his or her own H2O on this amazing adventure. The Water I Carry was published by Benevolent Bird Press in Delmar, New York, and is available for $4.00 from the author @ 234 County Route 59, Potsdam, New York 13676, or pick one up at the St. Lawrence County Arts Council on Market Street. ---

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POETRY at S.L.U. - John Berbrich ---April Edition - Volume 2 - Issue 10

March 5th 2008—This month’s Poetry for Peace reading in the Winston Room at the Student Center was particularly long, so I regret that I’ll not be able to mention all the names. The multiplicity of languages was impressive: we heard poems spoken in Spanish, French, Swahili, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Mohawk, Catalan, Chinese, and of course English. Highlights for me included Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song,” read by Kerri Marchese, and “Your Sky is Blue” by Addul Sabawi read in Arabic by the remarkable Nevin Abutaima. Other readers included Jessica Cook, Nancy Decker, Filip Petricevic, Erin Cook, JeanMarie Martello, Steven White, Anne Csete, and Yae-ran Moon. The Poetry for Peace series is organized by Marina Llorente, Associate Professor of Spanish at SLU. The next reading is scheduled for April 2nd, also at the Student Center. Bring your favorite poem and join in the fun.

March 6th 2008—This night we saw guest writer Cornelius Eady in the Sykes building. After an introduction by English Professor Duriel Harris, Eady approached the lectern and read his own work for well over an hour, after which he answered questions from the large audience. Eady is currently the Director of the Creative Writing MFA Program at Notre Dame University. He has been awarded a Fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a Lila Wallace Readers Digest award, and two Pulitzer nominations. He read from his most recent book, Hardheaded Weather, which he describes as a sort of greatest hits collection from his previous poetry books. He also read generous portions from an ongoing untitled, uncompleted, and unpublished collection of memoirs. These recount with humor and pathos his childhood years in Rochester, New York. I was most impressed by Eady’s passion and particularly his great sense of humor. He shares so much of his personal life, writing of moments to which we can all relate.

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POETRY FOR PEACE @ SLU - John Berbrich ----Jan Edition - Volume 2 - Issue 7

December 5th, 2007—The theme for the fourth and final reading of this semester’s Poetry for Peace series at St. Lawrence University was “Reconciliation,” chosen by the host, JeanMarie Martello. The presence of a relatively small but interested audience led to an unusually intimate poetry experience. Martello opened the festivities with a brief introduction, talking about the importance of reconciliation, and how no peace can last without it. She then read “Reconciliation” by Siegfried Sassoon, and was followed by Gilbert Kusler who read his own “Healing Poem.” John Berbrich then read “Reconciliation” by Walt Whitman after which Joanna Fassett read her poem, “Gravity,” in a deadpan monotone. Joanna afterwards told me that she was going for a sort of Buddhist or Hindu chant, an effective delivery for a subject as heavy as “Gravity.” John Trombley followed with “Make Your Choice,” written by an unknown poet. Randall Hill read “Dear Mr. Bush” by Marc Amigone. Meagan Paxton read two of her own, “Taproot” and “Stricken.” Steven White read “Extracting” and “Mariri,” both his own works. Jessica Klauzenberg read her poem, “La Belle Neige de Paix,” in both French and English. This was followed by Charlie Reetz’s reading of Jonathan Swift’s poem, “A Description of the Morning.” And JeanMarie Martello concluded the reading with her own work, “Anti-War Effort.” The Poetry for Peace series is organized by Marina Llorente, Associate Professor of Spanish at SLU. The next reading is scheduled for Wednesday, February 6th, at 4:30 in the Winston Room at the Student Center. There is no set theme. See you there. ---John Berbrich

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POETRY FOR PEACE @ SLU - John Berbrich ----Dec Edition - Volume 2 - Issue 6

November 7th, 2007—The theme for the third installment of this semester’s Poetry for Peace series at St. Lawrence University was “Crossing Boundaries: A Celebration of Cultures.” The audience was large and enthusiastic. Poets reading their own poems included Gilbert Kusler, John Ostler, Jennifer Pokorne, John Berbrich, JeanMarie Martello, Brittany Goss, and Nick Blaise. Maggie Olsen, Hunter Karnedy, Amin Danai, and Jessica Klauzenberg took turns reading a poem, “We Are What We Are Not,” written by the four of them. John Ostler, Brittany Goss, Jennifer Pokorne, and Nick Blaise took turns reading “Steps” by Naomi Shihab Nye. Continuing the international focus, students of the Chinese 101 Class—Dipesh Mainali, Phuong Le, Tyler Hall-Potvin, Animesh Giri, Joann Chin, Winnie Mui, and Ashley Ross—led by Professor Anne Csete, read poems in Chinese and English written by a number of Oriental poets. Dana Shuster’s poem, “Mellow on Morphine,” was read in turn by Joanna Fassett, Jazmine Mussington, Matt Dalton, and Becca Taylor. Nadeem Hasnain read Sahir Ludhiyanvi’s “To the Warmongers.” Chloë LaFrance, James Pinkham, Luke Grover, and Meagan Paxton read in turn a poem written by the four of them called, “Worlds within Worlds.” Professor Duriel Harris read “Camino/Road” by Leonel Lienlaf in Spanish and English. And finally, Mwelwa Bwalya, a student from Zambia, gave a clear, strong reading of Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman,” which in my opinion was the highlight of the afternoon. The Poetry for Peace series is organized by Marina Llorente, Associate Professor of Spanish at SLU. The guest moderator for this reading was Professor Duriel Harris. The next reading is scheduled for Wednesday, December 5th, at 4:30 in the Winston Room at the Student Center. See you there. ---

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POETRY FOR PEACE @ SLU - John Berbrich ----Nov Edition - Volume 2 - Issue 5

October 3rd 2007—Music was the theme for the second edition of this semester’s Poetry for Peace series at St. Lawrence University. The audience was large and enthusiastic. Despite the theme of Music, I looked in vain for a trombone or guitar. Three poets read their own work: JeanMarie Martello with “Singing to Thelma,” John Berbrich read “To a Lonely Guitar,” and Gilbert J. Kusler read “Songs of One.” In addition, John Trombley read a poem by Leslie Fish and Kathleen Taylor, Steven White read his own translations from the Spanish of a poem by Gaston Basquero and one by Ruben Dario, and John Collins read a poem by Mark Eitzel and one by John Trudell. Deutschland was well represented, as Kristina Ludwig read one poem by Goethe and Ryan Fahey read another. Joanna Munger read one by Heinrich Heine. These three were read in both German and English. Phylicia R. Martel read Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Rosa Rodriguez, Jesis Ruiz, and Carolina de la Rosa took turns reading a poem by Julia de Burgos. The highlight of the afternoon was Nevin Abutaima’s impassioned reading in Arabic of “The Ink Flower is Black” by Abdel Kareem Sabawi. A small young woman from Palestine with a bright smile, Nevin was garbed in traditional Middle Eastern attire. Although I could not understand a single word, her dramatic reading reached deep inside of me. John Collins followed, reading the English translation of Sabawi’s work. Adhering to the musical theme, JeanMarie Martello and Nevin Abutaima sang portions of their poems. The Poetry for Peace series is organized by Marina Llorente, Associate Professor of Spanish at SLU. The guest moderator for this reading was John Berbrich. The next reading is scheduled for Wednesday, November 7th, at 4:30 in the Winston Room at the Student Center. See you there. --- John Berbrich

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