People and Their Poems - Season 1

Several of Connecticut's leading poets and poets laureate share their works in this holiday peace reading, presented by the Oliver Wolcott Library in Litchfield, Conn. Jim Kelleher, of the Oliver Wolcott Poets, is the organizer and host for this seasonal celebration of peace and hope.

EPISODE EXTRAS

• Rennie McQuilkin, Connecticut poet laureate emeritus 

• Ginny Lowe Connors, West Hartford, CT, poet laureate emerita

• Joan Hoffman, Canton, CT, poet laureate

• Sandy Carlson, Woodbury, CT, poet laureate

• Robert Piazza, Litchfield, CT, poet laureate

• Barb Jennes, Ridgefield, CT, poet laureate

• Karen Silk, Washington, CT, poet laureate 

• Rick Magee, Bethel CT, poet laureate

• Deborah Rose, New Milford, CT, poet laureate 

• Jack Sheedy, Harwinton, CT

• Patricia Martin, Torrington, CT

• Jim Kelleher, Goshen, CT

Host Sandy Carlson talks with Katherine Schneider, a poet and adult ESL professional living in Norwalk, CT. She holds an MFA from Fairfield University's low residency MFA program where she worked closely with Baron Wormser and the late Dr. Kim  Bridgford. She has also received an MA in TESOL and has taught ESL to adult students in the greater NYC area for 10 years. 

Being an active participant in writing/poetry community is important to Katie. She co-founded and co-hosts the literary livestream FUMFA Poets &  Writers Live (@fumfalive) with her MFA colleague, fiction writer Chris Belden. She is also engaged with combining poetry with music and other creative arts. Her endeavors in this regard can be followed at @the_story_of_how.

Her first chapbook, I Used to Remember the  Story of How, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2019. Her publication credits for individual poems include Ruminate, Blue Line, The Poetry Porch, The Paddock Review, and Collateral. Her poem "Breath" was also a nominee for a Pushcart Prize.

EPISODE EXTRAS

• Check out FUMFA Poets & Writers Live on Facebook

• I Used to Remember the Story of How is available on Finishing Line Press

Sandy and Jim discuss an event Jim organized, featuring some of the best poets in Connecticut.Listen in and learn more about the Holiday Peace Poetry Reading - Dec. 15, 7 to 8:30 p.m., presented by the Oliver Wolcott Library - with Jim, Sandy, and many more, including previous People and their Poems guests Jack Sheedy, Patricia Martin, and Faith Vicinanza.

Holiday Peace Poetry Reading Link

Host Sandy Carlson (peopleandtheirpoems.net and www.sandycarlson.net) visits with Jim Kelleher, who teaches literature and composition at Northwestern Connecticut Community College. He has published three books of poetry and taught in public schools and libraries across northwestern Connecticut.

EPISODE EXTRAS

• Mick: A Celestial Drama on Antrim House

• Quarry on Amazon

• Holiday Peace Poetry Reading - Dec. 15, 7 to 8:30 p.m., presented by the Oliver Wolcott Library - with Jim, Sandy, and many more, including previous People and their Poems guests Jack Sheedy, Patricia Martin, and Faith Vicinanza. ZOOM LINK

In this episode, Sandy talks with Nancy McMillan of Bethlehem, CT. Nancy is the award-winning author of March Farm: Season by Season on a Connecticut Family Farm. Her essay “For the Love of Linen” (CT Lit Anthology 2020) was a Pushcart Prize nominee. Litchfield Magazine publishes her feature stories, one of which won first place in the CT Press Club 2022 Contest. Her work has appeared in Pangyrus, The Sunlight Press, Persimmon Tree, Fiction Southeast, and Edible Nutmeg, and her reviews have run in Connecticut newspapers. She directs the writing program at Arts Escape (Southbury, CT), where she helps students embrace and inhabit their innate creativity. 

EPISODE EXTRAS

• Find out more about Nancy McMillan 

• Nancy's episode on Pangyrus 

• Nancy's feature in Litchfield magazine  

• Arts Escape

Host Sandy Carlson (www.sandycarlson.net), poet laureate of Woodbury, CT, talks with Nadine Cascini and Jim Hinkle, owners of Studio Hill Gallery.

Studio Hill is an art gallery, studio, and shop where artists collaborate their talents to offer their artistic creations in a welcoming and imaginative environment. It features both local and international artists of all different medias, along with a bookstore and gift shop where customers can browse with complementary refreshments. It's located on Main Street in the historic small town of Woodbury.

EPISODE EXTRAS

• Visit Studio Hill Gallery

Sandy talks with Patricia about the influence of meaningful lyrics on Patricia during the heyday of the Beatles' invasion, about  Patricia the roles of mentors, and of responding to opportunity when it presents itself in the development of her craft.

Patricia is an author, poet, performer/actor, and freelance writer/communications professional who has been featured at numerous venues, festivals, on radio and television, and published in various periodicals and anthologies. A member of the Author’s Guild and Nonfiction Author’s Association, Martin is the author of six nonfiction books and a poetry collection. She collaborated on a CD with composer/producer/musician Gus Mancini.

Episode Extras

• Learn more about Patricia Martin

• In Venice I Could Sing on Amazon

• Martin and Mancini - In the Moment CD

• Contact Patricia via email

In this episode, Sandy talks with Elizabeth Kutepov, a writer, musician, and painter living in Roxbury, CT. Elizabeth, whose stage name is Rap to God, talks about searching for the truth and finding the creative source at the heart of each of us as she discusses the place of writing in her search for personal peace. Her book is available on Amazon.

Episode Extras

• Learn more about Elizabeth's music

• Follow Elizabeth on Instagram

• Rap to God on Amazon

During a trip with Arts Escape of Southbury, CT, to Hollister House Garden in Washington, CT, Sandy wrote two poems that she read at an Arts Escape event Sept. 24, 2022.

Hollister House boasts a classic garden in the English manner, with a loosely formal structure, informally planted in generous abundance situated in the Litchfield hills of Northwestern Connecticut. It's an ideal place to capture a variety of flower photos, spend time painting a landscape, to sit and write, or wander meditatively through the pathways.

Episode Extras

• Arts Escape, Southbury, CT

• Hollister House, Washington, CT

Sandy talks with Southbury, CT, poet and artist Faith Vicinanza, who discusses her role in slam poetry in Connecticut, the influence of others to drive us toward poetry, and the vital relationship between the poet as performer and the audience.

Episode Extras

• Faith on Amazon

• Faith Vicinanza on Instagram

• See Faith's work on YouTube

• More about Faith in this 2005 article in The Newtown Bee

• Text of Mary Oliver's Wild Geese

• Mary Oliver reads Wild Geese

• Gallery 25, New Milford, CT

• Arts Escape, Southbury, CT

In this conversation with Litchfield County (CT) poet and writer Jack Sheedy, Sandy talks with Jack about his experiences as a youthful journalist selling a family  newspaper, working as a reporter in local journalism as an adult, and his experiences of poetry as both reader and writer. He shares with us a  dramatic reading of Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess," a poem by Jean Sands "Close but not Touching," both of which inspired him.  He also reads his own work "The Wanting "Place."

Episode Extras

• Jack Sheedy's website

• Jack Sheedy on Amazon

In this episode, Sandy talks with poet and children's author Donna Marie Merritt of Watertown, CT. Donna talks about the down-to-earth poetry she read as a young person that showed her it's OK to be yourself. Donna also reflects on the symbotlic relationship between her life and her poetry.

Episode Extras

• Poetry Books by Donna Marie

• Children's Books by Donna Marie

• Donna Marie on Wikipedia

• Donna Marie on Facebook

In this bonus episode, Sandy talks about the importance of "remembering" during a Woodbury (CT) Arts Association Arts Walk Thursday, Aug. 18.

This episode is a part of the Studio Hill Sessions, talks that Sandy has given during the open mic sessions at the gallery during the event.

Studio Hill Gallery at 507 Main Street South in Woodbury, Connecticut hosts a spoken word event as part of the Arts Alliance of Woodbury's walk on the third Thursdays of the month from May through August.  This video is from my contribution to the event, which developed into a conversation about what it means to remember.

Episode Extras

• Poems from the Edge of Extinction edited by Chris McCabe

• Studio Hill Gallery

• Arts Alliance of Woodbury

In this episode 3, Sandy talks with Woodbury, CT, poet Amy Dorio (@amy_dorio on Twitter), an educator who writes poetry. Amy reflects on her father's influence on her interest in and pursuit of poetry and the potential for poetry to transform students' lives as they learn to read poetic language as well as to write it. 

Episode Extras

• "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost

• Connecticut Writer's Project

• Connecticut Writer's Project magazine

• Gwendolyn Brooks piece

In this episode, Sandy talks with Polly Brody of Southbury, CT, a prolific lifelong writer who has written memoirs and essays as well as poems. Polly talks about the experiences and texts that have influenced her writing as well as how her writing has influenced her life.  She reads a poem by contemporary American poet Mark Doty as well a work of her own.

Episode Extras

• Read samples of Polly's work on the Antrim House website

• Learn about Polly in this 2005 story in The Newtown Bee

• For more about Polly's books, contact her at berylline33@gmail.com

In the inaugural episode, Connecticut poet Pat Mottola, who is president of the Connecticut Poetry Society, and Sandy talk about art history and poetry, the significance of red dresses, Pat's connection to veterans, and Pat's poetry. Listen as Pat reads  “What Do Women Want?” by Kim Addonizio and her own poem, "I Shelve My Lovers Alphabetically," which you can read on this page on Pat's poems page when you scroll to the bottom.

You can order two of Pat's books - Under the Red Dress and After Hours - from Amazon, and learn more about Pat on her website.