Declarations On the Power of Time and Place

An antique dealer/bookkeeper, Jeanne DeLarm-Neri, featured reader at tonight's Barnes & Noble's Open Mic, enjoys writing poetry and fiction and has placed two pieces in the Winter 2011 and Winter 2012 editions of Times of Brunswick, published in Greenwich. "DeLarm-A Single Tear or An Elm Tree" was her prize-winning entry in the Winter 2011 "Connecticut Maple Leaf" essay contest.

A graduate of Fairfield University's MFA in Writing program, her occupational delvings into the historical resonance of time and place finds expression through several new projects, such as a series of stories taking place in Stamford, a novel about a small-town girl and a collection of poems inspired by antique photos. Below is a spooky, seasonally appropriate excerpt from her story, "Springdale Haunt": 

“A nice yard, it was, with a twisted apple tree. I climbed that tree, hiding in the leaves. When the Dooneys moved away, the next people smashed off the coal bin attached to the house wall. That made my mother breathe easier, she said. She couldn’t see that coal bin without imagining what happened inside of it.”

Kathi hugged herself, feeling a chill from the trees overhead. “What happened inside? You mean, rats or mice living in there, or something?”

The old man’s eyes shifted away from the conversational link between them, to a place on the driveway, some place in his memory. “We all lived with rats. But that’s not what I mean.” He frowned, caressing his chin with his hand. “It’s a funny thing. One of my earliest memories is of the wailing coming from that kitchen.”

You can email Jeanne at delarmneri@gmail.com.

Hosted by Frank Chambers and PoemAlley's Nick Miele, the Barnes & Noble's Open Mic Poetry program meets the second Monday of each month in the cookbook section on the main floor of the bookstore (located in the Stamford Down Center), beginning at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, contact:

Barnes & Noble

100 Greyrock Place Suite H009

Stamford, CT 06901

203-323-1248

Dressing To The Nines At 7:15

In acknowledgement of National Poetry Month, this evening's featured speaker at Barnes & Noble's Open Mic is David Messineo, founder, publisher, researcher and editor of the highly-accoladed Sensations Magazine (www.sensationsmagazine.com), which will release its final regular issue on April 15, following a quarter-century's worth of celebrating freedom of speech and expression. In the thematic spirit of Formal, his 2006 collection of formal, structured and art-inspired, or ekphrastic verse, David will present his work wearing a tuxedo and invites the audience and fellow poets, if they like, to "dress to impress" for an elegant evening. 

Author of five previous collections, including First Impressions, Suburban Gothic and Restoration, David has shared his work in performance readings in 48 of the 50 states before turning 40--a feat attained by few others--and is one of fewer than 40 people in the United States to serve as a literary magazine publisher and poetry editor for over 25 years, earning him a 2009 New Jersey State Jefferson Award for Public Service and Sensations, a National American Literary Magazine Award three times from 1994 to 1996.

For his equal devotion to historical research into the craft, the New Jersey Institute of Technology gave David an Author Award in 1994 for his extensive "Rediscovering America in Poetry" series--the first multicultural collection of American poetry, spanning the years 1565 through 1700, which ran in Sensations serially from 1990 to 1999. Most recently, he also earned the 2011 Dwyer Award for Journalism in New Jersey History. 

Reflecting the magazine's uniquelly non-grant funded, independent commitment to community and social outreach, David Messineo is especially proud of Sensations' successful raising/distribution of $6,500 to the needy, including $2,400 to New Jersey-based food pantries in 2010 and 2011.   

Hosted by Frank Chambers and PoemAlley's Nick Miele, the Barnes & Noble's Open Mic Poetry program meets the second Monday of each month in the cookbook section on the main floor of the bookstore (located in the Stamford Down Center), beginning at 7:15 p.m.

For more information, contact:
Barnes & Noble
Stamford Town Center
100 Greyrock Place Suite H009, Stamford, CT 06901

203-323-1248