The Returning And The Cherished

Opening with Kaaren Whitney reading tomorrow evening at 7:15 at Barnes & Noble's Open Mic program in the Stamford Town Center, this week features two consecutive events recognizing seasonal and foundational members of the local poetry community.

Following on two prior autumnal appearances to the area (click here and here), Kaaren, a UK resident originally from  Connecticut, practices homeopathy and is active in the English contemporary universalist community. She will be reading selections from The Turning Of the Year: A Book for 8 Seasons (Solstice-Equinox Press, 2016), a chapbook collaboration with Jim Nind of forty-four new pieces, accompanied by full-color photographs.

Among her credits as part of a body of work honoring the natural world, the environment and the urgency of our better stewardship of it, Kaaren has contributed to  Voicing Visions, a 2009 DVD/booklet release featuring assorted artists and poets, England's 2006 National Poetry Anthology and Moonwise Diary (2007 through 2009).

Kaaren has also appeared at the Halesworth Fringe Festival and open mic programs in England, the United States and Australia. Below is her reading from Aldeburgh Beach in UK’s Suffolk County of “The Coming of Light” by the late Mark Strand as part of the 2015 National Poetry Day:

Hosted by Frank Chambers, Barnes & Noble Open Mic meets the second Monday, each month in the cooking section on the main floor of the Stamford bookstore. For more information and directions, contact:

Barnes & Noble
100 Greyrock Place, Suite H009
Stamford, Ct 06901

203-323-1248

A retired professor of literature and peace activist at Nassau Community College, Ralph Nazareth has generously extended his academic chops as moderator/facilitator and creative nurturer to PoemAlley's eclectic assortment of poets and other artists for well over ten years, now, consistently introducing members to new expressive perspectives spanning art, foreign affairs, family, travel, illness and other topics through his energetic organizing of special public readings and frequent appearances of guest readers and performers at Curley's Diner.

In appreciation, the Tuesdays At Curley's group has decided to return the favor by asking Ralph to be this week's featured poet, reading work from his new collection Between Us The Long Road (Owlfeather Collective, 2017).

Ralph is managing editor of of Stamford-based Yuganta Press and president of Grace Works International, a charitable foundation involved in outreach in the developing world (proceeds from the sales of Between Us will be donated to GWI). Ralph has participated in poetry festivals in India, the Middle East, and in Latin America and has placed work in numerous books and magazines both in the United States and abroad, including Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry (University of Arkansas Press, 2010) and Multilingual Anthology: The Americas Poetry Festival of New York 2014. His collection Glass: Selected Poems, was published by El Quirófano Ediciones in Ecuador in 2015.

He uses the title poem from the latter to examine the multi-layered role of metaphor in this clip from a 2009 discussion for the Bent Pin (http://BentPin.net):

All are welcome to hear this patient, inquisitive and dedicated advocate for the importance of engaging in, and being engaged by,  the written and spoken word in upholding the human in human affairs.

Two Back-To-Back Readings On Monday and Tuesday!

Spanning poetry, satire and essays, PoemAlley regular Richard Duffee's ouvre explicates the human-scale effects of systemic injustice, geopolitical machinations and social/class relations. As October 10's featured speaker of Barnes & Nobles' Open Mic Poetry program, Richard has lived in Chicago, Philadelphia, as well as South Asia, where he married into an Indian family. A legal advocate for the homeless, his work experience ranges from painter, bookseller and psychiatric aide, to plumber, editor and law professor. A two-time candidate for Congress with the CT Green Party, Richard is the author of The Slow News of Need (Yuganta Press, 2001), a 35-year compilation of impassioned observations on the universal (but under-acknowledged) struggle between the pathology of "making a killing" versus the need to eke out a living.

Open Mic Poetry gathers the second Monday of each month at 7p.m. in the cooking section adjacent to the cafe on the main floor of the Stamford Barnes & Noble (located in the Stamford Town Center).

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

203-323-1248


For the "B" side, come by the following night just a couple of blocks over to hear Kaaren Whitney read as featured guest for the October 11 Tuesday at Curley's PoemAlley session. A former Connecticut resident, Kaaren has lived in England since 1971, where she works as a homeopath and serves as guardian of a labyrinth and Tree Circle. Among various credits, Kaaren has placed work in the UK's 2006 National Poetry Anthology and the Moonwise Diary (2007 through 2009), and was also a commended winner of the Fakenham Poetry Competition in 2008. Karen has contributed her nature-inspired writing to Painting to Poem (2006), Spring (2009), Shades of Light and Dark (2009), among other titles, as well as to 2009's Voicing Visions, a DVD/booklet collaboration between assorted artists and poets. She has read at Cotton's Yard Gallery, the Halesworth Fringe Festival and numerous open mic venues in England, the United States and Australia.

Find out what she's up to at her Ink, Sweat and Tears Webzine here; for a seasonal sampling of her Neo-Pagan poetry, see her frequent input across the pond on Living the Wheel of the Year, a UK-based online celebration of Celtic festivals and nature culture.