Welcome to PoemAlley, Stamford, Connecticut's eclectic venue for poets, poetry reading and discussion! Open to anyone living in Fairfield County and the surrounding area, we meet Tuesday nights at 7:30 pm at Curley's Diner on 62 Park Place (behind Target) . Come contribute, get something to eat, or simply listen!
Join us, Saturday, September 5, for the penultimate session in a series of four independent creative therapy workshops, offered free to female survivors of sexual violence, conducted by Dr. Marianela Medrano, psychologist, poet and nationally-certified
poetry therapist.
At the conclusion of the series,
participants will be enriched by a selection of poems that will serve as a
steady and indispensable resource in their journey through healing and will have the opportunity to share their writing in the Sanctuary
of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in downtown Stamford.
Marianela has used creative writing as a means to help people reduce stress, cope
with pain and raise their level of emotional well-being. She hopes to help participants
confront their trauma and give voice to difficult-to-express feelings through various
forms of writing, including poetry and literature. Her own writing has appeared
in her 2011 collection Diosas de la
Yuca/Goddessof the Yuca(Madrid, Ediciones Torremozas), as well as numerous
literary journals and anthologies in the United States and the Dominican Republic. Find out more about her practice and work here and here.
This FREE
program, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Stamford, is presented
by the The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling and Education, which has been offering counseling, educational outreach and support
services in Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan,
Norwalk, Stamford, Westport, Weston and Wilton since 1979.
At one time, the whole of Hispaniola was as lush as the Dominican Republic
Poet and licensed
psychotherapist, Marianela Madrano returns to the Stamford area to read
selections at Barnes & Noble this evening from Diosas de la Yuca/Goddessof the Yuca(Madrid, Ediciones
Torremozas)and newer material delineating the ties between politically-tormented Haiti—the first nation to abolish slavery in the Americas--and its verdant neighbor, the Dominican Republic, and how Western European colonization has
perpetuated Hispaniola’s painful dichotomy to this day.
Side-by-side with this narrative is a discourse on the region
as seen through the archetypal lens of its original Taino culture—especially
as expressed via feminine power and spirituality both then and in the post-Columbian period.
Decades of poverty-induced deforestation have devastated much of Haiti's ecosystem
A native of the Domincan Republic, Marianela lives in
Connecticut with her husband, fellow poet and bibliotherapist Reggie Marra,
where, since 1990 she has used writing and literature as tools for healing,
social development and creative growth through the Palabra Learning Center.
Marianela’s work has appeared in numerous journals and
anthologies throughout the Americas and in Europe, including Callalo 23.3
(Summer 2000), Sisters of Caliban: Contemporary Women Poets of the Carribean (New
York, Azul Editions, 1997) and Revista Surgai (Bilbao, Spain, December 1995).
Besides 2011’s Diosas, her own titles include Curada de Espantos/One Who Has Seen It All(Madrid, Ediciones Torrzaemos, 2002),Regando Esencias/The Scent of Waiting(New York, Alcance, 1998), as well as
Prietica, a children’s book to be released this spring.
“The Black Bellybutton of a Bongo”
is her contribution to Callalo; also, click here to enjoy some live readings by
her and Reggie and other details of their work from the June 12, 2012 PoemAlley
blog entry, “A Call To Be A Bodhisattva: Poetry As The Art Of Healing”.
The Black Bellybutton of a Bongo
After contributing troops to the American revolutionary cause, Hatians repelled attempted re-colonization by Napoleon's forces in 1802
The
blue-eyed grandmother
blue-black ears
used to tell tales of boogie men
of black boogie men
Stories of embroidered linen
white sheets
virginal sex
secrets of pots and beans
magic wand to cook good fortune
I lost my crystal slipper in the dust
And the prince did not soothe my bruises
Later it was all about cactus -- no tulips--
In the time set for war, grandmother
Your stories slid down my skin
-black not trigueña, grandmother
-woman not doll, abuela
Thunder came and lightning frayed the island
-it was the drum-
-cynical laughter bursting in curls
tough curls fighting chemicals
singing kinkily and happily in the air
Black mellow dark beautiful majesty
I stared it in the eye
a wide and indivisible geography
Since then I am a doubt planting questions
sharp arrow is my tongue
my entire body
Before the rust I found my voice
my eyelashes dusted time
I am a heroine in the jungle, grandmother
I see the night patrol
the palm trees
the fire
Yemaya with her belly made of water
the areito
Yocahu-vagua
a little black girl prays for water
the baquini multiplies flags
the box of many colors, did you forget it, abuela?
The hand closed to your bones
shakes a spring of twigs
-don't be afraid, abuela-
Lemba greets you kindly.
Below
is the trailer for the 2001 film adaptation of Julia Alvarez’In the Time of the Butterflies (1994), the fictionalized account of the Mirabal sister’s courageous resistance movement to the terrifying U.S.-supported rule of Raphael Trujillo in the
Dominican Republic (1930-1961):
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 cooking section on the
main floor of the bookstore (located in the Stamford Town Center), beginning at
7:15 p.m.
At the conclusion of the series,
participants will be enriched by a selection of poems that will serve as a
steady and indispensable resource in their journey through healing and will have the opportunity to share their writing in the Sanctuary
of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in downtown Stamford.
Marianela has used creative writing as a means to help people reduce stress, cope
with pain and raise their level of emotional well-being. She hopes to help participants
confront their trauma and give voice to difficult-to-express feelings through various
forms of writing, including poetry and literature. Her own writing has appeared
in her 2011 collection Diosas de la
Yuca/Goddess of the Yuca (Madrid, Ediciones Torremozas), as well as numerous
literary journals and anthologies in the United States and the Dominican Republic. Find out more about her practice and work here and here.
September 5 & 12, 2015
