A Poetry Festival for the Whole Family
I’m interested in the dynamics of relationships, and poetry gives me a chance to put some of my thoughts about relationships into words that can endure and transact the relationship,”” says poet Elane Gutterman. “”It’s a chance to work in a more creative domain.””
Gutterman, along with other poets, will participate in the third annual Summer Solstice Poetry Festival sponsored by the West Windsor Arts Council. The festival will be held Saturday, June 26 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Nassau Park Pavilion. Included among the planned readers is Emily Brooks, a winner in the West Windsor Library Poetry Contest. Brooks is home-schooled.
An open reading will follow a feature performance by the poetry performance group Verbal Mayhem. The group is a diverse and dynamic quartet of young writers and artists devoted to bringing slam and performance poetry into university, high school, and middle school classrooms. To sign up for the open reading (two minutes per round), poets should E-mail poetry@westwindsorarts.org with their requests and a 25-word-or-less bio.
Gutterman, who received her Ph.D. in 1983 from Columbia University, says sharing their work with community members in a setting like the festival can help poets “”feel comfortable with where they are in the poetry process.”” As for her own beginnings in the genre, she was inspired to take a crack at writing poetry after hearing Paul Cerna, president of the West Windsor Arts Council and co-chair of the festival, share a poem at the first poetry festival. “”I was so inspired that Paul could develop a poem about the mundane task of his accounting process with his business,”” she says. Cerna, who resides on Alexander Road, owns Kickstart Mailing Services in West Windsor.
A health researcher and scientific writer for Health Data Analytics, which she co-owns with her husband, Jeff Markowitz, Gutterman wrote her first poem after doing research for a scientific presentation she was giving at Janssen Pharmaceutica. She used the poem to introduce her presentation. “”It was well received, and I was asked by other people if they could use my poem as an introduction to their scientific presentations.”” She and her husband live in the Sunrise development in West Windsor with their two daughters, Ariana, 19, a rising sophomore at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and Talia, 16, a rising senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South.
As for Cerna, his love of poetry started out casually but has “”intensified in the last few years,”” he says. He also has a passion for dance and has been performing improvisational dance and modern dance for over 10 years. Cerna started taking dance classes while pursuing his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. He graduated in 1991 with a degree in Ceramic Engineering and Communications. He is currently working on his MBA at Rutgers.
Festival co-chair Liz Madden-Zibman, a freelance communication writer and poet, received a degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University. She resides in the Sunrise development with her husband, Dan, and daughter, Marielle, 18, a senior at High School South.
She traces her passion for writing back to her elementary school days. Although she stopped writing for a period of time to raise a family, Madden-Zibman has turned her attention back to the pen – or computer. She recently had work published in Dazzling Mica: A Journal of Poetry & Culture and is currently at work on her first novel. “”It has always been a dream of mine to have a book published,”” she says.
According to Madden-Zibman, the Summer Solstice Poetry Festival is an equally enjoyable experience for adults and children. “”I think reading and hearing poetry are both really important. When you listen to poetry you can hear the inflection and starts and stops. Reading poetry out loud brings it to life and enriches the experience. Plus, you get to see the person behind the poetry. Sometimes a poem is so touching you can hear (the emotion) in their own voices,”” says Madden-Zibman, adding that Verbal Mayhem, the featured group at the festival, are a real draw for youth. She describes their work as “”cutting edge”” and “”eye opening to the issues we’re confronting today.””
In addition to Verbal Mayhem, scheduled poets include Lois Marie Harrod, the author of six books of poetry, a designated Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation poet, and the recipient of several fellowships from the New Jersey Council on the Arts.
Madden-Zibman anticipates that over 100 people will attend this year’s festival. In addition to Madden-Zibman, Gutterman, and Cerna, committee members include: Cynthia Yoder, Carol Heffler, Marie Alonzo Snyder, Judith McNally, Carolyn Foote Edelmann, Shelley Kiernan, Dan Zibman, Elke Hannel, Heidi Kleinman, Dave Haneman, Connie Tell, Carol Schepps, Kalpana Raman, Jeff Nathanson, Jerry Fields, Dale Roylance, and Julie Myers.
-Eileen Koutnik
Summer Solstice Poetry Festival, Saturday, June 26, 7 to 10 p.m., Nassau Park Pavilion. Free. Festival underwriter is the Cleveland-based Developers Diversified Realty, owners and operators of Nassau Park. For more information, call 609-919-1982 or visit www.westwindsorarts.org.
