The Last Thursday Poetry Readings

Celebrate National Poetry Month 

Last Thursday Poetry Reading series

Middletown Township Public Library
55 New Monmouth Road - Middletown, NJ 07748

This Thursday April 29, 2010

07:00PM - 09:00PM

I will be reading this week as one of the poets who were the winners of the 2009 Last Thursday Poetry Contest, along with Diane Lockward, Jessica De Koninck, and Nancy Scott. The poets will read their prize-winning poems and other selections. The readings will be followed by an open mic.

I realize that most of the online readers of  this blog are far from the middle of New Jersey - but feel free to send good poetic vibrations that night to us.

Diane Lockward the Poet Laureate of West Caldwell NJ, is the author of the Quentin Howard Poetry Prize winning What Feeds Us , Eve’s Red Dress, and the chapbook Against Perfection.  Her new book,  Temptation by Water, is forthcoming this year. She has been published in anthologies, journals, and online, and was the recipient of a 2003 Poetry Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts.  She conducts writing workshops, and works as a Poet-In-the-Schools for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine Dodge Foundation.  Her prize-winning poem is "Organic Fruit."

Jessica De Koninck’s first collection Repairs, a series of poems about loss, was published by Finishing Line Press. Her poems have been in anthologies and journals, including The Ledge, Bridges, the Paterson Literary Review, the Edison Literary Review and US 1 Worksheets and on-line in The Valparaiso Poetry Review and elsewhere. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A former Councilwoman and resident of Montclair, New Jersey, she is pursuing an MFA at Stonecoast, and is an attorney. Her prize-winning poem is the title poem from her collection,   “Repairs.” 

Ken Ronkowitz is the owner/editor of poetsonline.org, a monthly online poetry magazine and web site for poets. His own work has been published in magazines including English Journal, Beloit Poetry Journal, Roadmap, Prague and the anthology, The Paradelle. He is currently an adjunct professor and the Director of Writing at Passaic County Community College, and an adjunct professor at NJIT. His prize-winning poem is “’57 Chevy.”  

Nancy Scott is  the current Managing Editor of U.S.1 Worksheets, the journal of the U.S.1 Poets’ Cooperative in New Jersey. This critique group has met weekly for more than 35 years. In 2001, she was awarded a residency at Ragdale. Her poems have won many awards, and have been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize. Slant dedicated its 2007 volume to her. Her chapcook,  Siege of Raptors, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press in 2010. Read Nancy Scott's "Mama's Closet."

Middletown Township Public Library, 55 New Monmouth Road, Middletown, NJ 07748