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RIVERWOOD POETRY SERIES
at The Buttonwood Tree
Past Events
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Maria Sassi
Originally
from the Bronx, Maria Sassi is West Hartford's
Poet Laureate. She has conducted poetry
workshops at The University of Hartford for nine
years and has studied with Richard Wilbur. Her
collection ROOTED WITH STARS, now in its second
printing, is in the Beinecke Rare Book and
Manuscript Library at Yale. Other publications
include WHAT I SEE, a folio of poems about art,
a poetry video, FIVE OCEAN POEMS and a verse
play, DREAMS AND LOVES OF THE SEPTRE FAMILY.
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Shijin
Six voices, six lives, one
performance! Since 2004, this Connecticut-New
York-area poetry performance troupe has given
shows featuring a 30 minute
seamless reading where one poem tucks into the
one that follows it and the one
that precedes it, as if they were written as
one. The troupe is currently
touring their newest collection, “Undone,” poems
and song, original works by the
members of Shijin. Their performances have
received wide acclaim as they weave
their individual voices into a single locomotion
that keeps you moving in
unexpected directions for a nonstop thirty
minute ride.
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 Viso Ngozi
has been writing poetry since
1989, and recording and performing spoken word
poetry since 1993. He has performed throughout
much of the east coast; Atlanta , DC , NY , MA.
and throughout CT. He has published two books
of poetry: VOICES of the VIRTUOSO a
collection of expressions and “2” -
voices of the virtuoso-prequel. He says, “It
is not my intent to be famous – but relevant.”
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 Victoria
Muñoz is a
graduate of Western Illinois University with
a BA in Music. She carries on the poetic
tradition of her parents, as a singer/song
writer and poet; and has a private practice
in music therapy in CT. Her work has been
published in various small presses including
Appleseeds
(Sacred Fools Press), and the forthcoming
Anthology from the Naugatuck Valley
Community College. She has performed her
poetry from Florida to Connecticut including
such venues as the Bowery Poetry Club in
N.Y., York, PA Arts Festival, WNPS, Canton
Word-Art Exhibit and now, is excited to be
returning to The Buttonwood Tree once again.
Her work has also been featured in the
text-book,
Stories from the Other Side, Thematic
Memoirs (Gateway Community College,
New Haven). Other works include chapbooks,
During Your
Reading and
Scenes From
Nature, Five Poems, translations of
her father’s poetry; and a collaborative CD,
Revelation,
of the Not Just Any Tom, Vic and Terri
Poetry Ensemble. She is currently the
coordinator of the Calling All Poets Series
at the Silas Bronson Library and the Poetry
Salon at the Freight Street Gallery
(Waterbury) |
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Stanford Forrester and John Popielaski
 Stanford M. Forrester is a past president
of the Haiku Society of America as well as the
editor of bottle rockets: a collection
of short verse. Stanford has had poems
published in 33 publications in the US, Japan,
Canada, Ireland, Romania, England, and
Australia. His work has appeared in 22
anthologies, most notably in Haiku edited
by Peter Washington in the Everyman’s Pocket
Poetry Series published by Knopf and American
Zen: A Gathering of Poets published by
Bottomdog Press. In 2004 he took first seat in
the 57th Annual Basho Anthology Contest in Ueno,
Japan and 3rd place in the Kaji Aso Contest in
Boston. In 2001 he was the recipient of the
Museum of Haiku Literature Award, given by the
Museum in Tokyo and the Haiku Society of
America. Most recently he has received an artist
fellowship from the Greater Hartford Arts
Council. He has been a judge for the Japan
Society and the United Nations International
School’s Children’s Haiku Contest in the New
York City Region for four years. He has taught
workshops at places such as Wesleyan University,
the Zen Mountain Monastery, the World Haiku
Festival in Bangalore, India, and The Loomis
Chaffee School.
 John
Popielaski attended the State University of New York at Stony
Brook and American University. "[A]n itinerant teacher
and seasonal laborer" (Contemporary Martyrdom), he worked
as a mover, a lobsterman, and an assistant to a tropical biologist before
becoming an English teacher. He taught in Mississippi and New York City
before his current position at Xavier High School
in Connecticut.
His poems have been published in many literary
journals, and he received a fellowship from the
District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities. |
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Undead
Poets Halloween Party
Can
the bards be dead when their words are undying?
“No!”
cries Riverwood Series, mysterious medium of
Connecticut poetry. Come on down, place your
hands upon the table, and experience Poe,
Millay, Service, Sexton, and more as Riverwood
embodies his—or is it her?—favorite dead poets
this Halloween.
Plus! Make your own favorite poet “undead” in
the open mic.
You
can even come in costume, if the spirit moves
you…
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TEACHER'S PoET
An evening of poetry
celebrating promising student writers and the
teachers who have influenced them, both sharing
their work in an intimate setting.
Host:
Catherine Hoyser
Featuring:
 Ginny
Lowe Connors' poetry has appeared in
many journals and anthologies. In 2001 she was
awarded first prize in the Atlanta Review's
International Poetry Competition. Connors, a
teacher in West Hartford, Connecticut, was named
"Poet of the Year" by the New England
Association of Teachers of English in the fall
of 2003. She is the editor of three poetry
anthologies, the most recent being Proposing
on the Brooklyn Birdge: Poems About Marriage
(Grayson Books, 2003).
Reading with Ginny will be students
Celeste Kurz and Jordan Hutensky.
 Kathryn Kelly
is the tenth of ten children from an Irish
family in New Britain, CT. In the Celtic
tradition of storytelling, Kathryn's poems shape
themselves as narrative pieces reflecting her
connection to family and the world around her.
Kathryn currently teaches English in Portland,
CT, where she also runs a creative writing
program for middle and high school students. She
has taught poetry workshops in schools
throughout the state, and has been an invited
poet to facilitate workshops with the Litchfield
Performing Arts' Project Poetry Live!
Her work has appeared in a variety of journals,
including The Helix and NCTE. She
is a member of The Random Meetinghouse
Poets, and is Program Director of the
Riverwood Poetry Series.
Reading with Kathryn will be student
Brendon Anderson.
Rafael Oses
Rafael Oses
holds degrees from Hartford Art School and
Columbia University. His work appeared in
Black Warrior Review in 1998, won its
1998-99 Literary Award for poetry, and was
nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He received an
artist grant from the Connecticut Commission on
the Arts in 1999, was a MacDowell Colony fellow
in 2002, a finalist for the Philbrick Award in
2004, the inaugural recipient of the Alonzo
Davis Fellowship from the Virginia Center for
the Creative Arts in 2007, and received an Amy
Rao Honorary Fellowship from the Djerassi
Resident Artist Program in 2008. His poems have
also been published in
Fugue, The Cincinnati Review,
and Endicott Review, and are forthcoming
in The Portland Review.
 Elizabeth
Thomas
is a widely published poet, performer and teacher. The author
of three poetry collections, she has read her work throughout
the United States . Much of her energy is devoted to designing
and teaching writing programs for schools and organizations
throughout the country. These programs promote literacy and the
power of written and spoken word. She is the founder of UpWords
Poetry, a company dedicated to promoting programs for young
writers and educators, based on the belief that poetry is meant
to be heard out loud and in person. She hosts a website at
www.upwordspoetry.com.
Elizabeth's student poet will be
Shacoya Harts. Elizabeth says she is "a
young poet from Hartford . She has been a
member of the CT National Youth Poetry Slam Team
and was featured on a BET television commercial
reading a poem she wrote about drug awareness.
She works with me in schools sometimes and I'm
excited to have her accompany me at this event."
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A Kelly-Greene Reading
featuring Kathryn Kelly and
Maggie Greene, with a musical prelude by Patrick
& Joseph Ganci on violin and piano,
respectively.
Hosted by Colin Haskins.
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Kathryn Kelly is the tenth of ten
children from an Irish family in New
Britain, CT. In the Celtic tradition of
storytelling, Kathryn's poems shape
themselves as narrative pieces reflecting
her connection to family and the world
around her. Kathryn currently teaches
English in Portland, CT, where she also runs
a creative writing program for middle and
high school students. She has taught poetry
workshops in schools throughout the
state, and has been an invited poet
to facilitate workshops with the Litchfield
Performing Arts' Project Poetry Live!
Her work has appeared in a variety of
journals, including The Helix and NCTE. She
is a member of The Random Meetinghouse
Poets, and is Program Director of the
Riverwood Poetry Series. |
Maggie Greene considers herself blessed
to have so many people and pastimes with
whom/which she feels connection, and from
whom/which she draws inspiration. Above all
else, she loves her daughters, Nora and Brigid,
her loving partner Fred Louis, her family and
her friends. As well as being a poet, she is an
avid hiker, an adventurer, a songwriter, a
school nurse, and a social activist. Her most
recent poetry publication was in the “Tribute To
Nurses” edition of Rattle Magazine and her
current passion is trying to learn how to speak
Irish! Oy Gavalt!!
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Upcoming Readings
- WE WILL BE BACK IN SEPTEMBER!
Previous Events
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Kathryn
Kelly
is the tenth of ten children from an
Irish family in New Britain, CT. In the
Celtic tradition of storytelling,
Kathryn's poems shape themselves as
narrative pieces reflecting her
connection to family and the world
around her. Kathryn currently teaches
English in Portland, CT, where she also
runs a creative writing program for
middle and high school students. She has
taught poetry workshops in schools
throughout the state, and has been an
invited poet to facilitate workshops
with the Litchfield Performing Arts'
Project Poetry Live! Her work has
appeared in a variety of journals,
including The Helix and NCTE. She
is a member of The Random
Meetinghouse Poets, and is Program
Director of the Riverwood Poetry Series.
