I’ve been involved for several years with a poetry-writing group that meets biweekly to share and discuss recently-written poems by its members. This group was formed back in the spring of 1997 by several members of a poetry class that was taught by Fred Muratori at BOCES. After the class had run its course and was coming to an end, several members of the class expressed an interest in continuing to meet as an informal poetry workshop and discussion group. The first members of the group were Wendy Cleveland (the initial instigator of the formation of the group), Jane Bain, Laura Healy, Melissa Stephenson, Joan Shroyer-Keno, and myself.
Over the years there were inevitable changes in the makeup of the group, due in part to some members having to move out of state, and in part to some members having to leave because of pressures of family and/or school responsibilities. In time we lost Jane, then Laura, then Joan, and then Wendy. The group did pick up some new members to replace the ones lost though. Eventually Fran Markover, Dawn Fewkes, Nancy Geyer, and Fred Muratori (our original poetry mentor!) joined. Jane Sprague joined us for a while and then had to move to California. And then I quit in August of 2007, due to the accumulating pressures of having taken on a lot of things in my life. At the time I had gotten romantically involved with someone (who I am still with by the way!), I was trying to learn to dance (taking lessons and classes etc.), rehearsing weekly with CMEMME, attending monthly CSI Board meetings and doing paperwork for them, and also trying to learn to play some additional musical instruments. I was feeling overwhelmed, so I reluctantly quit the group.
After a little more than a year off from the group though, I’m now feeling that I’ve got a better handle on things in my life. Although I’m still very busy I don’t feel so overwhelmed now. So I recently decided to rejoin the group. In addition to the other folks mentioned above, Kat Anderson is also in the group now, having joined soon after I quit last year. As a group we represent very diverse viewpoints, with differing aesthetic goals and differing styles. But instead of being at odds with each other we complement each other. Although we are all very different poets we are interested in each other’s poems and we learn from each other. Over the years I have learned so much and gotten so much inspiration from these poetry discussions with the group. I will always be grateful to these people, including the ones who are no longer with the group and who I’ve lost track of.
