4 poets laureate make 2023 a boom year for verse on LI

Lindamichelle Baron stood in front of a fifth-grade class at Powells Lane Elementary School in Westbury holding one of her jazz-influenced, word-play-filled poetry collections.

“We have quite a treat for you today,” Principal Claudia Germain told students as she introduced “the inaugural poet laureate.”

That was Baron’s cue to lead another of the live — and lively — poetry presentations she’s been taking on the road since her December appointment by the Town of Hempstead.

“I started writing when I was younger than you .  .  . when I was 5 or 6 years old,” Baron told the students. “Do you want to hear the first poem?” she asked. “You can’t laugh. Promise!”

Then she recited the childhood couplet her parents hung on the refrigerator: “I have a cousin named Gerard / I think his ears are very odd.”

Some of the students did join Baron’s laughter at her early effort, which she turned into a teachable moment, recalling how she went on to learn that poetry was not just about “rhyming words.”

“I started thinking, how can I use my words to share my feelings?” she said.

Soon the students were sharing their own feelings, drumming on their desks, snapping their fingers and participating in a call-and-response in rhythm to Baron’s verse.

Mateo Avelar, 10, enjoyed Baron’s reading of “Spelling Blues,” a poem about struggling with spelling. “It’s fun to listen to, and we got to interact with the person who wrote the poetry,” he said.

His classmate Jodian Ellison, also 10, said, “It was interesting because she told us a lot about poetry inspiring her, and she told us she was inspired by other people to write poetry.”

For Long Island’s poets laureate, April, aka National Poetry Month, is the coolest month, a time of readings and open mics, school and senior center appearances, and other poetry appreciation programs.

This year, more Long Islanders than ever hold the title. In addition to Baron, they include Nassau County Poet Laureate Paula Curci, Suffolk County Poet Laureate Richard Bronson and Suffolk Teen Poet Laureate Ella O’Connor.

“It is unusual and unprecedented to have four poets laureate on Long Island — double the number during last year’s National Poetry Month,” said Cynthia Shor, a poet who is executive director of the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, the historic site in Huntington Station that aims to preserve the poet’s legacy. “This is an encouraging sign that local governments are recognizing and promoting local poets and advancing poetry appreciation.”

We asked the Island’s poets laureate to share their perspectives on poetry — and their plans for increasing poetry writing, reading and appreciation beyond National Poetry Month.

Lindamichelle Baron

Baron’s ready wit bubbles up not just in her poetry, but in her answers to simple questions, like, “Where did you grow up?”

“I never did,” Baron replied while driving to her poetry presentation in Westbury. Baron, 73, who worked as a New York City public school teacher before becoming a professor of teacher education at CUNY York College, where she’s also board chair of the Africana Studies Center, has published numerous books of poetry.

Dr. Richard Bronson

Suffolk County poet laureate

Bronson, 82, said he is completing his two-year term next month with a sense of accomplishment and a little regret.

“I feel wistful .  .  . because I couldn’t go out and spread the poetry in person,” said Bronson, of Lloyd Harbor, whose term overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic’s early restrictions on in-person gatherings.

As part of his official duties, Bronson, a doctor specializing in reproductive endocrinology at Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine, read his poetry virtually for the county’s 9/11 ceremony in 2021 and at libraries and the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, where he’s a board member. He has published his poetry, which often reflects his experiences as a physician, in five collections including “Imperfect Knowledge” (Padishah Press, 2021).

We felt that the writing of poetry was of value to students because skills of observation [are] also doctors’ skills. Ultimately, we opened Astonished Harvest to anyone who wanted to join us as a bridge between the medical center and the community. We have about 20 members meeting virtually. People who never read poetry before now are producing poems that are meaningful to them.

Ella O’Connor

Suffolk County teen poet laureate

O’Connor, 17, said she’s happy to be the youngest person in the room reading her poetry at senior centers, coffee houses and the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association.

O’Connor’s parents, Erica, 46, a second-grade teacher in the Harborfields School District, and Kevin, 49, an insurance company senior product development manager, said they nurtured Ella’s artistic development early on. “With all my kids I played ‘Mozart for Mothers-to-Be,’ ” Erica said of the series of recordings for parents and babies they also played for their son, now 13, and other daughter, who is now 9.

Ella O’Connor, an honor student whose extracurriculars include Moot Court and Model U.N., writes poetry on weekends in a journal she’s kept since ninth grade. Her favorite writing spot: a park overlooking Stony Brook Harbor.

Paula Curci

Nassau County poet laureate

“What poet doesn’t like a microphone?” Paula Curci said as she collected six citations at the Artists in Partnership Women in the Arts Awards and Recognition party on March 31 at Long Beach’s Allegria Hotel.

Instead of a thank-you speech, Curci read “Gotta Give Thanks,” which she composed the night before, declaiming to the audience of 250: “In this room there are no ‘nos,’ / there are no ‘can’ts,’ / there are no ‘shoulds,’ / cause girls, we got the goods.”

Curci, a self-described spoken-word poet, grew up in Brooklyn and credits her lawyer parents with teaching her oration skills, and journal writing for nurturing her poetic muse. During a 32-year career as a school counselor — she retired in 2018 from Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park — she considered poetry her “professional hobby.” Curci has published three chapbooks, small books of poetry, but her preferred medium is the microphone. She reaches her widest audience via “Calliope’s Corner — The Place Where Poets and Songwriters Meet,” which she hosts at 3 p.m. on Thursdays on Hofstra University’s 88.7 FM.