St. Lawrence Area Poets

 

 

 

Some poets at the November 2007 SLAP reading at the Partridge Cafe in Canton NY. From left to right:

 

JeanMarie Martello, Nancy Henry (Guest Poet from Maine), Nancy Berbrich, John Berbrich, Beth Konkoski (Guest Poet from Virginia), Neal Zirn 

Judy Brassard

Judy Brassard lives in the hamlet of Hannawa Falls, NY. A native of the area she has never traveled far from home but is content to live a quiet lifestyle with all of her family nearby. She and hubby Mike take pleasure in spending time with their children and grandchildren of all ages.

Judy works as a full time secretary and when she is not researching family history she is writing short stories and poetry. Her work has been published in The Storyteller Magazine and an anthology titled A Christmas Eve Visitor, Edited by The Purple Pen.

JeanMarie Martello

      

 

  

JeanMarie Martello has been writing since her early teens.  She has always been interested in poetry and has shared in readings, workshops and classes with young people in local schools and contemporaries in her community.  She has been published in several local chapbooks and journals, and is a founding member of SLAP, Saint Lawrence Area Poets.  She liked the idea of a SLAP, less mean and crazy than a SLAM, without judging or scores.  Because while poetry demands to be heard, it does not require an Olympic scoring system. Her interests outside of her writing life are her family, gardening, laughing, and a general enjoyment of wine

 

 

STREAM

 Smelling the melon,

swollen with ripeness,

pregnant with flavor--these 

metaphors are a bore.

 

The melon smells like

I have to eat it

before it goes bad.

I am the rotten-fruit-eater

in my house;

according to Sedaris,

a Greek thing.  Just 

cut the bad part out

and savor the overripe, juicy,

sweet edible fruit.

 

Sort of a metaphor

for life. 

John Berbrich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 John Berbrich was born and raised on Long Island, New York. He has worked in factories, a car wash, food service, and as a construction grunt—has played in several experimental rock bands, and is currently employed as an obscure paperwork drudge in a dreary government office building. He and his wife Nancy are co-rulers of BoneWorld Publishing, under the aegis of which are published the literary quarterly Barbaric Yawp and the many chapbooks of MuscleHead Press. He also writes a monthly music and literary review column for Fourth Coast Entertainment Magazine. John and Nancy and a varying number of their six kids live among the northwestern foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Russell, New York.

Heaven #1

Heaven is filled with
little crooked streets
and neighbors who always return
what they borrow

The rivers dive deep
between the cloudbanks
filled with fish, sparkling under
the noon-day sun

Nights are cool
more stars than you can count
blacker than Satan’s heart
sweeter than an apple

There’s a little five and dime
with bargains twenty-four seven
on a quiet street corner
beneath a glowing lamp

Maybe we’ll meet there, you
and I, when it’s all finished and done
on that little corner
of eternity

-John Berbrich

Neal Zirn

  


 Neal Zirn was born and raised in the Bronx, and this has had a profound influence on his writing. He is a practicing chiropractor, with a Master of Arts degree in liberal studies. He is an exhibiting painter and printmaker, a tai chi enthusiast, and a lifelong student of the spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff. His writings have been published in numerous publications throughout the United States, and he has recently been accepted for publication in two reviews in Canada.

 


 

 

My Blue Sweetie

She was blue,
blue hair, blue skin,
blue eyes, blue heart,
blue, blue , blue.
Cerulean, ultramarine,
sky blue, cobalt blue,
blue as a woman could be.
Blue in b-flat, yes,
that’s how she was
and that’s the way
I knew her.

 

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

 
 
She would put on
her blue lipstick,
blue nail polish,
and her blue dress
and we would go
downtown like that
to see a sad movie
and have a coffee
in a sad café.
I was miserable
anytime I was with her
and wore this misery
as my own blue overcoat.
And oh, to feel so bad
it was almost good,
that’s how I knew
I was truly alive
and suffering
as I should be.
Lord have mercy
on my soul.

 

 

And then one day
she was gone
as if one season
had ended and another
was about to begin.
She said I was
too unhappy for her
and that she needed
to be with someone
who made her laugh.

Well, maybe the next
one will be green
or yellow.
Although red
would be nice,
rosy and all that,
you know.

 

Valerie Harrington

Born in Malone, NY and graduated from Brushton Moira Central School, I received my Associates in Nursing and Associates in Math Science graduating in 1986. I worked in Saranac Lake General Hospital, then to St. Regis Nursing Home in Massena, NY. From there to St. Lawrence Co. NYSARC ICF in Potsdam then to St. Lawrence County CDP, Inc., where I have been a supervising nurse for Personal Care for the last 17 years. I graduated from SUNY Canton this past Spring with a Health Services Management Bachelor degree to complement my nursing degree.

I enjoy writing and find inspiration comes with personal challenges and changes in my life. Genealogy is another one of my many hobbies. I enjoy photography, porcelain doll collecting (have over 400), green depression glassware collecting, music and movies.

Family is very important to me. I have 4 children; 2 mine and 2 his. 7 grandkids from 6-21 years of age and about 2 years or so apart each. The eldest grandson served a term in the Army, in Iraq and the second grandson has just left for the Air Force after high school graduation. Our two girls live in VA, and our boys live in the area.

If I were asked to give any advice I would have to say continue your education, you are never too old to learn.

Grace Beeler

 

Hi there, Thanks so much for visiting me. I hope you enjoy the poetry here. I will be reading with the St. Lawrence Area Poets (SLAP) at the Fields Coffee House in Potsdam NY on July 25th at 7:30 PM. Please come read at the open mic afterwards. We will have a reading in August as well - more details soon. Also, I just got back from ten wonderful days reading poetry in Prague with "A Chaos of Angels". You can see photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/Gracebeeler/Prague02

I have a book called A Lineage of Light. If you would like to buy it ($8 with shipping), please send me an email.

Feel free to check out my blog at http://gracebeeler.blogspot.com

  mailto:gracebeeler@hotmail.com
 

Nancy Berbrich

 

  

Most days I have a great time trying to inspire college students to love literature, writing, and communication. My husband and I edit, print, and publish Barbaric Yawp. We have six mostly grown kids. What a life!

 

 

  

   Big Sister’s  Confession

     who put the

     four small holes

     in my sister’s hand

     matching the fork

     in mine

 

     who put the

     spit on

     my sister’s cake

    so she’d give it to me