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CONTACT US, our new CPS email account is:
ctpoetryline@gmail.com Officers, Chapters and information, History of the Connecticut Poetry Society. |
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CPS Officers
President
Chapter Liaison Pat Mottola Award-winning poet and Pushcart Prize nominee Pat Mottola teaches Creative Writing at Southern Connecticut State University, where she earned both an M.S. in Art Education and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. In addition to working with students at S.C.S.U., she is thrilled to teach both art and poetry to senior citizens throughout Connecticut. Her work is published in journals across the country, including War, Literature & the Arts, Connecticut Review, Main Street Rag, San Pedro River Review, VietNow Magazine, and Paterson Literary Review, among others. She has served as Keynote Speaker for the IMPAC-Young Writers Awards as well as judged Connecticut High School Poetry Out Loud competitions. On a global scale, she has mentored Afghan women writers living in Afghanistan through the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. Pat served as editor of Connecticut River Review from 2012-2017, and is currently President of the Connecticut Poetry Society. She is the author of two collections of poetry, Under the Red Dress (Five Oaks Press) and After Hours (Five Oaks Press). 
Vice President -
Jeanne LeVasseur is professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University. She is the author of a book of poetry entitled Planetary Nights. Her poetry has been published in Nimrod, The Iowa Review, Yankee, The American Journal of Nursing, Literature and Medicine, and JAMA, among other journals. Her poems have appeared in six anthologies, including Between the Heartbeats: Poetry and Prose by Nurses and Intensive Care: Poetry by Nurses. And her poems can sometimes be found pinned to walls where nurses practice. Jeanne holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College and a PhD in nursing from the University of Connecticut. She founded the graduate nursing program at Quinnipiac University and educated nurse practitioners for 22 years with a practice in Women’s Health. 
Secretary/Youth Coordinator
Amy Graver holds a Journalism degree from Northeastern University and began her career as a writer and photojournalist for the Boston Globe. She moved back to Connecticut to take a position as a graphic designer and photo editor at a design agency and from there, went to work in Greenwich as a senior designer for several years before starting her own agency in 1999. Her marketing and graphic design agency, Elements, was nationally recognized and won many awards. Currently, she works as the marketing and events manager for Women & Family Life Center in Guilford. Amy actively participates as a member of the Connecticut Poetry Society and always looks forward to her New Haven Chapter's monthly workshops. She is also a member of the Blackstone Memorial Library's "How to Eat a Poem" weekly group, the Branford Garden Club, and serves on the boards of the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce and the Branford Town Green Committee. She is the author of the book, "Grids and Page Layouts,” which has been translated into seven languages and is being used as a textbook in university graphic design programs around the world. When not working, designing, gardening or writing, Amy enjoys baking – her specialty is macarons – and she started her own cottage industry baking business called "Oui Patisserie". Amy loves traveling and volunteering with her two children who are a constant source of inspiration and joy. 
Treasurer/ Membership/
Webmaster Patricia Fusco is well known as the wife of Past President Tony Fusco. Patti is an educator who taught various grades for over 40 years. She served as President of her local union, and was Jurisdictional Vice President for PreK-12 for AFT Connecticut. She served on the Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology and got the Connecticut Education Network up and running. Patti has a Bachelor’s Degree, and 60+ credits in graduate studies at Southern Connecticut State University. She volunteers at the West Haven Community House as well as the Willows Healthcare Center. Her favorite role is as a grandmother to four of the most incredible people. Just ask her. email: pwfusco@gmail.com 
Assistant Webmaster
Tony Fusco Tony is a former President, Secretary, Membership Chair, and publicity person of CPS. He has maintained the CPS website for several years. He is past editor of the Connecticut River Review, Long River Run and Caduceus journals. Tony produced and directed "West Shore Poets" a public access television program at CTV. He is the Poet Laurate of the City of West Haven. He has a MA in Creative Writing from Southern Connecticut State University and has published six books, Jessie's Garden, Droplines, and Java Scripture, Extinction, Don't Make Me Laugh and in the process of being printed is Lost in the Brain Fog, In the Covid Lost Days, as well as three chapbooks, Songs like Tears, From the Fortress and The Ragman. He published, and illustrated the children's book A Penguins Christmas As publisher of Flying Horse Press he has published over a dozen books of Connecticut poets . Tony has read at numerous venues, colleges, workshops, conferences, festivals and coffeehouses. He is the winner of many contests and awards including the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. Tony is retired from the Yale Medical Group and as a teaching consultant for Epic Medical Records. He lives in West Haven, Connecticut. 
Newsletter Editor - Co-Editor Connecticut River Review
Ginny Connors ginnyloweconnors@gmail.com Ginny Lowe Connors is the author of six poetry collections, the most recent of which is the newly released White Sail at Midnight (The Poetry Box, 2024). Among her awards are the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, Atlanta Review’s Grand Prize, and NFSPS Founders Award. In 2018 she was named the winner of Passager’s annual Poetry Contest. She holds an MFA in poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts. As publisher of her own press, Grayson Books, Connors has edited several poetry anthologies. A retired English teacher, Connors is co-editor of Connecticut River Review. 
Co-Editor Connecticut River Review
Debbie Gilbert debbiewgilbert@hotmail.com After many changes, Debbie Gilbert changed her mind again and turned toward poetry. She hasn’t looked back. She says poetry has shown her how to be awake and witness and live. Grayson Books published her chapbook, Ransom, in 2017, and she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She has also received honors from The Farmington River Literary Arts Center and the Artist for Artists Project at the Hartford Art School. Debbie is the secretary of the Riverwood Poetry Series and a member of several local workshops. She continues to study every day. She graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in chemistry and worked at the Department of Pharmacology in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She lives in Farmington with her husband, two old dogs, and lots of wildlife. 
Co-Editor Connecticut River Review
John Suroweicki j.surowiecki@sbcglobal.net John Surowiecki is the author of fourteen poetry books of various sizes and shapes. His latest, The Place of the Solitaires: Poems from Titles by Wallace Stevens, was published this year by Wolfson Press and was generously reviewed by Jim Finnegan in the Wallace Stevens Journal. John’s fifteenth poetry book is a chapbook to be published by Bass Clef Books. It’s called Chez Pétrouchka and it gives a voice —albeit nasty and foul and vulgar—to the puppet in the Stravinsky ballet. John is the recipient of the Poetry Foundation Pegasus Award for his verse-play My Nose and Me (A TragedyLite or TragiDelight in 33 Scenes) which was presented by the Foundation at the Shakespeare Theater in Chicago as part of the Poetry on Stage series. It was also staged at the University of Connecticut and other venues. John was also awarded the Nimrod Pablo Neruda Prize, the Washington Prize, the White Pine Prize, a Connecticut Poetry Fellowship, and a silver medal in the Sunken Garden National Competition. Also: his Pie Man won the 2017 Nilson Prize for a First Novel. John is a former poetry instructor at Manchester Community College. Quite a few CPS members have taken his "Poetry for Poets" course. John’s publications include: Alaska Quarterly Review, AMP, Carolina Quarterly, Folio, Gargoyle, Margie, Mississippi Review, Nimrod International Journal, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Redivider, Rhino, The Florida Review, The Southern Review, Tupelo Quarterly, West Branch, Yemassee and, of course, the Connecticut River Review. 
Contest Chair
Kathleen McIntosh is Professor Emerita of Hispanic Studies at Westfield State University in Westfield, Massachusetts. She grew up in a somewhat nomadic way, living in various parts of the country, came to New England for college and has remained here; her doctorate in Spanish Literature is from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In addition to teaching language and literature she helped to found a Women’s and Gender Studies program in the 1980’s, and also taught and published in that field for many years, frequently in collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines. She began to write poetry when retirement opened a door to this creative space, participating in the POPS, poets on poetry, series and taking advantage of the rich environment that is the poetry community here in Connecticut. kmcintosh12@att.net
POP Director
B. Fulton Jennes is Poet Laureate Emerita of Ridgefield, CT, and poet-in-residence at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Her poems have appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies, including Comstock Review, Connecticut River Review, december, Right Hand Pointing, Rust and Moth, SWWIM, Tar River Poetry, The Night Heron Barks, tiny wren, Tupelo Quarterly, and many others. In 2021, Jennes’ poem “From the Room of an Unknown Girl” was awarded the Leslie McGrath Prize; another poem, “Glyphs of a Gentle Going,” won the 2022 Lascaux Prize. Her collection Blinded Birds (Finishing Line Press) received the 2022 International Book Award for a poetry chapbook. Another chapbook, FLOWN, will be published by Porkbelly Press in 2024. She lives in Ridgefield with her husband, Chuck, and a chihuahua-mix rescue pup, Harley. barbjennes@gmail.com |
HELPFUL LINKS
CPS Chapters and PresidentsCOVID-19 has changed the way our chapters meet. If you want to know more about meeting with a specific chapter, please get in touch with the chapter president.
Bethel Chapter
This chapter meets at the Bethel Library on the second Saturday of each month, from 1-3 pm. Bring copies of a poem to discuss. Michael Garry mgarry1955@gmail.com Farmington Valley Chapter
This chapter meets on the first Monday of each month, from 7-9 pm. The critique workshop meets in-person on the first Monday of the month from 7-9 PM at the clubhouse for the Hunter’s Run Condo complex, One Huntington Glen Road, Avon, CT. Bring 10 copies of your poem for critique. Debbie Gilbert debbiewgilbert@hotmail.com Greater Hartford Chapter
Currently, this chapter is meeting via Zoom. Members are looking forward to the resumption of in-person meetings. Pegi Deitz Shea peggiedeitzshea@aol.com Haiku Chapter
This online chapter welcomes CPS members interested in reading and writing haiku. Members of the group share haiku and senryu regularly. The chair collects the poems in advance and emails them to all chapter members. Tony Fusco tfusco357@gmail.com Manchester Chapter
Manchester’s Wit and Wisdom group meets on the second Saturday of each month from 1-3. They meet at the Manchester Historical Society, 175 Pine Street in Manchester. Matthew Borrelli matthewborrelli296@gmail.com Middletown Chapter
This chapter is resuming. Contact Pat for information on how to participate. Pat Mottola ctpoetryline@gmail.com New Haven Chapter
The New Haven chapter meets on the third Saturday of each month from 10-12. Presently they meet via Zoom. Tony Fusco and Christine Beck tfusco357@gmail.com lissitzyn@comcast.net Orenaug Chapter: Woodbury, Watertown,
Southbury, Roxbury, Bethlehem The Orenaug chapter will meet in person on the third Saturday of each month at 9:30 am. Contact Sandy for the location. The ekphrastic workshops are held at the Woodbury Public Library on the first Saturday of each month at 1 pm. Sandy Carlson orenaugchaptercps@gmail.com Wilton Chapter
The Wilton Workshop meets from 2-4 on the third Saturday of each month at the Wilton Library. Ray Rauth Rayrauth@optonline.net CPS HistoryHistory of the Connecticut Poetry Society
(as of December 2018) The Connecticut Poetry Society was founded on October 4, 1974 at the Hartford Public Library. The meeting was called to order by Cheryl J. King of Hartford and called itself the Connecticut State Poetry Association, with approximately 15 members. Meetings were held monthly at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford and dues were $5 per year. In 1975, CPS became affiliated with the National Federation of Poetry societies. Stephen Torrey of Broad Brook was elected president. In 1976, Ben Brodinsky was elected president, Brooks Lushington was VP and Steve Torrey was Secretary/Treasurer. A list of subsequent presidents is attached. In 1976, the first poetry contest, known as the Joseph E. Brodine Memorial Poetry Awards, was launched with prizes of $50, $30 and $20. The first annual picnic and "yellow pad" contest. 1977 New Haven-Hamden Chapter starts, Chapters at the time grow to include: Danbury, Darien, Fairfield, Manchester, Middletown-Portland-Cromwell, New Canaan, New Milford, Old Saybrook, Plainville, Stratford, Southbury and Waterbury. In 1978, Connecticut River Review published its first volume, under editor Candace Catlin Hall. In 1979, Mahlon Hayden of Mansfield became editor of CRR. Editor Virginia Brady Young took over in 1983. By 1980, the Society had chapters in Hartford, Hamden-New Haven and Danbury. Membership by 1981 was about 80. By 1984, chapters in Stratford, Waterbury, and Old Saybrook were added. Special issue "Connecticut Poets at Work" showcases works in progress. In 1985, CPS was incorporated as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization and a revised constitution was adopted. In 1986, the constitution (now called bylaws) was further revised to change the fiscal year from July 1-June 30. The membership year switched to May 1-April 30 (previously members had renewed in the month they joined). Also in 1986 publication of Connecticut the Beautiful, poems on Connecticut by CPS members. The 1988 annual meeting was held May 21 at Darien High School. The following year, it was May 21 at Harbor Park in Middletown. CPS-sponsored contests included the Brodine-Brodinsky contest (1989), the Wallace Winchell contest, the Al Savard Contest and the Connecticut River Review Contest. In 19__ the Decaro family endowed a contest for Connecticut high school students in memory of their daughter, Lynn. 1990 Middletown Chapter publishes Collective Voices the first journal of poems primarily by chapter members only. It continued for several years. 1994 Total membership reaches 175 from the beginning number of 18 members. Peter Ulisse and Ann Yarmal publish first Long River Run a membership only collection of poems with printing assistance from AETNA to commemorate the Society's 20th year. 1993-1994 Norman Kraeft President, followed by founding member Peter Ulisse and then Ann Yarmal. Other Presidents (in order as best we can determind) Cheryl King, Steve Torrey, Ben Brodinsky, Ann Yarmal, Bryanne Nanfito, Joseph A. Ruef, Ida Fleming, Meg wood, Gerard Coulombe, Nina Kraus, Joan Ketrys, Sheila McGuinness and Peter Holden. In 2006, CPS President Joan Ketrys resigned after many years as President and a new slate of officers was elected, including Christine Beck, President; Tony Fusco, VP, Connecticut River Review Editor, and Webmaster; Julia Paul, Membership; Ginny Connors, Contest Chair; Lorna Cyr, Publicity. Guss Stepp remained as Treasurer until his death in August of 2007, at which point Emerson Gilmore became Treasurer and then President. CPS developed several important initiatives beginning in 2006. It established a website, ct-poetry-society.org, first under Ginny Connors and later was redesigned by Tony Fusco. It also set up an email address – connpoetry@comcast.net. The membership list was converted by Julia Paul to an email database so that members could be sent notices by email. The Society also increased its visibility and participation in the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Christine Beck became Contest Chair for NFSPS for the contest years 2009 and 2010 and attended the annual meetings, where she announced the awards. CPS re-established its annual holiday reading in December, held at Butterworth Hall on the University of Hartford campus. In 2010, it held two holiday readings – one at Butterworth Hall and the other at the home of long-time member Vivian Shipley, in East Haven. It also reestablished its summer picnic reading at Vivian Shipley’s home. The society sponsored several popular workshops, including one on getting published, by Tony Fusco and Ravi Shankar, and one on writing from prompts, by Maria Sassi. CPS added a Hartford-area chapter, under Chapter President Ginny Connors, which has met since 2006, first at Butterworth Hall on the University of Hartford campus, on the Second Sunday of the month. The Guilford Poetry Guild became an Institutional Member, as did the Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens. In 2011, Christine Beck reinstituted a New Haven Chapter of CPS. After several years of multiple poetry contests that were running at very little to no profit, it was decided to combine the Brodine-Brodinsky and the Wallace Winchell contest as the Connecticut Poetry Award to honor Brodine, Brodinsky and Winchell. The prize was increased to $500, and with publicity in Poets & Writers Magazine and elsewhere, the new contest became profitable. In 2010, the entry dates for several contests were adjusted to space them throughout the calendar year. In 2009, following four years as Editor of CRR by Tony Fusco and two years as Editor of Long River Run, the CPS-members only journal, by Lisa Siedlarz, Lisa Siedlarz became Editor of CRR and Emerson Gilmore became Editor of LRR. Their terms as Editors expired in April 2011. Pat Mottola became Editor of CRR. Christine Beck became Editor of LRR. At the annual meeting in April of 2011, President Tony Fusco stepped down and Emerson Gilmore became President. 20012 The Annual Poetry Blast event was begun with a program and book fair. 2016, the Board consisted of: President, Tony Fusco; Secretary Christine Beck; Treasurer, Michael Lepore; Newsletter Chair, Ginny Connors; Editor of CRR, Pat Mottola, Contest Chair Joan Hofmann, at large Victor Altshul and Evelyn Artrea. 2018 - Poets on Poetry (POP) presentation series expands to additional venues. the Board consisted of:Co- President,Tony Fusco;Co- President Pat Mottola, Vice President Victor Altshul, Secretary Christine Beck; Treasurer, Mark Sheridan; Editor of CRR, Newsletter Chair, Ginny Connors;, Contest Chair Joan Hofmann. Michael Lepore stepped down as Treasurer. Member at large- Julia Paul 2019-2020 Long time board member, past President, Secretary, and POP founder and Director Christine Beck resigned. Patti Fusco took over Membership , David Cundy publicity, Debbie Gilbert Co-Editor of the Connecticut River Review. New Chapters were founded by Christine Kalafus, Pomfret, and a Haiku chapter on line by Marita Gargiulo 2020 Pat Mottola became President ,Co President Tony Fusco took on web master duty only. Jeanne LeVasseur became the new POP Director., Kathleen McIntosh took over the duties of Contest Chair from Joan Hofmann. Because of the pandemic CPS has moved the POP programs to Zoom and conducted other business on the group meeting site. Some CPS chapters continued to meet via Zoom. The summer picnic was canceled. The Connecticut River Review was published as usual, Newsletters and contests also had no Interruption. A new Chapter The Shoreline was started by Roger Singer. and a Ridgefield Chapter Barb Jennes. The first Halloween Howl was held for the membership also on Zoom. Friends and fellow poetry lovers
The Guilford Poets Guild www.guilfordpoetsguild.wordpress.com The Connecticut Poetry Calendar https://sites.google.com/site/ctpoetrycalendar/ Riverwood Poetry Series https://www.facebook.com/riverwoodpoetry National Federation of State Poetry Societies http://www.nfsps.com/ 
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