On a spring evening that felt like summer on the skin, a dozen poets and fans gathered near the Cooper River to hear the words.
Monday's edition of "Poetry in the Park" showcased the work of Collingswood poet Tammy Paolino, who's the features editor of the Courier-Post, and a friend of mine. Patricia Middleton and Concetta Risilla, also of Collingswood, and B.J. Swartz, of Oaklyn, were among the other poets sharing the open mic at the Hopkins House gallery in Haddon Township. The event was sponsored by the Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission.
April is National Poetry Month and offers, among other things, the chance to acknowledge a sad reality: Poetry has an image problem. It's seen as remote, esoteric, even ethereal. Something for aesthetes, not regular folks.
But the poets I heard on Monday are inspired by tangible things -- by immigrant grandparents, new babies, and the tiny defeats and triumphs of ordinary days.
Paolino's new poem "Crumbs" offered a moving glimpse of an elderly aunt's struggle with dementia; another described an unfortunate conversation at a Route 38 gas station, where a "quick scrabble of crabgrass" adroitly set a visual mood. Also Garden State-centric: "Jersey Song," with Paolino's deft descriptions of "the passionate parlance of Pennsauken girls" and other local delights.
Middleton's poems shed healing light on the hidden pain of domestic abuse; she gave voice to unspoken truths about victimizers and victims. Risilla, in English and Italian, read a series of lighthearted short verses about her nostalgia for such things as red gravy on Sundays. And Swartz delivered a witty haiku about going to the movies with well-known Camden poet Rocky Wilson.
I had to leave early. But as I went out into the dark, the poets inside Hopkins House were still reading. And people were still listening.