Charles Johnson & Laine Sutton
15th Anniversary Celebration
WELCOME
Thanks for visiting, and thanks for your interest in the Carriage House Series. Walt Whitman wrote, “To have great poets, there must be great audiences.” Whether we meet electronically or in person, we're happy to share our commitment to poetry and to poets with you, our "great audience."
The Carriage House Poetry Series was established by Adele Kenny in December of 1998. The initiative began as a project funded in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, through a grant administered by the Union County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs. With the support of additional grants and the Fanwood Borough Mayor and Council, the series features some of the finest contemporary poets each year. All readings are held in the Kuran Arts Center (a nineteenth century carriage house, formerly known as the Fanwood Carriage House and for which the series was named). The Arts Center is located on Watson Road (off Martine Avenue, GPS use 75 N. Martine Avenue) in Fanwood, New Jersey. Readings are held at 8PM on the third Tuesday of each month from February - June and from September - December. All readings are free and open to the public.
The Carriage House Series is pleased to feature a wide range of both nationally-known and local poets. Readers include Gerald Stern, Mark Doty, Stephen Dunn, Alicia Ostriker, Patricia Smith, Taylor Mali, and Maria Gillan. Most readings include an open mic after the feature, and audience members are invited to share their poems.
Please scroll to the end of this page for directions; and please take a moment to view our slideshows below (just click on the arrows in the center).
"One demands two things of a poem. Firstly, it must be a well-made verbal object that does honor to the language in which it is written. Secondly, it must say something significant about a reality common to us all, but perceived from a unique perspective. What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves." (W. H. Auden)
Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.
Muse-Pie Press, Publisher
ISBN: 978-0-918453-22-8
Perfect Bound
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Poems by selected poets who have featured in the series: Renée Ashley, Amanda Berry, Laura Boss, Robert Carnevale, Catherine Doty, Stephen Dunn, D. M. Dutcher, Martin Jude Farawell, Adam Fitzgerald, Sondra Gash, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Therése Halscheid, Lois Marie Harrod, Penny Harter, William J. Higginson, David Keller, Adele Kenny, Gina Larkin, Deborah LaVeglia, Diane Lockward, John McDermott, Peter Murphy, Priscilla Orr, Alicia Ostriker, Rev. Alex D. Pinto, Tom Plante, R. G. Rader, Linda Radice, Christine Redman-Waldeyer, Susanna Rich, Edwin Romond, Gwen Samuels, Nancy Scott, Gerald Stern, Carole Stone, Madeline Tiger, BJ Ward, Joe Weil, Jack Wiler, Gretna Wilkinson, & Sander Zulauf.
Shown above is the Carriage House Poetry Series mascot, PC (Pooka's Champion), 1st place winner in the Chelsea Dog Show, September 19, 2009. His owner/trainer is Jan Siegal.
And ... here's the video!
Fanwood Arts Council
A Celebration of the Gothic Tradition in Literature
The Carriage House Poetry Series celebrated its 10th anniversary and National Poetry Month on Friday, April 25th with an event at the Kuran Arts Center that honored the Gothic tradition in literature. Eight poets, dressed in Gothic-themed costumes read from the works of such poets as Edgar Allan Poe, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Marianne Moore, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Dante Rossetti, Robert Frost, and Gerard Manley Hopkins, as well as their own poems. Featured were Robert Carnevale, Catherine Doty, Adele Kenny (emcee), Diane Lockward, Alex Pinto, Tom Plante, Linda Radice, and Susanna Rich.
Before the program began, Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr greeted the audience and presented a Proclamation that recognized the Carriage House Series. New Jersey State Assemblywoman Linda Stender then presented a Joint Legislative Resolution (the Senate and General Assembly of New Jersey) by Senator Scutari, Assemblyman Green, and Assemblywoman Stender that "honors and congratulates the Carriage House Poetry Series in recognition of its tenth anniversary."
The featured poets made their entrance (via the Arts Center staircase) to Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor." Each read from a podium draped with a 19th century piano shawl and topped with an appropriately tarnished Victorian silver candelabrum. Refreshments and an open reading followed.
See video at top of blog.