Poetry at Puente Library

“A good poem delights us in many ways and for many reasons. It may arrest us by startling: it may win our affection by comforting: it may hold us by telling a true story or persuading us about something too good—or too wild—to be true. But it is the way of telling that makes one poet differ from another, and makes poetry differ from verse. It is the combination of the strange and the familiar that is the chief power of poetry: the power of surprise.”— Louis Untermeyer

April is National Poetry Month, and here at Puente Library, we started the celebration early. This year in early March we hosted a poetry-writing workshop led by Capitol’s own published poet Robert Herschbach, and organized in part by Senior Library Aide Rachel Derocher. At the workshop, students had the opportunity to read works by published poets, learn about different types of poetry and try their hand at writing poems themselves. Rob, stated of the workshop turnout: “The participants seemed engaged, and their comments were so insightful and spot-on…[t]hey pointed out interesting aspects of the poems that I hadn't noticed before - and these are poems I know pretty well and have read often.”

Capitol student and poetry fan, Karen Tavarez commented that “it was interesting to do the workshop with Rob, as it made students want to engage with the poems he shared and interact as we got to write our own poems at the end which made it really fun.”

The poetry workshop also kicked off the Puente Library’s annual Sandy Pisano Poetry Contest. Each year students submit their original poems, which are then judged by various faculty and staff. This year’s poetry contest judges was Robert Herschbach (Director of Communications), Dianne O’Neill (Vice President for Planning) and Nicole Magnani (Assistant Director of Finance). The judges read through the submitted poems, and the Puente Library is proud to announce and congratulate the winners of the 2015 Annual Sandy Pisano Poetry Contest:. First Prize went to Tim Johnson, Second Prize went to Anthony Lacilla, and Third Prize went to Karen Tavarez. We look forward to reading even more poetry entries next year!

The library has a growing collection of poetry books that are available for check-out, including current and classically acclaimed poets with a wide variety for differing tastes. Stop by and check out the poetry collection downstairs, if you aren’t sure where to look, just ask a library aide at the circulation desk for assistance. If you have any poets you particularly would like to see added to the library’s collection, please let us know via the suggestion box at the circulation desk or email us at library@captechu.edu. We love to hear about what you would like to see added to the library’s offerings.

In closing, the Puente Library would like to thank Rob for all of his hard work and helping us pull off a successful poetry workshop, we couldn’t have done it without you!

--by Susanna Carey, Librarian (Scarey@captechu.edu)