RSS Feed
 |
|
|||||
|
Amity Artists Circle holds First Poetry Contest
Two of the three winners showed up at the Circle Gallery at 186 Broadway, Amityville, on March 15 for the fourth open house and the opportunity to read their poems to friends, family and AAC members. Stella Salerno received first prize for A Walk Into Dementia, dedicated to her son-in-law's mother. Although the 85-year-old needed to sit for the reading, Salerno's voice was strong as she intoned powerful lines like "Pretty woman, what do you feel as the mind tumbles into lapses?/ Do any memories of the yesterdays linger into the Void?" Salerno, who did virtually no creative writing since high school, was a professor at Fordham University where she taught Social Work in the graduate school and later developed the undergraduate program in Social Work at City University. It wasn't until she retired to the Dominican Village in North Amityville 13 years ago that she started to compose poetry. "I can't rhyme in my old age," she admits, but she loves free verse and describes her efforts as "recreational." When asked how she learned about the contest, she says that someone had anonymously left an application at the main desk of her residence. Winning made her day, she offers proudly, adding that the visit to the gallery was her first. With a touch of reverence in her voice, she calls the room and its art "the little treasure of Amityville." The second-place winner was Roberta McQueen with Little Red Moccasins. AAC member Vera Mingovits read the work in her place. And Christine Brooks read her third-place poem "Firemen's Widows." The contest also served as a fundraiser for the Shirley Ilsley Malone Incentive Award presented each year to an Amityville High School senior with artistic talent. All three poems are presently on display at the Circle Gallery. For more information on the Amityville Artists Circle and its art and cultural programs, contact Irene Greenhalgh at 631-598-2182 or visit amityvilleartistscircle. org.
Shown in the photo is the winner of the Amityville Artists Circle's first poetry contest, octogenarian Stella Salerno reads her first-place entry at the Circle Gallery.
|
for larger version       |
||||
)
