'A poem is a little painting'

The Nutmeg Anthology offers eclectic vignettes of the state

By Tracey Weiss         

Editor

Neighborhoods.

Bears.

Pratt & Whitney.

Prudence Crandall.

These are just a few of the subjects touched on in “The Nutmeg Anthology: Contemporary Poems of Connecticut,” out in time to celebrate National Poetry Month.

The collection, published by Grayson Books, contains 70 poems by students, teachers, state poet laureates and others who love to write poetry. Publisher Ginny Connor had been thinking about putting the anthology for quite some time. “I love Connecticut,” she said. “I wanted contemporary poems, but some are historical, some are memories,” and all are a sampling of what the state offers.

The Nutmeg Anthology is a poetic tribute to the State of Connecticut, good and bad. It’s available through Graystone Books.

Not all of them offer beautiful praise of the Nutmeg State. “Vivian Shipley has two historical poems in the book,” Connor said. “One is about the first person executed for witchcraft that took place in Windsor. It wasn’t until a lot until later that her name was revealed. Another is about the radium poisoning of the workers at the watch factory in Waterbury.”

Connors received a lot of submissions for the anthology. “I turned away more than I accepted,” she said. “I look for someone who can write poetry that makes sense, has a good use of imagery and sound; nothing that is trite but can surprise and offer a close observation.”

Poetry, she said should make the reader slow down “and look at something, that we can’t articulate or witness that isn’t necessarily straight forward. A poem is a little painting.”

Poetry has not waned in popularity, according to Connor. She started Graystone Books in 1999 with one anthology. “We have really grown. We give personal attention to what we publish.  “We’ve published international and national poets and introduced poets others have never heard of.”

Connor, herself a poet and retired English teacher, has a poem published in the anthology, and has previously released seven books of poetry through other publishers. She’s also edited several poetry anthologies. She was named Poet of the Year by the New England Association of Teachers of English and previously served as the Poet Laureate of the Town of West Hartford. Her chapbook (a small volume of poetry), “Under the Porch” (Hill-Stead Museum, 2010) won the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize that year.

She is co-editor of the national poetry journal “Connecticut River Review,” an annual poetry journal published by the Connecticut Poetry Society.

The Society has more than 300 members, and does events, open mics, contests and more.

“There are so many people writing, sharing and workshopping together,” Connor said. “This is a community of people who see the value of poetry.”

Graystone Books publisher Ginny Connor had been thinking about putting an anthology to celebrate Connecticut for a few years. “The Nutmeg Anthology” came out this month.

She encourages others to read some poetry. “First, you might be drawn into the music of poetry, even if you don’t understand all of it. This is the mind of one person reaching out to another person in a personal way. Sound and image and language poetry reflects society in precise ways that can last a long time.” WHL

A book launch for “The Nutmeg Anthology: Contemporary Poems of Connecticut” will be held at the Prosser Library, 1 Tunxis Avenue, Bloomfield, on April 16 at 7 pm. Several poets represented in the anthology will share their poems.

Another event, open to the public, will take place at the Barney Library, 71 Main Street, Farmington, on April 25 at 1 pm. A different group of contributors will share poems there.

Books can be purchased through graysonbooks.com or Amazon.

Sketch of Albany Ave. in the Afternoon,

Late January

(Reprinted with permission from The Nutmeg Anthology: Contemporary Poems of Connecticut)

Bodega prayer candles

altar the sidewalk.

Neighborhood boys

a street corner congregation.

Rush hour traffic

a slow-moving inner-city parade

of people in vehicles

trying to get to suburban homes

after working all day long

in insurance buildings downtown.

The city buses

are floats.

Right now, at this very moment,

The sky is flamingo pink

and a cloud high above Citgo

kind of looks like Jesus.

—Melissa Dione McEwen

Reprinted with permission from The Nutmeg Anthology: Contemporary Poems of Connecticut