New Jersey poetry is as varied as the cities and towns that make up our state. While New York City may dominate the arts and literary world, New Jersey residents work extra hard simply to be heard. Join us Sunday, April 3 and Sunday April 10 at 4pm as we celebrate New Jersey voices, in this installment with a focus on under-represented NJ voices.

The Museum’s Poet-in-Residence Danny Shot curated and hosts the series. In addition to reading their own work, each poet will also be reading the work of a celebrated New Jersey poet. The Sunday April 3rd event features the poetry of RescuePoetix, Eliot Katz and Marina Carreira. Host Danny Shot will also be reading the work of Teresa Carson. For more info on Danny, click here. 

Susan Justiniano/Rescue Poetix will also be reading the work of Rosa Alcalá. She is the first Puerto Rican woman Poet Laureate of Jersey City, NJ, and she found her performance voice in Jersey City. In 2006 RescuePoetix™ emerged as a professional artist business designed to meet artists’ entrepreneurial, creative, and collaborative needs. In addition to being a published and performing poet, RescuePoetix™ has recorded over fifty original poems to music, in English and Spanish, and is deeply immersed in the Arts across communities through collaborations, grant writing, event production and actively working in a variety of capacities of several arts organizations in Jersey City, Oradell, Paterson, NJ and private entities. In 2021, RescuePoetix placed 4th in the NAMI NJ Dara Axelrod Expressive Arts Poetry Contest with “Food is Family” and had three poems published in the 2021 Boundless Anthology (Flower Song Press). She serves as the representative for Puerto Rico of the 2021 Grand Marshall Class for the Jersey City West Indian American Caribbean American Carnival Association and is listed in the Latino Book Review Database of Latino Poet Laureates in the US. She is the Poet in Residence for Walk_Bye Public Art, founded by Catalina Aranguren, Jersey City NJ. Susan also serves on the Hudson County Community College Poetry Collective (Jersey City), as an adviser, collaborator, and event producer. She is also the Regional Leader for Free Mom Hugs NJ – Hudson County. She performs extensively throughout New Jersey and globally. More info: https://www.rescuepoetix.com/

Eliot Katz will also be reading the work of Allen Ginsberg. Called “another classic New Jersey bard” by Ginsberg, Katz is the author of seven books of poetry, including Love, War, Fire, Wind and Unlocking the Exits, as well as a prose book, The Poetry and Politics of Allen Ginsberg. His most recent poetry book was a free pdf volume posted on his website before the 2020 presidential election, entitled: President Predator: Poems to Help Make America Trump-Free Again. He was a co-founder, with Danny Shot, of the long-running Long Shot literary magazine, and was a co-editor with Allen Ginsberg and Andy Clausen of Poems for the Nation. Katz, whose late mother was a Holocaust survivor, has worked for many years as an activist for a wide range of peace and social-justice causes, including helping to create several housing and food programs for homeless families in Central Jersey that remain ongoing. He currently lives in Hoboken and his website is at www.eliotkatzpoetry.com.

Tamara Zbrizher is a Ukrainian American poet. She received her MFA at Drew University and is currently pursuing her Doctoral degree there. Her work has been published in various journals and anthologies and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of The Net. She is the recipient of the 2021 NJ Poets Prize.  Her first full-length collection Tell Me Something Good was released from Get Fresh Books in 2019. She lives in New Jersey with her son and has recently purchased binoculars to more efficiently creep on the birds outside her window.