Poetry Wednesday: Move Over Charles Simic, Here Comes Jolee

Last night I passed up the opportunity to hear the new U.S. Poet Laureate, Charles Simic, reading, and instead attended a reading for some up-and-coming literary stars. Jolee, eldest spawn of BillyBlog, just participated in her first public reading.

For close to a year, Jolee has been an active member in "Ridge Girls," a program in our neighborhood to foster creative writing skills in young ladies in our neighborhood. The free program, sponsored by the New York Council for the Arts, I believe, has been a great creative outlet for Jolee, and she had three pieces published in the anthology which was unveiled last night.



Here's a YouTube clip of Jolee reading two of her poems, followed by scans of the text from the anthology. Sorry for the poor quality of the audio. Whether you're an adult reading at a coffee bar competing with the bean grinder, or a tween premiering published work with a bunch of young kids in the room, it's hard to avoid the noise of the disinterested.





I am a proud poet/parent indeed.

On a side note, this is BillyBlog's 1000th post! Hurrah!