Poetry on the Loose to feature Bertha Rogers

Middletown — On Saturday, Sept. 2, Poetry on the Loose will feature Bertha Rogers reading her work. The event will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 6 Orchard St. (at Main) in Middletown at 8 p.m. There will also be an open reading at which audience members are welcome to perform original work on any theme. Admission is by donation. Rogers’ poetry has been collected in “Even the Hemlock: Poems, Illuminations, Reliquaries,” “The Fourth Beast,” “A House of Corners,” (Maryland Poetry Review Chapbook Contest Winner, 2000), and “Sleeper, You Wake.” Her translation of “Beowulf” was published in 2000 and she is currently working on a new translation of the riddle-poems from the Old English Exeter Book. More than 250 of Bertha Rogers’ poems have appeared in journals and anthologies. Her poem “Rhomboid” won PhiloPhonema’s Lyric Recovery Award in 2001, selected by Alfred Corn, and her poem “Truck Stand” was selected by John Ashbery for display in the Albany International Airport to celebrate the Millay Colony’s 3Oth anniversary. This year her visual art was featured in the exhibit “Crossing Boundaries: Visual Art by Writers” at the Paterson (New Jersey) Museum; and in November and December her “Even the Hemlock” exhibit of poems and visual art will be featured at the Olean Public Library. Apart from her own writing, Rogers is a major figure in publishing and presenting new poetry. She is the founder of Bright Hill Press and the director of the New York State Literary Web Site (www.nyslittree.org), publisher of the first Literary Map of New York State in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts). She produces the prestigious Word Thursdays readings in Treadwell, New York. Her web site is www.bertharogers.com. The next Poetry on the Loose reading will be October 7. For further information contact Poetry on the Loose at 294-8085 or e-mail seaton@frontiernet.net.