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For Immediate Release
Suffolk's Fourth Poet Laureate Named
May 14, 2009 -- The Suffolk County Legislature has named Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan, a resident of Southampton, as the fourth poet
laureate for Suffolk
County NY.
Nuzzo-Morgan follows former poet laureates George
Wallace (2003-05), Daniel Moran (2005-07) and David B Axelrod (2007-09) in
the two-year unpaid appointment.
The appointment came on a 17-1 vote at the legislature's regular session on
Tuesday, May 13, 2009.
Nuzzo-Morgan has been a prominent figure in the
regional poetry community since at least 2001, when she founded the North Sea
Poetry Scene (TNSPS). TNSPS is a not-for-profit organization located on
eastern Long Island, but whose programs
extend to NYC which provides innovative literary programs and open forums to
instill well being, encourage creativity and increase awareness of literature
and the arts.
Some of those being poetry readings, annual scholarly lecture series, TNSPS
Arts Forum TV Show, an annual anthology, adult, school and prison poetry
workshops
"As founder of the North Sea Poetry Scene, Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan
has utilized her initiative, organizational skills and dedication to bring
honor, recognition and creative opportunities to Suffolk County poets,"
noted George Wallace, the county's first poet laureate. "She's done this
through countless organizational efforts -- poetry readings, chapbook and
anthology publishing, classroom events at local high schools and colleges,
annual tributes to accomplished writers, archival initiatives, visiting
artist (poets) to the schools and the jail facilities through BOCES programs,
TNSPS's Arts Forum TV show and more. I'd delighted
with her appointment, and look forward to her tenure as the county's fourth
Poet Laureate."
Nuzzo-Morgan pledged to work to make regional poets
feel they have a voice and an opportunity to be involved. "We are not
going to get there without each other," she said. "I plan to
continue the programs and the projects I've already begun, as well as open
the lines of communication to seek out what the community thinks would be a
necessary project. I also plan to encourage other organizations by appearing
at their events to show my support and the importance of their work."
Nuzzo-Morgan is a graduate of Long Island University
(BS-Accounting/Business Administration) and CW Post (MBA, Banking/Finance
& Management. She is currently attending a MFA Creative Writing Program
at Stony Brook-Southampton. Her books include The Bitter, The Sweet (Street
Press, 2004), One Woman's Voice (The North Sea
Poetry Scene Press, 2005), Let Met Tell You Something (Street Press, 2006),
For Michael (The North Sea Poetry Scene Press, 2008). In 2002 a CD collection
of her work, entitled Between Willow
and Cedars, was20released. Her creative work features a voice that is easily
understood by and speaks for many segments of the community. In addition to
reflecting the everyday emotions of love, desire, and a joy for nature and
the future, but also is a testament to how one can survive life's tragedies,
overcome them as well as turn them into works of art.
Since 2001, projects developed and run by Nuzzo-Morgan
have made an impact on the region's literary scene widely. Each year she organizes
the annual Jack Kerouac Softball game; annually in October, she organizes an
event honoring a regional poet for their contributions to the poetry
community. She is behind such activities as a visiting artist program to
schools and to jail facilities through BOCES programs, TNSPS Arts Forum TV
show (which showcases poets and artists), annual L I Sounds Anthologies and
the readings that follow. Her biggest pet project, she admits, is a proposed
Long Island Arts/Archival Center, where regional poets can have their books
archived. "I plan it to be a center where readings, lectures, book
signing and workshops can take place," she says. "I already have in
a climate-controlled storage unit which houses over 1,000 books, video and
audio tapes, papers, posters and more."
For more information Nuzzo-Morgan or the
Arts/Archival center, visit www.lipoetryarchivalcenter.com. or email:
Tammynuzzomorgan@gmail.com
THE SAG HARBOR
EXPRESS
North Sea Poet Laureate
Posted on 08 May 2009
Last week, Carol Ann Duffy was chosen as the first
female poet laureate of the United Kingdom,
and next week, Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan is likely to
become the first female poet laureate of Suffolk County.
The county post, established in 2003, derives from the centuries-old British
position held by such figures as Alfred Tennyson and William Wordsworth.
Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan, of Southampton, is founder and director of the North Sea
Poetry Scene which offers poetry readings and publishes poetry. She is widely
published. And she also holds down a job that some might consider unusual for
an active poet: she is an accountant and certified tax consultant.
“I don’t see it as a conflict. I’m
trying to utilize both sides of my brain,” she said with a laugh last
week.
Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan is also a
student in the Stony Brook Southampton Masters of Fine Arts Program in
Writing and Literature. She teaches poetry through BOCES in schools in Suffolk and at the
county jail. After receiving a degree from the Stony Brook Southampton graduate
program, she intends to expand her teaching of poetry.
The Suffolk County Legislature is likely to vote on
Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan’s two-year appointment at a
meeting Tuesday in Hauppauge. She was chosen by a new panel comprised of
former Suffolk
poet laureates. It was set up after complaints about the former process of
picking a poet laureate, especially from Shelter Islander Dr. Daniel Thomas
Moran, who became county poet laureate in 2005. He was outraged by how his
successor was selected and, disgusted with Suffolk County
legislative politics, didn’t participate on the new panel.
Nevertheless, Brendan Stanton, an aide to Suffolk
Legislator Wayne Horsley of Lindenhurst, who
has overseen the poet laureate selection process, the selection of Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan “went very smoothly.”
Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan is thrilled
with the prospects of becoming the Suffolk
poet laureate. She says, “I want to make my tenure an act of
service.” She would like to stress Suffolk’s rich history of poetry.
This is the county where Walt Whitman was born (in West Hills) and where he
worked for years including founding and being editor of the Long
Islander, a still-published weekly newspaper in Huntington. Jupiter Hammon,
a slave who was born and lived on Lloyd’s Neck in Huntington, is credited with being the
first black American poet.
A major project of Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan
has been collecting writings, audio recordings and videos of poets here with
the dream of someday creating a Long Island Poetry Archive.
“I have over 1,000 books and audio and video in
storage,” she notes. She envisions making this collection its base. The
North Sea Poetry Scene has launched a capital campaign drive and has been
writing grant proposals to set up such “an arts/archival” center
“hopefully” within Southampton.
Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan, originally
from Patchogue, is married to contractor Joseph Morgan, a Southampton
native—indeed, they live in what had been his
grandmother’s house on Woods
Lane. They have two children, Vincent and Elizajo. A third, then 17-year-old son Michael, was
tragically killed 13 years ago, mowed down by a car while walking across a
street in Southampton near their home.
She graduated as an accounting and business
administration major from Southampton
College and received her Masters of
Business Administration in banking/finance and management from Long Island University.
Books that Mrs. Nuzzo-Morgan
has authored include One Woman’s Voice; For Michael; The Bitter,
The Sweet; Let Me Tell You Something; Fleeting; and Would
You Hug A Porcupine? Her poetry has been published in journals including
Blue Sand Magazine, Proteus Anthology, Gertrude Magazine, Dream
International, Writing to Heal, the Agulia
Expression, The Write Way, The Rio Grande Press, Long Island Quarterly,
Performing Poets Association Literary Review and Dream Long Island.
Although the poet laureate tradition began in the United Kingdom, there is a United States poet laureate and many states
have poet laureates including New
York. George Wallace of Huntington
was Suffolk’s
first poet laureate. He commented upon his appointment that “in a
sense, artists—poets in particular, but artists more
generally—might be seen as the Fifth Estate, providing a kind of
psychic, spiritual reportage.”
Who's Here :
Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan, Poet Laureate
By Katy Gurley
When a prisoner in Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan's poetry class at a local jail was beaten by
other prisoners for coming to the class, Nuzzo-Morgan
cried. Empathy, she believes, is the poet's middle name.
Nuzzo-Morgan, who was appointed Poet Laureate of Suffolk County last month by the Suffolk County Legislature and a
panel of former Suffolk
County poet laureates,
feels that suffering other people's pain helps create the vibrant,
emotionally-driven poetry she has created for 30 years.
"My purpose as a poet
is to 'let you rest in the cave of my mouth,'" she said, quoting from
one of her poems. "It means that whatever you're feeling,
let me say it for you. That's what poetry does. You can have empathy and
write about it without bleeding all over the page," she said.
That means there is
discipline in writing poetry, she said.
"In writing a poem,
there's a lot of empathy and therapy there, but once it's on the page, it
needs some polishing, and that's when I go to work on a poem. That's the
difference between writing in a journal and creating a poem. I can write for
therapeutic reasons, but the poet says now we have to edit it - we have to
make it general enough for people to understand."
Nuzzo-Morgan, of Southampton,
is probably best known locally as the founder and director of the North Sea
Poetry Scene, which offers poetry readings and publishes poetry. Nuzzo-Morgan has also written several books of poetry,
including For Michael, her newest book about the tragic death of her
17-year-old son Michael who was hit by a speeding car in 1995.
Nuzzo-Morgan, originally from Patchogue, is married to
contractor Joseph Morgan, a Southampton
native. They have two children, Vincent and Eliza.
Other books include: The
Bitter The Sweet; Let Me Tell You Something; Fleeting; and, a children's book
due out in the fall, Would You Hug A Porcupine? Her poetry has been published
in many journals including Blue Sand Magazine, Proteus Anthology, Gertrude
Magazine, Dream International, Writing to Heal, The Agulia Expression, The Write Way, The Rio Grande Press,
Long Island Quarterly, Performing Poets Association Literary Review and Dream
Long Island.
The children's book is a
first for Nuzzo-Morgan, who co-authored it with
David Bunn Martine, the curator of the Shinnecock Museum.
"If you take it on the
surface, it's just a nice book about the children playing or being with different
animals. But it's really a book about breaking down the walls of bias and
fear, and the animals are used as a metaphor," she said. "It's also
a nature book about how we have to have respect for all the creatures."
Writing the book about her
son, Michael, was, "very therapeutic, very healing," she said,
though it took her years to be able to write about his death. "It took
five years to even speak about holding his hand at the hospital," she
said. Her other poetry is confessional at times. She writes about the other
pains she has suffered in her life and says she is emotionally connected to a
poem while she is writing it, but has to disconnect when she reads her poetry
out loud.
She'll probably be doing a
lot of reading aloud in her job as poet laureate. She will read from her
poetry Wednesday, June 17 at 5 p.m. at "In It Together: Art and the
Economic Crisis," a half-day conference on the local arts and the
economy to be held at Guild Hall.
Though Nuzzo-Morgan
said the job has "no official function," she plans to help create a
sense of community in the position. One way she intends to do that is to
create a local poetry archive.
"I have this great
vision of an arts/archival center," she said. "Maybe something in
conjunction with the Southampton Historical Society. This is going to be the
cornerstone of my tenure. It would not only be a place where poetry is
stored. This will be a living collection - a living, breathing space where
people can go and read the different poems created over the years," she
said.
She has, in storage, over
1,000 books, audio tapes, video tapes, and photography all related to poetry
on Long Island. The oldest book is dated
1821, and edited by William Cullen Bryant, an American Romantic poet,
journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post in the 1800s.
The task of putting this
archive together will not be easy for Nuzzo-Morgan,
whose personal and professional schedule is demanding. In addition to her day
job as a (surprise!) tax consultant and accountant, she is also a student in
the Stony Brook Southampton Masters of Fine Arts Program in Writing and
Literature. In addition to the classes she teaches in jails, she also teaches
poetry through BOCES in schools in Suffolk.
After receiving a degree from the Stony Brook Southampton graduate program,
she plans to expand her teaching of poetry.
Her poetry workshops at a
local jail will also continue under her tenure. It has been through working
with the prisoners, men and women, that she has expanded her understanding of
empathy. In addition to working with the young man who was beaten for his
participation, she reached out to another young man with a long jail sentence
who tried to commit suicide in the jail.
He was forced to wear a
Velcro dress that prison guards could get off him in a hurry if he tried to
commit suicide again. The prisoners in the class refused to socialize with
the young man because he was wearing a dress.
But Nuzzo-Morgan
encouraged him to keep coming to the class to write about his emotional
experiences. "He was finally able to collect his thoughts and wrote some
wonderful poems. Were they Pulitzer Prize material? No, but they showed an
emotional connection, and I began to see him engaging more with the rest of
the prisoners."
She published three of his
poems in an anthology of prisoners' poems she edited called Finding Our
Voices.
http://www.danshamptons.com/content/danspapers/issue11_2009/08.html
From Maxwell Wheat’s
site
Suffolk" County’s New Poet Laureate Expresses Her
Hopes
"I want to make my tenure an act of service," said Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan of Southampton
after the Suffolk County Legislature confirmed her as the County’s
fourth Poet Laureate, May 12. She succeeds Dr. David B. Axelrod of Selden.
The well known investigative journalist, Karl Grossman, writing the story for
the Southampton Press reported that "Brendan Stanton, an aide to
Legislator Wayne Horseley of Lindenhurst,
who has overseen the poet laureate selection process, noted that the
selection of Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan ‘went very well;.’" He was referring to the eruptive
disagreements that occurred two years ago when a legislator declared that the
legislature should abolish the young office of Suffolk County Poet Laureate.
A major project for Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan for which she
hopes to see important progress during her tenure is her collecting of poetry
books, audio recordings, videos of poets performing, photographs, papers,
rough drafts of poems for a Long Island Arts/Archival Center. It would be for
all Long Island "from Brooklyn to Shelter Island,"
she asserts. The collections would be a resource for research into the
history of poetry on Long Island.
As Mr. Grossman wrote in his article, "This is the county where Walt
Whitman was born in West Hills and where he worked for years, including
founding and being editor of the Long Islander, a still-published weekly
newspaper in Huntington.
Jupiter Hammon, a slave, who was born and lived on
Lloyd’s Neck in Huntington,
is credited with being the first American black poet."
As an art center the facility would be a place for lectures, readings and
other programs. These are events Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan
is presenting now in various places on the South Fork through the North Sea
Poetry Scene for which she is Founder and President, having started it
several years ago. Why did she organize it? She had joined a poetry workshop,
but was told she could not read her work because she had not been a member
long enough.
Alan Planz, the licensed fishing captain poet from East Hampton gave her the idea. "It has always
been Alan behind me, pushing me – and Vince Clemente as well," she
said referring to the East End’s other
prominent and popular poet.
"There has been a revival of poetry in our culture," she comments.
On Long Island there is so much to choose
from, in poetry readings and events that you have to pick which one to
attend. There can be five events from which you have to choose, she observes.
Nationally, she cites the fact that President Barrack Obama had a poet read
at his inauguration.
How did the new Poet Laureate get started with poetry? "I was a teenager
– eighth grade," she said when she wrote her first poem –
all lower case. "Who do you think you are? e. e. cummings?"
the teacher quipped jokingly. The teacher brought her that poet’s
books. "I fell in love with e. e. cummings.
That was the beginning of it."
http://www.maxwellcorydonwheatjr.com/poetry_/Home.html
Nuzzo-Morgan Plans a Poetry Archive
By Pat Rogers
If poet Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan has her way, the East
End will become home to the Long Island Poetry Archive. Though
it is currently a mere twinkle of an idea, the archive may become a reality
due largely to a flurry of planning activities currently underway.
Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan,
the founder and president of the North Sea Poetry Scene, formed a committee,
launched a capital campaign drive and is writing grant proposals. The goal of
the non-profit group is to establish a permanent home for Long
Island poets where poetry rules.
“There’s a history of poetry on Long Island that’s being lost,”
Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan said during an interview at East Enders Coffee House in Riverhead,
where poetry readings are held regularly. “The Poetry Archive would
be a place where you
could find poetry written on Long Island
from the historical to what’s going on right now. It would be an
important resource.”
Building or no
building, Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan has already started
collecting books to stock the planned center’s
bookcases. For
about five years, she has combed through internet sites, used books stores,
yard sales, library book sales, historical society book sales, garages and
basements to locate poetry books containing Long Island
verse.
These efforts have
produced stacks and stacks of poetry collections that include slim verses by
solitary poets, hardcover, soft cover and paper cover books by reknowned and little-known poets who have lived (or
currently live) on Long Island.
One writer who will be
well represented is the late David Ignatow, the
award-winning poet who lived in East Hampton
and produced around 16 volumes of poetry and three prose collections,
garnered fellowships, taught extensively at universities and was the poet
emeritus of the Poetry Society of America. Other poets from earlier times
include the artist Fairfield Porter, Anne Porter, Walt Whitman, Kenneth Koch
and others.
Modern poets, like beat
poet Ray Freed and award-winning poet and fisherman Allen Planz,
are also represented in the collection. Works by Robert Long, Philip Appleman, Siv Cedering and Vince Clemente also appear.
Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan
discovered books with the poetry of Graham Everett, plus recordings featuring
his poetry band, Middle Class. Her collection also contains works by former
Suffolk County Poet Laureate George Wallace, as well as her own poems.
Nominated recently as the Suffolk County Poet Laureate for her work in
bringing poetry to the masses, Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan has
released a compact disc of her recorded poetry and several books of poetry.
Her latest release, “One
Woman’s Voice,” was
published this year
by the North Sea Poetry Scene Press and features 62 poems written between
1989 and 2005. The North Sea Poetry Scene Press also released “Long Island
Sound 2005:
An Anthology of Poetry from Maspeth to Montauk”—a
collection slated for the much-hoped for Poetry
Archive Center.
“[I’m]
collecting the works of all the poets who read for the North Sea Poetry Scene,”
Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan said. “We’re creating our own history of
poetry on Long Island.”
The planned center will
also include compact disc recordings of Spoke Word artists, videotapes of poetry
readings starting from the year 2000, and photographs of poets who appeared
at North Sea Poetry Events. “It wouldn’t
be just books,” Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan said. “I
videotape all our readings, so I have a video history too. Students could come and learn about
poetry that was written right here on Long Island.
It would be a valuable resource for research.”
For now, the hard work
of raising money and finding land or a building has just begun. Within the
last three weeks, a committee of four has been appointed, letters of support
for the center have been collected and the search for a possible land donor
is in the works.
“That’s my ultimate dream,” Ms. Nuzzo-Morgan said. “That someone would
donate a piece of property so we could have the Archive
Center here. Southampton would be a great location. But if someone
donates property in Patchogue, I’ll take it.”
For information on the
effort to establish a Long
Island Poetry Archive Center,
visit http://groups.msn.com/TheNorthSeaPoetryScene or call 204-1240. The North
Sea Poetry Scene, which is spearheading the effort, is a non-profit
organization.
Issue Date: Southampton Press 10-06-05
Copyright, The Southampton
Press
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