Ghosts of Poems
by Alma Cole Pesiri
Stanzas enjoy lying there
often for years
dusty and dog-eared
fragments of memories
that elude me
These aged poems jump out and choke me
moving easily through
walls of time
with eerie sighs
causing shivers to my soul
No matter that I ignore them
they speak crooked words
spout strange ideas
nearly-dead thoughts
I no longer recognize
Some of these specters can be resurrected
burnished to shining clarity
while others will stay on their yellowed paper
stuffed into drawers
forever forgotten
What called you to poetry as an art form and what keeps you coming back to it?
Extreme shyness kept so much of me inside. Actually started writing things I didn’t have the nerve to tell someone. Then thoughts began to rhyme and some poems became 3- dimensional. Writing “Vine of Lies” about a person who was a mean liar, I decided to paste a string ‘vine’ with little leaves on it. Later came notes on a balance scale with love on the ‘heavy’ side. Poetry lets me be anyone I want to!
Your poems often use South Jersey as a backdrop. What do you find special about South Jersey?
South Jersey gal - grew up on a street that literally had the Delaware River as our front yard. We lived in the safety of children roaming all over the neighborhood, gathering driftwood for evening fires on the beach. We swam, climbed trees, picked apples and peaches across the street – walked in groups to the roller skating rink and amusement park. The simpler times often become my poems.
What is your process like? How do you get from all possible blank page to finished piece?
The title Words Can Say Anything has been rattling around in my brain as long as I can remember. I enjoy making words dance on the paper. Have over 900 poems (not all for public consumption.) Being published in numerous chapbooks, newspapers and magazines was exciting, but every poet dreams of their own book.
What is your process like? How do you get from all possible blank page to finished piece?
Writing usually starts with pen and paper, and gets to the computer if it wants to. Every tree has a personality! Sometimes a word, an animal, a house will demand to show up on paper. I’ve been extremely lucky to attend writing workshops with incredible leaders who share noted poets and suggest prompts. We write what touches us from that; some pieces might grow, and some never get past the birthing stage.
The poems in Words Can Say Anything view their subjects from many lenses and mirror images. What is your strategy for pushing past binaries and coming to a place of truth?
The poems I decided on for Words Can Say Anything went through a process of very, very difficult decision making. I could publish a book of tree poems, one of childhood, one of broken hearts, and one of fairy tales. A poem often starts out in a certain vein, and squiggles itself into something I hadn’t seen originally. Another situation that surprises me is when I work from a painting or picture, and two entirely different stories emerge, then merge into one. Hopefully the finished product shows some of my quirky, irrelevant ideas; that’s what I was aiming for.
Where can readers buy your book? Keep up with your writing?
Words Can Say Anything is available from Amazon for $15.00 + shipping. Also, have copies for sale at $14.95 + 5¢ for my autograph in my signature purple ink. You can find me on You Tube (Alma Cole Pesiri); some videos from the days at Brenner’s Brew and some from appearances at Pennsville Historical Society.
For Alma Cole Pesiri, poetry has always been a passion – structured, unstructured, rhyming or free verse – it demands to be written. In addition to the printed word, she also creates collage-type visual poems. She had participated in readings and shows in a multitude of venues in South Jersey, as well as Camden, Philadelphia and Arizona. She was a member of “Sightlines 2005” poetry as art/art as poetry – a collaboration of shared works between artists and writers. She also participated in a like program called “See Me – Get My Story” at the Riverfront Renaissance Center in Millville, NJ. She has taught poetry and creative writing (learned at The School of Hard Knocks and numerous workshops with noted poets) to both teens and adults. This is one of her fondest accomplishments. Publications include: Frogpond, Patterson Literary Review, Singles Scene, Haddon House Press – Pick Me Up, Stockton College - A Tour of Poetry Anthology, and many others.
John Wojtowicz grew up working on his family’s azalea and rhododendron nursery in the backwoods of what Ginsberg dubbed “nowhere Zen New Jersey.” Currently, he works as a licensed clinical social worker and adjunct professor. He has been featured on Rowan University’s Writer’s Roundtable on 89.7 WGLS-FM and several of his poems were chosen to be exhibited in Princeton University's 2021 Unique Minds: Creative Voices art show at the Lewis Center for the Arts. He has been nominated 3x for a Pushcart Prize and serves as the Local Lyrics contributor for The Mad Poets Society Blog. His debut chapbook Roadside Oddities: A Poetic Guide to American Oddities was released in early 2022 and can be purchased at www.johnwojtowicz.com. John lives with his wife and two children in Upper Deerfield, NJ.