The Red Wheelbarrow Poets will launch the sixth edition of their yearly publication, The Rutherford Red Wheelbarrow, in a reading at the Williams Carlos Williams Center in Rutherford, NJ on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013.
The book features the poetry and prose of some three dozen writers associated with the vibrant poetry scene of Rutherford, home of the great poet-physician William Carlos Williams.
These writers have either participated in the group’s lively poetry workshop, now in its sixth year under RWP founder Jim Klein, or have read at monthly readings held at the Williams Center or GainVille Café, also in Rutherford.
The overall theme of the books comes from Dr. Williams’ statement “The epic is the local fully realized.” The group has always favored local work using Williams’ concept of “live language” over the outdated forms of academics and professional poets.
This year’s featured poet is John J. Trause, director of the Oradell Public Library and author most recently of Eye Candy for Andy, portraits of the group of people associated with painter Andy Warhol.
The Red Wheelbarrow poetry workshop grew out of the efforts of Jane Fisher (Director of the Rutherford Library until 2010) to keep poetry flourishing in Rutherford.
John J. Trause, along with Jane Fisher, founded and participated in the Williams Carlos Williams Poetry Cooperative of Southern Bergen County. From January 2006 until this year, John J. Trause ran the monthly readings at the Williams Center, featuring poets from the tri-state area as well as from further afield. This First Wednesday series now is run by the “Gang of Four” (Claudia Serea, John Barale, Don Zirilli and Zorida Mohammed).
Some of the poets featured at the readings included Tina Kelly, Maggie Dubris, Harvey Shapiro, Matthew Rohrer as well as John J. Trause. More recently, we were privileged to host the Russian poets Katia Kapovich and her husband Philip Nikolayev, editor and co-editor of Fulcrum, an International yearly anthology out of Cambridge, MA.
The Red Wheelbarrow poets also read at the GainVille Café on the last Friday of each month in a music and poetry event organized by poet/musician Mark Fogarty with the participation of his friends and acquaintances in the music world. Recent featured musicians included Sheri Miller, Eiichi Yamamoto and Brian Princing, and John and Martin Dull.
Both the Williams Center and the GainVille readings offer an open mic to poets who are also invited to submit their work for next year’s publication.
The journal will be launched on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at the Williams Center in Rutherford, NJ. Copies will be available for sale that night and many of the poets will read from it during the evening. You can also buy it here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/red-wheelbarrow-poets/the-rutherford-red-wheelbarrow-6/paperback/product-21164095.html;jsessionid=671C82CBD1603B2A9581477146FBFE9D?mid=social_facebook_pubsharefb
Join us to celebrate!
For info, contact John Barrale at john.barrale@gmail.com • http://www.redwheelbarrowpoets.wordpress.com ###
The Red Wheelbarrow Poets 
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