The Schwerner Writers Seriespresents “Staten Island Poets Showcase”on Tuesday, Sept. 13 in the Library Faculty Center Lounge (Building 1L, Room 203) from 2:30pm to 4:00pm.
“Staten Island Poets Showcase”: The Schwerner Writer’s Series kicks off close to home with a focus on Staten Island’s irrepressible literary and performance talent. Fiery New York poetry stalwart Thomas Fucaloro, a native of the Island, hosts a showcase of poets at the center of Staten Island’s burgeoning and energized performance and publication scene.
Thomas Fucaloro is the author of two books of poetry published by Three Rooms Press–most recently, It Starts from the Belly and Blooms. The winner of a performance grant from the Staten Island Council of the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, he has been on three national poetry slam teams. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and is a co-founding editor of Great Weather for Media and NYSAI Press, a Staten Island-based literary press. He is a writing coordinator at the Harlem Children’s Zone and lives on Staten Island.
Eric Alter has a memory of a time when a kid could sneak onto a boat dock with a net and catch a dozen or so crabs out on the nasty waters of Raritan Bay. He is that kid bringing home those toxic crabs to his mom. He is his mother. He is her cooking them even though nobody wanted them. He is the terrible smell filling the house. Eric Alter is the scar on his neighbor’s leg, leftover from attempting to surf on top of a moving vehicle. He is the hidden cigarette smoke in the backyard, the overseer of the block during sleepless nights. Eric Alter is more than a master’s degree issued by Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. He is more than the bass rhythm booming in the background of the band Giga Herbs. He is more than an editor for NYSAI magazine. He is more than an organizer for Staten Island’s first Slam team: Advanced Slam. Eric Alter is you. He is me too. Enjoy.
Julie Bentsen is an ongoing student of Surrealism and the Unconscious, as well as the prose editor for NYSAI magazine. She reads monthly at Staten Island’s Advanced Slam, and has featured at The Parkside Lounge and Hell Phone for Great Weather for Media. Her work focuses on our collective disconnect from our deeper Selves, and the dehumanizing qualities of corporate culture. She is also a visual artist who enjoys creating live art to live poetry, and has done so for 3Po3try NYC: Raining Words at the Pomegranate Gallery, Art for Poetry’s Sake at Deep Tanks Studios, and the Lumen Art Festival at Snug Harbor.
