“They seemed to sort of get it, a little bit,” she said. During those appearances she explained the role of the Town Poet Laureate, and explained Risk-A-Verse, the public poetry reading event she and fellow NCAC member Tracy Van Buskirk have organized for a few years. Ms Schwartz says she spoke to Newtown Lions Club and the Rotary Club of Newtown, among other groups. “But the more people hear about poetry, and understand the purpose of it, the more they come around,” she said.
People hear the word poetry, she said, and tend to recoil. “I was sort of able to mold the job into my own fashion,” she said, citing what she sees as one of the biggest benefits of being the first. Seated on the deck at Village Perk Café and enjoying a latte under the unseasonable warmth of Monday’s sun, Ms Schwartz reflected fondly about the past 4½ years. When Ms Schwartz took the post of Poet Laureate, there were few, if any expectations, she said this week. “Her poems are always optimistic, always on point, and always on time.” “It’s been a pleasure to work with her,” Ms Lerman said Tuesday afternoon. NCAC Chair Laura Lerman said she and the cultural arts commission were never disappointed with their selection. The post, Ms Schwartz said this week, “was exactly what I expected it to be: I’ve represented the Town of Newtown as the ambassador of poetry of the arts.” NCAC announced last week that the search for its next Poet Laureate was underway.Īmong the duties of the honorary post are serving as an ambassador in the greater arts community, fostering public appreciation of and participating in poetry and literary arts events, being present for at least one public event annually as requested by the Board of Selectmen and/or the cultural arts commission, and serving as an auxiliary member of NCAC. Ms Schwartz will be moving out of town - way out of town, to the West Coast, she has announced - which necessitates an early search for the next Poet Laureate. Ms Schwartz had every intention of completing her second term, which continues to September 30, 2021, but the opportunity to make a big move changed that plan. The first one appointed by Newtown Cultural Arts Commission (NCAC) after the Board of Selectmen created the post that year, Ms Schwartz was reappointed to the post in 2018. Lisa Schwartz has been the Poet Laureate of Newtown since 2015.
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