The North Sea Poetry Scene

By Joanne Schenker

About four years ago, I was on my usual night run to Borders looking for the next great read. As I was paying for my purchase, I noticed a flyer for The North Sea Poetry Scene. They were offering creative writing classes and poetry readings on the island. After attending a few readings (one very memorable one in The Conklin Barn in Huntington), I was hooked. It was wonderful to reclaim my passion for poetry—my first connection to the world of writing.

TNSPS’s founder, Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan, and public relations person, Barbara Reiher-Meyers are gifted writers and incredibly dedicated to the organization. Barbara’s weekly online calendar of events is an endless list of poetry readings, workshops and writing classes from Long Island to Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Keeping up with the calendar is a job within itself, but you will often find Barbara conducting readings, as well. Her energy can fill a room, her words follow suit.

If the saying, “the more you do, the more you can do” rings true, then Tammy is living proof. In seven years, she has built up an organization that constantly gives back to the community. Many of her accomplishments are noted in my May Arts & Letters column in canvas, but her greatest talent is her ability to make us feel what she’s experiencing through her words. When I told Tammy how moved I was by her poem, “The Years Since His Passing,” (dedicated to her son, Michael Jason Nuzzo, who was killed at 17 years old by a speeding car) she responded, “I guess I did my job well then, because the poet is supposed to create a sense of empathy, not sympathy. I want you to feel WHAT I am feeling, not feel FOR me, even if it’s for just the length of the poem.”

To become a member of TNSPS please visit: http://groups.msn.com/TheNorthSeaPoetryScene