From College Professor to Published Poet: Emanuel’s Journey Through Nature

When a person thinks of poetry the automatic reaction is to relate the written words to emotions, especially those of love and sadness. Emanuel DiPasquale, assistant professor at Middlesex County College, is living proof of the emotional heights reached through writing poetry. With 12 books of published poetry under his belt and 14 books of translations from the “Italian World of Poetry”, DiPasquale is a seasoned writer.
DiPasquale was born in Ragusa, Sicily. He attended elementary school and resided there until the age of 15, when he moved to America. Speaking no English, DiPasquale attended Sleepy Hollow High school in Tarrytown, New York where he earned a scholarship to Adelphi University. After completing his stint at Adelphi University he attended New York University where he received a MA plus.
“Overall I took 120 credits in English and American and World Literature,” said DiPasquale.
He has two children, one son and a daughter and currently resides in Long Branch, New Jersey next to the ocean.
“I live by the ocean and it [the ocean] gives me life. My head is still clear, I can still write poems and I can be a good critic and teacher to my students,” said DiPasquale.
He wrote his first poem while still in high school. The poem was read over the Italian radio station WOV 1020AM out of New York City, which is now the Spanish station WADO. DiPasquale’s first book “Genesis” was published in 1987 by Boa Editions. “Cartwheel to the Moon”, a book of children’s poetry based on his childhood in Sicily, was published in 2003 and his latest book “Writing Anew: New and Selected Poems” was published in 2007.
“I’ve been lucky to be praised for my accomplishments. I won the Chelsea Poetry Award and for my translations I won two major prizes, the biggest being The Raiziss de Palchi Fellowship from The Academy of American Poet,” said DiPasquale.
When DiPasquale came to America, he was alone. He became a writer out of being lost and he became a poet out of loneliness. DiPasquale used to take long walks along the hills of Tarrytown and as images came out of his head he started writing them down.
“Had I remained in Sicily I would not have become a poet. I would have been too busy with living, working and not giving as much thought into my internal workings,” said DiPasquale.
DiPasquale got a job in North Carolina at Elizabeth City State University, after earning his MA plus, where he worked for two years. In 1968 he started at MCC as an assistant professor. DiPasquale is currently teaching five courses at MCC. He loves children’s literature, English I and II as well as the remedial classes where he can help foreign students who are anxious about the new country and language.
“I love the writing classes. I have my students write about their concerns even as we study the importance of critical analysis, seeing the truth in what people write and reading between the lines. It’s important to pay attention to the small things for the truth,” said DiPasquale.
In September of 2008 DiPasquale brought together several members of the MCC faculty with his brain child “Middlesex: A Literary Journal Volume One.” With the support of MCC President Dr. Joann La Perla-Morales and fellow editors: Steven Barnhart, Mathew Spano and Daniel Zimmerman the Literary Journal was born. A year in the making, the journal not only made a splash, but was so well received by the college and community that there will be a volume two in the near future, said DiPasquale.
Writing, literature, poetry, it’s honestly meant. It doesn’t get more real or emotionally raw. Poetry, the ugly sister of the arts, gives us insights into our lives, the magical music of words and it touches our hearts, said DiPasquale.
“I write when a serious, intense feeling overwhelms me. Perhaps a bird in flight will Start it. Perhaps a dead branch that moves like the wing of an angel,” said DiPasquale, “my poetry is a connection with nature, with passions [the god within us]. With nature in the sense that it connects us with the god [nature] that surrounds and envelops us.”