MCC Hosts ‘Poets of MCC Reading’ for Liberal Arts Month

With the start of the Liberal Arts Festival Friday April 3, Middlesex County College is in full-throttle hosting events left and right to broaden the horizons of students all over campus. On Monday, April 6 one of the first events of the day was the “Poets of MCC Reading,” held at the Art Gallery in College Center. The “Poets of MCC Reading” started at 11 a.m. and consisted of five readers from the MCC Literary Journal: Volume One: Emanuel DiPasquale, Dr. Daniel Zimmerman, Dr. Steven Barnhart, Mathew Spano and Gail Gasper.
The gallery was set up with faculty art behind a long panel table at the front of the room, which all readers sat at. A pulpit stood to the far left of the table. The reading began with introductions by Zimmerman, chairman of the English department. Spano, an MCC English professor, took the pulpit first. His eyes glanced over the audience as he opened the Literary Journal and read from his poem “Ghost Of A Heron.”
“The poem is a collection of thoughts, feelings and observations about interesting characters I’ve met over the years,” said Spano.
All attention on Spano, he never faltered as he went through three verses of poetry. Once Spano completed his poem, Zimmerman introduced DiPasquale, an MCC assistant professor in the English department. DiPasquale stood at his chair and spoke of how he feels people view poetry.
“People love poetry like a rat-tat army. My poetry is sentimental. What saves it is the detail,” said DiPasquale.
As he read poetry from his book “Writing Anew: New and Selected Poems”, DiPasquale reminisced about his past and the emotions of a time forgotten through the words of a “young man.” He made jokes, kept the audience laughing and his peers entertained. Following DiPasquale, Zimmerman introduced Gaspar, an MCC adjunct writing professor.
Gaspar stood, moved from behind the table and came in front of the audience. Before reading her poetry she gave a small introduction. Both poems were inspired by past experiences. The audience was silent as she read. When Gaspar finished she went back to her seat and Zimmerman introduced the next reader, Barnhart, chairman of the history, psychology and social sciences department at MCC.
Barnhart stood and read four new poems that did not appear in the first Literary Journal. He stood tall and his voice flowed over the audience with a calm yet emotional tone. His second to last poem was inspired by his brother who recently passed away. Emotion was brought to Barnhart’s face as he continued to read. Once finished he glanced at the audience thanked them and took his seat again.
Last, but certainly not least Zimmerman stood and passed out two sheets of paper with him poems on them. He explained to the audience about “Isotope” poetry and how he’s been writing it for several years. Zimmerman also read “And Heaven Accept You” from the Literary Journal, which was based on his mother. After all participants completed their readings student attendance slips were given out as well as a Literary Arts Festival shirt.
“It’s national poetry month and I doubt many students know that. Poetry has always been the ugly sister of the arts and that’s sad because it’s powerful and emotional,” said DiPasquale.