Poem in Your Pocket

Posted on April 4, 2018 by slopoet

Poets and Poetry Lovers, Young and Old

You are invited to
Celebrate April, Poetry Month
with
a Poem-in-Your-Pocket
Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 3-4 pm
Hopewell Branch of the Mercer Country Library
245 Pennington-Titusville Road
Pennington, NJ 08534
Free and Open to the Public
Phone 609-737-2610

Bring a poem of 15 or fewer lines, your own or a favorite.
Read it with local 5th, 6th and 7th graders,
members of the poetry and critique group COOL WOMEN
and community members. Everyone invited.
Yes, there will be an open mike and refreshments.

Book sale profits go to the library.

Mud Season Soon Here

Posted on February 2, 2018 by slopoet

The Cool Women will read on Saturday, March 3, 2018 from 12 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the New Brunswick Free Public Library, 60 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ, phone (732) 745-5108. The theme for the reading is “Mud Season.” The reading is part of the Friends of the New Brunswick Free Public Library 2017-18 Event Series and will be held in the Carl T. Valenti Community Room. The Friends of the Library present programs on the first Saturday of the month for most months between October 2017 and June 2018. For details, please visit https://www.nbfpl.org/about/friends-of-the-library.

Cool Poets Read With Cool Students December 2

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November Readings

Posted on October 17, 2017 by slopoet

The first event in November for Cool Women will be a book launch for Betty Lies’ new book on Nov. 4:

Publication Party for Betty Lies new book The Cliff’s Edge with readings by Lois Marie Harrod and Hopewell Valley High School Students, Saturday, November 4, 3 pm, Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library, 245 Pennington-Titusville Rd., Pennington, NJ, 08434. Free and open to the public.

…

Cool Women will perform at the Princeton Public Library as part of the Poets at the Library Series on Monday November 13, 2017, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The theme is “Things That Go Bump in the Night.” Hosted by Delaware Valley Poets, 65 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 609.924.9529. Cool Women Reading November 13 2017.docx

…

Cool Women will perform at the Highland Park Public Library on November 28:

Highland Park Public Library
Cool Women Poets
Friends of the Library Poetry Night Series
Tuesday, November 28, 2017, 7:00 pm
Known for their themed, improv-style poetry readings, Cool Women riff on each other’s poems like jazz musicians, providing an unpredictable and compelling performance. All nine members—Eloise Bruce, Juditha Dowd, Lois Marie Harrod, Betty Lies, Judy Michaels, Sharon Olson, Penelope Schott, Maxine Susman, and Gretna Wilkinson—have deep New Jersey roots. The Theme is Cool Women Talk Turkey. An open reading follows the featured poets.

Songs of Ourselves

Posted on May 29, 2017 by slopoet

On Saturday, June 3, 2017, 9-10:15 a.m., as part of the literary festival and conference at Passaic County Community College “Celebrating the Poetic Legacy of Whitman, Williams, and Ginsberg,” The Cool Women will present a panel “Songs of Ourselves: How to Form a Vibrant Poetry Group that Moves into the Community,” featuring presentations by Lois Marie Harrod, Betty Lies, Maxine Susman and Gretna Wilkinson, with contributions also from other members of the group, in Room 103 of the Pruden Building, 44 Church Street, Paterson, New Jersey. Here is a brochure about the conference.

Readings in April for the Cool Women: April 19, April 23 and April 29

Posted on April 4, 2017 by slopoet

On Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 7 p.m. the Cool Women will be performing at the Warren Township Library Branch of the Somerset County Library System of New Jersey. It is located at 42 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, NJ, 908-754-5554. The theme is “Cool Women Move the Earth.”

A special event to celebrate April as National Poetry Month is a reading on Sunday, April 23, 2017, at 3:00 p.m. featuring Lois Marie Harrod and Judy Michaels, who will be joined by young poets from local schools. This event is at the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library, 245 Pennington-Titusville Rd. in Pennington, 609-737-2610. The reading will be followed by book sales (profits support the library) and light refreshments. Here is a flyer for this reading.

On Saturday, April 29, 2017, at 3:00 p.m. the Hopewell Branch of the Mercer County Library (245 Pennington-Titusville Rd. in Pennington) have asked the Cool Women to return for a performance as well. The theme is Cool Women Earthy, “For the Good of Earth and Sun.” Light refreshments will be served. Flyer for the event is here.

World Above Welcomes Cool Women, Wednesday, March 22nd, 7pm

Posted on March 6, 2017 by slopoet

On Wednesday, March 22nd at 7pm the South Jersey Poets Collective welcomes Cool Women as the featured readers to World Above Free Poetry Night at Stockton University’s Noyes Arts Garage (2200 Fairmount Ave, Atlantic City, NJ 08401).

The evening starts with the usual Open Mic, where participants read one poem that is less than two minutes long. The break will occur just before 8pm, and participants will return to a free take-home writing prompt, introduced by the host or the prompt’s author. Then, the members of Cool Women will read.

Known for their themed, improv-style poetry readings, Cool Women riff on each other’s poems like jazz musicians, providing an unpredictable and compelling performance. All nine members—Eloise Bruce, Juditha Dowd, Lois Marie Harrod, Betty Lies, Judy Michaels, Sharon Olson, Penelope Schott, Maxine Susman, and Gretna Wilkinson—have deep New Jersey roots. Since their debut in Princeton on Valentine’s Day, 2000, they have given dozens of readings in the tri-state area and as far away as Portland, Oregon.

Each of the Cool Women is widely published; collectively they have appeared in hundreds of literary journals, have won countless prizes, grants, fellowships, and awards, and have written dozens of books. They have taught and mentored all ages, from grade school through older adults. Together, Cool Women have produced six anthologies and two CDs of their work; their most recent book appeared in December 2016. This year they celebrate 21 years as a group and 17 years of performing together.

Cool Women to Read in New Brunswick

Posted on January 27, 2017 by slopoet

In honor of Women’s History Month, the theme for their March 1 reading at the New Brunswick Free Public Library will be “Feminist Wiles.” The event will take place on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 from 12:15 to 1:00 p.m at the New Brunswick Free Public Library, 60 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ, phone (732) 745-5108. The reading is part of the Friends of the New Brunswick Free Public Library 2016-17 Event Series and will be held in the Carl T. Valenti Community Room.

Click to see full flyer.

Cool Women on the March!

Posted on January 24, 2017 by slopoet

January 21, the day after the presidential inauguration, was the date of the Women’s March on Washington. This successful event was attended by an estimated half a million participants (or more), and at least 4.8 million worldwide at 408 marches in the U.S. and 168 in 81 other countries. (There is of course a wikipedia article already which uses these figures). Our Maxine attended the march in Washington:

And a grand total of 4 of us attended the march in Trenton (where there were at least 7,000 marchers!). Some photos of the march below:

Our Volume 6 Launch a Success

Posted on January 24, 2017 by slopoet

The Off-Broadstreet Theatre turned out to be a terrific venue for our successful launch of our Cool Women anthology, Volume Six. We had a great and appreciative crowd, sold lots of books, and the reception afterwards was splendid indeed. Thanks to Anne Zeman of the Hopewell Public Library for co-hosting us. She wrote our group the day after saying it was “an absolutely wonderful evening–all of you were fantastic!” We are ordering more copies of the anthology, if you need one see our webpage that has ordering information.