As I was writing the poem, "Composite Color," crayons had gone through a metamorphosis. There were no longer the eight basic colors of my day. They were replaced by a sixty-four color box and a growing sensitivity to racial connotations. Society had become a melting pot of cautious consciousness and the simple became complex. This simple characteristic was the trigger that changed a box of crayons into stickmen of racial segregation.
From the poem:
“a mixing bowl with no sense of separation . . .
Crayola brands, ice cream stands,
playful minds, shaded hues of humanity.”
The love of poetry began more than forty years ago with the work of William Blake. Taking his advice . . . the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom, I pursued reading, writing and living poetry. It seemed, suddenly, everything became not as ordinary as it appeared and I began a life sentence in a metaphoric mind.
Poetry can be history, emotion, experience, or exploration of the imagination. Poetry takes on many forms . . . individual forms. I’m often asked about my poetic form and reply, “My form is mine, nothing more, much like your footsteps are yours.”
In May 2015, I was designated Suffolk County Poet Laureate (2015-2017). In this role, priorities change. I put aside that unfinished manuscript and became an ambassador for the art. I now engage in more readings, discussions and presentations to raise community awareness, encouraging new voices and promoting opportunity for established voices . . . miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Savino, Suffolk County Poet Laureate 2015-2017, is a native Long Island poet, born on Whitman’s Paumanok and still fishes there, for words. He is a Board Member at both the Walt Whitman Birthplace & the Long Island Poetry & Arts Archival Center; and is listed in Poets & Writers.
His work is widely published, here, in the North American Review and in journals from The Long Island Quarterly to the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal; as well as online.
Robert is the winner of the 2008 Oberon Poetry Prize. His books include fireballs of an illuminated scarecrow and his first collection Inside a Turtle Shell, published in 2009, a diverse journey of paths crossed, family and friends . . . lost and found.
Anne Lambelet earned a bachelor’s degree in illustration from the University of the Arts where she was awarded the Roger T. Hane award for the top illustration portfolio by a senior. While at UArts, she also received awards in the student competitions hosted by the Society of Illustrators, Creative Quarterly magazine and 3×3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. She is now a freelance illustrator working out of Philadelphia where she lives with her husband Brice and her morbidly obese and slightly psychologically disturbed but adorable cat Fitzgerald. For children’s book writing and illustrating, she is represented by Mackenzie Brady at New Leaf Literary & Media. You can contact her by emailing her at mbrady@newleafliterary.com or you can contact Anne by emailing her at annemlambelet@gmail.com or by using one of the methods below.