 |
Gayle C. Heney is the new Poet Laureate of North Andover. Her two-year tenure began July 1, 2008.
Mary Rose Quinn, the Director of Stevens Memorial Library, introduced her at the welcome celebration in the library’s rotunda on September 21, 2008. Forty people of varying ages attended on that beautiful Sunday afternoon. Ms. Heney planned the program,
which included poetry readings by three local poets: Keval, Tina Colello, and R. S. Prolman.
Kevel, a North Andover Middle School student, is also a drummer, soccer player, avid reader, baseball player, mows his family’s lawn, and writes poetry. His poems have appeared in both Applesauce and Apple Seed.
R. S. Prolman was the Executive Assistant to the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council from 1977 – 2000. Currently, she is a member of the Board of the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council representing North Andover, where she is a liaison to the Head Start Program. She is a member of the writing group “The Write Group”. Her volunteer activities have included serving as secretary to the Greater Lawrence Girl Scout Council and secretary for the corporation which operated the scout camp, Camp Runnels, in New Hampshire. She read her poem entitled, “Solitaire”.
 Tina Colello, the third invited poet, has a degree in engineering from Tufts University. Her work experience includes designing propulsion systems for nuclear submarines. She ran the Magazine Drive at the North Andover Middle School for three years. During her last year volunteering in this capacity, she didn’t even have a student in the school. She was a Girl Scout leader for many years. She volunteered in various capacities at Annie L. Sargent School, Presentation of Mary Academy, Phillips
Academy, and Austin Preparatory School. She’s the Youth Choir Director of her congregation. She is a committed gardener with especially good tomatoes and cucumbers this year. She read her poem “Three Worlds,” which was inspired by her eldest daughter going off to college.
Each poem was filled with universal meaning, imagery and interesting language. Ms. Heney wrote the poem entitled “Poetry?” specifically for the occasion.
Ms. Heney welcomed the attendees. Excerpts of her talk appear below:
“Welcome to our first public poetry reading during my tenure as Poet Laureate of North Andover.”
“Look around you. Here, we have a cross-section of our community: those who are young, those actively raising families, and those who through life experience are wiser than I. But poetry has brought us together. In these uncertain times, with financial crises on personal, national and global levels, poetry has given us a way to express our concerns, joys, the beauty of our surroundings and the possibilities we are capable of as people.”
 "I want to challenge you. Let’s create opportunities. Let’s listen to each other. Let’s read poetry, write poetry and share what’s in our hearts and minds moving forward as a community in these ever changing times.”
Ms. Heney introduced the unsuspecting Edith Karelis, President of the Greater Haverhill Poets, to the audience. She invited everyone to join her in singing happy birthday to Ms. Karelis, a longtime promoter of poetry in the Merrimack Valley.
Ms. Heney would like to thank the Library Trustees and Friends of the Stevens Memorial Library for sponsoring the event and supporting the reading and writing of poetry in our town. 
She thanked Mary Rose Quinn for creating such a welcoming atmosphere in the library since she became Director in November of 2007, and for hosting this celebration of poetry, Kathleen Keenan, Assistant Director of Stevens Memorial library, for publicizing the event, and arranging for the delicious refreshments, especially the personalized cake, Jim Keenan forvideotaping the celebration, the Poet Laureate Committee for putting her name forward to the Board of Selectman, and the Board for voting to appoint her as Poet Laureate.
© All material in the project website is the intellectual property of the writers and photographers listed. Further use of the material beyond that of the North Andover Poetry Passion Project requires the written consent of the writer/photographer.
| |
