Vega arrived in the library at 6:45 p.m. by wheelchair, necessitated by Lyme disease

An 'exercise of the spirit'
By Bonnie Langston, Freeman staff
06/24/2007



Janine Pommy Vega (right) and Nina Sheldon on piano at Alternative
Books in Kingston. Purchase a copy of this photo.
By Bonnie Langston Freeman staff Poets are sometimes regarded as
delicate creatures, ruminating and writing their thoughts in a silent,
secluded hideaway. Not Willow poet Janine Pommy Vega.
Vega remains a woman very much in the world, and that world has
included, for about a decade, Eastern Correctional Facility, a maximum-
security prison for men in Napanoch.

Among other arts-related programs there - run by others from the
outside - are theater and music.


"These things absolutely make a difference in the lives of the people
doing the time," Vega said.

Regarding her own effort, she is extraordinarily humble.

"I don't want any fluff" in the story, she said, regarding herself.

But the prisoners provide the words for her.

They come to the prison's library Thursdays, not to be lectured, but
to join with Vega, whose latest book "The Green Piano" (Black Sparrow
Books) includes a large grouping of poems she wrote at the facility.

In an earlier book that she edited, "Voices Under the Harvest Moon: An
Anthology of Writing from Eastern Correctional Facility," (Segue
Books) the prisoners themselves speak.

Years later, the words continue to flow from the men who participate,
including Antwand White, who at 16 entered prison in 1988 for
homicide. White, who will go before the board of review in 2013,
started Vega's poetry program in March.

"She's a very keen teacher. She has a keen eye, and a keen ear for
poetry," White said. "She believes in this program, and she believes
in us. Words are not enough ... I appreciate her as a teacher."

White recalls reading a poem to Vega who "chopped it up." He said she
explained that extraneous material takes away the power of the
message, but she did not turn White's poem into her own by telling him
what to write.

"She gives you just a little bit to move you on," he said. "That's
what I like about her."

Vega is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry. In addition
to "The Green Piano," her other works include "Mad Dogs of
Trieste," (Black Sparrow) and her travel memoir "Tracking the
Serpent," (City Lights). Her new recording of poetry set to music is
titled "Across the Miles."

Not only is Vega not new to poetry - she was associated with the Beat
movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s as chronicled in "Women of
the Beat Generation" - she also is not new to teaching it. She has
been an educator in the schools through various arts-in-education
programs.

In the prisons, she has worked with the Incisions/Arts organization as
well as serving on the PEN Prison Writing Committee. Along with Hettie
Jones, she wrote "Words Over Walls: Starting a Writing Workshop in
Prison." A recent Internet check at the PEN American Center found the
book sold out.

At Eastern Correctional Facility earlier in the month, Vega arrived in
the library at 6:45 p.m. by wheelchair, necessitated by Lyme disease
that does not allow her to easily walk long prison hallways. She moved
to a regular chair central to the 10 male poets seated around tables
pushed together, and exchanged easy greetings.

The warm air and the whir of fans circling the bright-yellow walls
deterred no one from the evening's intent. A sign on an equally yellow
column declared "Please: No Smoking, No Eating, No Drinking, No Coats/
Bags in book room," and finally, "No Loud Talking."

Nothing said "No Poetry."

One by one, the men read or spoke by heart their most recent works.
Vega offered comments.

"What a sweet poem," she said to the author of a romantic reading.

"There's a certain ecstatic sense," she told a man whose work compared
a lover's touch to a "wrecking ball's kiss."

But one poem she asked to be repeated.

It was about a prisoner who died in the facility gymnasium at the end
of May after serving more than a decade behind bars. The gym was hot,
and the defibrillator was not nearby, the poem indicated. The man who
wrote it had spoken to the dead man minutes earlier, and his words
made the moment vivid, including the repetitive, "Man down, man down,"
and the poet's observation that no one seemed to care.

"Wow. Wow," Vega said. "That's heartbreaking."

"It hits you hard," the man said.

"Absolutely," Vega said.

She said powerful writing can emerge when strong emotions run close to
the surface.

"Inside that poem you've gotta have that blood still warm," she said.
"You can't sentimentalize."

Another round of readings came later following a "full-court press,"
when everyone, including Vega, wrote with intensity in a matter of
minutes.

Before the exercise, she revisited a discussion earlier in the evening
about William Wordsworth and his famous poem "Daffodils," which was
composed near the turn of the 19th century. Wordsworth's poem, Vega
said, was inspired by a journal entry from his sister, Dorothy.

Poetic inspiration can come from other works of art, Vega told the
men, including songs, poems or nature itself. Then she passed around
color images of nature scenes culled from calendars and asked
participants to choose one that inspired them. To help start the flow
of words, she wrote suggestions like, "Why did you come to this
place?" and "What did you bring?" on a large page of paper propped
against a wall. She stressed the use of similes and metaphors while
paying attention to the senses - smell, taste, sight and touch.

The results showed both talent and intention. A writer inspired by an
image of aquatic life received applause.

"You've got to give me a copy of that," an admirer said.

Workshop participant David Thomas, who writes poetry under the name
"Phat Dave," said he has known Vega since she first came to the
facility in 1997, a decade plus one year after his incarceration for
armed robbery and murder.

"Janine has become like a second mother," he said. "We love Janine
with all our heart."

Thomas said he had "attempted" poetry before joining the poetry group,
but now he is serious about it. He won the Shakespeare Trophy of
Excellence in 2003, he said, and the PEN American Award around the
same time.

The workshop is an expressive outlet for Thomas, he said, allowing him
to delve into not only current issues but those he has pushed well
below the surface, like the death of a female friend who was beaten to
death by her boyfriend. Thomas learned the terrible news not long
after he entered prison.

"The first time I was able to address that was in 1988," he said,
"right in this workshop."

Yet another of Thomas' works speaks about his early childhood in
Harlem, and a visit to a surreal, candle-lit drug den in which he is
too frightened to accept a chocolate bar and cookies from a screaming
"housecoat lady" with puffy hands - even though his uncle is present.


"...A lady in a plaid housecoat

moves back and forth between two rooms.

She screams at three dirty men

sitting around a table

in the middle of the room.

Lights are on but dim;

a candle burns on that table too.

The man sleeping on the couch falls to the floor

kicking, shaking violently.

A family of roaches runs behind a wooden board

propped against a wall.

The man's head lands

on the bread they were eating..."


Thomas, who hopes to be released from prison after he goes before the
board of review in December, wants to run poetry workshops in
educational settings after he leaves Eastern Correctional. He is in
charge of the poetry group there when Vega cannot be present.

"I demand that we give our all," he said, "because that's what Janine
gives."

He has already been an inspiration to White, who joined after he saw
Thomas perform in a show at the facility. And Angel Tueros, who has
been attending workshops for seven months, was invited by Thomas to
take part.

Tueros, who brought along his Washburn acoustic guitar to the
workshop, writes lyrics for his music as well as other poetry. He said
the workshop has helped him better express himself in English, his
second language.

He is grateful to Vega for the opportunity to take part in what he
calls an "exercise of the spirit."

"I admire her both as a teacher and a person," Tueros said. "She is
such a positive role model for me. She could have been in London or
Paris (among the many places she has traveled). She comes here.

"As a teacher, she is very serious. She explains what we need to learn
to become better writers," Tueros said.

It's apparent Tueros has been listening and following his muse. His
work was recognized this year by the Association of Latin American
Culture, in a collection of poetry.

Tueros was sentenced to prison for murder in 1994 at age 22. He will
go before the board of review a dozen years from now, he said.

He, White and Thomas say the workshop is a positive experience, one
that penetrates beyond the prison walls.

"What Janine does is very important, I think, for the community as a
whole -- the administration and the people outside," Tueros said. "I
wish more people could initiate what Janine does. It helps corrections
in achieving their goals."




©Daily Freeman 2007

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