Thursday Morning Poets, Multicultural Female Writing Group, Makes Debut at New York City Poetry Festival

Strangers before the pandemic, Thursday Morning Poets met for the first time Saturday, July 24, 2021 in-person at NYC Poetry Festival, held on Governors Island, for what was also their debut public reading of original work in the non-virtual world.

Queens Poet Laureate and Academy of American Poets Fellow Maria Lisella, who led the prompt-based poetry writing workshop that held their initial gathering in January 2021, said, "I find it inspiring that bonds were made among strangers on Zoom during a pandemic when touching each other physically was verboten - poetry provided a link to safety, comfort and a way forward together."

Ms. Lisella also noted, "I'm pleased, too, that Academy of American Poets provided my fellowship which supported the workshop series and Queens Public Library gave TMP a virtual platform on which they met weekly and read their work for the first time publicly to invited guests."

The readers, all women, included educators, mothers, journalists, a yoga instructor, & a 19-year-old Ukrainian student lifted voices to sound their views on a broad array of topics -- from calls for social justice, to making choices in life's journey and celebrating playful moments in adulthood.

"Almost six months to the day of our first on-line encounter, we've stepped out of our Zoom boxes where we meet weekly, into the real-world -- vaxxed & masked, now we can finally hug each other!" is how TMP member Luvon Roberson summed up the group's pandemic experience and their first-ever non-virtual meetup on idyllic Governors Island.

TMP is composed of emerging as well as award-winning poets who meet on-line weekly. For more on TMP visit: tinyurl.com/tmpoet.