The Poetry People first met as students in UW Waukesha Continuing Education poetry workshops, and have continued through the years to explore life stories, ideas, and emotions using the evocative medium of poetry. Their poems are drawn, as they say, from “memories of laughter and tears,” from “politics, inner city schools, and cosmic wonder,” and from “an awe of the world of nature.” They have presented their poetry in the midst of enthusiastic acclaim at all three of the previous Festivals of Books as well as at Martha Merrell’s Bookstore, the Waukesha Public Library, and as a benefit for The Women’s Center of Waukesha. Paula Anderson, Janet Leahy, Johanna Siragusa, Katy Phillips, and Paula Schulz are among the poets who’ll lead this dynamic and fast-moving session.
Paula Anderson writes in the Delafield area and is part of the writing group The Stone Kettle Poets as well as The Poetry People. She has published Echoes Poetry Journal and is currently working on a poetry anthology. Anderson is the co-editor for teh 2014 Wisconsin Poet’s Calendar.
R. L. Bailey resides in Hartland with one wife, three children, one rabbit, a dog, and five chickens. He began writing as a teenager and recently published in Echoes.
Poetry has become one of Mary Jo Balistreri’s passions. Poetry is her way of expressing the joy of being alive. Her first book, Joy in the Morning, was published in 2008. She touches on aspects that are familiar to all of us: family, music, art, loss. Her hope is that her poems will go out into the world as a kind of meeting place where both writer and reader can become more because of the exchange. Her book Gathering the Harvest was published in 2012 with proceeds going to the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. Balistreri’s chapbook Best Brothers will be released soon.
Lauren Anne Gordon received her MFA in Poetry from New England College and currently lives in Waukesha with her husband and daughter.
Janet Leahy’s ‘s subject matter includes politics, teaching in Milwaukee Public Schools, and cosmic wonder. She has published a new book of poems, Not My Mother’s Classroom, and her previous chap book, The Storm – Poems of War Iraq, is available for a limited time. She recently wrote “Ten Years Later” in commemoration of the felling of the World Trade Center towers. Leahy has been published on Your Daily Poem and has received many awards for her writing. She has served as Regional Vice-President of the East division of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and is on the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (WFOP) board. An avid gardener, Leahy said deer feast in her garden favoring hydrangea and peonies.
Kathleen Phillips, former teacher and present wife, parent and grandparent, has lived in downtown Milwaukee for two years. She still keeps in touch with her poetry roots in Waukesha and also meets with the Hartford Avenue Poets in Milwaukee. In addition to poetry, Phillips writes creative nonfiction and is working on a series of children’s chapter books. She reports that the muse is alive and well in the city. “I find Milwaukee is never at a loss of words. All I have to do is snatch them up.”
Retired UW-Waukesha English professor Margaret Rozga has written two books. Two Hundred Nights and One Day is based on the Milwaukee’s open housing marches in the 1960′s. Her second book is Though I Haven’t Been to Baghdad. The award-winning author is currently working on a new manuscript, “Justice Freedom Herbs.”
Karen Schleicher was lucky enough to be pushed into writing by great friends and teachers and has been supported since that moment by a wonderful community which includes The Poetry People.
Virginia Scholtz likes to spend time outdoors in the garden or on nature trails. She writes when the idea strikes and the paper’s at hand. She is semi-retired from nursing and lives with her family in Brookfield. Scholtz’s poems have been published in Wisconsin Trails, Your Daily Poem, and the Museletter.
Paula Schulz has been published on Your Daily Poem and has received recognition for her poems “Prayer of the Garden Snake” and “Winter Haiku.” Her poem “Newspaper Horoscope: Taurus, Cancer” was published in the Spring 2013 Museletter of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets.A former teacher, Schulz lives with her husband Greg in Slinger and cares for her grandchildren Jake and Nate. According to Schulz life is never dull.
A former teacher and counselor, Johannah Siragusa resides in Waukesha with her husband, two sons, and one yellow dog.
Pamela Tesch received her Ph.D. in German Literature the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has taught German at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Oakland Community College, and Oakland University in Michigan. Most recently Tesch taught for UW-Waukesha-Continuing Education. She writes poetry and prose.