Celebrate nature, the outdoors, and poetry! There will be five fabulous poetry features followed by an open mic. FREE and family-friendly event. Bring a poem to read, bring a friend, bring your family, and enjoy a safe, socially-distanced event.
Learn more about the poets below!
Robert Savino
Robert Savino, Suffolk County Poet Laureate 2015-2017 & Bards Laureate 2019-2021, is a native Long Island poet, Board Member at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, and winner of the 2008 Oberon Poetry Prize. Robert is the co-editor of a bilingual collection of Long Island Italian Americans Poets (No Distance Between Us). His books include Fireballs of an Illuminated Scarecrow and Inside a Turtle Shell. As a mentor, he enjoys being the key that unlocks doors to creative minds.
Evelyn Kandel
Evelyn Kandel, Nassau County Poet Laureate, retired as Art Dept. Head at Portledge School,now teaches poetry at Great Neck Community Center and before the pandemic, at Glen CoveLibrary and LIU's Hutton House. She is the author of four published books of poetry and her poems appear in many journals and anthologies, most recently in Corona, an anthology published by Walt Whitman Birthplace and edited by Gayl Teller. Earned Bachelor's degree (Columbia) and Master’s degree (LIU). She is a proud Marine Corps veteran and has been married for 60 years to the same great guy, the subject of many poems.
George Wallace
George Wallace is a writer in residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, author of 38 chapbooks of poetry, and a native Long Islander who is a prominent member of the NYC poetry performance scene. He travels worldwide to perform his work and has been honored for his work in the US, UK, Italy, Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, and Macedonia.
Doreen Spungin
Dd. Spungin, author of the collection, Tomorrow Smells Invisible (Words With Wings Press, 2020) hosts events for Poets In Nassau and Performance Poets Association on Long Island.
Her poetry can be found in anthologies and in print and online journals, most recently Maintenant 14, First Literary Review East, L I Quarterly, Poets To Come, The Avocet, Nassau County Poet Laureate Society Review, PPA Literary Review, and Corona, An Anthology of Poems. Several of her poems have been set to music by NY composer, Julie Mandel.
Cliff Bleidner
Cliff Bleidner Walt Whitman Birthplace Association 2021 Long Island Poet of the Year; award-winning Haiku poet, formalist poet, PPA co-founder, PPA coordinator. Retired pharmaceutical chemist, Vietnam Vet, and substance abuse counselor.