Connecticut Poet At Bethel Arts Junction

BETHEL — Gabrielle Zane, a Connecticut poet who makes a living as a poet, will be the guest during the January 31 Wednesday Night Poetry Program at Bethel Arts Junction.

 The Arts Junction is a cooperative art gallery situated in the old Bethel railroad station off Greenwood Avenue. The weekly program is co-hosted by program directors Faith Vicinanza (426-3388) and Michael Seri (270-6202).

Doors open at 7:30 pm, an open mic then runs from 7:45 to 8:30, featured poets read until 9 pm, and a poetry workshop runs from 9:15 or so until the group is finished for the evening. Participants are encouraged to bring copies of their original poems to share during the workshop session.

Admission is generally $1, which goes toward the rent of the cooperative gallery space (Bethel Arts Junction also serves as an art gallery). On certain nights a hat is passed to collect additional funds for out-of-state feature/guest poets who are paid to speak/perform in Bethel.

Gabrielle Zane, the January 31 featured poet, was a member of two national slam teams, a working poetry teacher for Poetry Alive! out of Asheville, N.C., in 1998 and 1999, and a visiting artist in many Connecticut schools delivering her own work and the work of other poets to grade school participants.

Bethel Arts Junction is at 5 Depot Place, immediately off Greenwood Avenue. Watch for Greenwoods Restaurant or One Front Street (another restaurant just off the railroad tracks that run across Greenwood Avenue), and the depot building is at the end of the parking lot adjacent to either of these businesses.

For more specific directions or program information contact either of the program directors or Bethel Arts Junction, 748-2828.