Jack Powers in Fairfield (CT) Citizen
- Details
- Category: News
- Published: Friday, 18 January 2019 01:52
- Written by Super User
- Hits: 2197
Fairfield author publishes first poetry collection
FAIRFIELD — Jack Powers has published many individual poems throughout the years, earning accolades like the Connecticut River Review Poetry Contests in 2012 and 2015.
But at the end of last year, he published his first collection of poems in his book “Everybody’s Vaguely Familiar.”
A little over 10 years ago, Powers was one of the two winners of the Poet of the Year award by the New England Association of Teachers of English — the first time in the contest’s nearly 30-year history that two winners were named.
“Poems are lessons on language techniques, and I use it to teach kids how to use metaphors by analyzing them and also writing some of our own,” Powers said. “I’ve taken a lot of classes over the years and am always reading poems.”
Jennifer Franklin, a teacher at the Hudson Valley Writers Center, taught the course “The Year of the Book,” one that helped Powers revise his poem collection.
“Jack Powers is a fine poet who understands the crux of our human condition and portrays it with empathy but without sentimentality,” Franklin said. “The genius of Powers’ work is that he is able to show us the moments of our lives that truly matter.”
“It’s a great place to work, I get lucky I teach at a great school and am encouraged to do a lot of things,” said Powers, who has also been the co-director of the writing center at the school. “I teach a writing course and a poetry unit and weave it into my English classes.”
Originally from Greenwich, the writer has lived in Fairfield since 1993. He is currently working on a young adult novel, one he revised last year but is hoping to submit again this year before publishing.
“I’m hoping that people will come and hear the reading. Poems are meant to be heard and read aloud,” Powers said.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.