In celebration of National Poetry Month and baseball season, four all-star New Jersey poets will be at bat at the Yogi Berra Museum for an April 7th inning, 10 a.m.-2 p.m

Through the window of baseball, poets Susanna Rich, Edwin Romond and BJ Ward will read and discuss poetry on baseball and perhaps other themes out of the ballpark. In addition, poet and program producer Chris Parker, an adjunct professor in the English Department, along with Rich and Ward, will host writing workshops. The event is free, but registration for the workshops is recommended.

In addition to readings and workshops, a continuing online workshop will be available to Montclair State students, faculty and staff beginning April 8 through May 5. The program, available through Blackboard, will feature discussion groups and links to baseball poetry sources.

"Bunts means hitting the ball lightly, in baseball jargon," said Parker. "This event is like a bunt, not intimidating, but inviting. Bards means poets. And bingle is baseball dialect for a single. So if you write or hear just one thing at this event, maybe it will give you an inspirational homerun."

Romond, who retired last year after 32 years in public education, is the author of three books of poetry, Home Fire (1993) Macaroons (1997) and Blue Mountain Time: New and Selected Poems about Baseball (2002). His work has appeared in journals such as The Sun, Aethlon: the Journal of Sports Literature, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Spitball, New Letters and Fan Magazine. He has been awarded poetry fellowships from both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania State Councils on the Arts and, in 1994, from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Susanna Rich

Rich is a professor of English at Kean University, where she produced and hosts Poets on Air over WKNJ, WNTI and www.poetsonair.org. Her work has appeared in such publications as Nimrod, Feminist Studies, Kalliope, Phoebe, Visions and Spitball. Longman/Allyn & Bacon recently released the fourth edition of her book, The Flexible Writer. With artist Jo Jochnowitz, Rich tours galleries, community centers and schools with an interfaith program, "ashes, ashes: A Poet and an Artist respond to the Shoah."

Ward's most recent book of poetry, Gravedigger's Birthday, was a finalist for the 2003 Paterson Poetry Prize. He is the recipient of a 2003 Pushcart Prize for Poetry and a 2003 Distinguished Artist Poetry Fellowship for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. His work has been featured on National Public Radio's "The Writer's Almanac," the New Jersey Network's "State of the Art" and Poetry Daily, as well as in publications such as TriQuarterly, Poetry, Painted Bride Quarterly, The New York Times and a host of other journals. In 2002, one of his poems, "For the Children of the World Trade Center Victims," was cast in bronze and acquired as part of the permanent collection at Grounds for Sculpture, an outdoor sculpture museum in Hamilton. He teaches at The Frost Place in Franconia, N.H.

Parker is the author of Suburban Journals and has been published widely in magazines including Rolling Stone, Journal of New Jersey Poets and Poetry Northwest. He received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and he holds a master of fine arts from Columbia University.

The event is funded, in part, by the English Department at Montclair State University.