‘A renegade making sense of her world’

City’s 1st poet laureate publishes ‘Be Full’ posthumously

MIDDLETOWN — Poetess Susan Allison, viewed by the Middletown arts community as a visionary, and beloved by those who knew her, died in May 2018 at 56 after a battle with cancer.

Area poets, laureates, and friends of Allison will gather in the Hubbard Room of the Russell Library Tuesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. as her husband, longtime city arts coordinator Stephan Allison, reads from her new book, “Be Full,” published by Ibis Books.

A second reading will take place Sept. 21 at the Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore. Both readings are open to the public.

The purpose of the evening is to introduce “Be Full,” the city’s first poet laureate’s latest book of poems. Proceeds will go to the Community Foundation of Middlesex County, and an honorarium to the city’s new poet laureate, Cheryl Hale.

Stephan Allison just received a $2,456 grant from the Middletown Commission on the Arts.

“Her legacy is worth strengthening,” he said. “Susan will stand on her merits, but it’s up to me to promote and publicize her work.”

The first reading would have been held June 12, her birthday, but her husband did not want the event to conflict with the city’s annual car cruise on Main Street.

Readers will include Stephan Allison and his son, John; Sherri Bedingfield, Ginny Connors, Richard and Cindy Eastman (Susan’s brother and sister); Tarn Granucci, Beth Lapin, Rennie McQuilkin, Tom Nicotera, Michael Pestel, Abigail Reynolds and Kathleen White.

Born in Derby, Susan Allison grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. After traveling through East Africa, she earned a bachelor of arts degree in African studies from Wesleyan University in 1985.

Following graduation, she opened a shop, Ibis Books & Gallery, which sold old- and rare-books on Rapallo Avenue in the North End. In 1991, the shop became an arts and cultural performance space, North End Arts Rising, Inc. /Buttonwood Tree. The shop later moved to Main Street.

The arts commission named the poetess laureate in 2015. Two former Macdonough Elementary School students petitioned Mayor Dan Drew to create a poet laureate for the city .

Though Hale is unable to attend the event, she is looking forward to the Sept. 21 event.

“I had great affection and respect for Susan, her life’s work, and her excellent poetry,” she said. “Susan was a beautiful person, inside and out. She was always kind and supportive to me.”

Hale said the two became friends sharing their love of the written and spoken word, gardens and nature.

Fellow Poet Tom Nicotera, another admirer of Susan Allison’s poetry, praised her spirit of activism. Two years ago, he asked her to be a featured poet for the Wintonbury Poetry Series, which he coordinates at Bloomfield’s Wintonbury Branch Library.

She agreed to read Jan. 17. After her death, Nicotera turned the January event into a memorial reading of her poetry. Several poets read her works, including Hale and former Connecticut State Poet Laureate Rennie McQuilkin.

Nicotera views Susan Allison’s passing as “a tremendous loss to the Connecticut poetry community, as she was very involved in the presentation of other poets’ work. Not only did I read several times at the Buttonwood, but so did many of my friends. Susan was always there to give encouragement.”

About her poetry, Nicotera said two words come to mind: “ebullience and compassion.”

“Ebullience because her poetry reflects a zest for living in all its myriad aspects, from the simple moment to complex relationships. Each poem catches me by surprise: They are all so different. Compassion because so many of her poems express the feelings and lives of not only other people, but also creatures in the natural world.

“Susan’s poetic voice is distinctive: joyful, playful and, when she needs to be, serious.”

Commenting online about her earlier book, “Down by the Riverside,” Susan Allison’s brother and poet, Richard Eastman, said her poems are “the outlaw act of a renegade making sense of her world. A gypsy manifesto striving to communicate the strange, sad and beautiful truth.

“Through sound and syllable, logic and rhythm, wisdom and whimsy. It is the clarion bell of a new voice whose time has come.”

McQuilkin called her poems in “Be Full” “honest, passionate and humane as she herself remained until the very end.”

“How fortunate we are, having lost Susan herself, not to have lost her oneof-a-kind voice. She had an unending desire to make the world a more civilized habitat for humanity, and all God’s creatures. I am delighted to be reading her poems in praise of poetry as a vital part of our lives,” he said.

Stephan Allison said “Be Full” may not be his wife’s final book. More of her poems may be published. In 2018, Ibis published “Poet Laureate of Middletown Proclaimed and Provoked” on her birthday.

Stephan Allison expects “Be Full” will also be sold at the Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore. He hopes to eventually have it in bookshops throughout New England.

“Susan saw the rough side of life, and, through her writing, transcended it,” he said. “She let readers know there is hope and often did it through humor. I want her work to gain a wider audience.”

For information, visit susanallison.com.

Contributed photo A book of poetry, “Be Full,” written by Middletown’s first poet laureate Susan Allison, who died in May 2018, will be released posthumously Tuesday during an event at the Russell Library.

Contributed photo “Be Full” is written by Middletown poet laureate, the late Susan Allison.

Contributed photo Middletown’s first poet laureate Susan Allison