Words moving like sand 

Sharing poetry out loud 

At the festival. 

The Long Beach Public Library will present the Making Waves Poetry Festival for the third consecutive year. The creative celebration kicked off Wednesday with an open mic hosted by the Shore Poets Peter Dugan and three-time Poet Laureate Emeritus Paula Curci. The festival continues into the weekend with four diverse poetry workshops on Saturday and another three poetry workshops Sunday. 

The poetry festival offers another open mic session on Saturday evening, featuring Nassau County Poet Laureate Doreen Spungin. Winners of this year’s poetry contest, which ran from Jan. 30 to March 27, have been invited to read their winning work aloud. The contest was divided into three age categories: children from 5 to 11, tweens and teens from 12 to 18, and adults 18 and older. 

The poetry festival is a passion project from Nicole Menzzasalma, who wears many hats at the library: librarian, curator of the seed library, head of the LB Garden Club, and organizer of the poetry festival. 

“I saw from our Shore Poets open mic night that they were so welcoming,” Menzzasalma said. “They had such a huge presence. I went to the library’s program coordinator, Sarah Siegel, and said, ‘What if we did a poetry festival?’ She said, ‘I love it. What can we do?’ And it went from there. It centered on letting the community’s voice be heard.” 

Menzzasalma wanted expert-led workshops to play a key part of the festival weekend. “I find that, when you write in a community, there’s a certain alchemy, “she explained. “It just is so beautiful to see everybody come together for their love of poetry and writing.” 

The workshops offer experienced poets guiding attendees through free verse poetry, haiku, finding your “voice” through journaling and more. Instructors include Poet Laureate Paula Curci; award-winner Gary Jansen; Dana Monti, a second-grade teacher at Lido Elementary; and Menzzasalma herself, an experienced poet. 

“We really try to get a lot of people who are community members to host the workshops,” Menzzasalma explained. “That was a big focus for this year. Community and creativity. That’s really something I stand for. Community and inclusivity and making everybody feel welcome. The library is a place for everyone.”