It's Never Too Hot for Poetry in Teaneck

Poet Scott Pleasants

I was excited to learn that Scott Pleasants, the poet laureate of Teaneck, NJ, was planning a new poetry series so close to home this past Sunday. It's being held in a small garden adjacent to the town's recently renovated library, and it includes an open mic.

I woke up Sunday to a sudden burst of mid-summer weather and decided to write a poem for the occasion. I normally struggle for days/weeks/months/years/decades to write a single poem, but I didn't have anything appropriate at the ready.

The result is below, a poem I read on Sunday afternoon that didn't exist on Sunday morning. It's set in Teaneck and based on current celestial events.

I arrived early and commented to Scott, "What weather! It's too hot for poetry!" Which, he assured me, is never the case.

More than two dozen people showed up in the shade, including Chris Rockwell, founder and editor of SOUP CAN magazine, and two local poets I've participated in recent workshops with, Tara Temprano and Tammy Smith. Scott's next event at the garden? Sunday afternoon at 2, on May 31. And here's my less-than-day-old poem (PS- with slight revisions, 5/30):

When Venus and Jupiter Converge Over Teaneck

 

It’s late May 2026,

and a blue moon has begun

to sweep past Venus and Jupiter,

as the two brightest planets

visible on earth

slowly converge

in the early evening sky.

 

This is when

I find refuge in art:

A prophetic sonnet

at the conjunction

of passion and spiritual growth…

more than 2,000 years after the same sight

evoked the Star of Bethlehem.

 

I believe that at dusk on June 9, 2026,

a premillennial Savior will be born in Teaneck,

in a two-family house with thin walls:

Because thin places

are the closest between Heaven and Earth;

because tiny houses

make the loudest memories.

Our Savior will be welcomed

by Venus and Jupiter's cosmic kiss,

heralded by a murmuration of starlings,

descended from aurochs and angels.

She will be a golden goddess without a statue.

She will be revered by all faiths.

She will change the world forever:

 

End all wars, redistribute wealth,

protect our sons and daughters.

She will share her immortality,

and save us with humility.

She will dispel self-righteous myths

we have chosen to believe.

She will inspire our epic poetry.

Scott's "Ode to Teaneck," displayed in the library garden