Tompkins Weekly

Getting to Know … Tompkins County Poet Laureate Zee Zahava



By Rob Montana
Tompkins Weekly

ITHACA – For the last 20-plus years, Zee Zahava has focused her energies on coaching others to write and creating places for writers to express themselves online.
Now, she’s taking a turn in the local arts spotlight – serving as Tompkins County’s poet laureate.
“I want to be an advocate for the written and spoken word,” said Zahava of what she sees as her role with the title, “an ambassador for those who are engaged in literary pursuit.”

The poet laureate position, administered by Community Arts Partnership, is charged with doing just what Zahava wants to do.
“I want to shake things up and bring out writers who may not have considered taking part in something like this before. I want to have a venue, a showcase for them,” she said. “In addition to readings, I’m very interested in experiential interactive workshops.
“I want to look for unusual settings for things to happen,” Zahava added, noting she wanted to find venues other than those on the Cornell and Ithaca College campuses. “A lot of wonderful things happen at those institutions, but I want to look at places like art galleries, retail stores, the library.”
An example of conducting an event in a non-traditional space for writing, Zahava offered, would be a workshop she recently conducted at the State of the Art gallery, for which she had 20 people come out to write about the feelings raised by the exhibition on display.
“They were writing in response to the artwork,” she said. “It was not critical writing, it was writing about what it made them think about.
“The artists (that took part in the writing workshop) weren’t sure they would be able to do it,” Zahava added, “but they wrote like artists. They wrote with color.”
Zahava first came to Ithaca, from the Bronx, in 1968 to attend Ithaca College.
“It was very pivotal, the most important decision I made,” she said. “I grew up in the Bronx and most people I knew didn’t go far away.
“As soon as I came here, I knew this was the place. I’ve lived in London, I lived in Brooklyn, but this was the place,” Zahava added. “The pace is right here, and I’ve gotten to know so many people in so many aspects of life. This is my home.”
Since 1994, Zahava has been the director of Zee’s Writing Studio, conducting writing circles for adults and teens; she’s also a literary consultant and writing coach. Her work fits with how she feels about her own writing.
“I take pleasure in putting words on paper; I don’t write for publication,” said Zahava. “I like when people read what I’ve written and tell me they like it. I also care about being a conduit for people and writing, almost more than people reading what I’ve written.”
Prior to becoming a writing coach, Zahava was the owner of Smedley’s Bookshop, as well as outreach librarian – and director of the downtown branch – for Durland Alternatives Library. She now runs workshops in her downtown studio. She has led numerous writing workshops, organized group and solo readings, hosted writing circles for teens and adults, and has served as editor for several literary publications.
While she had been interested in the role of Tompkins County poet laureate before, it wasn’t until this year that Zahava felt ready for the mantle.
“It had to do with confidence. I’ve been a writing coach, creating an environment for people to feel safe, so the writing can happen,” she said. “I’m not a person who has published books of poetry, or memoir. What blocked me was thinking that I would have to be published to be considered.
“But this year, I thought it’s 2017, in modern times, and we’re not completely tied to paper publishing,” Zahava added. “I have a blog, and I do a lot to showcase and promote writers, and a lot of what I do fits into the description of poet laureate.”
Asked why she writes, Zahava admitted that her coaching role is what helps her continue to put pen to paper.
“The truth is, if I didn’t do the writing workshops with people and have to be in a set place for two hours, I probably wouldn’t write. I don’t have the discipline,” she said. “I like writing in the company of other people.
“I could not write. Some people say ‘I write to live,’ but my makeup is to be encouraging of the creative process,” Zahava added.
She did note the importance of writing haiku – the simple definition is that the writing form is a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven and five; often the subject is the natural world – in her life.
“That’s a very big part of my life,” Zahava said. “When I’m out walking, I make a point of being intentional and using my senses, so I can have a haiku at the end of the walk.”
She took her love of haiku and turned it into the opportunity for others – around the world – share their work.
“I had an idea to start an online haiku journal,” Zahava said. “I don’t remember how I got contributors for that first one, but I must have put the word out. I put the first issue out and it caught on.
“It’s international, with poets from 12-15 countries contributing work,” she added.
The online haiku journal – brass bell: a haiku journal (brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com) – is “anthology style,” Zahava said, with a monthly theme.
“It’s amazing,” she said of the response it has received, with approximately 60 poets submitting work each month. “Through that, we have connected with poets all over the world.”
Now, as the county’s poet laureate, she will be connecting people throughout Tompkins County with the written word.
The next event led by Zahava will take place Wednesday, March 8 – which is International Women’s Day. The workshop, titled “Oh, the Women!,” will take place from 2-4 p.m. in the Borg Warner Room (East) at the Tompkins County Public Library, located at 100 W. Green St., in downtown Ithaca. At the workshop people are invited to write and share stories about women in their lives; it is free and open to the public.
Other upcoming events include:

n Art//Reaction: Writing in Response to the Work of More Than 40 Different Artists – this creative writing workshop will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, at the CAP ArtSpace gallery in Center Ithaca. The group show at the gallery features paintings, photographs, ceramics, fiber arts and other mediums. Zahava will guide the free workshop, that will enable participants to engage with the artists’ work and share freshly-written work in a group setting. Those planning to attend should bring paper and writing instruments.

n When We Were Girls: childhood stories – This reading will take place from 2-3 p.m. Sunday, March 19, in the Ezra Cornell Reading Room at the Tompkins County Public Library. There is a suggested donation of $10 for the reading, which will showcase stories of girlhood from Zahava and her friends.
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To see Zahava’s work, visit her blog at zeezahava.blogspot.com.

 

 

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