APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: Local poet David Worrell reads from his recent chapbook “We Who Were Bound,” before launching it to a jazz-inspired performance of words written to music by Charlie Mingus and Miles Davis, as part of the Poets at the Library series at the Princeton Public Library on Monday, April 8. Mr. Worrell has performed his music-backed poems at Chris’ Jazz Café in Philadelphia and The Cornelia Street Café in New York. As an active member of U.S.1 Poets’ Cooperative, Mr. Worrell also celebrated the launch of the group’s annual journal at the library on Sunday. For other poetry events at the library, visit: www.princetonlibrary.org. (Photo by L. Arntzenius)

Last Sunday was the perfect early spring day. And not just because of the daffodils.

Princeton’s poets were out in full bloom, celebrating National Poetry Month and the arrival of the 40th anniversary issue of U.S.1 Worksheets, the annual journal of U.S.1 Poets’ Cooperative.

The Community Room at Princeton Public Library was packed to capacity for the launch party that brought together well over a 100 participants, many of whom had poems in this issue.

Established in 1973, U.S.1 Poets’ Cooperative has met continuously once a week in members’ homes for critique sessions. “It’s the longest continuously running poetry group in the nation,” said member Betty Lies as she got the event underway. A member of the group since 1989, Ms. Lies serves as the journal’s senior selecting editor and is a Dodge Poet for the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. She welcomed one of the group’s founders, Alicia Ostriker, to the podium. Since 1972, Ms. Ostriker has taught English at Rutgers University.

As the the day’s first reader. Ms. Ostriker paid tribute to fellow co-founder Elizabeth Anne Socolow, to whom this anniversary issue is dedicated and who was unable to attend the event. Ms. Ostriker read two sections of Ms. Socolow’s eight-part poem, “The Comfort of Queen Cynwid, King Lear’s Wife, Deposed, Alone in a Room on Goneril’s Estate.”

Much admired for her insightful comments at the weekly workshops, Ms. Socolow is the author of two collections Laughing at Gravity: Conversations with Newton and Between Silence and Praise, both of which can be found on Amazon.com. Her works have appeared in numerous literary journals.

After hearing Liz’s poems, this reporter, who is also a member of U.S.1 Poets’ Cooperative, rose to read a poem inspired by artist Frida Kahlo, which prompted Bernadette McBride to follow with her tribute to the artist.

Then, as is customary, poets stepped to the podium as at a Quaker meeting, when moved to read their poems from the journal. Some 65 poets read their work and poems by others who were absent. As the journal’s editors have discovered, the annual selections often reveal a theme. This year, it seems, is the year of dream poems. It also includes a goodly number of humorous works. Bob Rosenbloom made everyone laugh with his “Boomer: The Obligation of Parents to Teach Their Children the Truth,” as did Ruth Ramsey with her advice poem: “What Not to Write A Poem About, ” which ends with the caution: “but too many poems are written on death:/unless it’s terrific, you’d best save your breath.”

Kelly Ramsdell Fineman read her “Stuck Doing Chores on a Summer’s Evening,” with “apologies to Robert Frost.” You’ll see why with these first and last stanzas: “Whose clothes these are, I think I know./I gave them birth. I’ve watched them grow./They leave their dirty laundry here/In heaps as deep as drifted snow.” The last stanza is just as amusing: “My family is counting sheep,/But I have washing in a heap/And piles to go before I sleep./And piles to go before I sleep.”

Howard Lieberman spoke about writing, “I Like to Wear Old Sweats.” “When I first joined U.S.1,” he said, “they told me that my poems were too abstract. This year I submitted four very abstract poems to the journal and then as an afterthought this poem. Guess which one got picked?”

Over its four decades, U.S.1 Poets’ Cooperative has retained the free-spirited informality of the 1960s poetry groups, like the West Coast Berkeley Poets, that inspired it. Run entirely by volunteers, it has no officers or by-laws and weekly workshops take place in members’ living rooms. The number of attendees can vary from less than a handful to a room full of 20. New faces are welcome and poets take turns to distribute photocopies of their work and read. Comments are spoken and written on the distributed sheets and returned to the author.

The idea is for an individual’s work to benefit from the skill of all. Reading aloud often reveals flaws that are not readily detected on the page. Comments from seasoned writers like Ms. Lies, Ms. Socolow, Jean Hollander, whose workshops at the Princeton YWCA have long nurtured local writers; Wanda Praisner, a member since 1989 and a Poet in Residence for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts; Nancy Scott, the journal’s managing editor since 2004; and others are like gold. All except for Ms. Socolow were at Sunday’s event.

Many U.S.1 poets have published in local and national journals, and many have collections. Some that spring to mind are: Vanitas by Jane McKinley; The Day After I Drowned by Betty Lies; Organs and Blood by Jean Hollander; Cosmogony by Lois M. Harrod; Detours and Diversions by Nancy Scott; and Where the Dead Are by Wanda Praisner, to name but a handful.

If the weekly workshops haven’t changed much over the years, the annual journal, U.S.1 Worksheets has evolved from a simple works-in-progress document to a professionally produced and, by many accounts, prestigious journal. It’s original folded tabloid format has given way a perfect bound book that this year, for the first time, boasts a color cover.

During the last decade, covers have featured images by contemporary photographers like Frank Magalhaes, who donated images for issues 51, and 54. Last year’s featured “Mexican Vessels” by member Therese Halscheid. The year before, it was “The Writing Desk” by Thomas Bivin. Issue 53 had work by Paul Cockrell of California, and Issue 52, by Dick Greene of Massachussetts. Jay Goodkind was featured on the cover of Issue 50. The 40th anniversary issue shows a collage, “Summer Nap,” by Nancy Scott, a vibrant image of nude with cat conveyed in the hottest of reds and pinks against the black background of the cover.

Selecting editors for this issue, Betty Lies, Jill Stein and Enriqueta Carrington, chose 129 poems from over 1,000 submissions. Lois M. Harrod worked on the layout. Dave Worrall maintained the weekly email calendar. Eric Heller served as webmaster and Elizabeth “Mimi” Danson as the group’s treasurer.

John McDermott expressed the feelings of the day when he congratulated the group for its staying power before pausing to remember late members Bob Welch, Virginia Lockwood, Jack Wiler, and Ralph Copleman, among others

“This event is the highlight of the year,” said Ms. Scott. “The turnout is incredible and we are especially grateful to the Princeton Public Library and its staff for continuing to host the event. We’re a young group after all, just turned 40, and we look forward to many more years.”

In conjunction with the Princeton Public Library and the Delaware Valley Poets, U.S.1 Poets Cooperative runs a monthly “Poets at the Library” reading series on the second Monday of each month by the fireside on the second floor of the Library.

Copies of the journal are $10. For more information, including submission deadlines and how to become a member, visit: www.us1poets.com.