To the Editor:

Princeton was treated to a memorable privilege on Sunday at our public library. US1 Poets’ Cooperative gave their annual celebration in honor of the new volume of US 1 Worksheets. This is, believe it or not, the 60th Issue of their literary journal, featuring skilled poets both national and international.

Our Community Room was Standing Room Only. The first nice day of 2015 gleamed through walls of windows, as life and drama and action and beauty unfolded in that hushed room.

Driving there myself, I had slightly yearned toward the Pole Farm. Suddenly, a great sense of the honor of the afternoon event washed over me: We are a community blessed that US 1 Poets’ Cooperative has been meeting to critique, every Tuesday, in and near Princeton, all those decades.

It is equally remarkable that our fine library supports poetry to such a high degree, including readings sponsored by Delaware Valley Poets with US 1 Poets on the second Monday of every month. Your own Linda Arntzenius is one of the strongest members of US 1, in terms of her art and her service. The Cooperative’s astute editors gave greatly of their time, their judgment, their very art, as well as essential logistical expertise, to bring forth this handsome volume.

But there is more. Poetry is about truth, often truths not easily shared. There is secret love, unspeakable grief, astounding encounters, as well as political truths increasingly overlooked in the prose world. Sunday at the library provided a new perspective on freedom of speech in our time.

Carolyn Foote Edelmann

Juniper Court, Lawrenceville