In a small cubicle in Hoboken, Al Sullivan reports on Hudson County politics. He is an award-winning journalist with a strong following from readers. When he is not at The Hudson Reporter covering his beat, Sullivan enjoys writing essays and poems. His wife Sharon Lynn Griffiths shares his passion for poetry.
On Oct. 5 at 4 p.m., Sullivan and Griffiths will headline Christine Goodman’s Art House poetry reading at Victory Hall in Jersey City. The event will coincide with the Jersey City Artist Studio Tour, which is sponsored in part by the Reporter. We recently caught up with the couple.
EM – Why are you involved in poetry?
SLG – I write it because I have to. My writing just naturally falls into the form. To me, even short stories are too complicated – I wouldn’t know how to keep everything straight. I am "involved" in it because I have too much ego just to write it and throw it in a drawer – I want other people to hear it and read it.
AS – Poetry is a venue for me to express an idea, an image or a character. In truth, I don’t write poetry at all, but very short fiction that resembles poetry.
EM – What do you do for a living? Does your job connect with your poetry at all?
SLG – I am a grant proposal writer. The writing I do for a living has no poetry in it at all – just structure. I would like nothing more than to connect my poetry with my livelihood – but if it were, would poetry become "just a job" and would I grow resentful of it? Can’t say.
AS – I am a reporter for the Hudson Reporter, there are times when my more poetic works sneak into my reporting in the guise of features. These pieces are usually my better stories.
EM – How long have you been giving spoken word performances?
SLG – About 10 years now. My first real opportunity was given to me by Hoboken poet Joel Lewis, when he asked me to participate in a tribute to the recently-decreased Frank Zappa at the Poetry Project in New York. The audience liked me, and the rest is history.
AS – I have been involved with spoken word since the ’70s when I started at Passaic Library readings. As literary magazine editor at William Paterson University in the ’80s, I often sponsored public readings. I also attended events put on by Hoboken poet Joel Lewis at "The Beat’n Path," and Maxwell’s. And in the ’90s, I have been deeply involved in local and New York City poetry scenes.
EM – Where will you be during the Jersey City Artist Tour?
SLG – At Victory Hall on Grand Street. This is an amazing building. I think it used to be a union hall or political club of some sort. It will be packed with art for viewing (and probably purchasing) as well, so people should come even if they’re not poetry fans.
AS – We will be using the stage section of the hall, a center in the past of dance, art and music – some of which will be on hand before and after our reading.
EM – Describe your poems.
SLG – Oy vey. I write a lot about New York City, where I was born, where I grew up, and where I still work. It is quite an eternal inspiration. Also about actual and imaginary people and places of myth and legend.
AS – I write about New Jersey and its people, people I grew up with, situations they encountered. I write about the symbols of suburban life such as the automobile – which is why the collected works I’m trying to publish are called "Suburban Misfits."
EM – Is poetry thriving or dying in our country?
SLG – Both formal poetry may be on the wane since Bill Moyers did the PBS thing on the Dodge Festival – that was in the early ’90s – but I dare you hang around junior-high or high-school kids in the inner city and not hear them memorizing their own or someone else’s rap.
AS – Poetry and spoken word go through cycles of popularity. Every decade or so, it becomes "cool" to write poetry again. The rise of rap music has done much to energize the spoken word in this area, since it is basically a modern version of what Homer did 3,000 years ago.
EM – Who are your influences?
SLG – Living: Robert Pinsky, Philip Levine, Kimiko Hahn, Hilda Raz. I saw three out of four of these amazing poets for free at the first-Saturday readings in Paterson produced by Maria Gillan of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. Dead: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop.
AS – William Carlos Williams, William Faulkner, Graham Greene, The Beatles, JRR Tolkien.
EM – What do you like more, teaching (reporting) or poetry?
SLG – Not a fair question – I can’t compare the two. Teaching opened possibilities for thought that I never knew I had – I was "thinking on all four burners" about sixteen hours a day. Poetry takes a different kind of thought process, gives a different kind of satisfaction. At this point, neither profession pays – but if I could teach poetry, I guess that would be the closest to total bliss.
AS – Reporting and creative writing are two sides of the same coin. They call on the same resources for different purposes. While I would love to sit and contemplate my navel at home writing fiction, few things beat the excitement reporting creates in making a difference in contemporary community.
EM – What can people expect from this reading?
SLG – Something out of the ordinary. Instead of doing two 10-minute blocks each, we will be alternating for each piece we read. I saw this done once at a Nuyorican Poets’ Café event, and loved it. It really lets you hear the subtle differences and similarities between the poets. We’ve done this type of program a few times now, and people really like it.
AS – As wife and husband, Sharon and I share many of the same experiences. But we also bring unique perspectives to each thing. Sharon writes internally (looking from inside towards outside of the world). I write externally, trying to guess from clues how things work or what they mean. By reading alternatively pieces of related themes, you will hear this in and out perspective not found in most readings.
Christine Goodman’s Art House will kick off its fall season at Victory Hall at 186 Grand St. in Jersey City on Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. Sullivan and Griffiths will be the featured poets, and Bill Rood will host the event. For information visit www.arthouseproductions.org. q