Legislature Stuff - Week of Jan. 30

CORNWALLVILLE - There have been other beginnings for Esther Cohen, recently named Poet Laureate by the Greene County Legislature.

Cohen, historically a time-splitter between the quiet village of Cornwallville and rambunctious New York City, was chosen earlier this month.

She becomes the first official muse for the the county, a two-year appointment accompanied by an annual $1,000 honorarium.

“We are still going over the nuts and bolts about exactly what the position will entail but we are excited about what this brings to the county,” says CREATE Council for the Arts grants manger Richard Royer.

CREATE recommended Cohen for the job after lawmaker Sherry B. True (District 8, Cairo), suggested instituting the title which dates back seven centuries and more. 

A panel of writers was set up to interview an impressive list of applicants, Royer says. Cohen emerged, possessing a still-blossoming collection of published poems and stories.

“We are very pleased to have Esther as our first poet laureate,” Royer says, anticipating her speaking at a minimum of two events per year.

That will likely include an appearance in the upcoming “250th Anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence,” and a ceremonial introduction of Cohen is being planned for this spring.

Cohen is well known in literary circles here and beyond. She should easily fulfill her civic duty which is to, “promote poetry and literary art in Greene County…through mentorship, teaching or presenting poetry.”

Her work includes teaching “Good Stories” at the Cairo Public Library which has been funded for many years by Poets and Writers. She is the author of nine books and hundreds of articles, poems, stories, essays and reviews.

Cohen, writing of her poetic burgeoning, shares memories of her childhood, asking, “Where does my own story begin? Every year my family would go on vacation with other Jewish families to Grossingers, one of those resorts where Jewish families would talk and eat.

“I began every single visit to Grossingers (there were many) with a visit to the PR man who booked the talent. I would request an interview for the Peck Observer for anyone who was remotely considered a celebrity.

“In seventh grade the PR man told me that Jayne Mansfield was arriving that night and I could be the first one to interview her. And her husband, Mickey Hargity.

“I interviewed them in the Grossingers swimming pool, where she wore a leopard skin bikini and I wore a polka dot stretchy thing that covered my straight line body. Mickey lifted weights in the pool.

“I had never really seen bodies before. That is, I had seen Connecticut Jews in pajamas but not much else.

“I asked Jayne Mansfield many many questions. She didn’t mind that I was skinny and in seventh grade and didn’t know anything about anything.

“She was very kind to me, and I tried hard, the next few weeks, to describe what it felt like seeing her (oh my god) and her husband (ditto) and asking her about her life. That experience was the beginning of my trying to write everything down.”

And in a little piece titled “Unexpected,” Cohen writes; What’s funny is here

in Greene County New York

I meet a broader range

of people than I do in

the building I love in

New York City where we

had a Republican once

living on the fourth floor

and much of the elevator

conversation was about

the Republican on the fourth floor

but here, where what connects us

is beauty and so many different

shades of green and soft mountains

here at the farmstand

or here at the nail parlor

or here when I invite someone

I just met at the post office

to come over for cookies

or a glass of wine, I never

know what they’ll say.