Roots Revisited: Celebrating Janine Pommy Vega

Please join the Museum for “Roots Revisited: Celebrating Janine Pommy Vega” on Sunday, December 8 at 4pm!

This live public event will feature four notable Hudson County poets celebrating legendary poet Janine Pommy Vega who grew up in Union City, NJ. Janine graduated high school as class valedictorian at the age of 16. She moved to New York City and lived with Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky. She went on to develop a strong feminist voice in the Beat movement.

Over the next 5 decades, Janine traveled the world and published 18 books of poetry including Poems to Fernando (City Lights), Mad Dogs of Trieste (Black Sparrow), The Green Piano (Black Sparrow), and the memoir Tracking the Serpent (City Lights), which chronicles her travels across several continents.

Janine was active in promoting poetry in New York State correctional facilities, through Bard College’s Bard Prison Initiative and as Director of Incisions/Arts. She taught poetry in public schools and migrant centers. She spent the last decades of her life in Willow NY (next to Woodstock) with fellow poet Andy Clausen. She passed away in 2010. This event will be hosted by our Poet in Residence Danny Shot, who was a friend of Janine’s.

About the event: The title of the event comes from Pommy Vega’s poem Roots Revisited

Excerpt from Roots Revisited

Rubble graces the remains
Of a sultry day
November and no winter
In sight. A train of boxcars
Rumbles by in the hazy
Sun over Hoboken.

The four poets who will be paying tribute to her legacy include: Eliot Katz, Millicent Ansah, Yetvart (Ed) S. Majian, and Vera Sirota.

Called “another classic NJ bard” by Allen Ginsberg, Eliot Katz is the author of seven books of poetry, including Love, War, Fire, Wind and Unlocking the Exits. In early 2020, he posted a free pdf poetry volume on his website entitled: President Predator: Poems to Help Make America Trump-Free Again. Eliot was a co-founder, with Danny Shot, of the long-running Long Shot literary magazine, and a book of his new and selected poems, Liberation Recalled, is currently being translated into Italian for a 2025 publication in Florence. Eliot was recently named a New Generation Beat Poet Laureate by the National Beat Poetry Foundation. Eliot’s late mother was a Holocaust survivor, and he has worked for decades as an activist for a wide range of peace and social-justice causes, including helping to create several housing and food programs for Central Jersey homeless families that remain ongoing. He lives in Hoboken, and his website is at www.eliotkatzpoetry.com. Eliot was good friends with, and did many readings with, Janine Pommy Vega.

Millicent Ansah, fondly known as Millie, is an educator, poet, and community organizer who has called Jersey City home for over a decade. As a first-generation Ghanaian American, Millie believes in the transformative power of kindness and inclusivity, dedicating herself to building spaces where everyone feels welcomed and connected. In 2023, she launched *Mocha Mic with Millie*, a monthly open mic event that serves as a creative haven led by and for Black women. Millie calls her attendees her “tribe of scribes and good vibes,” creating a space for unity, expression, and support. *Mocha Mic* is more than an event—it’s a community. Millie is excited to continue her partnership with the Jersey City Library, leading poetry and creative workshops for children, and to collaborate with local businesses and partners to strengthen community ties and foster connections. Through each effort, Millie’s mission remains clear: to bring people together in a spirit of kindness and connection.

Yetvart (Ed) S. Majian is a first-generation Armenian-American poet and a Sifu (teacher) in Chinese Kung Fu tradition. He is the current Poet in Residence for Washington Park Association in Hudson County, and the founder of a weekly poetry series and safespace open forum — The {Poetry} Unfold — in Union City, where he focuses on empowering fellow local poets. His writing and poetry have appeared in SOUP CAN Magazine, Persian Cat Poetry, The Jersey Journal, the Kairos Peace Journal, and the newly-minted WAYE Small Press. He’s been a featured poet on Poets with Purpose, and featured performer at readings on both sides of the Hudson River. Yetvart is still currently accepting rejections for his two first manuscripts. His poetry often focuses on the subtleties of human intersubjectivity and, drawing from his Armenian legacy of genocide and diaspora, themes of social justice. Most importantly, Yetvart is passionate about poetic community and being here, in community, today. | IG: @emajian

Vera Sirota is the proud granddaughter of Ukrainian immigrants. Vera serves as the Communications Associate for the Hoboken Historical Museum, where she works alongside Poet in Residence Danny Shot on poetry programming. She is the author of the chapbook “We Bow To No One,” published by Bottlecap Press in 2023. “We Bow To No One” was the 2024 Chapbook Winner of the Eric Hoffer Award and earned a First Horizon Award for superior work by debut authors. It will also be included in the Poets House Showcase this December in New York City.

This event is free, and will be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.

Please join us to celebrate this important Hudson County poet and feminist trailblazer!