Denise Kolanovic is an English/ENL teacher and a poet. She has an MA in English from Brooklyn College and an MS in TESOL from Touro College; she has taught English for 15 years and ENL for 9 years. She first studied poetry with Collette Inez at The New School and later joined the Brooklyn Poetry Circle, New York Poetry Forum, Shelley Society, and National League of American Pen Women, of which she is past president of the All Cities Branch. Through All Cities Branch, she has organized many teen poetry contests and ran poetry workshops and scholarships for ESL students. She is active in Poets of Nassau, Performance Poets Association, and Bards Initiative and has been published nationally in several anthologies and journals including Whispers and Shouts, Reckless Writing, Long Island Quarterly, Walt’s Corner, Celiyd, Bards Anthologies, PPA Anthologies, and others. She won the Grabanier Sonnet award from Brooklyn College and the John Donne award from Poetry Society of America. She co-edited three volumes of Eve’s Legacy, a poetry anthology and formed a poetry guild, “The Poet’s Circle”. She is the author of Asphalt Sounds, Fore Angels Press: 2004 and awaiting the publication of her second book, Black Irises: Love and Other Emotions, Local Gems Press.

You may read more of Ms. Kolanovic's work on her blog: https://dekola111.wordpress.com/

Mission Statement: Poetry is a means to express seemingly insignificant as well as paramount moments of life into crystalized moments. It can reach out and shock you or hold you endearingly close with its universality.