A Lyrical Poet Laureate Is Named To Monmouth County Post

FREEHOLD, NJ — Since his childhood in Sicily, Emanuel di Pasquale of Long Branch says he has always responded to the "lyrical" nature of the world around him.

And for much of his life, he has expressed what he sees - and hears and feels - in poetry.

Now, just turning 80, a lifetime of expressing his vision through poetry has been acknowledged by his being named the Poet Laureate of Monmouth County.

The Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners this month presented di Pasquale with the honor in the form of a proclamation - and praise for his work.

“Emanuel has a remarkable story of immigrating to the United States in 1956 and developing his passion for the arts and literature," said Commissioner Ross F. Licitra, in presenting the proclamation.

He noted that di Pasquale taught as a professor of English for more than 54 years at the college level, primarily at Middlesex College in Edison.

And di Pasquale has published collections of poems, including: "Genesis" and "The Silver Lake Love Poems," and more, the county noted. He has been honored for his translations of works from Italian. His Facebook site can be accessed here.

Di Pasquale, who lives in an oceanfront apartment in Long Branch, walks on the boardwalk - and in the halls of his building - for exercise every day, he said in a recent interview.

And his walks as a child in Sicily were his first source of inspiration.

"Ever since I was a little boy, I would take walks," he said, adding that "auditory and lyrical images" emerged from the scenes he encountered.

One well-known poem is "Rain." He read the two lines of the poem:

Like a drummer's brush,

the rain hushes the surface of tin porches.

He said the sounds "brush" and "hush" create an experience of sound within the poem.

On the oceanfront, he'll watch the seagulls hovering. To di Pasquale's eye, they become "crucifixes" in the sky, he said.

He compares snowflakes "to albino butterflies," in another poem.

"All my life I would see things and report them in a lyrical manner," he said.

He stays away from bringing a political bent to his poetry - a trend he said is popular today.

He prefers John Keats, such as in that poet's "To Autumn": "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness," di Pasquale recited.

Di Pasquale was raised until his early teen years in Sicily with an admittedly adoring mother and two sisters. His sisters would wash his hair and have fun styling it, he recalled. His father died when he was young, he said.

His family was able to come to America, and he was educated at Adelphi University and New York University, graduating with a master's degree.

He came of age in the 1960s, with "long hair and a bandana," he said. He read lots of science fiction, and he would listen to radio programs, such as storyteller Jean Shepherd's show, as he became proficient in English. "I fell in love with the language," he said.

Di Pasquale has since been married and has grown children. His hair, still long, was only recently cut - a little shorter than he expected, he observed.

He retired from Middlesex College in 2020. But now, as Poet Laureate of Monmouth County, he will have another creative outlet.

Commissioner Director Thomas A. Arnone noted at the ceremony that the position of Poet Laureate is a "seasoned poet appointed by a governing body to compose poems for special occasions and to promote artistic and literary expression within the community. We thank Emanuel for volunteering his time and incredible skills.”

Fittingly, di Pasquale shared in a text to Patch his "Monmouth County Poem," printed here with his permission:

County of rivers and ocean waters

Waves reaching the skies

Home of the Delaware

and peace-loving Leni Lenape

Landscape of farms

and noble horses

Home of brave Molly Pitcher

Revolutionary water giver

and first female soldier

Di Pasquale was also named Poet Laureate of Long Branch in 2014. And poet Robert Pinsky, himself from Long Branch, served from 1997 to 2000 as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.

Di Pasquale is the first Poet Laureate appointed by the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners since Anna M. McNeill, who served from 1995 until she died in 1998, Licitra said.

"With the support of my fellow commissioners, we hoped that the honorary position would encourage the next generation of poets to continue writing and sharing their art. We thank Emmanuel for sharing his talents with us and the residents of Monmouth County," Licitra added.

And di Pasquale said he would like to see the post of Poet Laureate of New Jersey reinstated in the future - maybe even for him, he quipped.

The statewide was post was created in 1999, then abolished in 2003 after a controversial poem by the last laureate.