PHOTOS: Mahwah Honors Life, Poetry of Joyce Kilmer

Earlier this year, township resident and Joyce Kilmer enthusiast Alex Michelini formed the Joyce Kilmer Society of Mahwah, a group dedicated to preserving the memory and legacy of the poet. Last week, the group hosted a formal event commemorating Kilmer’s work.

Michelini submitted to Patch the following highlights of the event:

• Award-winning poet and Ramapo College professor James Hoch described Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” as “a wonderful poem” and placed his overall  style  in the company of poets William Butler Yeats, Samuel Colerage and Robert Frost. Hoch delivered the keynote address at the Joyce Kilmer Society of Mahwah’s “Tribute to Joyce Kilmer,” celebrating the 100th anniversary of Kilmer writing “Trees” in his Mahwah house on Februry 2, 1913.
• Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet, in welcoming remarks, said  “the love and passion for Joyce Kilmer” are what brought the crowd together. He congratulated the Society and its founder, Alex Michelini, for putting Mahwah “on the map” through local and national media coverage by  conclusively proving Kilmer wrote “Trees” in his Mahwah house in 1913.
• Commander Gary Montroy of Mahwah VFW Post 7142 recited Kilmer’s “Memorial Day,” written in Mahwah in 1914.
• Assemblywoman Holly Shepisi of the 39th District delivered a Memorial Day message and four winners  of the Joyce Kilmer Poetry Contest, conducted by he Historic Preservation Commission,  in the Mahwah High School and Middle School competition read their original compositions. The students included Amira Aroora, Middle School, first prize for “Joyce Kilmer: One of a Kind;” Aryaan Arora,  Middle School, 2nd place, “Joyce Kilmer: Life at Risk;” Sara Levitsky, Middle School, 3rd place, “Since the Love for Trees;”  and  Kyle  Dubiel, High School, 2nd place, “Joyce’s Choice.” Other winners who could not be present were Sara Zaat, High School, 1st place, Experitse;” Amy Naslonski, High School, 3rd place,  “A Tribute to the Sentiments of Joyce Kilmer;” and Jusin Lazer, Middle School, tied for 3rd place, “Just in Case.”
• The tribute also included a taped greeting from Miriam A. Kilmer, the poet’s grand-daughter, who was visited recently by Michelini in a tree-shaded park near her home in Alexandria, VA., a 1952 CBS  video of the late Metropolitan Opera star Robert Merrill singing a musical adaptation of “Trees,” and a 1940 radio broadcast of Mutual’s “Family Theater” docu-drama, “The Story of Joyce Kilmer,” starring Richard Basehart, Audrey Totter and Danny Thomas as narrator.

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