Thursday, October 1, 2026
Writing poetry starts with an idea that grows into something more, as if it were a garden. That’s what a dozen community members are exploring together in their poetry group, which met at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library Aug. 20 for an Open Mike Poetry Night.
The poets, ranging from people in their 20s to one who is 89, are part of poetry workshops that meet at the Hewlett-Woodmere, Rockville Centre and Long Beach Public Libraries.
For Mindy Mangot, the group’s leader, the creative process is special. Mangot, who lives in Long Beach, taught in the English department at the New York Institute of Technology and retired after teaching for 17 nonconsecutive years in the New York City school system. She also works with the Barry and Florence Friedberg JCC, helping people with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s with journaling.
Mangot starts each session with a mentor poem, which might feature Shakespeare or contemporary poetry in a discussion-like format. She then gives participants a half-dozen prompts, with the last one allowing the poets to express themselves.
“I don’t want anyone to feel they’re in a box,” Mangot said. “What they come out with is just extraordinary and sometimes better than the mentor poem.”
Larry Oakner, 73, who frequents the poetry group meetings in Rockville Centre, has been writing poems since he was 13. A University of California Los Angeles graduate, the creative writer has three self-published poetry books and joined the group as a way of connecting with other writers.
“Poetry has been a really important part of my life,” Oakner said. “I like to share what I’ve done and the feelings I’ve had about an incident or a person.”
When Oakner and his wife, Barbara Untracht, traveled to Nova Scotia, Canada, for three weeks, he thanked a tour guide for her hospitality by writing a poem about the greenery.
“She had never had anybody thank her that way before,” Oakner said. “It warmed my heart to be able to share my gift of writing with somebody who might never read a poem in her life.”
Oakner said the group’s diversity is spectacular, and regardless of each poet’s age, they all tell their own unique stories through their poems.
Mangot said the group loves and respects one another and creates an intimate space where poets can express themselves in their writing — without prying.
“We have a woman who never wrote a poem in her life, and we all almost fell out of our chairs,” Mangot said, noting it was sensitive. “The next time she came, she wrote a poem to the group thanking us.”
The poem’s name? “A Quiet Place,” a place where she felt safe.
