In a city full of artists, it’s no surprise that one of our own has won a prestigious poetry award. Peekskill’s Suzanne Cleary recently won the 2024 Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award with the manuscript for her fifth book of poems, The Odds.
Cleary says that this award is special for a number of reasons. First, “it is a very well-respected award established in memory of Laura Boss, who was a wonderful poet and great advocate for poetry, especially in the greater New York City area.” The poet says it is also special because her previous publisher, BkMk Press, had shut down due to loss of funding stemming from the Covid pandemic. “This meant that my then-new book manuscript—since heavily revised and renamed The Odds—became an orphan and remained so for nearly four years.” Cleary said this award has given that manuscript a home; The Odds will be published in Spring 2025 by NYQ Books.
Cleary is no stranger to accolades. The Peekskill poet has garnered a number of impressive awards, including a Pushcart Prize, the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award of Poetry Society of America, the Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize, and the Paterson Award for Literary Excellence. She has also received fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts, Yaddo, and MacDowell.
The artist says “writing is my way of thinking; I think-on-paper about things that interest me or seem worth spending time mulling over. If I decide it could be a poem, I get to work.”
Cleary traces her poetry roots back to a high school scheduling decision. “Senior year, I registered for something called Poetry Workshop simply because it fit into my schedule and meant I had only a half-day of school on Friday,” Cleary said. “In that class I first read contemporary poets who used language that sounded like the language that I spoke, not like Shakespeare or Keats.”
Though she went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in American History and Anthropology from SUNY Oneonta, poetry continued to be her passion. “My schedule was packed with history and anthropology classes, but I was able to take the Poetry Workshop course every semester because of two wonderful and kind faculty poets, Donald Petersen and Richard Frost. They let me attend Poetry Workshop without notifying the registrar. Donald Petersen encouraged me to apply to the creative writing program at Washington University, and I hit the jackpot: a full tuition scholarship and generous fellowship stipend, covering my two years of study.”
After earning an MFA in Creative Writing from Washington University, Cleary went on to get a Ph.D. in Literature and Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Like many poets, she has supported herself with a variety of jobs, from working in museums to teaching, but she has always been writing poems.
Cleary has written countless poems. She has four previous full-length poetry collections: Crude Angel (2018), Beauty Mark (2013), Trick Pear (2007), and Keeping Time (2002). Her poems have appeared in anthologies including Best American Poetry and The Forward Book of Poetry. They have also appeared in journals including Atlantic Monthly, Georgia Review, Southern Review, and Poetry London.
When asked what a good introduction to her work would be, Cleary said, “I’m especially fond of my poem ‘Anyways’ because it features my hometown (Binghamton, NY) and manages to be, I’m told, both funny and heartbreaking. I love that combination!” Cleary added, “I need to note here that I’m tremendously grateful for each reader that finds my work! I don’t take readership for granted. How could I? Most of what I write never sees publication. I try to think of these poems as practice, useful for building up my poetry muscles.” You can read several of Cleary’s poems, including “Anyways,” on her website, https://www.suzanneclearypoet.com/.
How does Cleary go about building up her poetry muscles? “I write early drafts in a barely legible longhand, then type up the mess of it,” Cleary told the Herald. “I always tell my workshop students that the early stage of writing is where you should welcome anything and everything to the page. Initially, I never know which words are the notes for a poem and which are the actual words of the poem—and I don’t want to know! I want the poem to surprise me with its better ideas…. If I’m lucky, the description takes on a metaphorical dimension. After anywhere from 5 to 50 drafts, it’s done.
“As for where I write? If I could identify one specific spot, I’d go there every day! I think that my ‘place’ is inside of myself; that is, a state of mind where I feel both quiet and alert—it’s not unlike how you feel when you drive long-distance.”
Cleary doesn’t view poetry as the domain of the few. “I think that anyone who has an interest in poetry probably is a poet waiting to happen,” she said, adding that while she believes that anyone can acquire the skills required to write a good poem, not everyone has the work ethic or stamina to be a poet—to keep writing, keep revising, keep submitting work to journals and competitions. “It helps to have something that you feel driven to write about,” she added. “This is something that cannot be taught, but it can be discovered.”
Cleary has this advice for budding poets. “First, you need to read poetry, so that you’ll know what poetry is. The good news is that there are lots of different types of poetry, so if one type doesn’t speak to you, just keep reading. Second, you need to read whatever interests you, for that subject will fuel your poems. History and anthropology still fill my poems, these many decades after my undergraduate study. I’d also advise you to attend poetry readings, and to study with poets whose work especially moves you; the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center is a great resource, and NYC is full of poetry life. These are great ways to meet other poets with whom you can share your poems, for critique and encouragement.”
The author is currently Core Faculty in a low-residency MFA Creative Writing Program at Converse University, which she described as “probably the most supportive and energetic writing community I have ever experienced.” She also teaches at the Hudson Valley Writer’s Center. For 30 years she was an English professor at SUNY, taught at the Frost Place Poetry Festival, and has been a visiting writer at various colleges and universities.
Cleary’s wordsmanship isn’t her only artistic talent. She is also an avid amateur painter.
Cleary said that writing a brief bio for a poetry award led her back to the visual arts. “I wrote something that ended ‘but what I most want to be is a painter,’” she recalled. “As soon as that bio got published, I knew that I had to begin painting again. As a child, I loved drawing and painting but stopped because of the corrosive effect of perfectionism. I now have over 50 sketchbooks full of drawings and watercolors, and regularly sketch with the NYC and Westchester branches of the international Urbansketchers (https://www.nycurbansketchers.org/). One of my favorite sketching haunts is the Peekskill Coffeehouse.”
Cleary and her husband, David Langley, an essayist and writer specializing in aviation history, moved to Peekskill more than 25 years ago. Cleary said that Peekskill’s initial selling point was its proximity to New York City but added, “In time, I’ve grown to love it.”
Cleary enjoys a number of things about living in Peekskill. These include “Walking downtown (and to the train station), sketching at the Peekskill Coffeehouse, finding vintage treasures at Quirkshop and the Bruised Apple, attending events sponsored by the Peekskill Arts Alliance (PAA), and getting to know the talented artists of the PAA.” Cleary gives back to the community and has done readings at the PAA and the BeanRunner.
Next time you are downtown or at the train station, look around. “The Odds” are good that you’ll see Cleary sketching or jotting down words that will find their way into her next poem.
