“Whether they’re the fierce undercurrent of a poet’s musings or simply jammin’ on their own, the Jeff Robinson Trio exhibit a power and confidence that flirts with perfection.” Patricia Smith
——————–
January
Pat Rossi – 29
Pat Rossi
Although she has been writing since she was a young child, Pat Rossi is fairly new to performance poetry. She was born in Providence, RI and is the eldest of three children. Reading, music, and art were always a big part of her life. Pat’s father was a Painter and Writer who had work exhibited regularly at Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. Her parents read to her every day from the time she was born. Pat was able to read and write before entering kindergarten. She was placed in one of the very first Gifted Programs in the city of Providence at The Flynn Elementary School. She studied the violin from age 6 to 15 and also learned to play the organ and the accordion. She also sang in her junior high school choir. Pat began writing poetry and short stories at age 10, after her neighbor introduced her to the writings of Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. Her love of reading didn’t stop with books. It was very common for someone to walk in a room and find her reading everything from a cereal box to a shampoo bottle! She would wait anxiously every year for her father to bring home the new Almanac! When she was eleven she asked for a set of Encyclopedias. She got two sets; the Encyclopedia Americana and The Encyclopedia Britanica and read them both from A-Z! When she was finished with her homework she would read the Scrabble Dictionary for fun! Pat had and still has a passion for words and facts!
She became co-editor of her High School Literary Magazine and was also on the Year Book Committee. She won a college scholarship for writing a short story about the death of her best friend who died the summer before their senior year in high school. She attended Syracuse University and was the Editor of her dorm newspaper and did freelance writing for the campus newspaper, The Daily Orange.
In 1986, Pat met the man of her dreams and they were married in 1988. They had two beautiful children, Marissa in 1990 and Michael in 1991. Pat put her passion for writing aside to raise her family. She wrote occasionally, but found a greater reward during this period of her life being a full time mom and wife. In the next several years, Pat experienced some devastating losses. The two biggest losses were her mom in 1997 and her six week old nephew in 1999. She never imagined anything could be more painful than those two deaths. However, in 2009, Pat’s father became ill and her husband of 21 years started an affair. In January 2010, her father died and one month later her husband said he no longer wanted to be married. This was almost more than she could handle. She was ready to give up living. During the months prior to her father’s death and her husband leaving, Pat turned to writing to2
————————————————————–
“The Lizard Lounge is the Blue Note of spoken word. Backed up by The Jeff Robinson Trio, my words felt held, or rather anointed, in the garb of jazz, which, of course, they were. I cannot wait until I can get back!” Award winning poet Taylor Mali