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11/06/2024 08:30 AMWhile some of the most memorable and well-known poetry was written centuries ago, there are still people in the community who are trying to bolster its popularity and emphasize the impact it can have on people of all ages. One person who is passionate about doing that is longtime Madison resident Ed Lent—a teacher, an author and, most important to him, a poet.
After attending school, getting his start in New York City, and then coming back to Connecticut and impacting his community close to home, Ed was presented with a special honor when he was named the first poet laureate for the Town of Madison.
When asked about what this distinction means to him, Ed says that he wants to use his position of poet laureate to not only spread the art form of poetry around Madison, but all around Connecticut, too.
“I want people to see poetry everywhere they go,” he says. “Whether it's outside of a store or even printed on a bus bench in the town, I want people to realize that they experience poetry on a daily basis.”
Ed experienced a traumatic accident which played a major role in shaping his literary career. After he was helped and brought to the hospital, Ed had interesting thoughts and visions about what had taken place, including the people who had helped him to safety.
“They truly were my guardian angels,” Ed says. “When I was in the hospital, I had visions about them and about what had happened ...and they inspired me to write my first book.”
This book was eventually titled, As Above, So Below. It was a book of poems written by Ed, but you wouldn’t find it if you looked it up under his name. That’s because Ed decided to write the book under the pseudonym of Ezra Lovecroft.
“I felt like I was a different person when I was having these visions and writing this book,” he says. “I decided that I was going to write this book of poems under an alias instead of my own name.”
The book was released in May 2018 and contains many poems written by Ed under the Ezra Lovecraft name, including many of which have to do with his accident and his experiences while in the hospital and during recovery.
Ed has been doing a lot these days to spread the word of poetry and get more in touch with the people and places in his community. Ed has been nominated for Poet Laureate of Connecticut three times and also won the Connecticut Arts Hero Award from the Connecticut Office of the Arts in 2020.
Although he is a retired teacher, Ed continues to instruct and inform people of all ages about the wonders and the importance of poetry. This year, he decided to start an Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop, where people are able to attend a workshop on writing poetry about different artpieces, as part of the American Mural Project. In addition to doing this for adults, Ed has also done so in collaboration with schools, including Adams Middle School in Guilford. At the school, Ed is able to introduce kids to poetry at a young age and “show them the power of their words.”
Ed also hosts “Ezra Lovecroft Presents, The Unexpected Poet,” which are open mic events meant to inspire local artists, musicians, and poets from the area to perform or showcase their work. Starting in January 2025, Ed will be hosting an open mic night on the first Thursday of every month at E.C. Scranton Memorial Library in Madison in even more of an effort to expose the community to all forms of art.
For more information on Ed and his work, visit www.ealentartistpoet.com to see his paintings and poetry, check out events which he will be doing in the future, and purchase or inquire about his work.
“Poetry is such a valuable art form,” he says. “I want to be able to share that with my community.”