Once a month, in a room that has become more crowded than Robert Goodman ever could have imagined, more than two dozen people gather around a table, share a meal and, in some cases, bare their souls.
“I think there is something special that happens when a bunch of people get around a table together and speak and eat together,” Goodman shares. “There is already a sense of openness and freedom.”
The event is the Mad Art Supper Club, an open-mic night for aspiring poets, but also a place where people who appreciate poetry can listen, learn, and discuss the art form in a communal setting.
“I wanted to do something for new poetry or new poets,” Goodman says of the idea to organize the event. Libraries and other venues host occasional readings, but they are often structured for people to recite poetry from the likes of Robert Frost or Dylan Thomas. Goodman wanted something that would allow creatives to have their voices heard. “Something that was just dedicated to new and original poetry.”
Rockefeller’s on Prospect Street was willing to be the stage for the event. “They serve us a great meal and have been great partners,” Goodman says of the restaurant. The club has been going strong for the better part of a year as it gears up for April, which happens to be National Poetry Month.
“It has definitely exceeded what I would expect, far exceeded,” Goodman says of the dedicated turnout, which is capped at 28 people and has some true loyalists, like Alice Kessler. “I was hoping for maybe a half-dozen to a dozen people. And if they were regulars, I would have considered it successful.”
Goodman was always an avid reader, and after his father died in 2007, he came across some poetry anthologies his dad had, which inspired him to practice with his own poetry. “Over the years, my craftwork has improved, at least I am told,” he jokes of his efforts, which provide a creative outlet from his day job working for a local municipality.
As he delved deeper into the craft, he became eager to connect with other fans of the form.
“Two years ago, I decided to create a newsletter, just based on my own experience with poetry,” he notes. “To promote other poetry groups and build a sense of community.”
If Goodman thought the supper club was a hit, the newsletter, with its roughly 1,500 subscribers from here to Greece, has also found a following.
“I enjoy doing it. It allows me to share some of my own thinking, but it's not just a platform for my own stuff; I'm more about fostering poetry in the community.”
The artistic spirit runs deep in Long Branch, and between the newsletter and the Mad Art Supper Club, Goodman and the community he’s helped build are investing in its continued growth.
“I just know of all the great artistic talents, everything that is here underneath the surface. Long Branch, I think we would hold a candle to any other community.”
The Mad Art Supper Club meets on the last Sunday of each month at 4 p.m. at Rockefeller’s, 421 Prospect Street. Registration is $10 and can be done by scanning the QR code (above, below, or wherever it is placed if you are able to use).
“I think there is something special that happens when a bunch of people get around a table together and speak and eat together.” - Robert Goodman