Get the word out: Poets bring art to sports town Wordsmith eager to start weekly poetry nights at E.B. café BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer Cyndi Dawson will launch a weekly poetry night at Via Dolce in East Brunswick Dec. 13. EAST BRUNSWICK - The world of poetry seems to be beckoning Cyndi Dawson, and she is whole-heartedly heeding the call. After a hiatus from performing and sharing her work in numerous venues back in the 1980s, the veteran East Brunswick poet is again ready for action. Circumstances seem to be aligning to make it so. "Things just started to click again," Dawson said. "It's been just this weird, synchronicity kind of thing." Over the past year, Dawson dove into the performance end of her work once again, collaborating with jazz musician Jair-rohm Parker-Wells to put her words to music. Though Parker-Wells resides in Stockholm, Sweden, the two are able to work together by sending their work over the Internet. "I've never meshed with someone like this before," Dawson said. "We're just a great team together. The collaborations are what I'm most excited about right now." Dawson sang Parker-Well's praises, saying his feel for setting music to her poems is uncanny. According to Dawson, the fusion of spoken word and music breathes new life into the written art form. "I think that's the way poetry is going now," Dawson said. "The Internet has changed everything, but it's very interesting right now, what it's doing to poetry." With multimedia becoming the wave of the future, Dawson said, new possibilities are opening up for artists. As Dawson immersed herself more fully in her work, both with the collaborations and putting together a second book, her own possibilities grew. While grabbing coffee at the East Brunswick café and gelateria, Via Dolce, Dawson talked with owner Jenn Plumser about her work. Plumser said she had been thinking about putting together a poetry night, but did not know how to get it together. Dawson took the lead, offering to gather poets and serve as a host while performing her own work. "I knew that if I was going to push a book, I would have to get up and read somewhere," Dawson said. "I'm delighted, I'm absolutely thrilled. I'm hoping to give East Brunswick its own little bit of art." According to Dawson, the town is very sports-oriented, but is lacking in an arts scene. Considering her venerable background working with artists of all stripes, Dawson seems the ideal candidate to bring creative works to the area through the weekly event. The poet's first reading happened when fellow poet and activist Elliot Katz asked her to share her work. She credits him with opening her up to spoken word performance. "I still love performing in front of people, because it's personal," Dawson said. In the 1980s, Dawson took her performing to another level while working with New York City artist Rene as a model, and in performance art pieces. Their collaboration reached its zenith when they put together a show called "The Sea Serpent's Daughter," named for, and centering around, one of Dawson's poems. It was staged in SoHo. A melancholy tale of a man who meets a beautiful mermaid, then dies waiting for her return to the shore, the story was told through Dawson's reading, with a film shot on Jones Beach, N.Y., as a backdrop. Dawson said people who saw the performance are still talking about it today. Rounding out her life in the arts, Dawson also worked as an actress for a number of years. Doing film, television and commercials for 20 years, she made two appearances on "Law and Order," worked as a stand-in for Madonna, and appeared on MTV. During a period of 11 years spent raising her daughter Chelsea, Dawson took a hiatus from performing, but stuck with her craft. "I've always written, I've never stopped writing," Dawson said. "If [inspiration] hits, the pencil has got to go into my hand." Whenever a creative thought strikes, Dawson responds, whether it means awakening in the middle of the night, or interrupting a meal with her husband and daughter to jot down words on a napkin. With a second book in the works and plans to go into the studio with Parker-Wells in May, it looks like Dawson's dedication is yielding big things. "I keep saying, 'I'm on the train and I don't know where the train is going, but I'm staying on it,'" Dawson said. The first poetry night at Via Dolce, located at 1020 Route 18, will be on the evening of Dec. 13. Poets are encouraged to bring their work to share, and all are welcome to come and listen to the poems of Dawson and other area talents. For more information on the event, call Via Dolce at (732) 238-7619. To check out some of Dawson's work and find out more about her, visit www.myspace.com/cyndidawson and www.myspace.com/insideofoutside.