Carol Stroll 

I was born and grew up in Connecticut. I attended Boston University where I studied Theatre Arts for three years, bailing before I was going to begin pounding the pavement in Manhattan. I returned to my studies when both of my daughters were in school and received my BA in English Literature from Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois. In January 2000 I moved back to New England after living in California - both Northern and Southern, New Jersey, Chicago and Florida. 

Happy to be home after being not-home for 37 years, I live in an 80 year old house in an old neighborhood with sidewalks in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. 

While living in Florida I worked as a photographer in the area of Concerned Photography. My photographs were used to raise awareness by documenting social concerns and to preserve memories for loved ones. This brought me into the world of HIV and AIDS, into hospices, county homes and care centers, into shelters for babies with AIDS and abused children.

On a break from the often heart breaking work, my daughter took me to the Green Mill Jazz Club in Chicago where I saw my first Poetry Slam. I began to photograph the poets, wanting to catch their passion as they recited, screamed, cried out their messages. When I realized the power of the spoken word, I put my camera down and got up on the stage. 

I've written poetry since I was a child, hiding my scribblings in boxes and drawers. I've come to believe strongly in the poetic voice as a guide to self-knowledge and as a way for us to know and learn from each other.

I have been Poet-in Residence at Egremont elementary school in Pittsfield and run a program for The AfterSchool Poets at Egremont and at the Williamstown Youth Center. 

I work with teachers, preparing a safe setting where they can take their experiences and use what they've learned into the classroom to help their students get more in touch with themselves and each other. I give presentations of my own work and readings of other poets who are relevant to the setting. I both create and host poetry events to give others a chance to be heard.

I also have given workshops for residential psychiatric patients, staff for non-profit human services organizations, staff of Adult Learning Center, women's collegiate conferences, spiritual conferences and private workshops at the beautiful Brook Farm Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts. I am very proud to be a faculty artist with CATA. Community Access to the Arts is a non-profit arts organization, providing over 700 visual and performing arts workshops for hundreds of individuals with physical, mental, and/or emotional disabilities.

My book, Poems and Portraits, was published in 2000 and a CD on which I've recorded the poems was released in 2001. I am preparing my second collection of poems, Once You Know You Know, for publication.