For art’s sake

Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts and Culture Reporter
May 22, 2015 1:00 a.m.

Nola 7Last Friday evening, Nola Perez celebrated the launch of her new book of poetry, Blinded By The Light.

Don’t think you like poetry? Surprising as you grew up with it – nursery rhymes, song lyrics. And I’ll bet most of you know at least one limerick, the words of which may be unprintable here.

Think poets are odd folk who live in stuffy rooms set apart from the rest of us? Well, Nola is the poet next door and a prize-winning, published one at that. She’s a Fernandina Beach native; a gentle, thoughtful Southern lady.

Nola is in love with words and images. She looks at the world and spins off a poem. She uses poetry to explore life’s sometimes sharp edges. It may be a child’s smiling face or the death of someone close. At the Friday celebration, she and Ron Kurtz read a selection of her poems, which celebrate the time she spent in Paris.

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Ron Kurtz and Nola Perez Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Wilkes www.elizabethwilkesphotography.com

Nola’s engaged with the world, not shut off by herself. Together with Marilyn Wesley, she started the Poetry Canteen, a group of poets and almost poets who meet monthly at the Fernandina Little Theatre.

So look next door. You never know who you might discover.

Evelyn McDonaldEvelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. She is a chair of Arts & Culture Nassau, a city commission charged with support of the arts in Nassau County. She serves on FSCJ’s Curriculum Committee for the Center for Lifelong Learning. She is also the chair of the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.