County's poet laureate appointment expected to be rescinded

CATSKILL―The iambic pentameter is off rhythm as drama continues to mount with the position of poet laureate set up by the Greene County Legislature.

Lawmakers established the post last year turning over the task of finding someone for the job to the CREATE Council for the Arts in Catskill.

CREATE recommended Esther Cohen, a well-respected poet, writer and teacher with homes in Cornwallville and the Big Apple.

Cohen was approved in January through a chairman’s appointment with a formal inauguration scheduled for April 11 in Athens.

But the celebration has apparently been cancelled and the poet laureate post is in limbo amid controversy that has emerged surrounding postings on Cohen’s Facebook page involving President Donald Trump.

Lawmaker Michael Lanuto (R-Catskill) raised the matter during a legislative County Resources committee meeting in early March.

CREATE Executive Director Stella Yoon was at that meeting, routinely reporting on the council’s activities and funding realities.

When Yoon ended her report, Lanuto inquired about Cohen, asking, “Before recommending her to the board was there any background check on her?”

Yoon explained the process to which Lanuto replied, “Lately I’ve been doing some background. What I found on her social media channel is pretty much the antithesis of what I believe this board stands for.”

On Cohen’s Facebook page, Lanuto said, was a shared post that stated: “Donald Trump will die from bad health. Worldwide celebrations in honor of his Death.” Another post, Lanuto said, “looks like the president being assassinated with blood dripping down his back.”

“I can’t support a person like that,” Lanuto said. “I have no problem with the position. I have a problem with the person in that position.”

Lanuto, when subsequently asked what had prompted him to do background on Cohen, said, “I can’t tell you that,” emphasizing his discomfort with the Facebook material would be the same “if it was any president.”

County Resources Chairman Michael Bulich, during the committee session opined, “when representing Greene County, there shouldn’t be anything political about it in any way, one way or the other.”

“We may look at having Stella look at someone else to do this,” Bulich said, setting in motion a series of communications and discussions between county leaders and CREATE.

“There are a lot of moving pieces,” CREATE Board Of Directors President Marya Warshaw said, noting a statement would be issued by CREATE related to Cohen’s circumstance. That statement has not yet been issued.

In the meantime, lawmakers, at a recent workshop, opted to reject a request from Yoon to let Cohen come before them to speak.

Cohen, acknowledging the Facebook messages, says they were shared “satirical reposts,” not authored by her, and they have been removed.

Cohen says she has penned a letter, “apologizing for offending anyone,” to Legislator Sherry True (R-Cairo), who had initially suggested the legislature establish the poet laureate title.

“I am a poet not a politician. I operate from a place of love for all people,” Cohen said in a phone interview, also defending her right to free speech.

“If people read my books and poetry, they would know my life’s work is about bridging all sides,” Cohen continued.

“What I am hoping is that we can move past the politics. My hope is that we become a national model that shows, in spite of our differences, we can work together,” Cohen said.

Yoon has not returned multiple messages left on her CREATE phone and her cell phone as well as with a CREATE staffer.

Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger, in a phone interview said it is anticipated Cohen’s “appointment will be rescinded.”

Some of the content shared by Cohen, “was seen by our legislature as promoting violence,” Linger said. In particular, “the characterization of a bleeding President regardless if it’s Trump, Obama, Biden or Ford.”

Linger did not detail when or by what process the rescinding could happen, whether introducing a fresh resolution or some other method.