NUTLEYJOURNAL VOL. 37 NO. 02
SEPTEMBER 2025
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A lawyer with a passion for poetry
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By Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta Correspondent Arthur Russell is a lawyer living in Nutley but he never gave up on his youthful ambitions of being a poet. He is the winner of both Providence Fine Arts Work Center and Syracuse University fellowships as well as Brooklyn Poets’ YAWP Poem of the Year for 2015 and YAWPER of the Year for 2016. His poems have appeared—or are forthcoming in the Paterson Literary Review, Prelude, Yellow Chair Journal, Muse-Pie Press, Shot Glass Journal, Brooklyn Poetry Anthology (2017), the Red Wheelbarrow #9, and Wilderness House Literary Review. Growing up in Brooklyn, Russell wrote poetry in high school. As a junior, he took a Shakespearean poetry class. “Shakespeare’s plays, poetry, and sonnets…I latched on to that and kept going,” he said. “That was something I responded to at that time, and it grew from there. When you’re in high school and you try all different things, you don’t know what’s going to stick.” During high school Russell was also into music. He played guitar and wrote songs. “I was writing little songs, silly stuff, which is part of my overall personality,” he said. Russell came to Nutley when he was married, with a kid and a full-time job. His wife at the time wanted to move to the suburbs. Russell was originally thinking of Montclair, but the broker he and his wife connected with told them they’d like Nutley even better than Montclair. And they did. “I was just a guy with a job that needed to commute into the city,” Russell said. “It was a good commute.” When Russell got back into poetry he achieved great success. When he won Brooklyn Poet’s “Poem of the Year” it was the first major acceptance that stuck with him. “The sense of validation,” he said. “You write hundreds and hundreds of poems. Sometimes they get accepted. Sometimes they don’t.” It was pretty validating for Russell when he received $5,000 and a book publishing contract, along with 500 copies of his book. “That was a big deal,” he said. “And very memorable.” Last year, Russell won The Rattle Poem Prize of $15,000. “It was very satisfying,” he said. When Russell read his work at The Verona Boathouse last month, attendees approached him and asked, “Are you the same Arthur Russell who won the Rattle prize?” “People all over the country were writing to me,” he said. “I’ve taken a step into the minor leagues of poetry. I’m nowhere near the accomplished poets, but I got one foot in the door.” Russell says his writing process has changed over the years. “I used to be a morning only writer, then an evening writer, then whenever I can,” he said. “If I see something with a
Photo Courtesy of Arthur Russell
Nutley lawyer Arthur Russell is also a poet. His work has appeared in numerous publications. nugget of goodness, I’ll try to work it out.” He describes his poetry as a combination of lyrical and narrative poetry. “The narrative tells more of a story,” he said. “Lyrical is more far-reaching in terms of metaphors, basically about my life. Much of my poetry is about my life and my experiences and my emotional reaction to the world.” When Russell isn’t working or writing poetry, he still enjoys playing guitar. “Popular music, folk music, different techniques,” he said. “I like to play guitar every day. It’s so satisfying to me.”
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