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Gilda Kreuter has been writing for almost all of her life, and speaks with experience about the power of poetry -- hers included.

"Poetry can be personal, but it's not necessarily autobiographical," Kreuter told The Jewish State. "I like to write about the world around me, the human spirit, and set the social scene. Some call me a sensual poet because I like to write love poems, too."

Kreuter currently lives in Brick. She is a member of the Boca Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, the Poets of the Palm Beaches, New Jersey Poetry Society, Florida State Poetry Association, and the National Association of Poetry Therapy.

She grew up on Coney Island in Brooklyn, where her family owned a retail store.

"It was lovely living there," she said. "We didn't really take advantage of the rides, but we did love the boardwalk and the beach."

After attending Brooklyn College and receiving a degree in journalism, Kreuter started working at a newspaper as a writer, but she didn't pursue that for long. The paper went out of business and she realized that she enjoyed writing poems more than articles, because "you can say more in less. I had also been writing some short stories while I was still a journalist."

Once Kreuter and her husband had their first child, they decided they needed to move out of their apartment.

"We left Brooklyn because we wanted the all-American dream of a house," she said. "We looked around Brooklyn, but all of the houses were tiny and had no backyards. A friend of mine from Brooklyn had moved to Hazlet, so that's where we settled on. When we moved there, everything was new because the Garden State Parkway had just been opened. There were many young families, but not that many Jewish families. However, there was a shul in Keyport that we were able to connect with."

Kreuter described herself as "an avid school person." She regularly attends Brookdale Community College and is a member of a weekly writing group there. She has also taken "every English class there is," including courses in analyzing poetry.

In addition to taking classes, Kreuter enjoys teaching poetry to others. She teaches writing at Ocean County Community College and also runs workshops at assisted living communities in Boca Raton, Fla. where she lives during the winters.

Gilda recalled one memorable experience during one of these workshops that resonates with her today.

"We were doing an exercise in which I handed out crayons, asked people to describe the colors, and then had I them write a poem about it," she said. "This one lady, she must have been 95, gets up and tells me that when she was younger she knew all of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry by heart. I remembered that I had a copy of one of his poems with me. I read her two lines and she immediately was able to recite the rest of the poem, which was not short. It's amazing that poetry can have that affect on people. That it sticks with us. And for an older person, that is no small thing."

Gilda has been married to her husband, Jack, for 58 years. The couple moved from Hazlet after living there for 34 years to Brick. They have a son, a daughter, and two granddaughters, all of whom are living in New Jersey. Her poems have been published in Poetica, Paterson Literary Review, Edison Literary Review, Sensations Magazine, Without Halos, Journal of New Jersey Poets, and many anthologies. She has also published five of her own books including, "Closets," "Cracked Masks," "The Nature of Things," and "The Elusive Muse," which is illustrated by her husband Jack. Her latest book of poems is called "Under a Soft Cover of Darkness".