POEMS IN MANY VOICES

I love reading a poetry collection in many voices, and Walter Dean Myers’ HERE IN HARLEM is a masterful example of this. In his introduction, Myers writes that he was inspired by Yeats, Synge, and Spoon River Anthology to write about his beloved neighborhood in...

Telling a Life in Poetry

I love reading biographies, and when an author succeeds in telling the story of a person’s life in poetry– that’s magic. In honor of National Poetry Month, here are three favorites I have come across lately.   RUNAWAY: THE DARING ESCAPE OF ONA JUDGE by Ray...

The Writing Life: Creativity, Generosity, and Luck

Writing is a solitary craft. But we also need the spark and alchemy of sharing with and learning from others. I’m right in the middle of a three-week poetry forms class led by poet Georgia Heard. I am learning wonderful techniques that will elevate my writing, but I’m...

A fun poetry form: the Reverso

On this Poetry Friday, I made my first attempt at writing a reverso.  Poet Marilyn Singer developed this form. She has written three books of reverso poems! This is her definition of the form: “A reverso is a poem with two halves. In a reverso, the second half...

Poetry Friday- Christmas Eve Wishes

A friend recently sent me a photo that was a throwback to 2004… the year my poetry was first published in an anthology. She had asked me for a signed copy and I’d sent her one.   Mistletoe Madness, published by Blooming Tree Press, was chock full of poems and...