Spring 2009
Welcome to my new website! I hope you like the new look and format.
Last winter and spring I spent weeks in a studio recording all my books of poetry. As time permits, I’ll be making them available online, and also by publishing a CD of Rest in Love. Have been staying close to the hearth lately, and keeping mighty busy there, including work on a new manuscript.
If you want a breather from the economic scene, plus a few candid opinions of my own, it may interest you that I’m featured in four new poetry anthologies, with poetry acceptances in the U.S. and Europe.My review-essay of Poems from Guantánamo: The Detainees Speak, was published in Socialism and Democracy (No. 46, March 2008), a distinguished journal of research. A review of my two short novels (see next paragraph) appears in No. 47 (July 2008), the “Fascism” issue; a poem excerpt from Rest in Love appears in No. 48 (November 2008), the “Radical Perspectives on Immigration” issue, and a new poem will appear in No. 50 (July 2009).
Most recent book: Two short novels in one volume, Stigma & The Cave (Syracuse Univ. Press, 2007) complete the trilogy begun with Blight (1995, distributed by SUP and available in bookstores). Stigma & The Cave have received extraordinary reviews in American Book Review, Socialism and Democracy, Home Planet News, and on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Option to make a feature film of Blight has just been renewed.
Recent readings: Springs, East Hampton, NY; Bright Hill Literary Center, Treadwell, NY, and at the International Women’s Writing Guild Annual Summer Conference, held since 1978 at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY. This summer, for only the second time since the Guild’s inception in 1976, I must regretfully miss the 32nd such conference where each year I’ve given a writing workshop, most recently “Poetry One on One.” As first vice president and proud participant, I hope many of you will consider attending, for a week, five days, or even a weekend (June 12-19). I believe it’s the most exciting writing conference anywhere, offering nearly 70 workshops on the beautiful Skidmore College campus. Ambience is welcoming and supportive. And the food, served in a stunning new dining facility, is excellent! Click for details on the Guild and a conference brochure.
I must mention the passing of a dear and much-missed friend, Robert S. Dunn (1959-Sept. 26, 2008). Brilliant, witty, quirky, a poet, satirist, cartoonist, host of poetry reading series, producer of Poet-to-Poet videotapes of readers, the editor, successively, of The New Press, Medicinal Purposes, and Asbestos, and consulting editor of Shabdaguchha, the Bengali/English periodical. As I remarked in my tribute on Nov. 16 at the Bangla Studios, Woodside, NY, “The poetry scene will never be the same without him.” Poet Leigh Harrison is compiling a tribute anthology in his honor.