Amy Gordon’s first chapbook, Deep Fahrenheit, was published 2019 (Prolific Press) and her poems have appeared in the Aurorean, The Massachusetts Review, Writeangles, and other journals. She is the author of numerous books for children and young adults. She lives in Gill. The Verb To Be So I had been trying to psych myself into Read More
Blog
Standing at the Edge by Kai Carol Jud
Kai Carol Jud, a therapist and retreat leader, lives in Wendell, MA, Franklin County in a little blue house in the woods. She is working on her book called The Way of the Yum, A Memoir of Life, Death and Awakening. Standing at the Edge Standing at the edge, gone is the path to yesterday, Read More
Lament, April 2020 by Carol Rinehart
Carol Rinehart enjoys an active retirement in Florence after a decade coordinating hospice volunteer services in Hampshire County. An ordained interfaith minister, she supports groups and individuals through her STAMINA Project (Strength Training for Aging MINdfully Always). She has only recently discovered her inner poet. Lament, April 2020 Seismographs are reporting softened trembles from solitude. Read More
Your mother has expired by Anita Gallers
Straw Dog Writers Guild and Florence Poets Society member Anita Gallers lives and writes in Northampton, Mass (Hampshire County). Her mother died on April 17, 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 crisis in the New York City area. Your mother has expired like old milk the nurse on the phone is preparing to throw Read More
“What Was Important” by JoAnn Cibelli
JoAnn Cibelli is a retired high school teacher who lives in Hampden County. Besides writing JoAnn loves gardening, hiking, but most of all dogs. She lives in Chicopee with her three rescue poodles. “What Was Important” What was important: Gathering with friends and family Going to places of worship Working Sporting events Vacations Birthday parties, Read More
“Too Beautiful” by Phyllis Lawrence
Phyllis Lawrence, living in Wendell: I participate in a weekly writing group in Wendell. In the light of this strange and terrifying pandemic time, I find the beauty of the natural world not only a solace but sometimes overwhelming. “Too Beautiful” Too Beautiful In this dimmed time I can barely keep my eyes open to the bright light. Read More
ALPHABET BOOK FOR 2020 by D. Dina Friedman
D. Dina Friedman received two Pushcart Prize nominations and has published in many literary journals. She is the author of one chapbook of poetry, Wolf in the Suitcase (Finishing Line Press) and two award-winning novels, Escaping Into the Night (Simon and Schuster) and Playing Dad’s Song (Farrar, Straus, Giroux). http://www.ddinafriedman.com. ALPHABET BOOK FOR 2020 If Read More
Voices from Afield Smith College Renga #1
Pictured left to right, top to bottom: Maggie Olszewski ’23, Sean Joyce-Farley ’20, Allex Dawn ’21, Bill Hagen, Arda Collins, Matt Donovan, Ellen Doré Watson, Clare O’Gara ’22, Jen Blackburn, Rosetta Cohen and Floyd Cheung. Design Credit: Lauren Anderson Smith College Renga #1: We are twelve students, staff, and faculty formerly on campus together at Read More
The View from the Register of the Leverett Village Co-op by Karen L Traub
Karen L Traub lives in the woods of Shutesbury and is a new member of Straw Dog Writers Guild. A student in the Newport MFA, Karen’s first published essay appeared in Brevity Online. She serves on the Editorial Board of Quabbin Quills and is writing a memoir about her local library. The View from the Read More
It Goes On by Rebecca Rice
Rebecca Rice is the author of A Time to Mourn: One Woman’s Journey through Widowhood. She has published in The New York Times, Redbook, and Cosmopolitan. She is working on a second memoir about divorce. A resident of Hampshire County, she has recently joined Straw Dog Writers Guild. It Goes On Everything is the virus. Read More