Cherryl Jensen: I am a writer and Straw Dog member living in Amherst. I’m in my last semester of the MFA program in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, where I’m writing a memoir. In my other life, I published several articles in newspapers and magazines. I’ve had several poems published. Quarantine as Read More
Pandemic Poetry & Prose Project
Is it real? by David Ferland
David Ferland earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Colorado State University. Since then, he has baked bagels, driven the bookmobile and currently teaches orientation and mobility to people who are blind. Throughout, he has continued to write poetry and fiction. He lives in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Is it real? my son asks as the Read More
Raining Fish by Madelaine Zadik
Madelaine Zadik, a Straw Dog member, lives in the wooded hills of Hampshire County. She is currently working on a memoir about her relationship with her Aunt Helga, whom she never knew except through letters Helga wrote from prison in Nazi Germany. A short excerpt has been published in DoveTales. Raining Fish Fish were falling from the sky. Read More
Mr. Big Stuff by CE Whiting
CE Whiting is an artist/writer who lives and works in Hampshire County. She is a Straw Dog member. Mr. Big Stuff God damn, we had it good in the hood, (We didn’t call it that) expats from the ‘burbs no curbs no gutters. Butterflies fluttered. Hey, Mr. Big Stuff, a mistake, a misstep. Who do Read More
Boiling Over by Nancy Smith
Nancy Smith: I live in Ashfield with my husband. Together we raised three wonderful children who have flown our coop. I began writing seriously with Genie Zeiger in 2007. In 2009 I was trained to be an AWA workshop leader and now run my own writing groups. I am a Straw Dog Member. Boiling Over Read More
Tumbling Down by Laura Wetzler
Laura Wetzler is a touring singer-songwriter-guitarist who also writes poetry, essays, theater monologues, and reviews. She has released 5 CDs (laurawetzler.com & iTunes) and her work has been published in The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Jewish Currents Magazine, and SingOut! Laura is a Straw Dog member and lives up in the hills in Cummington, Ma. Tumbling Read More
The plague by Rebecca Reid
Rebecca Reid is a member of Straw Dog, a farmer and writer living in Leverett on a cooperative farm. She has never submitted anything for publication, except a poem when she was 8 that was rejected by The New Yorker, but the time has come. The plague Among the ways to see this time, I like Read More
Diaspora by Frederick E Steinway
Frederick E Steinway is a resident of the north-central Massachusetts bioregion. Diaspora is offered here as a unifying concept to explain or envision effects in the biosphere of ongoing geophysical transformation. Seeds, spores, particles…as things alive in their activity. Diaspora Rising of mist as at dawn beside the sea. Fertile milk of dust and light Read More
2020 Hindsight by Epi Bodhi
Epi Bodhi, Amherst, MA, Straw Dog Member, has been writing poetry since she was young. In the third grade, she was accused of plagiarism for her poem snowflake. Her love for writing, particularly memoir poetry, has been reawakened since joining the Writer’s Group that meets regularly at Pioneer Valley Cohousing. 2020 Hindsight What if hindsight Read More
What Lies Beneath by Christopher Queen
Christopher Queen lives in Franklin County and writes with Ruth Flohr’s creative writing group in Wendell. He has taught world religions, served as a university dean of students, and publishes on Buddhist social ethics. He wears his mask in public. What Lies Beneath Some look deeply into eyes To scan the silted depth Where the Read More