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
Pandemic
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
Sudden Wedding: March 27, 2020 by Sarah Pirtle
Sarah Pirtle was a founding member of a traveling feminist poetry troupe in the 1970’s. Sixty songs from her nine recordings are free on Sarah Hope Sings. Her five books include An Outbreak of Peace, a novel which received the Olive Branch Award for outstanding book on world peace. Sudden Wedding: March 27, 2020 The Read More
Refuge by Randi Stein
Randi Stein: I am a Straw Dog member and live in Amherst, MA (Hampshire County). I am a visual artist and writer, and often combine the two in mixed-media collages. Refuge In 1978, I spent three weeks underground, in a bomb shelter in northern Israel. The kibbutz where I lived, high in the mountains of Read More
Covid Tanka by William J. Jackson
William J. Jackson: Born, Rock Island, Illinois. Studied acting, Goodman Theatre, Chicago. Lived in N.Y.C., Vermont, India (3&1/2 years). B.A. degree, Lyndon State College. Forest fire lookout watchman, Bald Mountain, Vermont. Wrote “Walk Through a Hill Town.” PhD, Harvard University, 1984. Professor, IUPUI, Indiana. Writer and translator, living in Leverett. https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/10004144/posts/41 Covid Tanka When we Read More
So I Get to Reflect… by John Bos
John Bos lives in Shelburne Falls. He is a contributing writer for Green Energy Times, Citizen Truth, a regular My Turn contributor to the Greenfield Recorder and a columnist for the Shelburne Falls West County Independent. So I Get to Reflect… It is a time of deep reflection. My iPhone calendar constantly reminds me Read More
GRIEF AND ANGER IN THE AGE OF COVID-19 by David Entin
David Entin: I am a retired educational administrator who lives in Northampton. I am not a member of the Straw Dogs Writers Guild and will turn 80 in July. My career has included anti-poverty and civil rights work and serving as an administrator in higher education. GRIEF AND ANGER IN THE AGE OF COVID-19 May, Read More
The Virus by Dorothy Riehm
Dorothy Riehm: I live in Hampshire county. I live in a co-housing community in Florence with my spouse and have been retired from my work as a social worker/therapist for many years. I have recently gained the title of octogenarian. The Virus There is a virus in the air and it’s determined to spread everywhere Read More
Already Lepers by Deborah Dill
Deborah Dill writes poetry, memoir, non-fiction, and is a public health nurse, urban habitat gardener, and Straw Dog member living in Middlesex County. Her poems have been published in Compass Roads, Peregrine, and anthologies. Her memoir, Believe the Bird: An End of Life Love Story is looking for a publisher. Already Lepers The wind pulls Read More