Claire Day, a Hampshire County resident and member of Straw Dog, is an expat from Northern England. A retired educator, she is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, a recipient of a Connecticut Writing Project fellowship and a past AWA workshop leader. Living in this creative area is her dream-come-true. Alternate Universe I’m beginning to understand Read More
Straw Dog Writers Guild
Masked by Artemis Roehrig
Artemis Roehrig is a SDWG member from Hampshire County. She is the author of multiple picture books including: Are Pirates Polite?, The Grumpy Pirate, Do Jellyfish Like Peanut Butter? Amazing Sea Creature Facts (coauthored by Corinne Demas) and Storey Publishing’s Tattoos That Teach series. Masked “These are superhero masks.” I tell my four-year-old. “You wear Read More
The News in My Back Yard by Don Bartlett
Don Bartlett is a retired PA in Franklin County. Pleased to discover actual enjoyment in composing sentences while writing a thesis, he attributes some facility with written expression to years of dictating office notes lucid and terse enough for a medical document, and to spending five years in a writing group with Ruth Flohr. The Read More
The Time by Tzivia Gover
Tzivia Gover is the author of The Mindful Way to a Good Night’s Sleep, among other books. Her writing has appeared in dozens of anthologies and periodicals from the Florence Poetry Society’s Silkworm to the New York Times. She is a member of Straw Dog Writers Guild and lives in Northampton, Mass. The Time Why Read More
Waking Dream (in 4 parts) by Janice Sorensen
Janice Sorensen founded Cloud Saddle Writers and is a member of Straw Dog Writers. She is a published poet and art critic, and works as an artist and interior designer. She lives with her partner, Michael, and a fluctuating number of creatures at Magpie Farm & Art, in Buckland, Massachusetts. Waking Dream (in 4 parts) Read More
“Heavy Heart, Sweet Blossoms” by Lorna Ritz
Lorna Ritz studied under the instruction of painter James Gahagan, (a student of Hans Hofmann), who was a very important teacher for her in the 60’s. She received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1971, in both painting and sculpture, (welding steel, and casting in bronze and iron). “Heavy Heart, Sweet Blossoms” I Read More
A Birthday Gift for My Daughter by Pam Roberts
Pam Roberts leads Spirit of the Written Word writing workshops for people affected by cancer and for the general population. A writer, artist, and certified yoga instructor, she lives in Franklin County. She just renewed her membership to Straw Dog Writers. www.pamroberts.net A Birthday Gift for My Daughter My daughter’s birthday has snuck up on Read More
And Then I Got Sick by Michael McAllister
Michael McAllister lives in Easthampton. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Normal School, Brevity, and The Rumpus, as well as various anthologies. He has an MFA from Columbia University, where he was nonfiction editor of Columbia Journal, and he’s kept a long-running blog at Dogpoet.com. And Then I Got Sick A completely Read More
Words/Matter by Kevin Hodgson
Kevin Hodgson, of Leeds, is a sixth grade teacher at the William E. Norris Elementary School in Southampton and a co-director with the Western Massachusetts Writing Project. Words/Matter (dedicated to my sixth grade students) It’s the eyes that always give us away — beneath the glitch of static screens — the faded gaze of classroom Read More
In Between by Lesley Schneider
Lesley Schneider is a resident of Florence in Hampshire County. She writes and edits technical manuals for a living and was surprised and delighted to have this poem emerge from her pen. In Between In between the dying, I cook. In between the crying, I plant. In between the outrages, I smell flowers. In between Read More