Context

I think of my poems as small paintings. They are short films, dramatic scenarios, concentrated orange juice. Some are understood by the lost or out of touch feelings they elicit or reestablish. Many I find, speak for those with experience but without the voice and means for expression. I’ve been gifted or cursed with a keen empathy. I know poetry is doing its thing when a poem has been successfully cryptic yet at the same time collectively conscious.

I was born into an old New England family and have lived my whole life in small towns in rural Massachusetts. I’ve always had a vigilant respect for the farm, for nature, the Quabbin Reservoir in my backyard and in the nature of human relationships. The poems speak of all these landscapes and geographies.

I like the word situational. Many of the poems are innocent and suggest memoir, some speak of hardship and abuse perhaps with dark whimsy but not pity, not journaling, more of an awareness of being. Shadow girl, mooncalf, finds herself, not whole necessarily but imperfectly, acceptably fine. Some may have hints of autobiography but mostly reflect the universal "I" that we all look for in poetry. It's not about me, it's about you, or more likely, us.