Updates: wandered the permanent collection of Musee D’Orsay – kvelling over a particular Cezanne – “Nature Morte Au Panier” a gorgeous still life of pears in various stages of ripeness, and the deep blue of Van Gogh’s “Vincent’s Room.” Took the Metro to the Montparnasse “Cemeterie” and stood by Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul-Sartre’s [...]
If you are anything like me, traveling catapults you out of your comfort zone. Some people land on two feet, dust themselves off and get going. I need time. Time to get onto the time schedule, time to look around, time to absorb where my body and soul have landed. On day five, I’m beginning [...]
Paris has been embedded in our cultural imagination for so long, we might begin to consider it passe. So what is it that intrigues, still? For me, it is the texture of the commerce, the politesse of the people and, of course, the wide variety of culture available. Here’s the thing – for as many [...]
“A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities” San Francisco Bay Press, Virginia/San Francisco: 2009
In her second full-length poetry collection, Joan Gelfand explores the poignancy of living in a world that is war-torn and environmentally damaged. With a nod to the humorous paradox of modern life, Gelfand writes from the vantage point of a mother, an artist, and a Zen meditator. “A Dreamer’s Guide…” looks beyond the surface of our lives at the connections that make live worth living, and the sensual details that color it. Read More
Seeking Center: A Collection of Poems by Joan Gelfand, Two Bridges Press, Richmond CA: 2006
In Seeking Center, Joan Gelfand joins the reader in a free-wheeling discussion, beyond the poems themselves, regarding what is poetry today, here at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Read More