We had a fabulous WOM-BA afternoon planned for Half Moon Bay today but when we learned that 3 of our members were nominated for awards at the Northern California Book Awards we decided to change plans and be urban. I can’t lie – going downtown when it was 80 degrees in San Francisco was painful, [...]
Many steps along the writing path can be difficult and frustrating, but many can be fantastic and gratifying. Then, there are the just plain daunting. Submissions usually fall under the ‘daunting’ category. To address this common complaint of many writers I knew, I started a ‘Submissions Support Group’ for a small group of serious writers [...]
The Bowery Poetry Club was loose and fun. The BPC is a funky place that, after 7 years in it’s Bowery St. locale, is finding its footing. I had a great time reading rants to a city that rants as its favorite indoor sport. They liked the love poems too. Slim Russell, a local favorite, [...]
“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