I don’t know about how you travel or retreat, but I came on this trip not expecting to be ‘changed’ much. I figured I’d be lucky if inspiration struck and I got to play in the ocean once or twice. But, as with all my trips, I have been changed, and not as I expected. [...]
After many years of working the government, permits and the granting systems, there is the manifestation of sustainable living here in San Pancho. One of the best examples is Entreamigos, a center founded by Nicole Swedlow that incorporates the only lending library in the village, a computer center, a recycling center and an art center. [...]
When a friend invited me to come to San Pancho to ‘retreat’ with her, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find the time. Luckily, the planets aligned and my schedule was clear. I quickly bought my ticket and started making lists of the writing projects that were sitting unfinished on my desk.
San Pancho is [...]
“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