Tangles of cobwebs woody thicket Catches sweaters, scratches hands. Dull bundle invites spiders, small birds. Winter weary. April warmth coaxes tiny buds From dry joints. Pale pink brightens limbs Like little Christmas lights Or the silk rosebuds ringing the collar Of a child’s pink leotard. Cecil Bruner, that rosy harbinger Promises nothing less than weddings, [...]
I’m generally quiet on the topic of the value of social media and whether or not it is a blight on the social landscape. I’m quiet because I feel so ambivalent. I’m a boomer who has seen and loved the power of the internet and at the same time see the isolation that a digital [...]
The first full moon of Spring holds a lot of power for Jews. But wait! It’s been named – the Easter moon! read more here:http://www.space.com/11403-easter-full-moon-april-lunar-skywatching.html Here’s a poem with another spin for you to read at your Seder on Monday, if you like. It’s from my book: “A Dreamer’s Guide to Cities and Streams,” published [...]
“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