SUMMER Naked, stretched Sun warmed rock. Lakeside reflection: Sky granite/granite sky. Summer flutters. A child’s net poised Captures day’s light. Summer flutters Late nights Friends, sun dips, stars descend. Summer flutters. Perfect the art of far niente; First kisses. Fantasy set free. What I want to be: A warrior, princess, a lynx. Summer flutters. Memories [...]
A summer poem for your pleasure: Olive Grove, she says, gazing past ancient road that leads to town. Centuries of heat beaten bricks. Long lines of flouncy olive trees form wavy, drunken aisles; silvery leaves grow out like Medusa’s hair. Summer in Pistoia. July fourth in the heart of Tuscany. Yellowgold houses against baked brown [...]
From the wonderful Writer’s Almanac! “It’s the birthday of poet Pablo Neruda (books by this author), born Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in Parral, Chile (1904). He wrote his first poem two weeks before his 11th birthday. At the age of 19, he set out to publish his first book. His family disapproved of his writing, [...]
“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