A poem for the first days of Fall: New York Park In the park on Forty-First and First a green metal pole stands sentry over a small square of concrete, its shadow marking time, ancient as sundial. Autumn sun, east; winter sun, low in sky. Spring, climbing. Across the parkway, East River slugs. Rushing waters [...]
As the days grow shorter and the air cooler – here’s a poem for your autumn soul: September Fifteenth In one week, summer will close up shop Pull the shutters, mow the yellowed lawn. From now on, things will be different. The pond will freeze, the lake too cold For swimming. The forest’s fecundity will [...]
Labor Day used to mean something. Before it meant “back to school,” and “end of summer,” it celebrated the esprit de corps of workers in America. Now, it’s the day most Americans bbq with the neighbors or drive home from Burning Man. I’m “summered out” so today, a happily self-employed worker, is my self-proclaimed holiday. [...]
“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