Cindy Ellen Hill has just finished a gothic epic, Leeds Point: a Gothic Novel in Verse, cloaked in both history and narrative power. Its 300 + pages is staggering because it is rendered in verse. This is not surprising. Cindy Ellen Hill’s background lends itself to poetry, for she is an accomplished singer and musician. Remember: there was a time when poetry shared with others was sung in villages or courtyards.
Continue Reading Soundings in Leeds Point
After listening to D. Avery read at Jaquith, I thought I would dive into two of her chapbooks. And I was not disappointed. Chicken Shift (Exeter Press, 2013, Third Printing) and For the Girls (Exeter Press 2016, First Edition) were surprisingly different in theme and mood.
Continue Reading On the Road again
Candace Thurber was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1883, in a household of modest means; according to the Smith College library archives, which houses most of her papers, Candace’s mother supported the family by taking in boarders.
Candace graduated from the Packard Collegiate Institute, which was founded as the Brooklyn Female Academy in the mid-19th century, and went on to get a BA from Smith College in 1904, and then her M.A. from Columbia University. After completing her education she taught English in a private school and co-owned a children’s bookstore in New York City.
Continue Reading Candace Thurber Stevenson
On February 14 during the Sunday Afternoon Poetry reading at the Jaquith Library, PSOV member Elizabeth McCarthy asked featured poets Mary L. Collins and Rick Agran if they found it difficult to write poetry in this time of political and social conflict without it sounding like a raging commentary. Mention had been made of the book, The Country in the Mirror: Poems of Protest & Witness, to be published this April. So, it seemed only logical to ask the editor, Sharon Darrow, to share her thoughts about the upcoming anthology. Thank you, Sharon, for the interview!
Continue Reading Interview re The Country in the MirrorDaughter Caitlin wrote to my wife and I to recommend a recently released documentary about the life and poetry of Andrea Gibson, Colorado’s Poet Laureate from September 2023 until her death in July 2025. Since she has consistently pointed us in wondrous directions, I went to a local theater to experience “Come See Me in The Good Light,” directed by Ryan White. It was more than worth the watch. (If you can’t view it at a local theater, it is currently being streamed by Apple.)
Continue Reading Moment by Moment: Upon Viewing
Baron Wormser was once described by Tony Hoagland as “a beautiful writer of the meditative-narrative poem in the compassionate and lucid style of Frost, Hayden Carruth, and Donald Hall.” Such a description of the poet’s craft is evident in Wormser’s most recent book of poetry, James Baldwin Smoking a Cigarette by Baron Wormser.(Copyright © 2026 Janet Wormser./ Slant Books, P.O. Box 60295, Seattle, WA 98160, www.slantbooks.org )
Continue Reading The Doppler Effect
Two years ago during Poetry month, I attended a reading by Kim Ward. Her distinct voice during the occasion rang true. Even now, I can recall her poem, “Green Mountain Runes,” and its opening lines:
Great Grandmother, beginning
With your bare Irish feet,
Standing on Abenaki backs,
You walked from rune to rune.
Fehu, cattle, was first. …
I’m so lucky to have found you.
We may have traveled side by side;
Not knowing we’d have a clue,
That we’d be together later, after my father died.
Lady Madeline Rose has just come out with a book of poetry, “Love, Friendship, & Family.” On her Acknowledgments page, she thanks family members, a poet colleague, and friends who helped her and supported her. Love that she was given. Love that she gave. Love that she sought. And even love that she rejected–all of that is within her collection. It is predominantly focused upon the pursuit of Love on a personal level. Its ups and downs.
Since the 12th-century, romance in Western Literature has held its own. Prior to that, the warrior was praised and sung about. As I age, I find Lady Madeline Rose’s focus preferable to heroic sagas. Love discovered or recovered is always better to pursue than war. Never mind the claim about a certain face launching 1000 ships.
The book wends its way through trying relationships which totter between rejection and validation. Eventually, Love does find its way to bolster up a relationship. Friendship holds a domain of its own and helps Lady Madeline as she moves through the precarious straits of Love. Behind it all and as a base is the Love her parents held for each other and herself.
~daithi’
Read the earlier post on Lady Madeline Rose (aka Teresa Poquette,) a member of the Poetry Society of Vermont who often shares her poetry at the monthly meeting of the PSOV Online Poetry Group.