Laura Boss

It is with great sadness that I share the passing today of my very good friend in life and poetry, Laura Boss.

I know many of us will feel a great loss because the world seems to have lost some of its sparkle today.

Her son will be creating a Laura Boss Poetry Foundation and the Poetry Center at PCCC will also be finding ways to keep Laura's poetry and contributions alive in the world. The Lips poetry journal that Laura founded in 1981 and has always edited will continue.

Keep Laura in your thoughts. 

Maria Mazziotti Gillan

Laura's official website

New Poetry Collection by Maria Mazziotti Gillan

Maria Mazziotti Gillan’s latest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible. It will be released in April 2021. 

The book is published by Stephen F. Austin University Press 
and can be pre-ordered now at
  tamupress.com and via Amazon

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's most recent books are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow and the poetry collection, What Blooms in Winter. Her collection of poems paired with some of her paintings is The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets. Her artist's website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Soothsayer, Healer, Tale-teller

From Joe McHugh's American Family Stories podcast series, here is an audio story by Maria Mazziotti Gillan.

Maria tells the story of the courtship of her father and mother which began in San Mauro, Italy and brought them to Paterson, New Jersey. 

The focus in this story is her mother, Angelina, who Maria describes as ''Soothsayer, Healer,Tale-teller / There was nothing you could not do.''

Click this link to listen to the interview and a poem Maria wrote about her mother as a tribute after her death. 

Angelina Schiavo Mazziotti

Further Reading - an article in The New York Times about Maria finding her heritage and her voice. 

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's new poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets which pairs her poems with her paintings. Maria's artist's website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Maria Gillan's Influence Continues

In this author interview in Accenti Magazine, Maria Giura discusses the influence that Maria Gillan had on her writing.

Excerpt:

Who has influenced your writing as a memoirist?

The poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan. When I found Maria, I found a poet and a teacher who expertly and unapologetically writes about the deeply personal. When I first heard her read her work and took her workshops, I was stunned. She writes about the joy and shame of being alive, of being a human being. She shows the truth richly. Her poetry is imaginative and accessible, which really drew me in and gave me a model to follow. Mostly, though, she gave me permission.  

Maria Giura is the author of Celibate: A Memoir.

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's new poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets which pairs her poems with her paintings. Maria's artist's website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Poetry Recommendations

From Dante Di Stefano comes this reading recommendation for a poem by Darren Donate recently published in DIALOGIST, where Dante is the poetry editor. (Note that the poem includes some disturbing photographic images of an injury as the poem is about the poet's father, whose arm was injured doing factory work.)

Dante says that "It's such an amazing poem, reminiscent of Diana Khoi Nguyen's Ghost Of in some aspects of its concrete/visual grammar, and embodying the spirit of the work of poets like Martín Espada, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, and Joe Weil."

Dante further recommends these new poetry books:

Martín Espada's Floaters (W.W. Norton, 2021)

Joe Weil's The Backwards Year (NYQ Books, 2021)

Maria Mazziotti Gillan's When the Stars Were Still Visible (Stephen F. Austin University Press , 2021) forthcoming in April