Looking Back

The first post on this blog was in January 2011, when Maria was one of the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Awards winners. The Writers for Writers Award recognizes authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community.

In 15 years, the blog has had more than a half million visitors (560,313 as of this morning). You're one of them, and Maria absolutely appreciates you for dropping by.

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest 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, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

A Poetry Gathering with Maria Gillan and Lisa Coll Nicolaou

Join lovers of poetry at the Maurice M. Pine Public Library in Fair Lawn, NJ on Sunday, September 27, at 3 pm for "A Poetry Gathering" with poets Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Lisa Coll Nicolaou.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan is a recipient of the 2014 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature from AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs), the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers, and the 2008 American Book Award for her book, All That Lies Between Us. She is the founder of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, NJ, and served as its Executive Director until her retirement in 2026. Maria has published more than two dozen books of and about poetry. With her daughter Jennifer, she is co-editor of four poetry anthologies. Her newest 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, a pairing of her poems with her paintings. Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Lisa Coll Nicolaou won the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award in 2016, and in 2023 was named a finalist in the Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Book Award. Lisa is the coordinator of the Theater and Poetry Project through the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College, which brings poets and live theater to the students of Paterson, NJ. Her first book, Something Whole From Something Broken, was published by Stephen F. Austin Press in 2025. Lisa is honored to serve as the first poet laureate of Fair Lawn, NJ. 

Poem: Love Poem To My Husband Of Thirty-one Years

Love Poem To My Husband Of Thirty-one Years

 I watch you walk up our front path, 

the entire right side of your body, 

stiff and unbending, your leg, 

dragging on the ground, 

your arm not moving. 

Six different times you ask me 

the date of our daughter's wedding, 

seem surprised each time, 

forget who called, though you can name 

obscure desert animals, 

and every detail of events 

that took place in 3 B.C. 

You complain now of pain 

in your muscles, of swimming at the Y 

where a 76-year-old man tells you 

you swim too slowly. 

I imagine a world in which 

you cannot move.

Most days, I force myself to look 

only into the past; 

remember you, singing 

and playing your guitar: "Black, 

black is the color of my true love's hair," 

you sang, and each time you came into a room 

how my love for you caught in my throat, 

how handsome you were, how strong 

and muscular, how the sun 

lit your blond hair.

Now I pretend not to notice 

the trouble you have buttoning 

your shirt, and yes, I am terrified 

and no, I cannot tell you.

The future is a murky lake. 

I am afraid of the monsters 

who wait just below its surface. 

Even in our mahogany bed, I am not safe. 

Each day, I swim toward 

everything I didn't want to know.

     Maria Mazziotti Gillan

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest 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, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Maria Mazziotti Gillan on Rattlecast

Rattlecast 105 featured Maria Mazziotti Gillan, a frequent contributor to Rattle and interviewee of issue #46.  

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest 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, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.