Participating Poets
Highland Park Poetry welcomes all poets - there is no geographic limitation. For more information on how to become a Participating Poet, query info@highlandparkpoetry.org.
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| Participating Poets - Art Gets in Your Eyes 2020 |
Shilpa Bahadur is a seeker who spends most of her time exploring self through Yoga. She often sits in silence and admires nature to see what its each element is trying to convey to her. She believes that there is always a meaning hidden in the activities of nature only if we see closely. She enjoys working with children, music and nature photography.
Herb Berman was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1936. Taking a job in Chicago as a lawyer in 1968, he moved with his wife and two kids (soon three) to Deerfield, where his wife and he still live. When he slowed down his practice about ten years ago, he started writing seriously, and has since been published in many journals and magazine. He’s published two books of poems.
Cathy Bryant's work has been published all over the world in such publications as Womanswrite and The Voices Project. Her collections are Contains Strong Language and Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Look at All the Women and Erratics. She was born in the UK and is resident there. Contact cathy@cathybryant.co.uk. Cathy notes that she felt so joyful upon seeing the photograph of Ballena Vallarta that she had to write about it.
Renee Butner says that when not dipping chocolates or making pralines as an owner of Kilwins in Winston-Salem, NC, she spends her time writing poetry and haiku. She has been published in numerous journals and won second prize in Piedmont Plus Silver Games for her poem Silver Moments. Her website is www.reneebutner.wordpress.com.
Monica Cardestam became interested and dabbled in poetry in college as an English major where she was inspired by poets such as Robert Frost and Langston Hughes. This creative passion was set aside for years as she focused on the practicalities of working in the business world. Now that she is back to exploring her creativity through poetry and making art, she is honored to have her poem selected for the 2020 Public Art Poetry Contest.
Joseph Kuhn Carey resides in Glencoe, Illinois, and thinks of poetry as small colorful paintings or sculptures with words. His book of poems, Postcards From Poland, won a Journal of Modern Poetry Book Award and his latest poetry book, Black Forest Dreams, A Journey Through Germany, will be published by Kelsay Books in October, 2020. Some of his favorite sculptors are Marcel Duchamp, Jean Arp, Auguste Rodin, Claes Oldenburg, Kurt Schwitters and the Icelandic genius Ásmundur Sveinsson.
Susan Spaeth Cherry began her writing career as a journalist. Her award-winning poetry has been published in literary magazines, on poetry web sites, and in many anthologies. She is the author of six poetry collections: Sackcloth and Silk: New and Selected Poems; I Am the Pool’s Perimeter; Reflecting Pool; Breaking into the Safe of Life; Sonata in the Key of Being; and Hole to Whole.
Nancy Cook is a St. Paul writer who runs “The Witness Project,” a series of free community writing workshops designed to enable creative work by underrepresented voices. She also serves as flash fiction editor for Kallisto Gaia Press. Some of her newest work can be found in Existere, The Tangerine, and Toho Journal.
Amelia Cotter is an author, storyteller, and award-winning poet. Her books include This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost, Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State, and Breakfast with Bigfoot, and her poetry and short fiction have appeared in journals like Barren Magazine, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, tinywords, and many others. Amelia is a member of the Society of Midland Authors.
Gail Denham says, “As an illustrative photographer, writing poems to the excellent sculptures was such fun. The imagination roams wildly. For over 40 years, my photos, poems, short stories, essays, and newspaper articles were used nationally and internationally. Although "sorta" retired, it's delightful to keep my hand in with writing. Still have three cameras and lots of blank paper. The photo shoots continue to inspire.”
Jennifer Dotson is the founder and program coordinator for Highland Park Poetry. Her debut collection, Clever Gretel, received the Journal of Modern Poetry First Book Award and was published by Chicago Poetry Press in 2013. Her second collection, Late Night Talk Show Fantasy & Other Poems, is scheduled for publication by Kelsay Books in July 2020.
Idella Pearl Edwards was born and raised in Aurora, Illinois. Idella and her husband Jack, married for 60 wonderful years, have lived in 8 different states, have 5 children, 12 grandchildren and 2 great-grands. This offers multiple experiences for writing devotional books, poetry books and children’s books. Her favorite pastimes include spoiling the grandchildren, oil painting, working jigsaw puzzles, bird watching and photography.
Daniel J. Fitzgerald lives quietly in Pontiac, Illinois, tending to home and garden. His poems have been published in The Writer’s Journal, PKA Advocate, Nomad’s Choir and many others. His work is also included in several anthologies.
Judith Stern Friedman is a freelance copywriter, writing coach, and university writing instructor. In 30+ years of practice, her work has spanned the gamut of consumer, professional, and business-to-business projects. She is widely published in Better Homes & Gardens magazine and book publications , with published prose and poems in Highland Park’s own East on Central.
Carol L. Gloor has been writing, mostly poetry, for many years. Her work has recently appeared in Leaping Clear and Heirlock. Her poetry chapbook, Assisted Living, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2013, and her full length poetry collection, Falling Back, was published by WordPoetry/WordTech in 2018.
Kathleen Gregg lives with her husband and one cat in the beautiful Bluegrass region of Kentucky, where storytelling is as much a tradition as horse racing and bourbon distilling are. She studied under the current Kentucky Poet Laureate, Jeff Worley, for a year through the Author Academy program at Carnegie Center in Lexington. Her poetry has appeared in Lady Literary Magazine, Gyroscope Review, Workhorse Publishing, and Highland Park Poetry, to name a few.
Eugene Gurevich has been enjoying poetry since his high school days, mostly as a reader, sometimes as an author. In the early 90s, he was fortunate to watch Joseph Brodsky reading his poems during a visit in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Highland Park has been Eugene’s home since 1998 and he enjoys living here every time he goes out for a walk or watches a local art fair or parade.
Janea D. Harris is a local author and poet who loves how creative writing has the ability to motivate, move and elicit all types of emotions in people. Her passion for writing goes back to her youth and she continues to write everything from poetry to short stories. She most recently published her first children’s book, All Girls Have Sup-HER Powers, The Power of Voice, which was inspired by her daughter and encourages girls to use their voice to speak up and make sure they are heard.
Nancy J. Heggem of Palatine, Illinois is a retired mathematician and former Trustee of the Palatine Public Library District. She is active with the Northwest Cultural Council Poets and sponsors the annual poetry contest at the Palatine Public Library. Her work has been published in a number of Chicago Area Anthologies.
Colleen McManus Hein lives and writes in Riverwoods, Illinos.
Linda Imbler has six published poetry collections and one hybrid ebook of short fiction and poetry. She is a Kansas-based Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Nominee. More information can be found at lindaspoetryblog.blogspot.com.
Julie Isaacson is a teacher, storyteller and writer, residing in Highland Park for 37 years. She enjoys the vast representations of art and culture accessible throughout the community. The weaving of visual, music and literary opportunities are rich and unique.
Kerry Leaf is a passionate writer and poet who loves Highland Park's sculptures, ravines, beaches, music, artwork, and imagination. When she is not working at her day job (for a major North American nonprofit organization), you can see Kerry walking with her best dog, Louie, both of them looking for good conversation. Kerry has lived in Highland Park since 1987, with her husband and children, where she has long delighted in working for community organizations like YEA! Highland Park that support youth, education, the arts and social services.
Carol Spielman Lezak, a frequent contributor to Highland Park Poetry, is an award-winning writer, editor, and poet who is also a memoirist, former art museum librarian, and corporate communications professional. With a bachelor of arts degree in art history and fine arts, she enjoys the visual arts of Highland Park and is a frequent visitor to Moraine Park, her neighborhood park.
Emma Alexandra Kowalenko, a poet and mixed media artist moved to Highland Park from Chicago with her husband Anthony Bilotti and their two sons, in July 2000. Here, a network of writers and artists in various media quickly made her feel at home in this richly creative enclave adjoining Lake Michigan. Friendships and camaraderie provided inspiration for artistic expression in Highland Park Poetry and East on Central. Both organizations, their websites, and publications, give voice and visibility to writers and artists. She and her husband currently live in Highwood enjoying the quick commute to work at Kowalenko Consulting Group, Inc. a management consulting firm, located in Highland Park.
Candace Kubinec lives in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. She has been published in The Loyalhanna Review, The Official Poet’s Guide to Peace (Chicago Poetry Press anthology), Chiaroscuro - d’Veres Poets anthology, Ink in Thirds, and several Highland Park Poetry Chapbooks. She blogs at www.rhymeswithbug.com.
Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in many literary magazines such as Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Poet Warriors, Blueline, and Halcyon Days. Four Bright Hills Press Anthologies, several Poppy Road Review Journals, and numerous Spectrum Publications have accepted her work. Her latest title, The Muse In Miniature, is available on Amazon.com and Cyberwit.net. and she has four Best of the Net nominations.
Adrian McRobb lives in Cramlington, Northumberland (Northern England) where he runs an open-mic event with Hannah Welfare to encourage local poets. A writer for thirty years, his poetry has appeared in various anthologies, webzines as well as literary journals, First Time, The Linnets Wings, and Forward Press.
Jen Meyer is one of the many Jennifer Meyers around and one of the millions of Jennifers on this planet. She’s the only one who wrote this poem. Jen lives in Highland Park, Illinois, right down the street from Merry-Go-Round by Robert Cook, the sculpture that inspired the poem.
Becky Mueller is a retired English teacher with a passion for gardening and the outdoors. She celebrates nature and hopes to help preserve it for future generations through her poetry.
Lakshmy Nair is a scientist, writer and a nature photographer who lives in the suburbs of Chicago. She is a native of Kerala, India. She writes both in English and Malayalam, her native language. Her debut book, A Lament, a collection of poems, is available on www.amazon.com. Her poems appear in four other anthologies, Winter Moments, Coffee, Tea & Other Beverages, Driving Cars: Poems about Getting Here, There, and Everywhere in Automobiles, and Poetry is a Mountain.
Sandra Phillips is a retired Labor & Delivery nurse originally from London, England. Sandra sporadically writes poetry and prose at times encouraged by local groups such as East on Central and Highland Park Poetry.
Donna Pucciani, a resident of Wheaton, Illinois, has published poetry worldwide in such diverse journals as Shi Chao Poetry, Voice and Verse, Poetry Salzburg, ParisLitUp, Acumen, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Journal of Italian Translation. She served as Vice President of the Poets Club of Chicago for over a decade, and has won awards from the Illinois Arts Council, the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Poets and Patrons of Chicago, the Illinois State Poetry Society, Poetry on the Lake, and others. Her seventh and most recent book of poetry is EDGES.
Marjorie Rissman has been an active participant in Highland Park Poetry for many years as well as in Poets and Patrons. She is a member of Illinois State Poetry Society and is currently serving as treasurer of East on Central Association which publishes Highland Park’s journal of art and literature.
Eli Rollman is a husband, father, dog-walker, soccer player, educator, and Operations Director of The House Tutoring Lounge. His written work has been published in The Oberlin Review, The New Haven Register, the Orchard Park P.S. Yearbook, The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, and Scene magazine, among others. He gives credit to his amazing wife Dina for inspiring most of his literary and artistic endeavors.
Miriam Sagan is the author of 30 published books, including two recent memoirs, A Hundred Cups of Coffee (Tres Chicas Books) and Bluebeard’s Castle, (Red Mountain). She founded and headed the creative writing program at Santa Fe Community College until her retirement in 2016. Her blog Miriam’s Well (http://miriamswell.wordpress.com) has 1,500 daily readers.
Maria Andrea Salas is a student at Benedictine College in Lisle, Illinois who enjoys writing poetry and her observations about human nature.
Dorothy Bury Shaw’s verse touches upon a broad range of human experience, tapping into the darkest recesses where our fears reside, followed by gentle, penetrating light to soothe the heart and bring clarity to the soul. She has published a book of art and poetry, Love Without Distance – A Heartscape of Art & Verse. Visit www.dorothyburyshaw.com.
Irfanulla Shariff has a great passion for writing inspirational poetry and his work has been published in various American poetry magazines and anthologies. Irfanulla’s poetry influences are Rumi, Robert Frost and Maya Angelou. He is a member of Illinois Poetry Society and by profession, he is a Computer Scientist and Telecommunications Engineer.
Joris Soeding’s most recent collections of poetry are Forty (Rinky Dink Press, 2019) and Home in Nine Moons (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, 2018). Soeding’s writing has appeared in publications such as Another Chicago Magazine, Columbia Poetry Review, and Red River Review. He is a 7th/8th grade Social Studies teacher in Chicago, where he resides with his wife, son, and daughter.
Merle Tovian is an educator and author. She and her husband Steven, native Chicagoans, moved their family to Highland Park more than thirty years ago. Ravinia Festival has been an ongoing, integrated aspect of their family's cultural and artistic experience.
Lisa Vihos has four chapbooks and her poems have appeared in numerous journals, both print and online. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee with first place awards from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters. She is the poetry and arts editor of Stoneboat Literary Journal and the Sheboygan organizer for 100 Thousand Poets for Change.
William Vollrath, a Charlottesville, Virginia poet, has enjoyed reading and writing poetry for over 50 years. His work has been published in a wide range of journals, e-zines, poetry websites, and anthologies. He has helped conduct state poetry contests in Illinois and Virginia, and has published two chapbooks of poetry, Neon Windows and Make Mine Rare.
Lynn West is a local poet and photographer who says, “I gather my poetry and photographs from the soul. When life brings bricks, stones...sun, shade..., I filter through a medium that reflects images that please and pacify my inner muse. My writing originated as an escape from a reality that I couldn't cope with. The muse emerged and took many delightful forms.” Lynn has been writing for about seven years and has been published in East on Central and Highland Park Poetry. She adds, “My favorite aspect of creativity is getting to know other artists and helping promote our unique ways of looking at the world.”
Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud 'War Poetry for Today' competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Rhysling Award. Find Lynn at: https://lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com and on Facebook.
Martin Willitts Jr. has 24 chapbooks including the Turtle Island Quarterly Editor’s Choice Award, The Wire Fence Holding Back the World (Flowstone Press, 2017), plus 16 full-length collections including the Blue Light Award 2019, The Temporary World. His recent book is Unfolding Towards Love (Wipf and Stock, 2020).
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| Participating Poets - Highland Park Poetry |
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Emma Alexandra, poet, historian, avid walker and hiker, celebrates her immigrant’s journey from Morocco to Chicago’s Humboldt Park Neighborhood in the early 1960’s to Highland Park, Illinois in 2000 with her poetry collection “It’s Long way from Casablanca to the Shores of Highland Park.” She has collaborated with several Highland Park visual artists such as Sumner Garte, Yelena Klairmont, and Howard Jacobs creating poetry for their work and the artists creating visual art for her poetry. She believes that collaboration between visual artist, musician, performance artist, and poet liberates the human mind’s intriguingly complex Musescape. She is dedicated to promoting the artistic and practical preservation of the natural environment whose inspiration is essential to creative health.
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Wendy Anderson is a published poet and longtime professional writer who has taught in the graduate journalism school at Northwestern University. Her most recent poetry collection, An Ancient Trail to Home, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014. For five years she has led the Poets Attic writers workshops through the Highland Park Community House. She presents creative writing workshops at the Highland Park and other local libraries. If you are interested in learning more about the Poets Attic writers workshops, contact Wendy Anderson at (847) 432-3271 or email writersattic@comcast.net.
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Susan B. Auld lives in Arlington Heights. Her free verse poetry, haiku and haibun have been published both online and in print journals. She is a member of the Haiku Society of America and the Illinois State Poetry Society. Susan teaches Continuing Education writing classes for Township 214 that encourage new writers and writers who wish to use writing to heal.
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Sherri Lohrum Baker of Belleville, Illinois, is a special procedure technologist who has worked at Memorial Hospital since 1994. Sherri has written poetry intermittently throughout her life “to purge her feelings,” and had pieces published in college, but usually threw her poems away. In recent years, Sherri says, she has experienced much tragedy and finds comfort in her writing that she hopes to share with others. At the insistence of her sister, who also writes poetry, she no longer throws away her poems. Some of her work is also posted online as broadsides.
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Mary Jo Balistreri has two full books of poetry, Joy in the Morning and gathering the harvest (Bellowing Ark Press), and a chapbook, Best Brothers (Tiger's Eye Press). She has recent or forthcoming work in Parabola, Grist, The Hurricane Press, Plainsongs, The Tiger's Eye, Avocet, Crab Creek Review, Quill and Parchment, The Heron's Nest, Acorn, and A Hundred Gourds. Poetrystorehouse has offered videos of two poems. She has six Pushcart nominations, and two Best of the Net. She was a poetry judge for Arizona Writers Association for two years and just recently a judge for Wilda’s blogspot.com. Mary Jo is one of the founders of Grace River Poets, an outreach for women's shelters, churches, and schools. Please visit her at maryjobalistreripoet.com
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Lois Baer Barr - A graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Languages and Linguistics, Middlebury College’s Spanish School and the University of Kentucky, Lois is a professor of Spanish at Lake Forest College. Her poems and stories have been published in Persimmon Tree, The Examined Life, Journal of Modern Poetry, Flashquake, Poetica, Phat’itude, East on Central, Ekakshara, The DuPage Review, The New Vilna Review, The Jewish Literary Journal and Mochila. Six anthologies have included her work. She has received Pushcart nominations for poetry and fiction. Her books, articles and reviews on Spanish and Latin American literature, with a special focus on Latin American Jewish Literature, have appeared here and abroad. Her chapbook Biopoesis won Poetica Magazine’s 2013 contest. You can see more about her at https://www.amazon.com/author/loisbaerbarr
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Deerfield resident Herb Berman is a lawyer/labor arbitrator, reader of poems, and sometime-poet. His poems have been published in about 20 literary magazines, and his book of poems will be published in 2014.
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Lorraine Brown lives in Chicago with her husband Greg. She has been writing poetry and short stories since childhood. Her poem Cheaters received 1st place, non-resident in Highland Park Poetry’s 2010 Funny Poetry contest and Looking back at me received 1st place in HPP’s 2011 Rhyme & Time contest. Her poems What my momma said and He won’t eat my soup were included in CRAM 9 and CRAM 10; along with her poem Once in CRAM 11. Lorraine is an actress and voice over talent for television & radio; co-founder of the Chicago Bulls Cheerleaders (The Luv-A-Bulls) and former NFL-Chicago Bears Cheerleader (The Honeybears). She shares some of her interests on her blog, A multi-dimensional life... http://lorrainelorrainelorraine.blogspot.com
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Michael H. Brownstein has been widely published throughout the small and literary presses. His work has appeared in The Café Review, American Letters and Commentary, Skidrow Penthouse, Xavier Review, Hotel Amerika, Free Lunch, Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, The Pacific Review, poetrysuperhighway.com and others. In addition, he has nine chapbooks including The Shooting Gallery (Samsidat Press, 1987), Poems from the Body Bag (ommation Press, 1988), A Period of Trees (Snark Press, 2004), What Stone Is (Fractal Press, 2005), I Was a Teacher Once (Ten Page Press, 2011), Firestorm: A Rendering of Torah (Camel Saloon Press, 2012), The Possibility of Sky and Hell: From My Suicide Book (White Knuckle Press, 2013) and The Katy Trail, Mid-Missouri, 100 Degrees Outside and Other Poems (Kind of Hurricane Press, 2013). He is the editor of First Poems from Viet Nam (2011). He currently resides in Jefferson City, Missouri.
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Joseph Kuhn Carey's collection, Postcards From Poland received the Journal of Modern Poetry Book Award and was published by Chicago Poetry Press in early 2014. [Copies available from PostcardsfromPoland.com, ChicagoPoetry.com and Amazon.com]. Postcards from Poland garnered numerous awards and recognition. His newest (as yet unpublished) collection, Back to the Black Forest: A Poetic Journey Through Germany, has already been awarded 1st Place in both the 2016 Amsterdam Book Festival as well as 2016 Northern California Book Festival. He is a Grammy-voting member of The Recording Academy and recipient of an ASCAP/Deems Taylor award for music-related writing (for articles about jazz composer/musicians Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, and Charlie Haden). He's published a chapbook of poetry ("Bulk-Rate") and a book on jazz (Big Noise From Notre Dame: A History of the Collegiate Jazz Festival) and has released two Loose Caboose Band CDs of original children's songs with his brother, Bill ("The Caboose is Loose" and "Mighty Big Broom," the latter garnered two first-round Grammy nominations). He earned his B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, and a M.S. in Mass Communication from Boston University. He's interviewed bakers for Bakery Magazine, written about jazz and blues artists for Downbeat, JazzTimes, and The Boston Globe. His poems have been selected in the Writer's Digest 7th Annual Poetry Awards Contest & 80th Annual Writing Competition as well as the Evanston Library's 35th Annual Jo-Anne Hirschfield Memorial Poetry Awards. He's been published by East on Central, the Journal of Modern Poetry, Highland Park Poetry and more. When not scribbling entertaining poems, stories and songs on all available scraps of paper to read to his wife and kids over dinner, he runs a multi-state property management business.
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Jill Charles lives in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago and works in a Montessori school office. She performs her poetry at open mic nights at The Heartland Café and the Green Mill in Chicago. Read her jazz age novel Marlene's Piano from Booklocker.com.
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Tricia Marcella Cimera is a Midwestern poet with a worldview. Her work appears in many diverse places — from the Buddhist Poetry Review to the Origami Poems Project. Her poem The Stag won first place honors in College of DuPage’s 2017 Writers Read: Emerging Voices contest. Tricia lives with her husband and family of animals in Illinois / in a town called St. Charles / by a river named Fox / with a Poetry Box in her front yard. Visit The Fox Poetry Box on Facebook!
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Kathy Lohrum Cotton of Anna, Illinois, is a poet and collage artist whose work has been published in literary journals, magazines and anthologies and as posters and greeting cards. Cotton is the author of three poetry collections; including the 2012 illustrated volume, Deluxe Box of Crayons. She supports poets and poetry by editing/designing poetry books and by serving on the board of directors of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies as Encore editor, and the Illinois State Poetry Society as facilitator of the Southern Chapter and ISPS newsletter editor. Samples of her illustrated poetry are available at: www.minddances.yolasite.com
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Gail Denham’s short stories, essays, news articles, poetry and photos have been published in a wide variety of publications nationally and internationally. Denham leads photo and writing workshops at various Pacific Northwest conferences. Her photography is meant to have the meaning of “story”. In all her work, humor plays a big part, plus family closeness. Denham and her husband have four sons and 14 grandchildren, plus a few greats. They live near Sunriver, in Central Oregon where photo opportunities of the great outdoors surround them. Her poem, "Save That Smile" was selected for the 2015 Poetry That Moves Contest. Gail says she is thankful for the outlets for poetry such as Highland Park Poetry. "I take advantage of submissions to this contest, that anthology, on-line possibilities. Especially enjoy the story contests -- those that say "narrative" or "story". Perhaps that's because I began life (almost) as a story teller and most of my previous writing career has been stories. Often I start with the first line, try to figure out a name that fits the idea and I'm off, never imaginging where that poem will lead. The greatest satisfaction is to breathe a big sigh, laugh, or say "ahhhh" at the ending."
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Charlotte Digregorio writes thirteen poetic forms, has won fifty-one literary awards, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She recently received an official commendation from Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner for her decades of literary achievement. Her sixth book, Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All, was recently published. Her poems have been translated into eight languages, and her traveling poetry/art show is featured at libraries and corporate centers, among several venues. She writes a poetry column for Winnetka Living. Her books are sold in forty-six countries, and four have been adopted as supplemental texts and have also been featured selections of book clubs. She has given workshops at writer's conferences throughout the U.S.; is a writer-in-residence at universities; and speaks regularly at libraries and chain bookstores. Charlotte hosted a radio poetry program on public broadcasting, and was an executive officer of the Haiku Society of America.
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| Photo by Martha Abelson Photography |
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Jennifer Dotson studied acting on the East Coast when the siren song of Chicago's storefront theater scene lured her to the Midwest. Along the way she stumbled into writing, first with plays and later poetry. Her poems have appeared in After Hours, Caravel Literary Journal, DuPage Valley Review, East On Central, Exact Change Only, Poetry Cram/J.O.M.P., Her Mark 2005 and Willow Review. She has poems included in several anthologies including A Midnight Snack, from Poetic License Press. Her debut collection, Clever Gretel, was published by Chicago Poetry Press in April 2013 and is available on Amazon.com. Just released from Kelsay Books is her second collection, Late Night Talk Show Fantasy & Other Poems. Check out her new author page at www.JenniferDotsonPoet.com. She teaches creative writing, memoir and poetry through "Library U" at Highland Park Library and leads workshops such as "Performance Skills for Poets," "Poetry for the Apocalypse," and "How-To Poems: From the Functional to the Fantastic." Jennifer is thrilled that what started as a small idea to recognize local poets in the community has grown and bloomed into Highland Park Poetry.
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Mary Ann Eiler’s poetry has been published nationally and internationally and translated into Chinese. She studied with Ilya Kaminsky (Iowa Summer Writing Festivals) and was a participant in poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Her poetry won awards from Poets and Patrons, the Alliance Française (Chicago), and the International Association of Sufism. She authored physician publications for the American Medical Association, served as judge for international technical writing and high school poetry competitions, and holds a diploma from the Institute of Children's Literature (Connecticut) for her manuscript Annie's Doll - A Study of World War II on the Home Front. Mary Ann holds a PhD in Linguistics and loves France. When she is not traveling the world, she lives in Oak Park, IL with her dolls.
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Michael Escoubas - Michael began writing poetry for publication in August of 2013. Early in life his mother said, You have a gift for words; I hope you do something with that gift. Michael writes poetry, in part, because of his mother’s encouraging words and because he believes poetry brings people together. Michael has published one chapbook, Light Comes Softly, which is available by contacting the author.
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Edilson Afonso Ferreira - Mr. Ferreira, 73, is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than Portuguese, having been published in venues like Right Hand Pointing, The Lake, The Stare’s Nest, The Provo Canyon, Red Wolf Journal, Whispers, Every Day Poems, Indiana Voice Journal, Synesthesia, Algebra of Owls and some others. Ferreira lives in a small town (Formiga (MG) with wife, three sons and a granddaughter and is trying to publish his first Poetry Collection, with about 70 poems, in 2017. Has been recently nominated for The Pushcart Prize by his poem “Eating Pain”.
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Mary Jane Gabrielsen began writing poetry in the winter of 2003, noticing an ice-covered window in the office of their late 50’s Colonial. She lives in Deerfield with her husband, Gary, and two sons, Kevin and Brian. With a B.S. degree in Administration of Parks and Recreation from Eastern Illinois University, and graduate studies at DePaul University, she has a keen interest in the influence nature plays in our daily lives, and a fascination with the interplay of familiar characters and their effects upon our perceptions in a fast-paced landscape of visual commonality. Her work has been published in recent editions of East on Central, A Journal of Arts and Letters. She has been a student member of Poet's Attic, Highland Park, since 2003 and enjoys participating in open mic poetry readings at Highland Park Library.
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Joseph ("Joe") Glaser - Originally educated in Engineering Physics and Mathematics at Cornell, CCNY (BS) and NYU (MS), most of Joe's career was spent in technical business management. In retirement, he dove into Liberal Arts, got an MLA from the University of Chicago, and began writing poetry in 2008. His poems have appeared in The Journal, printed by Northwestern University's OLLI program, the online Front Porch Review, Decades Review, Muses’ Gallery of Highland Park Poetry, the printed Journal of Modern Poetry (JOMP-16, 18, 19, winning best modern poem prize and Pushcart nomination in 2013), Distilled Lives 2 and Distilled Lives 3 anthologies printed by the Illinois State Poetry Society, East on Central print Journal of Arts and Letters. Joe also pursues candid photography, especially when traveling, and his photos have been published in some of the same media as his poems.
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Marne Glaser was raised in the suburbs of NY, and after several rehearsal moves, found herself living in Chicago some 27 years ago and has stayed put ever since. Her training has been in music, psychology, and education, but she was an English major for a few months, and she did win the limerick prize her freshman year of college. Much of her writing falls into the verse and lyrics category, often lighthearted, but occasionally deep. She has been known to include songs of her own writing when she performs with some of Chicago's fine jazz musicians. As a new direction, and a bit of a discipline for her errant ways, she's been trying out haiku of late--the real kind, not 5-7-5. Twice she has participated in HPP's Poetry Pentathlon, plus the bus poem contest, and some Madame ZuZu readings. On the side, she's just finished two years as one of the Directors of the Off-Campus Writers Workshop in Winnetka where she continues to contribute as the Facebook czaress.
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Carol L. Gloor is a retired attorney living in Savanna, Illinois. She has been writing, mostly poetry, for more years than she cares to remember. Her work has been published in many hard copy and online journals, most recently in About Place and the Midwest Writer's Center Writer's E-Block Magazine. She has upcoming work in Earth's Daughters and the anthology Feminine Divine. She has been a member of the Chicago poetry collective, Egg Money Poets, for many years. Her full length collection, Falling Back, was published by WordTechLLC in 2018. She enjoys forests, sleeping late, trying to become a fiber artist, and especially reading her own work and the works or others to anyone willing to listen.
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Gail Goepfert is a poet, amateur photographer, and teacher. Currently, she is an associate editor of RHINO Poetry. A Mind on Pain is her first chapbook—publication Finishing Line Press 2015. She is published in a number of anthologies and journals including Avocet, Off Channel, After Hours, Caesura, Florida English, Jet Fuel Review, and Examined Life Journal and online at Emerge Literary Journal, Ardor Literary Magazine, Room Magazine, and Bolts of Silk. She was a Poet of the Month for YourDailyPoem.com. Two of her poems rode PACE buses as part of our Poetry That Moves contest. She’s been a semi-finalist for Journal of Modern Poetry and Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest, and she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2013 and 2014. She has photographs online at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Olentangy Review, 3Elements Review, and in February 2015, one of her photographs will appear on the cover of Rattle, She received a month-long residency at Lake Forest's Ragdale Foundation in April 2014. She spent time in Brockport, New York, studying Gilgamesh and its implications for the classroom thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities. Gail was born and raised in the Midwest states of Illinois and Ohio, from near the Piasa Bird along the bluffs of the Mississippi to the eagle-watch waters of the river near the Quad-Cities, from the Glass City, Toledo, Ohio, to a long and present stay in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. You can find her online at gailgoepfert.com.
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Cynthia Hahn has been a Professor of French at Lake Forest College, teaching language, literature, culture, film, translation and creative writing since 1990. Hahn's first poetry chapbook, Outside-In-Sideout, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2010; it gives voice to the process of grieving. She edits the College's yearly foreign language magazine, Collage. She writes poetry in French and English and has published poems in Tusitala, Matrix, The Christian Science Monitor, and on-line for peuplesmonde.org, and inthemist.org. She also has poems in the volumes, La Cendre des mots and Voyages en cancer. She regularly publishes literary translations (poetry and prose), and has translated Tunisian Hédi Bouraoui, Algerian Noureddine Aba, Lebanese authors Evelyne Accad and Ezza Agha Malak, as well as East African writer Abdourahman Waberi. Her published research is in the areas of Franco-Canadian literature, translation studies, and analyses of Lebanese literature and the Tunisian women's movement. Her poetry ranges from haiku as inner landscape to anecdotes associated with caregiving. Cynthia's second volume of bilingual poetry (French-English), Co-ïncidence(s), was published by alfAbarre Press (Paris) in 2014. It is illustrated by Parisian artist Monique Loubet. This volume meditates on the theme of life as a journey and much of the bird imagery reflects movements of the soul. She presented the book at two Salons du Livre: in Chicago at the Alliance Française and in Gatineau, Quebec in Spring 2015. She plays bass guitar in a local bluegrass and blues band, "Fast and Cheap." Visit Cynthia's web site - www.cynthiathahn.com
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Jacqueline Harris was born and raised in Lake County and currently resides in North Chicago, IL. She is a graduate of Shimer College with a BA in Humanities. She is a writer of poetry and short fiction, as well local spoken word artist. She has published two short stories and is currently working on a poetry CD. Her first collection of poetry is Random Acts of Verse.
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William D. Hicks is a writer who lives in Chicago, Illinois by himself. His poetry has appeared in Outburst Magazine, The Legendary, Horizon Magazine, Breadcrumb Sins, Inwood Indiana Literary Magazine, The Short Humour Site (UK), The Four Cornered Universe, Save the Last Stall for Me and Mosaic. His art appears in The Legendary and as cover art in Anti-Poetry and Sketch.
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Julie Isaacson has lived in Highland Park since 1982, where she also taught Special Education and Early Literacy. Since retiring from North Shore School District 112 in 2013, Julie has enjoyed exploring a variety of passions. She has published works in East on Central and Voices and Visions of Sister Cities. She authored two books, The Angry Chef: Satisfying Recipes Inspired by Unsatisfying Relationships. In addition to writing poetry for Highland Park Poetry, she enjoys writing courses at Lake Forest College and Story Studio in Chicago. While enhancing her craft through her studies, Julie also teaches writing skills to adolescents in her Highland Park home. Another avenue of her interests involves her participation as a storyteller for Short Story Theatre. Julie is grateful for being able to enjoy the best of all worlds, and the new, creative friends she’s met through her endeavors.
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Caroline Johnson has two poetry chapbooks, Where the Street Ends and My Mother’s Artwork, and more than 70 poems in print. A nominee for the Pushcart Prize and Best of Net, she has won numerous state and national poetry awards, including the 2012 Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Poetry Contest. Her writing has appeared in Lunch Ticket, Rambunctious Review, Origins Journal, The Quotable, Encore, Naugatuck River Review, Blast Furnace, New Scriptor, Prairie Light Review, Kind of a Hurricane Press, among others. She served as president of Poets & Patrons of Chicago for four years and leads poetry workshops for veterans and others in the Chicago area. An English teacher for 20 years, she now works as a community college academic advisor. Her first full length collection of poems, The Caregiver, is forthcoming from Holy Cow! Press in May 2018.
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Edward P. Kaufman, MSW, LCSW, BCD, is the Director of Child & Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. He is in private practice in Chicago and Highland Park, Illinois. Mr. Kaufman has written numerous papers on child and adolescent psychotherapy, psychological development and the emotional aspects of teaching and learning. He has written about films and leads professional study groups on films. He is an editor and contributor to AEmotions and Learning Reconsidered: International Perspectives published by Gardner Press in 1993. Mr. Kaufman is interested in music, scuba diving, photography and poetry.
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Steve Klepetar lives in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where he taught literature and creative writing at Saint Cloud State University. Klepetar’s work has appeared worldwide, in such journals as Boston Literary Magazine, Deep Water, Expound, The Muse: India, Red River Review, Snakeskin, Voices Israel, Ygdrasil, and many others. Several of his poems have been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize (including three in 2017). He has also done several collaborations with composer Richard Lavenda of Rice University in Houston, including a one-act opera, Barricades, for which he wrote the libretto. Klepetar is the author of twelve poetry collections and chapbooks, the most recent of which include Family Reunion (Big Table), A Landscape in Hell (Flutter Press), How Fascism Comes to America (Locofo Chaps) and Why Glass Shatters (One Sentence Chaps).
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Tricia Knoll was born in Highland Park in 1947 during the middle of a heavy snowstorm. Her parents brought property during World War II but couldn't build until after the war. Her father served as President of the School Board when Red Oak School was built and delivered her diploma to her in the first graduating class from Deerfield High School. She now lives in Portland, Oregon but looks back with fondness on the early poems she wrote for her mother and poems she wrote as a teenager. She has degrees in literature from Stanford University and Yale University. Her poetry is widely represented in dozens of journals and anthologies and she had received 7 Pushcart Prize nominations. She has three collections in print - Urban Wild (Finishing Line Press), Ocean's Laughter (Aldirch Press, a tribute to a small town on the northern Oregon coast), and Broadfork Farm (The Poetry Box, poetry about life on a small organic farm in Trout Lake, Washington on the slopes of Mt. Adams). Her book How I Learned to Be White comes out from Antrim House Press in early 2018 and centers on her ancestry, early education, suburban history and experiences growing up. Website: triciaknoll.com
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Candace Kubinec lives in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and is a member of the Ligonier Valley Writers. Her poems and short stories have appeared in The Loyalhanna Review, Highland Park Poetry Muses' Gallery and Kind over Matter. She is a finalist in the 2015 Poetry That Moves competition.
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Joanna Kurowska Ph.D. is the author of seven critically acclaimed volumes of poetry, Intricacies (2016), Stained Glass (2016), The Butterfly's Choice (2015), Inclusions (2014), The Wall & Beyond (2013), Obok:Near (1999) and Sciana:The Wall (1997). At present an independent scholar, writer, and translator widely published in American and international journals, Joanna taught for many years at American universities such as the University of Chicago and Indiana University (Bloomington). She currently lives in Evanston, Illinois, together with her husband John, son Paul, and cat Rufus.
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Jill Angel Langlois grew up in Park Forest where she began writing short stories at the age of eight and poetry at the age of twelve. Her poems and short stories have appeared in literary magazines, anthologies and newspapers in the Chicagoland area as well as nationally. She holds a B.A. in English & American Literature from Governors State University, University Park, IL. Scattered Petals, her first collection of poetry, explores the healing power of nature. Whiskey Nights, her second collection of poetry, is inspired by both whiskey and music. Excerpts from these collections can be found at www.illinoispoets.org Her poetry and short stories also appear on her blog: http://jillangellanglois.wordpress.com The Writing Life. Jill is currently writing a memoir entitled Tell Me The Story, which is about growing up adopted and reuniting with her birth mother. She lives in Yorkville with her husband, Aaron, her birth mother, Sue, and their three cats.
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Pamela Larson lives in Arlington Heights. Her writing has been published in East on Central, the Daily Herald, the Cram series, Jomp series, bottlerockets haiku journal, and online. She has won several Highland Park Poetry contests and helped coordinate The Exquisite Corpse Project in 2012 and The Chain Gang in 2014. She strongly encourages all participating poets to try their hand at cinepoems for Lights / Action / Poetry when it comes around again. Pam enjoys the art of poetry through classical form as well as part of contemporary mixed media. Being published is great but Pam would rather be consumed by poetry than have her poetry consumed. She enjoys coming to Highland Park because she thinks the community does more than others to encourage and share the arts in everyday venues.
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Michael Latza has been published in several literary journals, including, The Solitary Plover, Red River Review, Willow Review, and Bear River Review. He has also published nonfiction on the Prairie Home Companion website. Michael studied poetry under the late James Liddy, in the fall of 2007, in Milwaukee. Michael was born in Chicago. After a career as a mailman for 25 years, he teaches English, composition, literature, and creative writing at the College of Lake County, Grayslake, IL, where he also edits the creative writing journal, Willow Review. Mr. Latza earned his MA in English from Loyola University of Chicago.
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Kathleen A. Lawrence lives in Cortland, New York and has been published in Rattle (Poets Respond), Eye to the Telescope, Scryptic, Silver Birch Press, haikuniverse, Silver Blade Magazine, The Wild Word magazine (Germany), Altered Reality Magazine, Undertow Tanka Review, New Verse News, and Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, among others. She was Poet of the Week at Poetry Super Highway in January 2017. Recently her poem Just Rosie (published in ETTT) was nominated for a 2017 Pushcart Prize.
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An award-winning writer and editor whose work has appeared in East on Central, Elle, North Shore, and other publications, Carol Spielman Lezak holds a B.A. in fine arts from Boston University and an M.A. in medical librarianship from the University of Michigan. She also studied fine bookbinding under the late William Anthony and is a biographee in Marquis Who's Who in America. Her perspective: While a picture may indeed be worth a thousand words, poets use their love of and skills with language and words to paint their own canvases that can be viewed with the inner eye. Lezak developed an appreciation for the art early on via her mother, whose collection of works by poets as diverse, entertaining, and insightful as Dorothy Parker, Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare, and Ogden Nash stirred her daughter's imagination.
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Terry Loncaric is a journalist, poet, and perpetual truth seeker. Her poems have appeared on storefronts, in magazines, and in anthologies. She has lectured on feature writing at Columbia College and Roosevelt University. She contributes entertainment stories to Pioneer Press in the Chicago suburbs. She has won many awards for her feature stories in Indiana and Illinois newspapers. She works as a teaching assistant in the Special Education Department of Hoffman Estates High School. Loncaric loves empowering students with learning disabilities to conquer their fears of writing. Her first chapbook, Crashing in Velvet, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014.
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Olivia Maciel Edelman received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Olivia Maciel was awarded the First Prize for Poetry in Spanish by Northeastern Illinois University (2014), Poet’s House Award, New York City (1996) for one of three best books of poetry in the U.S., for Más salado que dulce / Saltier than Sweet (March Abrazo Press), and the José Martí Award for essay writing in homage to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, awarded by the University of Houston and the Consular Body of Houston (1993). Maciel is the author of Shadow in Silver (Swan Isle Press), Filigree of Light (Swan Isle Press), and Cielo de Magnolias. Cielo de Silencios (Pandora Lobo Estepario Ediciones), among other publications. Olivia Maciel enjoys reading, taking walks, and listening to music. Sometimes she draws, paints, or takes photographs. Olivia Maciel was born in Mexico City and resides in Chicago. She is currently a professor at North Central College.
Olivia Maciel Edelman recibió su doctorado en la Universidad de Chicago. Olivia obtuvo el Primer Premio de Poesía en Español otorgado por Northeastern Illinois University (2014), el Premio Casa del Poeta, Nueva York, por uno de los mejores tres libros de poesía en los Estados Unidos por Más Salado que Dulce (1996), y el Premio José Martí, otorgado por la Universidad de Houston, y el Cuerpo Consular de Houston, por ensayo en honor de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1993). Maciel es autora de Sombra en plata (Swan Isle Press), Filigrana encendida (Swan Isle Press), y Cielo de Magnolias. Cielo de Silencios (Pandora Lobo Estepario Ediciones), entre otras publicaciones. A Olivia le encantan la lectura, los paseos al aire libre, y la música. De vez en cuando pinta, dibuja, o toma fotografías. Olivia Maciel nació en la Ciudad de México y reside en Chicago. Actualmente es Profesora en North Central College.
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Marjorie Maddox. Sage Graduate Fellow of Cornell University (MFA) and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, Marjorie Maddox has published eleven collections of poetry—including True, False, None of the Above (Poiema Poetry Series); Local News from Someplace Else (Wipf and Stock); Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation, (Yellowglen Prize); and Perpendicular As I; the forthcoming Wives’ Tales (Seven Kitchens Press)—the short story collection What She Was Saying (2017 Fomite), and over 450 stories, essays, and poems in journals and anthologies. Co-editor of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (Penn State Press), she also has published two children’s books with several forthcoming. For more information, please see www.marjoriemaddox.com
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William Marr has published 23 volumes of poetry (two in English and the rest in his native Chinese language), 3 books of essays and several books of translations. His most recent published work, Chicago Serenade, is a trilingual (Chinese/English/French) anothology of poems published in Paris this year. His poetry has been translated into more than ten languages and included in over one hundred anthologies. Some of his poems are used in high school and college textbooks in Taiwan, China, England, and Germany. In addition to writing poetry, he has also engaged in translating Western modern poetry into Chinese and has edited several anthologies of Chinese and Taiwanese modern poetry. He is a former president of the Illinois State Poetry Society and has received numerous awards, including three from Taiwan for his poetry and translations. A PhD recipient and a scientific researcher by profession, he has been in recent years pursuing other artistic interests including painting and sculpting and has held several solo as well as group exhibits in the U.S. and China. His Website, The Art World of William Marr (http://feima.yidian.org/) displays some of his important literary and artistic works.
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Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary zines such as Moonlight Dreamers of Yellow Haze, Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Blueline, Halcyon Days and included in Bright Hills Press, Kind of A Hurricane Press and Poppy Road Review anthologies. She has been nominated four times for Best of the Net.
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Bruce McNutt is a physician who spent 10 years in private practice and the last 22 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He is the proud father of 4 grown children and has three grandchildren. He has been married to his hero, his wife Martha for 37 years and has a friend—a beautiful golden retriever Barkley who is his constant companion. His family and friends have provided him with the impetus for his poetry which he began creating after the birth of his first grandchild in 2004. Bruce believes that each of us is a poet and need only free the feelings and emotions that are at the core of our being in order to share that poetry with others.
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Barbara A. Meier teaches kindergarten in Gold Beach, Oregon, where she is just happy if her students start a sentence with a capital letter and use phonemic writing. She has been published in Metonym, Highland Park Poety's 2017 Summer Gallery (Birds), Nature Writing, Poetry Pacific, The Poeming Pigeon and Cacti Fur. Check out her writing on https://basicallybarbmeier.wordpress.com
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Arlyn Miller teaches poetry to young people in the schools and in the community through Poetic License, Inc., an organization which she founded and directs. A poet herself, her poems have been published in journals such as Calyx, Jewish Women's Literary Annual, and Literary Bohemian. Two of her poems are to be published in May 2009 in the on-line journal, Literary Mama. She lives in Glencoe with her husband and three children. Check out her Web site at www.poeticlicenseinc.net.
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Khalid Mukhtar lives in Bolingbrook, a suburb of Chicago, with his wife and four children. He was born and raised in India and immigrated to the US in 1998. He works as a software engineer in Deerfield. He is an avid enthusiast of traditional poetry styles and that is where most of his poems fall. He contributes regularly to his blog at khamuk.com where he solicits feedback from his gradually growing online readership. In addition to poetry, Khalid is an aspiring novelist and has completed two works of fiction drama over the last two years. He is actively seeking to publish them as he carries out research for his third novel.
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Marilyn Peretti of Glen Ellyn, was delighted to have a poem, Moon Rain, appear on a bus through the Highland Park Poetry program! What fun! She has been writing seriously since she heard a poetry group reading at the Glen Ellyn Library in 1993. Graduate of Purdue University, poetry and writing was far from her mind then, with the major in Child Development-Family Life. She has many poems published in various places including Christian Science Monitor, Kyoto Journal, Prairie Light Review, Fox Cry Review and Journal of Modern Poetry. She has won prizes, and received a nomination for the Pushcart Poetry Prize. Her crane poems have been seen in a California Cancer Society program, and an environmental program in Canada. She has authored: Cranes to Come, Let Wings Take You, To Remember-To Hope, and most recently Lichen-Poems of Nature, the latter two on www.blurb.com. Marilyn's watercolors (and other medium!) are exhibited by the Nature Artists Guild of the Morton Arboretum, Danada Forest Preserve, Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles, DuPage Art League, and other venues. Her art concentrates primarily on nature subjects, and has included pandas and polar bears more recently. Art can be seen on her website www.pagesbyperetti.com A selection of poems can be found at www.perettipoems.wordpress.com
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Patty Dickson Pieczka's second book, Painting the Egret's Echo, won the Library of Poetry Book Award from The Bitter Oleander (2012). Other books are Lacing Through Time (Bellowing Ark Press, 2011) and a chapbook, Word Paintings (Snark, 2002). She won the Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest in the Best Sonnet category (2014), first prize in the 2012 Illinois Poetry Society contest as well as the Frances Locke Memorial Award (2010). She graduated in Creative Writing at SIU. Writing has appeared in many journals such as Bluestem, Green Hills Literary Lantern, Versedaily.org, and Willow Review.
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Donna Pucciani, a resident of Wheaton, Illinois, has published poetry globally in such diverse journals as Shi Chao Poetry, Poetry Salzburg, Acumen, Iota and Gradiva. A seven-time Pushcart nominee, her most recent book of poems is EDGES.
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Jenene Ravesloot is a member of The Poets’ Club of Chicago, ISPS, and Poets & Patrons. She is also a member of the Omniphonic Trio, a sounds-of-poetry band. She has written four books of poetry. Her poems have been published in the Caravel Literary Arts Journal, The Poetry Storehouse, Connotation Press, Packingtown Review, The Miscreant, After Hours Press, Exact Change Only Press, and other journals.
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Sylvia Riojas Vaughn is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She has been selected as a Houston Poetry Fest Juried Poet three times. She belongs to the Dallas Poets Community. Her work has appeared in Red River Review, Tradae, HOUSEBOAT, Diálogo, Beyond the Hill (Lost Tower Publications, 2017), The Muses' Gallery, Desde Hong Kong: Poets in Conversation with Octavio Paz, Bearing the Mask: Southwestern Persona Poems (Dos Gatos Press, 2016), and in anthologies and journals in the U.S. and abroad.
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Marjorie Rissman comes to Illinois via New York, Michigan and Massachusetts. After a long sabbatical from writing and the death of her sister, she has picked up where she left off. Her poems can be found online at HP Poetry's Muse's Gallery, or in the last three issues of East on Central, and the 2014 ISPS anthology. She participates regularly at HP Poetry's open mic events and is a 2019 Pushcart Prize nominee. The 2014 Poetry Pentathlon was her most ambitious competition. In addition to writing, Marjorie is a Highland Park real estate broker, active in local politics, devoted to her four grandchildren and committed to repairing the world.
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Donna Ritter discovered a fondness for written expression through a high school creative writing class. Since 2006 she has been journaling her insight after morning Bible reading and has progressed to writing poetry, biography and memoir, showcasing God's awesome power, strength and love. She credits her writing ability to her relationship with God, seeking His wisdom in prayer before she writes every day. Her poems have been published in Highland Park Poetry's Muses' Gallery (Fall 2010, Fall 2014, Winter 2016) and in the 2012 and 2016 Highland Park Poetry Challenge Chapbooks.
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Kathleen Robinson facilitates the Champaign-Urbana chapter of the Illinois State Poetry Society. Following a career of technical and scientific editing, she has rediscovered the joy of writing poetry that she last experienced in high school. After retiring from Brookhaven National Laboratory in 2014, Kathy immersed herself in humanities studies and the University of Illinois branch at the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning. Her poems are philosophical reveries on community and family life, and gardening in all its many senses. She has published online and reads regularly at open-mics.
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Tom Roby IV publishes and performs his poetry in Chicago. He is President and critique leader of The Poets' Club of Chicago. He is also a member of the Illinois State Poetry Society and Poets & Patrons. His poems have appeared in After Hours Press, Exact Change Only, Poetry Fish, Frog Pond, and other poetry journals, and anthologies, well as on north suburban PACE buses. Tom has published a chapbook, Griever's Circuit (Fractal Edge Press, 2004), and two other poetry books: Shape Shifter (The Puddin'head Press, 2008), and Pressure Points (Bendinger, 2012). His poems were presented as poetry-theater at the Loop Theater. With The Poets’ Club of Chicago he has developed the Poetry Wheel in which each poet reads explicitly in relation to the previous poem. The Wheel has performed at various poetry venues and fests, including Chicago Public Libraries. He is also part of Omniphonic, a trio that performs poems with sounds-of-poetry. It has hosted the annual Omniphonic Challenge for poetry bands and produced a CD. Tom’s Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/tom.robyiv
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Sue Roupp has relocated with her husband to Wisconsin. Highland Park Poetry is indebted to Sue for her energy and enthusiasm which inspired several of our past programs and contributed so greatly to our growth and spreading the word on the North Shore. Sue is a poet and a teacher who is generous with her gifts. Sue says: "Poetry writing focuses on an intense emotional connection in an economy of words and carried along by the inherent craft and rhythm of each line. This "less is more" style of writing allows the writer to capture the essence of meaning while providing a universal story through metaphor or the give and take of each word bumping or caressing each other as we move through the poem." Sue served as the Guest Judge for our 2015 Poetry That Moves Contest.
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Tania Runyan is the author of the poetry collections Second Sky, A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, and Delicious Air, which was awarded Book of the Year by the Conference on Christianity and Literature in 2007. Her book How to Read a Poem, an instructional guide based on Billy Collins’s “Introduction to Poetry,” was released in 2014. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Image, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The Christian Century, Atlanta Review, Indiana Review, Willow Springs, Nimrod, and the anthology A Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare. Tania was awarded an NEA Literature Fellowship in 2011. She tutors high school students, writes for the Good Letters blog, and edits for Every Day Poems and Relief.
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Nancy Ann Schaefer (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen, UK) is a retired academic who recently relocated to rural Maine. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals, and Web sites; a few have won awards. In Search of Lode, her first chapbook, was published by 918studio (2012). Her poem “Glad grace” was selected for display in two Chicago suburban libraries as part of National Poetry Month (2014), and “Ahimsa” has been chosen as the June entry (2015) in the Poetry That Moves Contest by Highland Park Poetry. Nancy lives with her husband, dog and three cats and is now revising her next poetry collection. In her spare time she volunteers to drive puppies (from kill shelters) to Lewiston, in central Maine, where they stay/are fostered until their ‘forever homes’ are found. Thanks for taking a look.
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Jason Shimberg has been writing and reading poetry since first being diagnosed with manic-depression in 1998. Shimberg went back to school at Naropa University to study with Anne Waldman and Roger Reeves. Jason considers himself to be an experimenter on and off thee page. Jason is proud to announce the conclusion of the Trilogy, SUM Lucid completed under the pen name, Jason Shell. The book is titled, "Traditional Manuscript." TM can also be short for transcendental meditation and trademark. I should not receive consequences or be dispossessed because of an illness out of my control. While traveling with creative non-fiction, I found #sum peace of mind in L'America with newer marijuana laws. J.A.S. believes in freedom of speech along with freedom of press. Jason has a service leopard gecko named, Diz.
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Marjorie L. Skelly's cross-genre book, The Unpublished Poet: On Not Giving Up on Your Dream, published by In Extenso Press in 2015, consists of essays, short stories, and poems. She has won first place awards from Poets & Patrons, the Jo-Anne Hirshfield Poetry Memorial Contest, and the Palatine Public Library. She hwas twice reached semi0finalist status for the Word Works Washington Prize for a poetry book as well as in the Gwendolyn Brooks Open-Mic Contest. Marjorie has taught writing at several universities and libraries in the Chicagoland area. She is also a singer and has sung with North Shore Choral Society, Edgewater Singers, and loves signing the Jazz/Gospel version of Handel's Messiah known as "Too Hot to Handel." She lives in Chicago with her husband Jim and daughter Maggie.
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Tamara Tabel is a copywriter and marketer, and president of Napping Cat Communications. Tamara has a BA in Journalism/Advertising and is a graduate of the Great Books Program, University of Chicago. She is Chair of the Barrington Writers Workshop, serves on the Barrington Cultural Commission and is a founding Board Member of the Barrington Cultural Arts Center. She writes poetry and fiction, and is at work on an historical novel. Her poem “Tulip” appears in the anthology A Midnight Snack, by Poetic License Press. Her poems "I am writer" and "The Word Worshippers" appear in the Northwest Cultural Council Poet and Artist Chapbook
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Judith MK Tepfer was born at the age of 50, before which she had one middle initial and neither the ability nor the inclination to write creatively. Her late-in-life muse directed her to other writers and visual artists and the eventual founding of East On Central, a Journal of Arts and Letters from Highland Park, Illinois. Editor-In-Chief of East On Central, poet, and freelance editor, Judith's writing can be found in Poetica Magazine, Journal of Modern Poetry, Collage (Lake Forest College) and the online publication, Pirene's Fountain (www.pirenesfountain.com).
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Taunja Thomson's poetry has appeared in The Cincinnati Poets’ Collective, The Cincinnati Poetry Review, The Licking River Review, The Aurorean, Lime Hawk Collective Arts Journal, Really System, Squalorly, Wild Age Press, This Dark Matter, Melted Wing, The Cahaba River Journal, Sandy River Review,Watershed, Portage Magazine, Panoply Magazine, The Ekphrastic Review, Winamop, Amore (an anthology of love poetry), Potomac, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Ekphrastic Review, Halcyon Days, CQ California Poetry Society, Surreal Poetics, Masque and Spectacle, Peacock Journal, Zingara, Heyday Magazine, Half-Baked, The Light Ekphrastic, Crawl Space, the Chicago Press’s The Poetry Writer’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Golden Walkman Magazine, The Mages Lantern, Red Omnivore Review, Claudius Speaks, and Pink Panther Magazine. Her poem A Sailor’s Language has recently received an Honorable Mention in Causeway Lit.’s poetry contest. In the upcoming months, her work will be featured in These Fragile Lilacs and Placeholder Magazine. She co-authored a chapbook of ekphrastic poetry entitled Frame and Mount the Sky that was published in June of 2017. Her chapbook, Strum and Lull, placed in Golden Walkman’s chapbook competition. She is a Pushcart nominee. Check her our on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TaunjaThomsonWriter. Taunja resides in Kentucky with herhusband and six cats, where she practices kickboxing and water gardening.
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Judith Tullis lives in Indian Head Park with her husband, Lee. She is Treasurer of the Illinois State Poetry Society and a member of Poets & Patrons of Chicago. Her poems are published in Distilled Lives: 20th Anniversary Anthology, the DuPage Valley Review, Seeding the Snow and several internet sites.
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Curt Vevang is a Chicago native and a product of Chicago Public Schools and the University of Illinois. He has self-published two full length poetry books, a scant bagatelle and the nature of things. He has also published two rhyming children's books, The Prince and the Elf and The Prince and the Elf Too. Both children's books were illustrated by 6th grade grammar school students. His books are available at Amazon, keyword Vevang or can be downloaded for free at his website, www.curtvevang.com He was honored to have been interviewed on Poetry Today (June 2017). Curt's poetry has been published in anthologies, poetry magazines, newspapers, newsletters and many poetry websites. Along the way his poems have won honors from the Illinois State Poetry Society, Poets and Patrons, Northbrook Arts Commission Poetry Contest, and the Journal of Modern Poetry.
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William Vollrath recently retired and relocated to beautiful and historic Charlottesville, Virginia where he has finally found time to focus on writing, after varied experiences as a grave digger, ad salesman, college English instructor, real estate appraiser, bartender, political activist, stock broker, substitute teacher, volunteer, father and husband. He hopes that sharing his varied experiences, perceptions, frustrations and joys will be both good therapy for himself and may even provide some moments of lasting illumination for others. His poetry has won numerous awards and been published in a variety of journals, anthologies, e-zines and web sites.
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Lynn West lives in Highland Park and says, "I gather my poetry and photographs from the soul. When life brings bricks, stones, sun, shade, I filter through a medium that reflects and pleases my inner muse. My writing originated as an escape from a reality I couldn't cope with. The muse emerged and took many delightful forms. I have been writing for 7 years and have recently been published in East on Central. My favorite aspect of creativity is getting to know local artists and sharing our unique ways of looking at the world."
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Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. Her poem 'A Rose For Gaza' was shortlisted for the Theatre Cloud 'War Poetry for Today' competition 2014. This and many other poems, have been published in recent anthologies including - Stacey Savage’s ‘We Are Poetry, an Anthology of Love poems’; Community Arts Ink’s ‘Reclaiming Our Voices’; Vagabond Press’s, ‘The Border Crossed Us’; ‘Degenerates - Voices For Peace’, ‘Civilised Beasts’ and ‘Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones’ from Weasel Press; ‘Alice In Wonderland’ by Silver Birch Press, and many rather excellent on line and print journals.
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RM Yager is a retired nurse/teacher/photographer who loves to write about marginalized and at risk people, she loves to tackle topics about over the top feelings and situations that most people are afraid to confront. She brings family, relationships, and dysfunctional people to the forefront, but also loves to write about babies and little children, especially her grand daughter, nature, healing and whimsy. She has lived on the north shore of Chicago for almost 30 years but is an inner city transplant, who grew up in Lakeview. Her works have appeared in the Winnetka Living as well as within editions of East on Central, Avocet Nature Journal, Highland Park Poetry Muses' Gallery, Rockford Writers Guild, The Good Life Magazine, and The Front Porch Review. Look for her work in an upcoming edition of The Blue Collar Review. She is indebted to her fellow poets who pushed her into finally submitting poetry in 2018.
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