Maria M. Gillan

What I hope to accomplish in this book is to give writing prompts that will help you to get past all the outside influences that keep you from believing in yourself and in your ability to write. In order to write, you need to get rid of notions about language, poetic form, and esoteric subject matter ? all the things that the poetry police have told you are essential if you are to write. I wanted to start from a different place, a place controlled by instinct rather than by intelligence. Revision, the shaping and honing of the poem, should come later, and, in revising, care always needs to be taken to retain the vitality and electricity of the poem. Anyone can learn to craft a capable poem, but it is the poems that retain that initial vitality that we remember; these are the poems that teach us how to be human.

How to Find the Courage to Tell Your Stories

Writing Poetry to Save Your Life

From the author of "Italian Women in Black Dresses", "Things My Mother Told Me" and "Where I Come From" comes this new volume that continues the memoir in poetry that Maria Mazziotti Gillan has been constructing. Here we find the geography of the heart's home -- not a physical but rather an emotional center around which she constructs the story of her life. Her world is populated by memories of growing up in the 1950s, her courtship and long marriage, her husband's illness, her children and grandchildren. But, at its centre, is the woman she has become who struggles to deal with all the complexities of love and the difficulties of achieving compassion and tenderness in the face of adversity. Brave, honest, flat-out beautiful, these poems help us to understand what it means to be human.

All that Lies Between Us

This book is luminous, feisty, heart breaking, and fiercely honest, often all in the space of a single poem. Her voice has the vigour and industrial strength grit of Grace Paley's, and there is genuine wisdom here, an intelligence born of direct experience. These poems are a breath of fresh air in contrast to the fetid self obsession of so much contemporary verse... a real pleasure...a must read for anyone who has ever experienced the deep joys, agonies, and mysteries of the mother, daughter bond.

Things My Mother Told Me

Jennifer Gillan

Edvige Giunta

This anthology gathers fiction, poetry, memoirs, oral histories, and journalistic pieces by some of the best writers to chronicle the Italian American experience in the Garden State. These works focus on ethnic identity and the distinctive culture of New Jersey, which has long been home to a large and vital Italian American community. Filled with passion, humor, and grace, these writings depict a variety of experiences, including poignant but failed attempts at conformity and the alienation often felt by ethnic Americans. The authors also speak of the strength gained through the preservation of their communities and the realization that it is often the appreciation of their heritage that helps them to succeed. Although presented from the vantage point of only one ethnic group, this book addresses in microcosm the complexities of American identity, depicting situations and conveying emotions that will resonate with people of all immigrant ancestries. Among the many writers featured are Gay Talese, Bill Ervolino, Tom Perrotta, Louise DeSalvo, Carole Mazo, Diane di Prima, and Maria Laurino. Each of the contributors provides a fresh perspective on the diversity, complexity, and richness of the Italian American experience. Publication of this book is made possible in part by a grant from the Institute of Italian and Italian American Heritage Studies, State of New Jersey.

An Anthology of Poetry and Prose

Italian American Writers on New Jersey

Gathers poems by writers from many ethnic groups and includes works by Amiri Baraka, Rita Dove, Louise Erdrich, Ishmael Reed, and Gary Soto

Maria M. Gillan

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