Jersey Shorts: Writing for My Life: A Collection of Poems and Stories

Dear Readers,

Always, since my earliest memory of creating a poem about spring at age four, I wanted to be called a writer! While sorting out my many teaching files and journals, including sloppy notes on anything handy, I found that I have always been one. My purpose has been to successfully educate students of all ages, and for that opportunity, I am most grateful. However, my purpose in writing this creative memoir is to inspire others to write for themselves as a form of self-help therapy.

I have some favorite authors whose styles have influenced my poetry, from Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Wolfe, and Dylan Thomas to Langston Hughes, Sandra Cisneros, and Alice Walker. I enjoy wordsmithing and playing with language as an artist. The poems in Jersey Shorts have just enough of my story to make it "our story." Writing down thoughts and expressing feelings are the way to acknowledge and even solve our collective problems. For example, in "Phoenix in Ash," the use of a metaphor creates the journey down "Grief's Road" which is necessary for the process of healing. The narrator's (my) stages of grief are reflected in each stanza--from bewilderment, sadness, and anger to acceptance, forgiveness, and hope.

The themes that carry us through the poems are reiterated within the "Jersey Shorts Stories." They are set in places common to us all but with a Jersey twist--the feminine Jersey Shore perspective. The tone changes from lighthearted and playful to severe and grim as the topics increase in seriousness.

Ultimately, Jersey Shorts is a modern survivalists' best friend, an easily readable collection of everyday truths about life, love, and loss meant to stay with and inspire you for a long time.