As you my readers know, I love poetry and all the nuance, paradox and emotion conveyed by the magical manipulation of words. When I heard from Joan, a native of the Bronx, raised in an Irish family, I was captivated by the idea of a memoir in verse. And so I asked Joan if she would like to write...

Are you living in the past? Anger? Resentful of a family member or parent​? Learn tips to overcome these movements and meet Joan Cusack Handler poet and psychologist explore her family's history of depression and resentment with poetry.

This is part an essay I wrote for The Tampa Review titled, “Poems and the Psyche: The Threat of Making Art, One Writer’s Journey.”   You can see the full series here. Before ending, (or perhaps the better word is interrupting), this ongoing discussion of voice, which began with a gift from Allen Ginsberg...

Part 3 of my poem “I Never Visit My Mother’s Grave” recently received an honorable mention from the New Jersey Poet’s Prize, sponsored by the Journal of New Jersey Poets. To read the full poem, download here.

Confessions of Joan the Tall the often simultaneously hilarious and poignant, offbeat memoir… See more at booktrib

This is part an essay I wrote for The Tampa Review titled, “Poems and the Psyche: The Threat of Making Art, One Writer’s Journey.”   You can see the full series here. At heart a visual person as well as a lover of words, in addition to a unique and identifiable voice, what most captivates me about a...

This is part an essay I wrote for The Tampa Review titled, “Poems and the Psyche: The Threat of Making Art, One Writer’s Journey.”   You can see the full series here. Little wonder we poets have our own writing defenses— ways of subverting or otherwise muting the voice. The most obvious of course is...

This is part an essay I wrote for The Tampa Review titled, “Poems and the Psyche: The Threat of Making Art, One Writer’s Journey.”   You can see the full series here. As critical as voice is to our poems, few talk about it—what it is, how we ‘find’ it, what interferes with or enhances it–this elusive...

This is part an essay I wrote for The Tampa Review titled, “Poems and the Psyche: The Threat of Making Art, One Writer’s Journey.”   You can see the full series here. A friend told me about Molly Peacock whose work I greatly admired—she took private students and was very supportive without sacrificing...