DESCRIPTION

Poetry. Fiction. Art. Featuring work from Maria Brockmann, Vincent Devine, Marni Jamieson, Monica Maraglio, Linda McCord, Jennifer Melchionne, Yvonne Schreiber, Mark Stafford, and April Todd. SUDDENLY THERE WERE LEAVES is an anthology of poetry, prose, and artworks by learning-disabled adults at the Main View Gallery and Studio in Oneonta, NY. The poetry and prose were created during winter workshops from 2008-2012, led by Bertha Rogers, poet and master teaching artist.

“Art lets us look with other eyes, and shows us the familiar in fresh ways. SUDDENLY THERE WERE LEAVES underlines the suddenness in the poetry and art of these nine members of Bertha Rogers’s remarkable workshop. The poems and pictures, deft and direct, surprise with sudden insight and connection. Here you’ll meet the Wave Giant that makes hurricanes. You’ll learn why bears should wear red nail polish, and how traffic lights cause earthquakes. You’ll discover what nothing looks like, that Mother Nature’s cat’s name is April, that water turns to rings in summer. You’ll see sesame moons on hamburger buns, a one-legged pencil, and a castle with 154 stories and one fireplace. These aren’t flights of fancy only, but down-to-earth reflections on what matters most to these authors and artists, be it Inauguration and Annunciation, their tributes to family members, their reasons to celebrate, and the loves and dreams of these poets and artists.”—Robert Bensen

AUTHOR BIO

Bertha Rogers, poet and visual artist, has been a master teaching artists in schools, community centers, the Bright Hill Literary Center, and other facilities for many years. Through Bright Hill she has published more than 30 anthologies and 60 individual collections of poetry. She is a contributor to Open the Door (McSweeney’s, 2013).Her most recent collection is Heart Turned Back (Salmon Poetry, 2010). She translated Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon epic (Birch Brook Press, 2000) and her translation of the Anglo-Saxon Exeter Riddles is forthcoming.

Author City: DELHI, NY USA