Sonnets from the Portuguese – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Because I love to write in form and these poems are both beautiful and timeless

Deaf Republic – Ilya Kaminsky

Every time I read this book I feel as though it awakens me. It is a brave story and haunting story told with gorgeous language.

Song – Brigit Pegeen Kelly

I’ve read this book a hundred times and each time I want to write more and strive to become better at it. There is music in every poem- her narrative style is my favorite

Only as the Day is Long – Dorianne Laux

This is a collection of old and new poems- reading these poems opens me up, makes me feel liberated and gives me the courage to write about things I might otherwise not

Mayakovsky’s Revolver – Matthew Dickman

When I read his work I feel like he’s shared a secret with me and I can’t stop thinking about it, the twists and turns of the poems, there is a kind of tension in the writing that keeps me on the edge of my seat and it’s addicting

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Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas is a ten-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a seven-time Best of the Net nominee. In 2012 she won the Red Ochre Chapbook Contest, with her manuscript, Before I Go to Sleep. In 2018 her book In the Making of Goodbyes was nominated for a national book award and her poem A Mall in California took 2nd place for the Jack Kerouac Poetry Prize. In 2019 her chapbook An Ode to Hope in the Midst of Pandemonium was a finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards. She is the Editor-in-Chief for The Orchards Poetry Journal and Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Tule Review. She is a member of the Sacramento Poetry Center Board of Directors; Saratoga Author’s Hall of Fame and she is currently enrolled in the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing program.

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