Poetry. Although there are no direct allusions in her poems, Heather Allen has clearly learned from the classical Chinese tradition how to listen to the world around her and how to allow it to speak through her, through observations of light and shadow and the turning seasons. As with her longtime practice of Tai-chi and her study of traditional Chinese medicine, her poetic practice leaves no room for self-indulgence, but rather seems to arise as naturally as leaf to branch. Hers is the temporal world of constant flux, but a world illuminated by a light that lies beyond, mysterious, essential and alive.

Author City: NEW YORK, NY USA

Heather Allen has been a gardener, bartender, stablehand, kindergarten teacher, and construction supervisor, among other things, and divides her time among New York City, New Preston, Connecticut, and Ireland, where she studies the language and culture, and translates Irish literature. In addition to her education at Tufts University and Hampshire College, for years Ms. Allen has studied Tai-Chi, Qigong and traditional Chinese medicine.