Poetry. "How strange and hewn and scarified these poems are! In her drive to claim the singularity of her own singed (and searing) fables, Joan Houlihan has composed a brilliant 'black startle-box' of oddment and truths. THE MENDING WORM is a book of stunning accomplishment"—Lucie Brock-Broido. "Joan Houlihan's images and figures are lapidary, her diction alert and startling, her lines chiseled, their sounds echoing back and forth, and yet for all the exquisite craft in these poems, there is something terrible and wild underneath their surfaces.... THE MENDING WORM gives us poems that in their art and authenticity render whole that which has been shattered. Read them and you will see"—Fred Marchant.

Author Hometown: ACTON, MA USA



About the author: Born and raised in Massachusetts, Joan Houlihan has been a teacher, technical writer, reporter, critic, and editor. Her books include THE US (Tupelo Press, 2009), THE MENDING WORM (New Issues Poetry & Prose, 2006), and Hand-held Executions: Poems & Essays (Del Sol Press, 2003). In 2004, she founded the Concord Poetry Center, and in 2006 she established the Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference for advanced writers. She is also currently on the faculty of Lesley University's low-residency M.F.A. in Creative Writing program.

Reviews:
author site
audio: interview by Christopher Lydon @ Open Source