Poetry. Helen Wickes first collection of poems, IN SEARCH OF A LANDSCAPE, is accomplished and audacious, full of both wit and wisdom. A touch of whimsy, ephemeral but sure as clouds, floats through the volume, leading a reader in imaginitive flights fueled by reflection and deflection. Her poems demand close attention, range far and wide, swoop into terrain we don't often regard as closely as this fine poet, who gives us desert landscapes of self and scene to Oakland courtrooms, traversing the lands of loss, change, and love.

Author Hometown: Oakland, CA USA



About the author: Helen Wickes was born on a farm in Pennsylvania. She lives and writes in Oakland, California, where for many years she worked as a psychotherapist. Helen has an MFA from the Bennington Writers' Seminars. In Search of Landscape is her first collection of poems. It was published in 2007 by Sixteen Rivers Press, a shared work, non-profit, small press that publishes two poetry books a year by Bay Area poets. Helen's work has been published in Runes, Zyzzyva, Santa Clara Review, 5 A.M., In the Grove, The Bennington Review, and forthcoming in Poetry Flash and in Porcupine.