In The Margins: a Conversation in Poetry

Some years ago, when a young filmmaker made a documentary about our poetry group--four women midway in a decades-long journey together--we came up with a name: In the Margins.

In the margin of professional lives and friendships. In the margin of births and deaths and raising children, in the margin of war and resistance to war.  We don't mean to suggest that the writing of poetry is peripheral to us, but rather that it is is integral to those narratives. 

The conversation that brought us together more than 20 years ago continues. Through it we have found the encouragement to keep writing our poems and to nurture the creative selves at the center of our lives.

Over the years we have discovered that, though our voices remain distinct, we do share many things: our roots in the Baltimore and East Coast region, a heritage of idealism that is both generational and spiritual, and a healthy does of both reverence and rebellion.  We see, too, that our poems born of these convergences--and out of the critique and care for each other's work--have become shared creations.  In the Margins celebrates our resilience, our longevity, and the craft that holds us together.