Barbara Conrad

I've been fooling with words since childhood.  I even wrote  the 151st psalm once, but that's a therapy issue.  In high school I penned a lot of "he done me wrong" poems, and while no one saw them, it felt cathartic to get my misery onto the page.   Yes, you guessed it, as an English major I immersered myself f in the Romantic lives of Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth.  Love was a main theme but so was Death, and I was captivated.

With three books published -- Wild Plums, There is a Field and The Color of Gravity (a chapbook) -- and a fourth in process, Never Live Under a Tulip Poplar, I mainly focus on ironic takes on life and themes that address the hard truths of social injustice.  One endeavor that lured me in the latter direction was an anthology of poems and art I edited from a three-year writing circle with homeless folks,  Waiting for Soup.

An enthusiastic nod to some of the  editors who have published my books as well as my poems:  Future Cycle,   Main Street Rag, Tar River Poetry, Atlanta Review, Nine Mile, NC Literary Review, Broad River, and to my writing colleagues who will tell you my poetry is often sprinkled  -- and this is a good thing they say -- with a bit of attitude.

NOTE:  Any upcoming workshops, readings or articles to share will be announced on the Reach Out page of this website.