I'm always honored and delighted when my work appears in the Jewish Women's Literary Annual. This year I have a poem -- Mother Psalm 9 -- in Volume 9, which is the 2013 edition. (That poem is also available in my new collection Waiting to Unfold (Phoenicia, 2013).

I'm also honored to be in such fine company. I've only begun to dip into this rich volume, but I'm savoring work by Marge Piercy (whose poem "Working at it" shows how "much in Tanakh is a mixed / bag, a tangled message"), Judith Barisonzi (whose poem "Moses" shows us one little girl on the cusp of the crossing of the sea), Marilyn Bentov (whose poem "Animals: Battles" chronicles a meeting with a tarantula -- I especially love the image of Esther, who loves pesticides: "'Fleet!' she'd scream with joy, / holding the can high above her head like a victorious // Moses battling Amalek in the Sinai desert"), Sheryl L. Nelms (whose poem "In the Seguin Cemetery" does beautiful things with very, very short lines) and Arlyn Miller (whose poem "Gathering the Waters" is subtitled "Guidance upon retirement or loss," and begins "Approach the water. Bring who you are / and what you have lost...")

It's also particularly delightful for me to share these pages once again with Vicki Pieser, whose short essay about a visit to Cuba is sharp, powerful, and poignant. She's also my aunt, and I love that we're published here together! (She doesn't have a website, but if you're interested in her work, don't miss her essay Travels With Joshua, about exploring the world with her autistic son.)

You can learn more about the annual, and subscribe / order copies, here at the National Council of Jewish Women website. Thanks to the editors for including my work!