So much happened in 2015 that my breath seems to be returning only as spring remains an aloof glimmer. I left a beloved job and began a new one. I gave birth to a daughter, a new chapbook, and wrote my first political poem, too. There were readings I was lucky to be part of and several I hosted– the latest with some incredible poets (Angela Hume, Donna de la Perriere, and Gil
lian Conoley!) for the half decade birthday of the Lone Glen series. My poem “Waiting”found a home in the final issue of alice blue, a journal I will miss, while “The Last Word” appeared in the 20th anniversary edition of VOLT. In the year of the Monkey, I look forward to reading my newest work about motherhood and gender on behalf of local Quaci Press, a small publishing house that’s putting out an anthology of ladies’ writing this winter. I’m grateful too that Fourteen Hills has chosen to take on a poem called “Oakland” that responds to the Bay Area rent crisis. Now in the middle of writing a review and doing an interview of two other poets I admire, I know 2016 is going to be another inspiring year….
Alexandra Mattraw 