Poetry
I immersed myself the world of poetry after losing the skills, sight and endurance necessary for my visual work. I had written all along, but visual art had been my primary expressive medium. I have been fortunate to find a very supportive poetry community in Maine, locally and via zoom. I am working on my first full length book of poetry and memoir. I hope to inspire other people with brain tumors, traumatic brain injury, or any profound circumstance which has forced a complete start-over part way through life, to enrich their lives through poetry.
Here are two examples of my Epistolary Letters, written to my assigned pen pal Don Colburn, for the Write ME Project. Finally, combining visual art with poetry again!
Here are some recent examples of my Epistolary Letters from the Write ME Project. Finally combing visual art with poetry again!
Poetry Bio
Most importantly, I care about—and am fascinated by—the myriad connections between us, and our shared experiences. Poetry is an unmatched medium for exploring both, and sparking dialogue. I am also interested in issues of perception, thought processes and memory; the interplay between the mind and the body; and the tangible and the intangible about each of us.
I am an advocate for poetry as a voice for those living with disability, cognitive challenges, marginalization and injustice.
My poetry and other writing have been published or shown in the following, among others:
Write ME: An Epistolary Poetry Project 2025 (participated in all phases, multi-year)
https://www.youtube.com/live/aQ7qpv0UZM0 Celebration of Write ME: An Epistolary Project at the Waldo Theater, May 31, 2025
https://www.boothbayregister.com/article/celebration-write-me-epistolary-poetry-project/258664 my work featured in print review
The Brooklyn Rail, February 2024 Issue, Art Books Section. Review of Mozenter & Perkis’ ar
Poems From Here 2024
https://www.mainepublic.org/show/poems-from-here
originally broadcast 5/12/24, “Maine Woman Climbs Bald,” read by Maine Poet Laureate Julia Bowsma.
Maine Sunday Telegram, 4/14/23, Deep Water Column, E3
“Changing Lanes: Artists who Cross Media.” 4/3/22 episode of Litorally Alive! programming.
ARTWORD2021: Ekphrasis at the Portland Museum of Art.
An event in which poets select a work from the Portland Museum of Art’s permanent collection or current exhibition, then creates an ekphrastic poem in response. The resulting works are read live in front of the images during special presentations.
ENOUGH! Poems of Resistance and Protest 2020 pp.9,42.
The Lewiston Sun Journal 11/09/2020
ARTWORD2019: Ekphrasis at the PMA
An event in which poets select a work from the Portland Museum of Art’s permanent collection or current exhibition, then creates an ekphrastic poem in response. The resulting works are read live in front of the images during special presentations.
Frost Meadow Review Vol.3 spring/summer 2019 pp.57.
Balancing Act 2: An Anthology of Poems by Fifty Maine Women 2018 pp.135,136,137.
AJN: The American Journal of Nursing 115(9):p 72, September 2015.
Current member of the Sandy River Poets Group
Current member of the Maine Writers & Publishers Association
Founding member of the Wilton Area Poetry Group, at the Goodspeed Memorial Library, prepandemic.
I have worked with long-term care residents, fostering their own art and word projects.
Dr. Christine LuEmerson, neuro-oncologist:
“When I read your poems in Balancing Act 2, I finally understood what my patients were experiencing.”
This is a photo taken pre-tumor, when I was still able to walk unassisted, and could travel easily on uneven terrain. Poetry takes me there just as easily!