Things Will Be Better in Bountiful (Comstock Review, 2024)
Happy National Poetry Month! I have received copies of my new poetry chapbook Things Will Be Better In Bountiful (Comstock Review, 2024) which was selected as the 2023 Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Contest winner by her granddaughter poet Kathleen Bryce Niles. Thank you to the most amazing publishing team to work with: John Bellinger, Amanda Russell, and book designer Donna Davis. And a special thank you to judge Kathleen Bryce Niles who has brought so much joy into my life, as well as suggesting I might find a better title than the one I first had (she was right!). As for the beautiful woman on the cover, that is my Momma, Sherrie Varley Mattson, circa 1956. ❤️
To order Things Will Be Better in Bountiful, contact Robin, or order copies through Comstock Review by mail:
Comstock Review, Inc. | 4956 St John Drive | Syracuse, NY 13215
or by going to https://comstockreview.submittable.com/submit It is also available at Hunt & Gather, in the Inner Sunset, San Francisco
Season Lightly With Salt, Poems and Recipes from the Test Kitchens of the Wild Writing Women (Raven & Wren Press, 2024)
A joyful and sometimes bittersweet collection of poems and recipes that pays tribute to family, friends and community. This delectable book by the San Francisco Wild Writing Women serves up poems centered around food and family and includes recipes from each poet’s test kitchen. Preparing and sharing meals with one another nurtures and sustains, comforts and consoles, and heightens our pleasures. We are a nation of immigrants. It is more important than ever that we sit at one another’s table and break bread together. Every palette will find something to satisfy their tastes in these poems and recipes from the various cultures blending in Ameri-ca’s stewpot. You will even learn how to read fortunes in a cup of Armenian Coffee. Available at Raven & Wren Bookstore. and select bookstores.
Beneath a Strawberry Night Sky (Raven & Wren Press, 2023)
It has taken nearly three decades to get this book ready for primetime. Earlier versions of these poems, with the exception of two, were written during the second half of my first marriage, the separation, and the divorce. Compiling these poems into a collection is my way of honoring what we once had, grieving its loss, and finding forgiveness. Although we considered ourselves adults, my first husband and I were children when we met, married, and became parents. Please visit the Raven & Wren Bookstore to read what others have said about this book, or to order a copy. Thank you!
Available at Bird & Beckett Books & Records, in Glen Park, San Francisco, Sausalito Books by the Bay, or through Raven & Wren Press.
Read a review of my debut full-length poetry collection by the fabulous poet Heather Saunders Estes on Harbor Review.
How To Begin: Poems, Prompts, Tips and Writing Exercises from the Fresh Ink Poetry Collective to improve your poetry practice Edited by Robin Michel (Raven & Wren Press, 2020)
“HOW TO BEGIN is a testament to the belief in poetry as practice, nurtured by dailiness and sustained by being in a community of others engaged in the art.” —Shara McCallum, author of No Ruined Stone and Madwoman
“HOW TO BEGIN will help to bring out the poetry in you and to the world.” —Chun Yu, author of the poetry memoir, Little Green, a Memoir of Growing Up During the Cultural Revolution
Available at Raven & Wren Bookstore.
Robin Michel, Writer & Poet 