Welcome to the web site of Marie Kane

Marie Kane’s poetry has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review, U. S. 1 Worksheets, Wordgathering, The Schuylkill Valley Journal, The Delaware Valley Poets Anthology, The Poet’s Touchstone, The Meadowland Review, the Boston Literary Magazine, Adanna Journal, and many others. Her work has been anthologized, most notably in Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets, (Texture Press, 2013, 2019) edited by Valerie Fox and Lynn Levin, in The Liberal Media Made Me Do It, poetic responses to NPR and PBS stories, edited by Robbie Nester, and in Touching MS: Poetic Expressions: an anthology edited by Jennifer M. Evans.

Marie Kane was named Bucks County Poet Laureate in 2006; her work was judged by renown poets George Drew and Meg Kearney. Her poetry has won prizes in other competitions, including. the Poetry Society of New Hampshire, Inglis House, and the Robert Frasier contest. She has read her work at various locations, including Musehouse, the Manayunk Arts Center, and the International House, all in Philadelphia, the Princeton NJ Library, Bucks County Community College, the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA, and at numerous bookstores and libraries.  In 2020, she was selected as the Featured Poet for the summer edition of the Schuylkill Valley Journal.

Diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 1991, she is now living with secondary progressive MS. She has published three poetry collections: a chapbook, Survivors in the Garden (Big Table Publishing, 2012), which largely concerns living with multiple sclerosis,  a full-length collection, Beauty, You Drive a Hard Bargain (Kelsay Books, 2017), and another chapbook, Persephone’s Truth (2018), which includes art by her husband, Stephen Millner.

Kane retired from Central Bucks School District (PA) after twenty-years of teaching. She received a recognition award from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, and a Gold Award for her teaching of young writers from The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She continues to be involved in scholastic poetry. She is on the board and a judge for the Bucks County (PA) Main Street Voices Poetry Contest, grades K-12, and adult, and since 2009, has been the final judge for the national Sarah Mook Poetry Contest, grades K-12.

She lives in Yardley, Pa with her husband and their two rescue cats, Casey Jones and Emma Peel.

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My new book, Beauty, You Drive a Hard Bargain, will be available by the end of October from me directly ($2.00 off Publisher’s price) on this website or through email, (engmrk@aol.com), or on Amazon.com. (full price) The book’s cover is a photograph of my husband’s, Steve Millner.

Below is the poem (“Wind-Blown”) from the new book that demonstrates Steve’s and my positives inspite of the difficultiess we deal with.

Wind-Blown

In our new yard on the hill under the low-
branched dogwood tree, our new house
behind us, we nestle on a spread of white—
as a May morning, Scattered petals rise
with gusts like excited balloons looking
to escape their owners. We admire gossiping
crows and their soldier-like, burnished wings.

Today we will not wake in the old house,
narrow and tall. Under sky’s canopy, habits
unmoor, stilted rituals dissipate. There will
always be street lamp’s glimmer as we turn
toward home, always music quivering the air,
always a yard full of wind-blown blossoms.

©     Marie Kane, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

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Poetry News From all Over; finally a post!

Poetry News From All Over

It’s been seven months since I’ve posted. I apologize for ignoring the importance of poetry, the value of visibility, and the connection between MS and expression. Reasons abound, as they always do, for my absence. I could say, ‘my extreme disability,’ but that’s not exactly right, or I could use the ‘been really busy’ route, which is true, but still…. I should not allow these things to be responsible for my silence.

My husband, my caregiver, (those with multiple sclerosis know how invaluable that person is who cares for one with debilitating MS), is dealing with his own frustrating disease. Amyloidosis is not well known and yet similar to MS in that it is hard to diagnose, has a wide range of symptoms, and can be nasty in its effects. We have super doctors, a home health aid, physical therapist, a loving family, and cool neighbors and friends to help us through rough spots when my husband is not able to take care of me

We knew the daunting nature of our relationship with one spouse who is disabled and one who is not. Now we’re finding out how much more difficult it is to have a marriage where both partners have health problems. A developed sense of humor is necessary! We’re finding the seesaw challenge of balancing home, family, our art (my husband is an artist), and the mundane chores that must be completed—doctor’s appointments, medicine schedules, and things such as … laundry!—quite disconcerting. We are handling all this and honoring our creative energies; we know the importance of nurturing creativity in both of us—but sometimes our health difficulties are impediments to doing so. To meld our talents, Steve and I are working on a chapbook of my poetry and his art, which should be completed next year (2017). I’m also finished a new book (Beauty, You Drive a Hard Bargain) for which Steve is doing the cover art. It’ll be published by Kelsay Press of CA and is due out in a few weeks.

Below is the poem (“Wind-Blown”) from the new book that in a way demonstrates positives in inspite of the illness we deal with.

Wind-Blown

In our new yard on the hill under the low-
branched dogwood tree, we nestle on a spread
of white—gleaming blossoms loose and cool
as a May morning, our new house behind us.
Scattered petals rise with gusts like excited
balloons looking to escape their owners.
We admire gossiping crows and their
soldier-like, burnished wings.

Today we will not wake in the old house,
narrow and tall. Under sky’s canopy, habits
unmoor, stilted rituals dissipate. There will
always be street lamp’s glimmer as we turn
toward home, always music quivering the air,
always a yard full of wind-blown blossoms.

©     Marie Kane, 2017

 

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Poetry News From All Over–SVJ publishes two of my poems

POETRY NEWS FROM ALL OVER: TWO OF MY POEMS WERE PUBLISHED IN THE WINTER 2015 ISSUE OF THE SCHUYLKILL VALLEY JOURNAL.

Many thanks to poetry editors Bill Wunder and Bernadette McBride for accepting “All That Light” and “Take Me Back to the Lake” for publication in the well-respected journal, the Schuylkill Valley Journal.

 Peter Krok, the editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal Print and the online SVJ atsvjlit.com, serves as the humanities/poetry director of the Manayunk Roxborough Art Center where he has coordinated a literary series since 1990.

POEMS:

All That Light
“More light”   ~ Goethe’s last words                           

Like a lover, November embraces

the full moon that reveals our collapsed

garden glowing with frost’s clarity

and the clenched leaves of cherry branches

that offer no defense against this cold.

What mazes this light reveals!

Labyrinth of cherry boughs weaves in and out,

crystalline ice networks the grass,

and heaps of fallen leaves twine the curb—

yet there is no web more complicated

than my heart into which you have found

the way.

To understand the world at all, focus

on a tiny bit of it—moonlight!—neither bent

by wind nor touched by cold—

an advancing spirit that revels in matrix

of lawn’s shadows, fabric of cherry

branches, rowdiness of hearts, and all that light

leaping—with no thought of landing.

© Marie Kane, 2015
——————————————-

Take Me to the Lake                                     

Take me to the lake to marvel over two-tree
island. We pause your father’s Mad River
canoe, admire two determined sweet-birch
trees clinging to this small rock in the middle
of a backwater cove. We cut trough thick
yellow lilies rising just above the surface,
their lobed leaves’ parting whisper slides
against our canoe’s wooden sides.

You need to take me to Spectacle Island.
we’ll trespass, examine the deserted red
cabin whose dusty windows reveal inviting,
empty rooms, then lie on its worn dock,
crooked pilings leaning toward Meredith Bay.
Lake water sloshes over rough rocks that barely
rbeak surface—a nightmare for boaters without
Bizer’s map whose red x’s mark rocks
that have gashed boats open. We have a map.

Will you take me to Red Hill? Fallen oak leaves
lie slick from recent rain, foothill pines drip
wetness like heavy marbles. It’s a steep climb,
more than we thought, winded at the top—
but we ascend fire tower’s metal ladder
to view the lake’s sculpted islands—each
an irregular jade stone running to the caldera
of the Ossipee Mountains.

You have to take me to the lake!
Light falls out of August sky by degrees—
stars and planets empty and empty
themselves of light that stains all the sky
then pours between oak leaves at the end
of our dock—and still, and still, it comes.
We go to our knees for that.

 © Marie Kane, 2015

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MAIN STREET VOICES POETRY CONTEST OPEN TO BUCKS COUNTY PA RESIDENTS, STUDENT AND ADULT

POETRY NEWS FROM ALL OVER-

THE DOYLESTOWN, PA, MAIN STREET VOICES POETRY CONTEST IS OPEN FOR BUCKS COUNTY, PA RESIDENTS ONLY, STUDENT AND ADULT.

This is the second year for the Main Street Voices Poetry contest. The response to our first year of the contest in 2015 was terrific; we had over 175 entries in total from both students and adults.

I’m on the planning board for the contest, the judge for grades 6-8 and 9-12, and the MC for the reading.

Melanie Eyth is the judge for grades 1-2 and 3-5. Postmark deadline for entries is Thursday, April 14. All winners receive monetary prizes. Students enter one poem.

Judges for the adult part of the contest are preliminary judge, Brian Lutz, and final judge, Julie Cooper-Fratrick, both award-winning poets. Adults enter three poems.
The contest is judged anonymously.

For guidelines and entry forms, see http://www.doylestownbookshop.com/event/main-street-voices-poetry-contest

 

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POETRY ADVENTURES FROM ALL OVER–SARAH MOOK SCHOLASTIC POETRY CONTEST INFORMATION

I’ve been the final judge in the Sarah Mook scholastic poetry contest for seven years. Organized by poet David Mook in honor of his daughter, Sarah, the contest is going strong after eleven years. Open to student poets from grades K-12, we receive hundreds of entries each year. As a final judge, I receive the top 10 student poems in each age group: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. I choose the top three winners from each age group, who receive a generous cash award.

And here’s a link to the entry guidelines: http://www.sarahmookpoetrycontest.com/2016_contest_guidelines

READ ON FOR MORE INFORMATION.

The postmark deadline is March 31, 2016; so if you know a talented student poet, give him or her this information. There is no entry fee. One or two poems can be entered. Here’s an overview of the contest from the Mook family:

The purpose of the Sarah Mook Memorial Poetry Contest is to encourage and acknowledge the efforts of student poets in grades K-12. Sarah was a student in the third grade at Buckingham Friends School in Lahaska, Pennsylvania, when she died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm on December 14, 1995. Sarah started writing poems in kindergarten, and it is the goal of this outreach that Sarah’s gift continue to inspire young poets. A fund has been established by Sarah’s family specifically to fund the contest, now in its 11th year! Cash awards are given in four categories: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Optional donations (there is no entry fee) are given in Sarah’s name each year to a designated charity. This year’s donations, as they have been for the past four years, will go to Smile Train, an organization providing free cleft surgery for millions of poor children in developing countries. Awards and charitable giving are important, but the focus of our effort is always the young poets and their poems. Careful consideration is given to every poem. Final judge Marie Kane takes great care in judging each poem and provides a detailed commentary on the poetic merits of each of the winning poems. We hope you will enter your poems!

To see what the winning poems accomplish, here’s a link to last year’s 2015 winners with my comments: http://www.sarahmookpoetrycontest.com/contest_results_2015

And here’s a link to the entry guidelines: http://www.sarahmookpoetrycontest.com/2016_contest_guidelines

 

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My poem, “Travelogue” in 2015 issue of U.S. 1 Worksheets

I’m pleased that U. S. 1 Worksheets accepted my poem “Travelogue” for their spring 2015 issue. U.S. 1 is based in Princeton, NJ, and has published its yearly  journal since 1973. The journal includes over 100 new and seasoned poets in each issue; local, national, and international voices are featured. See the journal at the link above if you wish to submit.

I’ve been fortunate to be published previously by U.S. 1 Worksheets.

The varied covers for the journal are photographs, paintings, or mixed media collages by acclaimed artists.
——————————————————————————————————
On the twenty-mile trip to work, and then home at the end of the day, these are some of the things I experienced:

Travelogue
*
In the morning headed to work:
purple and red sky surround the crescent moon—
swollen lips on a plum.

*
The blue Nissan with the Jesus license plate
speeds toward the intersection, crusading
through after the yellow changes.

*
The white van’s dome light appears and inside
sit five guys with short hair above buttoned
collars, sharing a joint.

*
The deer had no chance since the car coming
the other way finished what the car
in front of me did not.

*
Later, headed home and drowsy, I drive off
the edge of the road. The rough, brown
dirt of a Bucks County farm saves me.

© Marie Kane 2015

 

 

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PENTIMENTO MAGAZINE ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FROM JANUARY 1, 2015 TO MARCH 31, 2015

Take a minute and check out Pentimento Magazine.  Begun by Lori Brozek from Lambertville NJ, we are an ad-free print magazine that concerns “All Things Disability.” I’m the magazine’s poetry editor; our entries have originated from the U.S. and other countries.

Pentimento Magazine is accepting submissions for the summer 2015 issue from January 1, 2015 until March 31, 2015. For the upcoming issue, we’d love to see entries related to the theme of WORK and disability; although we will accept material that does not concern that theme. We publish Creative non-fiction, Fiction, Poetry, Art, and Photography. We accept material from both children and adults who are disabled individuals themselves and from those who are in the disabled community–caregiver, family member, doctor, friend, etc.

 ALL ENTRIES FOR THE READERS’ PEN COLUMN MUST BE BASED ON THE THEME OF ‘WORK’ AND DISABILITY. The writing for this column is first person memoir/personal essays centering on a theme and its relationship to disability. These entries may be heavily edited.

We pay our contributors.
On occasion, we accept previously published work. Please give the name and date of the previous publication; make sure you have ownership of the work.

The cover is always art by a disabled child.

To submit to the magazine, ask for a free issue, or to subscribe, click on Pentimento Magazine and check out the submission requirements for each genre. Please follow the requirements if you want your material to be considered; the material must be well-crafted and concern disability. The author must be either disabled or a member of the disability community.

Art and photography are always welcome; they have special requirements:
A person with a disability may enter art or photography on any issue.
A person connected to the disability community must submit art or photography directly addressing disability.

We also have an “Uncut” column where a handwritten piece by a young person with a disability is published as is; we do not make any revisions on that piece.

“Pentimento” refers to an art term that means:
“An underlying image in a painting, as an earlier painting, part of a painting or original draft, that shows through, usually when the top layer of paint has become transparent with age.”    Also, it means “To see beyond the surface.”

We hope our magazine does just that–see beyond the surface of a disability and connect individuals.  Our home page says it best: “Through art, photography, essays, stories, and poetry, Pentimento will ask its readers to see beyond disabilities and physical challenges.  To see the ways in which we are all connected, and find in our pages a sense of the what the poet Emily Dickinson wrote:  ‘I felt it shelter to speak to you.’ “

Let us see your take on living with a disability–you just might find yourself in print.

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Interview with Pentimento editors Lori Brozek and Marie Kane in online journal, Wordgathering

Lori and I are pleased to have the interview concerning our magazine, Pentimento, with Michael Northen, editor of Wordgathering, published in the September issue of that journal.  Lori is the Managing Editor of Pentimento and I’m the Poetry Editor.

See the September issue for the interview, and other great writing about disability Wordgathering publishes.

I am grateful to Wordgathering for publishing my first poem concerning MS, “Shards,”  and in later issues, other poems and essays. See my site for a copy of the poem under the file “Living With Multiple Sclerosis and Poems About Doing So.”  “Shards” concerns teaching with MS.

The magazine, Pentimento, concerns all things disability–fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, essays, memoir, art, and photography.  Read the interview and check out our magazine  to find out more!

 

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U.S. 1 Worksheets accepted my poem “Travelogue” for their 2015 issue; U.S. 1 accepted my poem, “All the Universe Is Your Toy,” for 2013 issue

I’m pleased that U. S. 1 Worksheets has accepted my poem “Travelogue” for their 2015 issue. U.S. 1 is based in Princeton, NJ, and has published its yearly  journal since 1973. The journal includes over 100 new and seasoned poets in each issue; local, national, and international voices are featured. See the journal at the link above.

I’ve been fortunate to be published previously by U.S. 1 Worksheets. Last year’s poem can be found at the end of this post.

The varied covers for the journal are photographs, paintings, or mixed media collages by acclaimed artists.
The Town Topics,  a Princeton, NJ newspaper, noted that:

“This year, (2014), cover art is a collage by Yardley, PA, artist, Stephen Milliner. For last year’s 40th anniversary issue, managing editor Nancy Scott’s collage graces the cover. The accomplished local art photographer Frank Magalhaes (who created the journal’s layout for a number of years) donated work for two issues 51, and 54. Other issues have featured Therese Halscheid’s “Mexican Vessels,” “The Writing Desk” by New Jersey photographer Thomas Bivin, work by Paul Cockrell of California (issue 53), Dick Greene of Massachusetts (issue 52), and Jay Goodkind (issue 50).

“Established in 1973, U.S.1 Poets’ Cooperative has met continuously once a week in members’ homes for critique sessions. ‘It’s the longest continuously running poetry group in the nation,’ said member Betty Lies as she got the event underway. A member of the group since 1989, Ms. Lies serves as the journal’s senior selecting editor and is a Dodge Poet for the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.”

U.S. 1 Worksheets publishes once a year.

2015 dates for submission (for the 2016 edition) are Wednesday, April 15, 2015 (267.5 days from now) through Tuesday, June 30, 2015.

I’m honored to be published in this terrific, well-respected journal.
My poem, “All the Universe Is Your Toy” published in 2014 issue of U.S. 1 Worksheetsis below:

All the Universe Is Your Toy
                     to my grandson, Lucas

Cool birdseed filters between our fingers,
spills in an arc of black and gold

onto mesh feeders at our feet. You display
your hand – teardrop seed stuck

between fat of fingers – wipe it on my thigh,
and mouth-open laugh, while your

hand dives again into the tub of seed.
Black-capped chickadees and purple

finches swirl where the feeder used to be.
You wave at them and spray seed trails

over my lap. I look toward tree line and sun –
brilliant on the metal of my scooter.

You jump to reach the birds, pull my hand
to jump too, your dark hair releasing

the scent of baby shampoo. Get up, get up,
you urge, in your toddler summer

that will twirl to one sunrise after another.
Then I am untethered, standing,

lifting my good foot high, as if jumping
each time your feet leave the earth.

© Marie Kane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pentimento Magazine Accepting Submissions July 1 to September 15 for December 2014 issue

Submit to Pentimento! We accept fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, essays, art, and photography from adults, young adults, and children concerning disability. The cover is always art by a disabled child. Submission dates are July 1 to September 15.

The Reader’s Pen column’s theme for December is….. Romance.

As Poetry Editor for the magazine, I can attest to the wide range of topics and styles we publish.  Writing must be well-crafted and revised.

Please follow subscription guidelines at http://www.pentimentomag.org

Submit between July 1 and September 15 for the December 2014 issue. Writers can either be disabled, or someone connected to the disability community as a parent, teacher, caregiver, friend, relative, neighbor, etc. of a disabled person. The writing must concern a disability.

Pentimento has released two issues in 2013, June and December. We are an ad-free journal that publishes poetry, essays, creative non-fiction, fiction, a Reader’s Pen themed column, art, and photographs all concerning disability. Pentimento is looking for adults, young adults, and children who are disabled, or anyone who is connected to the disability community to submit their well-crafted writing, art, or photographs.

On the cover is always art by a disabled child or young adult (under 18).

And, they pay for accepted submissions!

I am the Poetry Editor and a sometime Contributing Editor for the magazine.

Submission and subscription information for this exciting new journal can be found at
http://www.pentimentomag.org.

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