Poems & Other Works
A Note to Readers - March, 2024
Below are links to several of my published poems. First, a word about the anthologies where my poetry has appeared.
No Season for Silence - Texas Poets and Pandemic, edited by
Milton Jordan, was published in 2020 (Kallisto Gaia Press,
Austin). In this volume, nine Texas poets reflect on the fears and
courage, the semi-isolation, the limited mobility and other
experiences of that difficult time.
Upon publication, first responders, medical professionals, and
community volunteers, who sacrificed to help others through the
ordeal, were given copies of the anthology in heartfelt thanks.
The Dead Pets Poetry Anthology (Transcendent Zero Press,
Houston, 2023), edited by Damian Ward Hey and Rick C.
Christiansen. In this volume, 70 poets pay tribute to beloved pets–
integral parts of our families and our lives– that we have loved and
lost over time.
All profits from the sale of this anthology are donated to animal
welfare charity.
Lone Star Poetry - Championing Texas Verse, Community, and
Hunger Relief
(Kallisto Gaia Press, Austin, 2023). In this volume, Editors
Laurence Musgrove and Milton Jordan bring together a selection of
poems published in 2021 by Texas Poetry Assignment, an online
journal established to inspire community through poetry and
hunger relief.
A portion of the proceeds from each copy sold is donated to the
Feeding Texas hunger relief program.
My poems can be found in a variety of online poetry journals, including The Texas Poetry Assignment and The New Verse News. You can access all of my poems at these two journals, as follows:
The New Verse News - Go to the website. In the upper left corner, there is a search box. Input her name, and click to search. You will find all her poems from NVN, with accompanying images, on one page.
The Texas Poetry Assignment - Go to the website. Click on "Search," and enter her name. You will be taken to a page with all her poems.
In the Rosenberg Library
This poem was in response to a call for poems about Texas libraries at the Texas Poetry Asignment. I have many reasons to be grateful to Texas libraries, and one experience in particular came to mind as I mulled over this call. Without the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, there would have been no novel entitled, GALVESTON. Without the ready assistance of the Archivists, I would have been utterly lost as I tried to sift through Galveston history, to research the novel.
https://www.texaspoetryassignment.org/texas-libraries/in-the-rosenberg-public-librarygalveston-texas
Letter from Sunnyside
This poem was inspired by the memory of a visit with Susan
Schwartz, my Doubleday book editor, one autumn in the mid-
1970's. We took a side trip from Manhattan to visit the historic
home museum of the famed storyteller Washington Irving in
Tarrytown. It was a magical time in our lives, shortly after my first
novel GALVESTON, was published. Irving's famous story, The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, plays an important role in the poem.
https://www.texaspoetryassignment.org/texas-letters/letter-from-sunnyside
After Words
The famed poets Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall are two of my all-
time favorites. The legendary story of their love and marriage, and
the way each inspired the other in their creative lives, captured my
imagination and sparked this poem. Jane Kenyon died tragically in
her forties, and Donald Hall mourned her loss for the rest of his
life.
https://stonepoetryjournal.com/suzanne-morris-2/
Bewildered
I was disconcerted to learn, several years ago, that the home where
I grew up, in Houston's Idylwood neighborhood, was to be
drastically renovated and transformed from the modest two-
bedroom, one-bath brick cottage I remembered into a formidable
two-story home that crowds the small lot on which my father built
it. Naturally, as I watched the transformation take place, I found
myself writing a poem.
https://stonepoetryjournal.com/suzanne-morris/
Two Halves of a Whole
Growing older, I find myself reflecting more and more on my
upbringing in the 1950's. The two parts of this poem about my
parents were written separately, at different times, and later joined
for publication as one. Each part encapsulates an impression of the
separate personalities of Ruth and Frank Page, and what it was like
growing up in the atmosphere they created for my sister and me.
https://www.texaspoetryassignment.org/texas-odes/two-halves-of-a-whole