June 27 5PM: My guest: Tomas O'Leary is a poet, translator, musician, singer, artist and expressive therapist. His published books of poetry are "Fool at the Funeral" and "The Devil Take a Crooked House," both from Lynx House Press; his third, now ready for publication, is "A Prayer for Everyone." Also ready are a novel, "Portrait of the Artist as a Black Hole," and a brief fairy tale for eccentric adults, "Once Upon a Realm Just Forming," both books with illustrations by the author:
His book of off-the-wall doodles with captions (self-published) is "Olio of 'Toons." He is presently immersed in translations of the Cuban revolutionary/poet, José Martí, and will soon publish a 21-poem Spanish/English volume entitled "La poesía es sagrada/ Poetry Is Sacred."
O'Leary's poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including such well-named venues as Agora, Anathema, Arion's Dolphin, The Blacksmith, Choice, The Chowder Review, Colorado Review, Cow Creek Review, East Coast Poets, Hubbub, Lynx, Midwest Quarterly, Mississippi Mud, Niagara, Ploughshares, Poiesis, Scarab, Street Magazine, Willow Springs,The Worcester Review,Words, Working from Silence, etc., and in such vibrant news-sheets as The Cambridge Chronicle, The Somerville News, and the Royal Gazette of Bermuda.
O'Leary has taught literature, creative writing and journalism at the college level, creative writing and Spanish at the high school level, and basic Spanish to little kids. He has given numerous poetry readings and workshops over the decades. For the past 15 years he has worked in nursing homes, leading circles of the elderly in song and spirited exchange, accompanied by his German-make (Hohner) Irish accordion manufactured in China, and entertains occasionally at pubs and private parties.
M.F.A. in poetry from the writers' workshop, UMass/Amherst, and M.A. in expressive therapies, Lesley University, O'Leary has lived some of his years in Colombia and Mexico. Brought up in Somerville (Massachusetts) by Irish immigrant parents, he resides just over the line, in Cambridge, with his wife and two sons.
Somerville Community Access TV Show "Poet to Poet/Writer To Writer" (Tuesdays Channel 3 5 PM ) Host: Doug Holder. Many of these shows are archived at the Lamont Library Poetry Room at Harvard University, for scholars and the general public to view. We explore the creative process and the work of local poets and writers. Each guest will get a video of the show upon request. Contact: dougholder@post.harvard.edu Directions: http://tinyurl.com/2btevt
Interviewer vs. Interviewer
( Click on picture to view) Elizabeth Lund--Host of Poetic Lines interviews Host of Poet to Poet-- Doug Holder