Homefront
(Word Tech Press, 2005)
A searing book about the effects of war on veterans and their families. Includes “The Woman of Baghdad,” featured in the film, “Poetry in Wartime” and included in the best-selling collection Poets Against the War (The Nation Books, 2004). Celebrated at the 2005 Chicago Humanities Festival in a multimedia performance, Homefront is necessary reading for this tortured time. To order: (http://www.wordtechcommunications.com/)
Selections from Homefront are available in chapbook form from the Poets for Peace Series of Foothills Press (www.foothillspublishing.com/id58.htm).
Some poems have been set to music by renowned folk composer Michael Smith and sung by vocalist Jamie O’Reilly on the CD Songs of the Kerry Madwoman, which will be released Nov. 5 in Chicago.
Soldier’s Heart:
The Book of Sweeney
(Chanting Press, 2004)
More than a thousand years ago, the Irish told the story of a battle-hungry king who went insane from war and lived out his life in a tree, believing himself to be a bird. This mythic figure comes to life in the poetic sequence, Soldier’s Heart, published with extensive historical and mythic notes as well as an introduction that brings the story into the present. Published by Chanting Press, the publications arm of the Fourth Order of Sts. Frances and Clare (www.fourthorder.org).
Dancing with Chaos
Poetry and physics dance in this collection inspired by metaphors drawn from chaos theory and quantum mechanics. Mathematics can graph the heart's chaotic rhythm, but this poetry moves with that rhythm. From the strange attractor who disrupts life's laminar flow to the mysteries of sensitive dependence and hurricanes in space/time, Dancing with Chaos links science and poetry in a passionate tango.
Poems from this book have been published in the American Journal of Physics, Green Letters, ISLE, JanusHead, and River Oak Review. An animated poem plus recorded selections are available online at
www.salmonpoetry.com/chaos.html.
Seasons of the Witch
(Creatrix! Books, 2005)
First published in 1992 and winner of that year’s Friends of Literature Award for the best book of poetry by a Chicago author, Seasons of the Witch has been expanded twice. The 2003 edition, with CD of poems set to music by a group of talented musicians headed by Patricia’s sister Peggy Monaghan, won the COVR award for the best multimedia product; the 2005 edition from Creatrix! includes a double CD with additional music as well as new introductory essays.
Seasons is one of the most beloved books of recent spiritual poetry, called “hauntingly eerie but beautifully thought provoking.” Its four parts trace a woman’s life in parallel to the year’s seasons, from fresh spring through wise old age. Dozens of ancient goddesses speak, telling their own stories in fresh, contemporary language. Extensive notes and indexes provide scholarly information for the reader. The double CD is also available alone (www.arcticsiren.com/pages/Peggy_Monaghan.html).
Winterburning
(Fireweed Press, 1990.)
A sequence of poems describing life in the arctic, Patricia’s first book grew from childhood and young adult experiences in her home state of Alaska. While Outsiders might imagine northerners to live in fear of cold, the real fear is out-of-control fire in winter. Patricia explores the metaphoric resonances of heat and cold in this early work. With an introduction by the founder of eco-criticism, Joe Meeker. Now out-of-print, this book is available solely through
www.souljourney.com
Anthologies
Patricia has edited three literary anthologies:
- Hunger and Dreams: The Alaskan Women’s Anthology (Fireweed Press, 1988)
- Unlacing: Ten Irish-American Women Poets (Fireweed Press, 1989)
- The Next Parish Over: Irish-American Writing Today (New Rivers Press, 1993)
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