Jean Monahan

Jean Monahan is the author of three books of poetry: Hands, winner of the 1991 Anhinga Prize for Poetry ; Believe It or Not, Orchises Press, 1999; and the forthcoming Mauled Illusionist, due out in early 2006 from Orchises. She holds an MFA from Columbia's Creative Writing Division. She currently lives in Salem, Massachusetts, with her daughter and is a freelance copywriter.

Monahan has won numerous awards and has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, DoubleTake, The American Scholar, Ploughshares, Orion, The New Republic, Shenandoah, Nimrod, and Heliotrope, among other places. She has also been published in several anthologies, including The Poets' Grimm and Orpheus & Company.

About Mauled Illusionist, Molly Peacock said: "...flashes of wisdom and candor pierce the fretwork design of Jean Monahan's spare, beautiful poems."

About Believe It or Not, Vijay Seshadri said: "...these poems are by turns tender and violent, ruefully intelligent and well-informed, and absolutely authentic."

The rough lull between one wave and the next.
That smooth roar makes us forget:
Something larger always crests.
Down we go. Falter in the dark salt.
Stand. Smile. You're all right.
Nature likes a flailing about,
Crack in the castle, crumbled
Moat. Wait out the wave. Dig.
A hole big enough to hold the world.
Someone you love is dead.

From Mauled Illusionist

Available 2006 from Orchises Press

ISBN 1-932535-08-X (alk. paper)
To order Mauled Illusionist, send a check for $14.95 per book+$1.50 postage
($2.00 postage for 3 or more books) to:
Orchises Press
P.O. Box 20602
Alexandria VA 22320