HEALING THROUGH POETRY
Ann E. Wallace, David Richard
and Michelle Oram
FREE EVENT
Date: Sunday, September 15
Time: 1 – 2:15 PM
Location: Waterwheel
Through poetry the unspoken can be spoken. Healing through Poetry will explore how poetry can be chicken soup for the soul. Its powerful combination of words, metaphor and meter connect our souls and help us make sense of the world and our place in it.
Whether you are a lover of poetry or have yet to discover its power, come see how poetry can heal and transform.
Ann E. Wallace
Ann E. Wallace, PhD is the 2023-24 Poet Laureate of Jersey City, New Jersey. As a long-time survivor of ovarian cancer, a woman with multiple sclerosis, and one of the nation’s first Long Covid patients, she has lived and written through illness for more than thirty years. Pain, disability, and disease—as well as hope and resilience—have inspired and informed her work as a poet, memoirist, patient advocate, and scholar. Her new poetry collection is Days of Grace and Silence: A Chronicle of COVID’s Long Haul . Wallace’s first collection of poetry, Counting by Sevens, is a reflection on motherhood, illness, and contemporary life in America.
Wallace is co-host and co-producer of The WildStory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants by the Native Plant Society of New Jersey and Professor of English at New Jersey City University. Her work is online at AnnWallacePhD.com and on Instagram @AnnWallace409.
David Richard
David Richard is a poet and writer, having been inspired and guided for over fifty years to create a large volume of works, mostly in poetry and song. His background in holistic health and nutrition, complemented by his passion for nature and the environment, have led him to also write non-fiction essays, articles and books in these areas. His professional career as a health publisher has been highlighted by editing and publishing the books of numerous authorities within these interrelated fields.
David has been published in numerous journals and has authored five books, including a volume of poetry, Gathering the Wind, and a volume of aphorisms, A Seed. Numerous creative projects are underway, including within Mr. Richard’s other main area of interest, the visual arts.
“A poem is a breath of Consciousness.” From Gathering the Wind.
Michelle Oram
After decades in the performing arts, Michelle began her quest as a writer twelve years ago. Perhaps, it was a lifetime of music that inspired her writing to take flight in poetry which has since appeared in many journals and chapbooks including Local Gems Press, NJ Bards Northeast Poetry Review and The Journal.
In 2017 she published her first children’s book; Songs of the Woods encouraging children to begin and end each day with a song from the heart. Michelle composed the accompanying music. In 2024 she published her poetic memoir Song of Me which became a best seller on Amazon.
When not singing or writing she can be found spending precious moments with her family.
