The poems in "The Ides of March" were published in literary journals during the l970's during the Women's Movement, a time of consciousness raising groups. At that time Toni Ortner who lived in New York edited and published "Connections" which was supported by grants from CCLM.. Connections was one of the seminal journals to publish work just by women. Copies of "Connections" have been donated to Poet's House for researchers and readers. "The Ides of March" represents that time of change when women gathered in small groups to understand that the personal is political. The power of women...

Dream in Pienza was originally published by the Timberline Press in a hand-set and hand-printed limited edition. The title poem, written in Rome, sings of the passion of unrequited love in another century. From birth through resurrection, we sweep our separate shores for sight of stars. Although the angels may have left us to our devices, we become the measure of what we believe. This is God's gift to each of us.

"The title poem, "Entering Another Country," is dedicated to a male friend who has died. There are exuberant, rich landscapes of imagined travel, journeys into the visual worlds of Grandma Moses and Rousseau, and the painful realization that what the poet means by travel is change and growth, the raw experience of self-birthing, a process into a place as unknown as the death place of her friend. Here Ortner connects with her female heritage. It is a courageous poem of breaking out, and the unfamiliar terrain into which this takes her almost robs the poet of speech." -Helen Cooper, Motheroot...