Poetry. Italian American Studies. Maria Mazziotti Gillan's Ancestors' Song takes the reader on a journey, one in which she recognizes deep within herself "the voices of the women who came before," their words blending together, forming, as she tells the reader, "the beat I move to." This beat is very much a part of the narrative she weaves in her characteristically honest, intimate, and humorous voice. This beat is true, hard working, strong; a beat that began in the villages on the mountaintops in San Mauro, Italy, and continues to the present day, illuminating the path for those that will...

The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets combines Maria Mazziotti Gillan's unique gifts as a visual artist with her already internationally known and prize winning poetry. Gillan's imagination, whimsical sense of line and vibrant use of colors shine forth through this beautiful picture book in a manner that both compliments and contrasts with the wonderful poems. While the poetry offers moving narratives of people and events taken directly from Gillan's life, the paintings are the flip side of that record--deeply joyous, even gleeful depictions of the artist's rich, sometimes dream like inner...

"Rooted in narrative," this collection of 71 poems launches "an evocative journey" back through "Depression-era Paterson, New Jersey, that city so connected with poetry in literary history." It offers "a kaleidoscope of images" from the past: her parents dancing to Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Band, "an image captured as though in a glass globe that glows in the light of her father's memories," and "the poet's mother . . . perpetually caught in the glamor of 1930's movies," combine with Balik's "love for her husband, their early courtship and marriage, their children, the daily rituals...