Lisa Rhoades
POET
Books
Now Available!
The poems in Lisa Rhoades’ Central to the Task are those of a wise guide through the physical landscapes of gardens and fields, as well as the equally brambly terrain of the heart. In free verse and form, Rhoades’ deep engagement with the world allows personal experience to intertwine with larger themes. A loved one’s cancer is compared to January 6th rioters, and an unsparing look at loss contrasts with appreciation for available grace. Sometimes ethereal and most often tangible, these poems are like songs reaching for and from grief, for and from solace, all the while grounding us: in queen Anne’s lace and forsythia, noisy and fluttering birds, a “husband, kids, cats and dog.” Rhoades’ unique voice is soft, yet unsparing of truths: The heart is a “pile of briquettes waiting for a match”; on Candelmas, a walk along an ocean beach conjures “the inky story line the tide inscribes.” The smallest element of the natural world is a microcosm of daily life that inevitably explodes into a universe—which turns out to be the human heart, after all. Central to the Task examines the loss that comes with living while reminding us how much beauty surrounds us and how possible recovery can be.
Bio
Photo credit: Bonnie Nygard
Lisa Rhoades grew up in the Midwest and moved to New York City in 1987. She holds an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and is the author of Strange Gravity, selected by Elaine Terranova for the Bright Hill Press Poetry Award Series and published in 2004. A chapbook, Into Grace, was published by Riverstone Press in 2003.
In addition to teaching in a variety of venues, she works as a pediatric nurse in a private office in Manhattan. She lives on Staten Island with her spouse and two children.
Gallery
In print and
on the Web
Landmarks, SWWIM, June 6, 2024.
Not the Hawk, Literary Mama, December, 2023.
Bad Ocean, Boulevard/Natural Bridge, Fall, 2023.
Drift, Stoneboat Literary Journal 13.2 Fall, 2023.
Texas Officials Incorrectly Claim a Teacher Left a Door Propped Open, Uvalde 2022, Mockingheart Review. Vol. 8, No. 3. Summer, 2023.
Details I Bury, Rust+Moth, Summer, 2023.
History of Love and Of Course it Hurts, Southern Review, 59:3, Summer, 2023.
The Grasses of the Field, South Florida Poetry Journal, February, 2023.
Thrift and To Be Clear, Common Ground Review, Fall/Winter, 2022.
The Anthology of Unasked for Plans, West Trestle Review, May/June, 2022.
Review of Goldenrod, American Book Review, 43:1, 2022.
Espalier, Amethyst Review, Spring, 2022.
Semblance, Cider Press Review, 24.6, February 6, 2022.
Ginny in June, SWWIM, June 30, 2021.
My Brigadoon and In a Field of Such Snow, Saranac Review.
The Daughter and Late Spring Ode, Poetry East.
Pruning the Bittersweet, SWWIM, December 2, 2019.
Give me a kiss Hospital Drive, the Magazine of UVA Medical School. January, 2019.
Outside the Verizon Store, Saint Katherine Review. Vol 7. No. 1. 2018.
Windfall, Prime Number Magazine. July 1, 2018.
Poppy, Barrow Street. Winter 2017/18.
The Long Grass, Smartish Pace. March 2018.
The Heart Saying It’s OK, Beech Street Review. January 4, 2018.
The Words at Hand, Sweet: A Literary Confection. Vol. 10, No. 1. September, 2017.
No, Literary Mama. April, 2017.
It Depends, New Ohio Review. Fall, 2017.
Errand, The Same. Vol 10, No. 4. Summer/Fall 2012.
Yard Sonnet and Mourning Song, Big City Lit. Spring 2011.
Selected Poems in Anthologies
Before I Could Say No and False Spring Like Light: 25 Years of Poetry & Prose by Bright Hill Poets and Writers, edited by Bertha Rogers, Treadwell, NY: Bright Hill Press, 2017.
“The Cadillac as a Universal Symbol of Joy,” Improbable Worlds: An Anthology of Texas and Louisiana Poets, edited by Martha Serpas, Houston, TX: Mutabilis Press. 2011.
“Let’s Make a Baby,” Not What I Expected: The Unpredictable Road from Womanhood to Motherhood, edited by Donya Currie Arias and Hildie S. Block, Arlington, VA: Paycock Press. 2007.
“Ugly Poem,” You are Here: New York City Streets in Poetry, edited by Garrison, Hallerman and Quintavalle, New York, NY: P&Q Press. 2006.
New Poem and Ugly Poem The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices from the Robert Frost Place Volume II, edited by Sydney Lea, Fort Lee, NJ: Cavan Kerry Press, 2004.
Reviews
&
Events
"... directly and intimately connected with the genius of the human body." Baron Wormser
"In a sure and unwavering voice, Lisa Rhoades tells us who we are, so many selves." Elaine Terranova
"Very few poets... dare to write poems of such vulnerability and depth... " Molly Peacock
"... a keen-eyed, memorable volume of poems..." Allen Boyer