Paley, Grace 1999
What is sometimes called a
tongue of flame
or an arm extended burning
is only the long
red and orange branch of
a green maple
– Grace Paley, “Autumn”
Listen to Grace Paley’s 1999 reading for the Poetry Center of Chicago:
Watch Grace Paley read some of her work:
Short story author Grace Paley reads and answers questions
Grace Paley (1922-2007), a short story writer, poet and activist, was New York’s first official state author and later poet laureate of Vermont. Paley’s “Collected Stories” (1994) was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. This rare edition of HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life was videotaped at Howard Community College, October 1988.
Twenty years ago
it was believed that the roots of trees
would insert themselves into gas lines
then fall poisoned on houses and children
– Grace Paley, “On Mother’s Day”
Read an interview with Grace Paley from the Paris Review:
The Paris Review
When Grace Paley visits New York, she stays in her old apartment on West Eleventh Street. Her block has for the most part escaped the gentrification that has transformed the West Village since Paley moved there in the forties.
