{"id":1559,"date":"2025-08-17T11:14:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T15:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/new_staging\/?page_id=1559"},"modified":"2025-09-21T20:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T00:54:09","slug":"about-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marygilliland.com\/?page_id=1559","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About me<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

THE GARDEN<\/b><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

A Guest Author stint at Best American Poetry during harvest season resulted in 4 flower reports: Steady My Laden Head<\/a>; Later Flowers for the Bees<\/a>; Never Cease<\/a>; With the Sun<\/a>. Planting bulbs and turning a rocky acre of vacant land into a garden, I reflect on the course of a life and on what cultivating flowers and poems might have in common.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also a Writing the Land poet.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve 3 poems in NatureCulture\u2019s new anthology \u2018Writing the Land: Rensellaer County, New York<\/a>' sold to benefit Hudson Taconic Lands\u2019 work \u201cnurturing connections with nature for the people\u201d: 'The Softness,' 'Our Convertible,' 'Rest Assured.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 In daylight and darkness throughout nature\u2019s mammal dreams, burdock heard first the apes who walked, sure they would wear the crown.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can read this poem \u2018Nemesis\u2019 among 4 that I contributed to the gallery<\/a>\u00a0of THE NATURE OF OUR TIMES: Poems on America\u2019s Lands, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders.<\/p><\/div>\"Image\"<\/span><\/div>

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DOHA<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I lived in Doha before Qatar sponsored the Asian Games. There were still vestiges of Bedouin life. Sheikha Moza sponsored an international cultural conference every few weeks. The best of both worlds!<\/p>\n

At WCMQ I taught Biology & Society 104: Ecocsystems & Ego Systems for the last time, Cornell\u2019s first interdisciplinary writing seminar, a course that I dreamed up in 1984.<\/p><\/div>\"Al<\/span>\"at<\/span><\/div>

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CORNELL<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Teaching on the Ithaca campus began with the Committee on Special Education Projects, and I emerged from the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines as Senior Lecturer Emeritus<\/a> in the College of Arts & Sciences. A frequent conference speaker, I assisted with faculty development at the International Knight Consortium, developed and directed the Writing Walk-In Service, and was faculty advisor for Ursus: Cornell's Environmental Journal<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I approach teaching as a self-reflective practice of re-imagining, co-creating, learning from each other. You too can carry out my FINAL ASSIGNMENT<\/a>\u00a0from those wondrous decades of teaching at Cornell! (Thank you for the reprint, Whale Road Review<\/i>!)<\/p><\/div>\"Image\"<\/span><\/div>

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PROVINCETOWN<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

At the Fine Arts Work Center, an international home for artists and writers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, I reclaimed my childhood poetry heart as I turned 40 during a 7-month Fellowship that re-set my priorities: wake up, each day, to poetry.<\/p>\n

Learn more at Feeding Grounds<\/a><\/p><\/div>\"Image\"<\/span><\/div>

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KITKITDIZZE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Peter Fortunato<\/a> and I took an extended post-college apprenticeship with Gary Snyder in the Sierra Nevada foothills, studying carpentry, ecology, and the great Zen texts while living off-grid on San Juan Ridge and earning money in Bay Area construction during the winter. Gary performed our wedding ceremony.<\/p>\n

So many recent requests <\/strong>about Gary Snyder\u2019s 2016 lecture at Cornell<\/a> & my intro thereto that I\u2019m posting video link here<\/a> so I need not keep searching !<\/strong><\/p>\n

as Gary has said, \u201cI try to hold both history and wilderness in mind, that my poems may approach the true measure of things and stand against the unbalance and ignorance of our times.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/div>\"American<\/span><\/div>

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DANIEL <\/span>BERRIGAN<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I created this site inspired by words and deeds of peace activist and poet Daniel Berrigan, S.J. Highlights include AMERICA IS HARD TO FIND: the entire musical rock Mass inspired by his famous poem and 18 minutes of Dan reading his Catonsville poems. Plus photographs and reminiscences from the Cornell University campus circa 1970 when Father Berrigan served as chaplain, was criminalized for his civil disobedience, and became a fugitive from the FBI, dubbed in the NET\u00a0\u00a0documentary \u201cThe Holy Outlaw.\u201d As the Reminiscences tab begins, \u201cWe really thought we might be able to steer America a little bit toward justice, a little bit away from imperial wars.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/americaishardertofind.wordpress.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.cornell73.com\/mary-gilliland-remembers-fr-daniel-berrigan\/<\/a><\/p><\/div>\"Image\"<\/span><\/div>

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MARY UNFOLDING<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

From devoted child to devoted poet, Mary Gilliland shares holy cards, memorabilia, family photos, drafts of her writing, ending with a classic photo of poets with Ginsberg, Waldman, Creeley at the 1986 HD centennial conference in Orono, Maine.<\/span><\/p>\n

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