Ellen Goldsmith reads, writes, and teaches poetry with equal enthusiasm. Her first full-length manuscript—Are We There Yet?—follows four chapbooks. The first, No Pine Tree in This Forest Is Perfect, won the 1997 Slapering Hol Chapbook Competition. Dennis Nurkse, the judge, described it as “an incandescent collection.” Left Foot, Right Foot, the most recent, is an illness and recovery narrative in 28 poems. Carl Little observes, “These unstinting, deftly crafted poems ‘contain the mess’ that is life.”
Goldsmith holds an Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University and is Professor Emerita of the City University of New York. She was on the faculty at two branches of CUNY, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and New York City College of Technology. There, she founded and directed the grant-funded Center for Intergenerational Reading. Its mission was to provide professional development for early childhood teachers preparing them to add family literacy workshops to their schools.
A resident of Cushing Maine, Goldsmith enjoys the rich cultural life of mid-coast Maine where the particular light of day and the bright stars at night console and inspire her.
Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (March 10, 2026)