{"product_id":"vanishing-life-a-poetic-warning","title":"Vanishing Life: A Poetic Warning","description":"\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eAbout Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ca name=\"_Hlk174255267\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNoSpacing\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: OBodoni-Open; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCarolyn Kreiter-Foronda\u003c\/strong\u003e served as the 2006–2008 Poet Laureate of Virginia. She holds a B.A. from the University of Mary Washington and an M.Ed., M.A., and Ph.D. from George Mason, where she received the university’s first doctorate, an \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eoutstanding academic achievement and service award\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: OBodoni-Open; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;\"\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003ea letter of recognition for quality research from the VA Educational Research Association for her dissertation, \u003ci\u003eGathering Light: A Poet’s Approach to Poetry Analysis. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: OBodoni-Open; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;\"\u003eIn 2007, both universities gave her the alumna of the year award.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNoSpacing\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eHer nine poetry books include \u003ci\u003eThe Embrace: Diego Rivera and\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eFrida Kahlo\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the international Art in Literature: Mary Lynn Kotz award. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: OBodoni-Open; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;\"\u003eShe has also co-edited four anthologies and a poem-play. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;\"\u003eHer abstract\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e paintings and sculpture have been exhibited in galleries, educational settings, and nursing homes throughout VA. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: OBodoni-Open; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;\"\u003eShe received five grants from the VA Commission for the Arts and won the Ellen Anderson award, multiple 1\u003csup\u003est\u003c\/sup\u003e-place awards from the Chesapeake Bay branch of the NLAPW, a resolution of appreciation from the VA Board of Education for her service as poet laureate, an Edgar Allan Poe Poetry award, a VA Cultural Laureate award, and six Pushcart Prize nominations, among other honors.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNoSpacing\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: OBodoni-Open; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-font-kerning: 14.0pt;\"\u003eHer poems appear in numerous \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003emagazines, including \u003ci\u003eNimrod, Prairie Schooner, Mid-American Review, Best of Literary Journals, \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: italic;\"\u003eand\u003ci\u003e World Poetry Yearbook\u003c\/i\u003e. They are also featured in two art installations at the McLean Metro Station in Northern VA. \u003c\/span\u003eHer poem “In the Comfort of Light,” which appears in the anthology \u003ci\u003eThe Polaris Trilogy, \u003c\/i\u003etraveled to the Moon in 2025 on a NASA flight as part of the Lunar Codex. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003eAbout Joyce Brinkman\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ca name=\"_Hlk174255267\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJoyce Brinkman\u003c\/strong\u003e, Indiana Poet Laureate 2002–2008, believes in poetry as public art. She creates public poetry projects involving her poetry and the poetry of others.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eCollaborations with visual artists using her poetry for permanent installations include her words in a twenty-five-foot stained glass window by British glass artist Martin Donlin at the Indianapolis International Airport, in lighted glass by Arlon Bayliss at the Indianapolis-Marion County Central Library, and on a wall with local El Salvadoran artists in the town square of Quezaltepeque, El Salvador. Non-collaborative public literary art includes two of her poems featuring John Wooden in two places in Martinsville, Indiana, a haiku on a sculpture of the Earth in Shelbyville, Indiana, and poems “\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: italic;\"\u003eFirst Impression”\u003c\/span\u003e and “\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: italic;\"\u003eMoon Rising”\u003c\/span\u003e in windows at Circle Center Mall in Indianapolis.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003eJoyce organized the collaborative poems for the Indiana Bicentennial Legacy Book, \u003ci\u003eMapping the Muse.\u003c\/i\u003e One of those poems, “\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: italic;\"\u003eFollowing the Rivers’ Flow,”\u003c\/span\u003e traveled to the Moon on a NASA flight in March of 2024 as part of the Lunar Codex. A framed copy of \u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: italic;\"\u003ethis poem\u003c\/span\u003e is on permanent display at the SullivanMunce Cultural Center in Zionsville, along with another one of her collaborative pieces, \u003ci style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"\u003eQuilting Words. \u003c\/i\u003eJoyce received fellowships from the Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, the Vermont Studio, and the Indianapolis Arts Council. She is a graduate of Hanover College, studied poetry in Spain, and lives in Zionsville, Indiana with a cantankerous cat.\u003ci style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: justify;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ca name=\"_Hlk174255267\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003ePaperback: 58 pages\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Kelsay Books (August 6, 2026)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kelsay Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53925782782136,"sku":null,"price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0013\/0800\/0329\/files\/brinkman2_front.jpg?v=1786846851","url":"https:\/\/kelsaybooks.com\/products\/vanishing-life-a-poetic-warning","provider":"Kelsay Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}