David Bristol has been a favorite of mine ever since I met him in 1974. He attended a writing workshop I set up at Glen Echo Amusement Park when the Park was being transformed from an entertainment center to a place of TRUE amusement and entertainment of the highest locution— the Arts. David was alive with words .As a lawyer he knows how to use them; but I’m certain that the School of Law never trained him in such wicked humor, wryness, irony and wisdom. That comes from a more interesting source. So we’re happy to share DAVID BRISTOL’s work. - Grace Cavalieri

I met Avideh Shashaani in the mid 1980's when she was translating poetry from Perisan to English. She was a poet herself and able to transform ancient work into silky language. But she had other Persian documents that had been rendered to flat (literal) translations. She was looking for some DC poets to turn them to "poetry." I was a program officer at National Endowment for the Humanities; producing radio or WPFW; and running a small press, with daily appearances at home as wife and mother. I said No. But I would provide her with others: Robert Sargent, Ann Darr, etc. Avideh had been listening to "The Poet and the Poem" on-air and decided I was the one for her. I said NO thank you again. One day I came down the steps in "The Pavilion at The Old Post Office" for lunch and there at the bottom of the steps was AVIDEH with a sheaf of papers under her arms. My life has been blessed with goodness and love ever since. -Grace Cavalieri

Ann Bracken is the consummate artist. She is a poet, visual artist, and the most creative teacher you will ever find. She brings the arts together wherever she walks; and whether writing a book of poems, or designing and sewing a new fashion, it is all the same. The muses fly around her chanting and chanting, go on, go on. We believe in you. And so we present poems because we believe in her too. -Grace Cavalieri