Congratulations to our featured client, Perie Longo! Since enrolling as a client six years ago, Perie has had pieces accepted into many reputable literary magazines. Her work is in high demand for a reason: She has been leading poetry workshops since 1986 and was Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, California, from 2007–2009. Perie’s poems tell vivid stories with a musical cadence that is sometimes joyful, sometimes haunting, always leaving a lasting impression on the reader. In addition, she has a warm personality that makes her a pleasure to work with, and we are thrilled to share her writing with you today! (Click to watch her video.)
How Perie Longo Stays On Track:
Before I signed up for Writer’s Relief in September 2006, I was shy about sending out my work and often too busy with my various jobs and raising a family, like most writers. Vastly impressed with the poetry I read in literary journals and book after book, I also felt my work just wasn’t up to par. Then I remembered some sage advice given by William Stafford at one of his last workshops in May 1993. “The world needs your poems. Send them out, and give them a good title!” I had almost immediate success, having two poems published in Prairie Schooner in the summer of 1995, but it took years and a friend’s advice to follow through. She convinced me Writer’s Relief might be my ticket. As rejections poured in, so did some acceptances. Writer’s Relief has helped me focus on those, and some rejections which say, “Not this time, but do send more. We are impressed with your writing.” Writer’s Relief continues to encourage me to write and submit, for which I am very grateful. When journals arrive with my name in the Table of Contents, it is a wonderful feeling, and I love connecting to other poets around the country. I am deeply thankful to Writer’s Relief for enhancing and enriching my poetic life.
More About Perie Longo:
Perie Longo, Poet Laureate Emerita of Santa Barbara (2007–09), is author of three books of poetry, Milking the Earth, The Privacy of Wind, and With Nothing behind but Sky: a journey through grief. Her poems have been published in Atlanta Review, Breathe: 101 Contemporary Odes, Connecticut Review, International Poetry Review, Nimrod, The Paterson Literary Review, Prairie Schooner, Passager, Quercus Review, Rattle, Solo Novo, Wisconsin Review, and several other journals and anthologies. She has received two Pushcart Prize nominations for her poetry: from Rattle in 2002 and Solo Novo in 2012. Her dedication poem for the Douglas Family Preserve in Santa Barbara is carved in stone. In 2005 she was invited to speak at the University of Kuwait on Poetry as a Path to Peace. Poetry chair for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, she helps to further their aims of peace worldwide through the writing of poetry. Each year they have an annual contest, with a deadline of July 1st (www.wagingpeace.org). Since 1984 she has been on the literary staff of the Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference and poet in residence at several Santa Barbara Schools through California-Poets-in-the-Schools. A registered poetry therapist and psychotherapist, she facilitates poetry writing groups at Hospice of Santa Barbara and Sanctuary Psychiatric Centers, and is a past president of the National Association for Poetry Therapy. She has been featured on the Huffington Post and Charles Osgood radio show. She has two adult children and three young grandchildren who inspire her daily. Visit her site: www.perielongo.com.
I’m fortunate to have been exposed to Perie’s poetry and teaching. She’s one of our best.