Poetry
Planting Bulbs in a Time of War, and Other Poems
"Patricia Roth Schwartz's compelling poems unflinchingly address family's history and history's family, and we are the better for it. Hers is a voice of empathy and grace, a voice that reminds us in all ways to be mindful of 'the other.'"
"Patricia Roth Schwartz's compelling poems unflinchingly address family's history and history's family, and we are the better for it. Hers is a voice of empathy and grace, a voice that reminds us in all ways to be mindful of 'the other.'"
Down the Middle with a Nickel: a Memoir of a West Virginia Childhood
in Poems
"With all the vividness and clarity of a Brownie home movie, these vignettes of a West Virginia girlhood are a mnemonic triumph. Young Patty confronts all the terrors that 1950s America could conjure: the Bomb, polio, Russian spies, the junior-high dance. We watch her growing awareness of rural poverty, marital disharmony, sexual repression and gender regimentation-the hidden casualties of an age of confident conformity. Alternately comical, nostalgic, and poignant, this poetic memoir is notable for its range, its skill, and its sensitivity, but especially for delightful surprises at every turn."
"With all the vividness and clarity of a Brownie home movie, these vignettes of a West Virginia girlhood are a mnemonic triumph. Young Patty confronts all the terrors that 1950s America could conjure: the Bomb, polio, Russian spies, the junior-high dance. We watch her growing awareness of rural poverty, marital disharmony, sexual repression and gender regimentation-the hidden casualties of an age of confident conformity. Alternately comical, nostalgic, and poignant, this poetic memoir is notable for its range, its skill, and its sensitivity, but especially for delightful surprises at every turn."
Hungers
A gentle yet fierce first collection of lyric poems from the heart of the women's movement of the 70s yet deeply personal. These are the poems by a 30ish woman coming out in all possible ways: as a poet, as an urban dweller on her own, as a lover of women navigating the perilous waters of love and friendship betrayed, lost, renewed. This book was one of four titles funded by a community arts grant from Aetna Life in Hartford, CT, given to The Blue Spruce Poets Collective of which Schwartz was a part. These four women--Helen Lawson, Norma Blacke-Bragg, Joan Shapiro, and Schwartz--pioneered contemporary women's poetry in that area in the 1970s with numerous readings and appearances.
A gentle yet fierce first collection of lyric poems from the heart of the women's movement of the 70s yet deeply personal. These are the poems by a 30ish woman coming out in all possible ways: as a poet, as an urban dweller on her own, as a lover of women navigating the perilous waters of love and friendship betrayed, lost, renewed. This book was one of four titles funded by a community arts grant from Aetna Life in Hartford, CT, given to The Blue Spruce Poets Collective of which Schwartz was a part. These four women--Helen Lawson, Norma Blacke-Bragg, Joan Shapiro, and Schwartz--pioneered contemporary women's poetry in that area in the 1970s with numerous readings and appearances.
Short Fiction
The Names of the Moons of Mars
Winner of a Lambda Literary Award in 1989: a volume of short fiction from the 70s and 80s published by New Victoria, a woman-identified press: developed with a keen eye for detail and substantial attention to the craft of its genre, these pieces explore how we light--or fail to light--the candles that lie deep within each others' hearts.
"Pat Schwartz's characters are just like ourselves: spirited, sensual, funny, aching with the difficulty of being human in an unjust world. Enjoy this book, It's better than therapy."
Winner of a Lambda Literary Award in 1989: a volume of short fiction from the 70s and 80s published by New Victoria, a woman-identified press: developed with a keen eye for detail and substantial attention to the craft of its genre, these pieces explore how we light--or fail to light--the candles that lie deep within each others' hearts.
"Pat Schwartz's characters are just like ourselves: spirited, sensual, funny, aching with the difficulty of being human in an unjust world. Enjoy this book, It's better than therapy."
