Something different today...

...because I have this gift in my giving!

Sixteen years ago, on an early morning in California, I was awakened by a phone-call from the East Coast.

“Is this Barbara Quick?” a female voice was asking me. “Barbara Quick, the author of Vivaldi’s Virgins?”

I was too sleepy to feel suspicious—and, as it turned out, this was a very good thing.

“I have a mansion in New Hampshire, which my friends and I use as a gathering place for writers. All of us have read Vivaldi’s Virgins and love it! Is there any chance you would come be our guest of honor?”

So it was that in August of 2009, I used my cache of frequent flier miles to make my way to a part of the country I’d never seen before, to rub elbows with a group of people I’d never met, figuring, Why not? It was a such a kind invitation—and they didn’t sound like ax murderers.

That summer in North Haverhill, New Hampshire (photo credit: Barbara Quick)

At the core of this extraordinary group of writers was someone many of you have heard me speak of before, Grace Cavalieri—poet, playwright, former Poet Laureate of Maryland, and longtime host of that venerable podcast that’s recorded at the Library of Congress, The Poet & the Poem.

For those of you who have never read it, Vivaldi’s Virgins concerns an 18th century foundling musician of the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice—and her search for the mother who abandoned her there. Because of who I am and how I was raised, the longing of Anna Maria dal Violin was an easy emotional reach for me.

Little did I realize that Grace Cavalieri would step into the breach to become the best and most loving champion and literary fairy godmother a writer could ever hope for. Not one day goes by when I don’t feel grateful for her presence in my life.

This past Wednesday, on August 6th, I traveled to Washington, D.C. to be interviewed for a fifth miraculous time on The Poet & the Poem. I’ve been sharing the link on social media—but I wanted to make it available here as well.

Being interviewed by Grace—and reading my poetry for Grace—is what I imagine it would be like to present my heart and soul, all wrapped up in ribbons, at the Pearly Gates.

That’s why I want to share the podcast with you who have also been so immensely supportive of my work. (Do you know how grateful I am?) This is the very heart and soul of who I am as a person and a writer.

The recording is 36 minutes long. I would be honored by the opportunity to spend those minutes in communion with your heart and soul. That is the magic gift of poetry.

Here’s the link.

A slight correction: My forthcoming chapbook of poems from the garden will be called This Dark Soil. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to tell you very soon where it will be published and how you can get it. Same with my full-length manuscript, Time Travel: A Life in Poems. I read poems from both collections on the podcast.

Your hearts and your messages mean the earth to me. If you go to the SubStack app to post them, they’ll show up on my Life-boat. Please know that you’re ever so welcome aboard!

A guilt-free way to buy Vivaldi’s Virgins as cheaply and conveniently as on that other site, where everything in the world is sold. Click the link above! Bookshop.org is a great way to support writers and independent bookstores.

Grace arranged for me to meet with 18 of her poet friends the day before our Library of Congress interview, at a lovely eatery in Annapolis.

And, oh, on the evening I arrived in Maryland via train from New York, she treated me to the best crab-cakes I’ve ever eaten. Over the course of three truly blissful days, she fed me body and soul.

When I grow up—when I really grow up—I want to be as much a force for good in the world of writers as Grace Cavalieri.

♥️