Arlene Iris Distler is a poet, journalist, and a visual artist.
She resides in Brattleboro, Vermont, where she has raised her four children, and where she has been an activist for the arts, especially literary arts.
She is a co-founder of Write Action, a networking and advocacy organization whose mission is to strengthen a community of writers and to encourage, nurture, and promote the literary arts in the at-large community.
“invisible” — poem in Montpelier’s “Poem City” storefront
She has two books of poetry, Voices Like Wind Chimes, published by Finishing Line Press in 2014, and This Earth, This Body, published by Kelsay Books in 2022. Her poems have appeared in journals in print and online, and several anthologies including Blueline Press’ Birchsong: Poetry Centered in Vermont, Vol 1 and 2, and Roads Taken: Contemporary Vermont Poetry, 3rd Edition, publication pending in 2022.
She has had a successful career as a journalist with feature articles on artists and the arts for Art New England, Artscope, American Craft, Southern Vermont Arts & Living, the Brattleboro Reformer, The Commons, and other local, regional, and national magazines and newspapers.
She has edited or co-edited collections of writing from southern Vermont and vicinity: Best of Write Action, #1 and 2, and Poems In The Time of Covid.
Arlene Distler has received grants from the Vermont Arts Council, Vermont Studio Center, and PEN America.
She will be reading from her newly published collection, This Earth, This Body, at the 2022 Brattleboro Literary Festival.
Arlene Iris Distler is a poet, journalist, and a visual artist.
She resides in Brattleboro, Vermont, where she has raised her four children, and where she has been an activist for the arts, especially literary arts.
She is a co-founder of Write Action, a networking and advocacy organization whose mission is to strengthen a community of writers and to encourage, nurture, and promote the literary arts in the at-large community.
“invisible” — poem in Montpelier’s “Poem City” storefront
She has two books of poetry, Voices Like Wind Chimes, published by Finishing Line Press in 2014, and This Earth, This Body, published by Kelsay Books in 2022. Her poems have appeared in journals in print and online, and several anthologies including Blueline Press’ Birchsong: Poetry Centered in Vermont, Vol 1 and 2, and Roads Taken: Contemporary Vermont Poetry, 3rd Edition, publication pending in 2022.
She has had a successful career as a journalist with feature articles on artists and the arts for Art New England, Artscope, American Craft, Southern Vermont Arts & Living, the Brattleboro Reformer, The Commons, and other local, regional, and national magazines and newspapers.
She has edited or co-edited collections of writing from southern Vermont and vicinity: Best of Write Action, #1 and 2, and Poems In The Time of Covid.
Arlene Distler has received grants from the Vermont Arts Council, Vermont Studio Center, and PEN America.
She will be reading from her newly published collection, This Earth, This Body, at the 2022 Brattleboro Literary Festival.
Books
This Earth, This Body
Paperback: 96 pages Publisher: Kelsay Books (September 7, 2022) “We are not this flesh we call ourselves.../this seeming solid self only the sounding bell.//Yet the world’s beauty is ours/to bear, and the austere does not call.” Exactly. Again and again in this...
VOICES LIKE WIND CHIMES, a chapbook
Reviewed by Charles Butterfield Reading Distler’s collection of short lyrics is like poring over unmatted, unframed watercolor sketches. One suspects the poet knows a thing or two about painting when, in the poem “Duck Harbor,” we read, “We’re greedy too—he for wind...
Poetry
Cleaning The Octopus
Flat of palm, then fine-boned fingers break the mirror surface, beckon the creature below to let go its hold on the rough stone. Slowly its knobby arms open exposing the mouth to receive hand’s offering. That’s how it begins, the dance. Tentacle tips curl around pale...
For The Women Of Afghanistan
They seem to be flying, their burquas black wings as they speed from one sand-colored house to the next, dark angels bringing light. They sit with the other women, faces uncovered. Don’t be afraid – it is your duty to vote, they tell themselves and each other. What is...