Purgatory Chasm

by Susan Edwards Richmond

Poetry. Susan Edwards Richmond's PURGATORY CHASM is a collection of 30 poems inspired by the Massachusetts State Reservation where the author frequently hikes. Her lines, rhythms, and images are as solid and as hard as the truth of stone, as the poet weaves geology and history, along with the voices of other hikers and the imagined voices of the ghosts of people who have died among these rocks, into poems of strength and value. Limited to 326 hand-sewn copies letterpress printed from handset Garamond types onto recycled and acid free paper.

49 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Susan Edwards Richmond explored the history of the Harvard Shaker Community while poet-in-residence at the Fruitlands Museum. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She has taught writing at the Shirley Medium Correctional Facility, located on the site of another former Shaker community, and is currently on the faculty at Clark University. Her interest in the intersection of art and nature is reflected in her work with Wild Apples: a journal of nature, art, and inquiry. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Massachusetts, where she enjoys hiking and birdwatching.