Margaret Fieland: Poetry and Prose

Born and raised in New York City, I have been around art and music all my life. I am an accomplished piccolo and flute player and the daughter of a successful painter. I am published in a number of poetry and short story anthologies. Check out my links to find out more.

Language was important in my family. My father, an attorney, was very meticulous about his own grammar and relentless in correcting my sister and me. He never tolerated sloppy grammar: “it’s me” was a sure way to get a lecture on the use of pronouns, and the claim that “everyone says that” cut no ice. I have also always been a voracious reader and I’m intrigued by words and their sounds. For years I’ve kept paper and pen in my car, my purse, and beside my bed, writing in my journal and writing poetry largely for family members on occasions such as Christmas, birthdays, and the like.

A couple of years ago I wrote a poem (“Booze,” published in Christina Surdi’s “Shattering Silence: Reclaiming the Voices of Social Awareness through Poetry and Art” that I wanted to keep. I’m not particularly well organized, and my involvement in a number of professional data disasters early in my career has made me a bit paranoid about computer data backup. I rejected the idea of starting a paper file (“I’d lose it”) or on the computer at home (“the kids are always on it”); instead, I looked for a poetry workshop website, figuring that since they were in the business, they’d back up their data and I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I found one, then another, finally settling on a third. Along the way I started keeping “master” copies of my poems in my Yahoo Briefcase.

With easy access to my poetry, I started to work more on my writing. I wrote more. I began reading more poetry and books on writing poetry. I signed up for a seminar or two and I am participating in a writer’s group. I now have a website (this one) , and am a contributing writer to a new Zine, www.femmevip.com.