OUR STAFF

Steven Wittenberg Gordon, Editor in Chief & Preliminary Contest Judge

Poet, writer, editor, physician, and gentleman songster, Steven Wittenberg Gordon, MD is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Songs of Eretz Poetry Review. He also acts as the preliminary contest judge (first or second reader) for the annual Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contests.  In addition to periodic appearances in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, his poetry has appeared in New Myths, Asimov’s, Hospital Drive, and other fine publications.  He holds a BA from Amherst College and an MD from Albany Medical College.

After practicing medicine for several years, Dr. Gordon volunteered for service with the US Air Force and had many memorable adventures as a flight surgeon.  While on active duty, he played a small part in the military’s response to the tragic tsunami that struck Indonesia in 2004.  Dr. Gordon currently maintains a private medical practice focused on treating substance abuse disorders and works part-time at the Kansas City Military Entrance Processing Station performing medical screens on military applicants.   

Originally from the dairy country of upstate New York, Dr. Gordon now resides in Kansas with his human family and a poorly trained Airedale terrier (Lana the Poetry Dog, pictured).  Learn more about Dr. Gordon and his publication history by viewing his personal blog http://www.StevesofGrass.blogspot.com.  Dr. Gordon invites you to follow him on Twitter and Instagram @SongsofEretz, email him at Editor@SongsOfEretz.com, friend "Steven Wittenberg Gordon" on Facebook, or ask to connect with him on LinkedIn.

J. Artemus Gordon, Art Editor
J. Artemus Gordon received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio where he honed his skills as a painter, illustrator, sculptor, and graphic designer.  He currently resides in Kansas.  

Portraits are one of Gordon's specialties--one of the things for which he is known is his uncanny ability to capture a likeness.  Three examples may be found here in this section:  Below may be found Gordon's portrait of Eric McHenry, the guest judge for the 2018 Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, and a caricature of Ross Balcom, one of our Frequent Contributors.  They are composed of ink and watercolor on paper.  Gordon's self-portrait (pictured here) is watercolor on paper.  Most of the original illustrations that have complimented the poetry in Songs of Eretz in 2018 were created by him. 

In addition to making art, Gordon enjoys gourmet cooking and video games.  He is available for freelance hire and invites you to explore his website JasonArtGo.com, to connect with him on LinkedIn, to email him at JasonArtGo@gmail.com, and to check out his work on Instagram @JasonArtGo. 

A Note about Our Frequent Contributors:  Frequent Contributor status is bestowed upon a select few up-and-coming poets handpicked by the Editor In Chief.  Membership in this exclusive group is by invitation only.

Ross Balcom, Frequent Contributor
Ross Balcom lives in the former constitutional republic of the United States. His poems have appeared in Beyond Centauri, inkscrawl, Poetry Midwest, Spectral Realms, Star*Line, and other publications. In addition to poetry, his interests include parapsychology, hypnosis, and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).  A Charter Member of the Frequent Contributor ranks, Ross has been an FC since January 1, 2016.







Terri Lynn Cummings, Frequent Contributor

Terri Lynn Cummings studied poetry, fiction, and non-fiction at Creative Writing Institute and holds a B.S. in Sociology/Anthropology from Oklahoma State University. She continues to explore social and cultural humanity, while she and her husband travel the world.

Village Books Press published Cummings’ first poetry collection, Tales to the Wind, in 2016. She was a 2015 and 2016 Woody Guthrie Poet and enjoys hosting the monthly poetry series/open mic “Oklahoma Voices” in Oklahoma City. She has presented her work at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference, Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, and Howlers & Yawpers Creativity Symposium.

Cummings’ work was recently anthologized in Blood & Thunder:  Musings on the Art of Medicine. In addition, her poetry has appeared in: Oklahoma Humanities Magazine, Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal, Eclectica Magazine, Dragon Poet Review, Red River Review, Illya’s Honey, and other fine publications.  Terri has been a Frequent Contributor since January 1, 2017.


Yoni Hammer-Kossoy, Frequent Contributor  
Yoni is a software engineer born and raised in the United States and now residing in Israel.  His poetry is forthcoming or has most recently appeared in Picaroon Poetry, Right Hand Pointing, Lunch Ticket, Cacti Fur, and Poetica's 2017 Mizmor L'David Anthology.  Feel free to “friend” Yoni on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/yoni.hammerkossoy.5 or to follow him on Twitter @whichofawind.  Yoni has been a Frequent Contributor since January 1, 2018.

Gene Hodge, Frequent Contributor

Gene is a member of the Chattanooga Writer’s Guild and International Bureau of Electrical Workers.  He is also a professional entertainer who performs throughout the south and northeast.  He hails from Soddy Daisy, Tennessee.  A review of his latest published poetry collection, in the moment, may be found here http://www.songsoferetz.com/2017/11/pop-by-gene-hodge.html.  Gene has been a Frequent Contributor since January 1, 2018.




Sierra July, Frequent Contributor

Sierra is a University of Florida graduate, writer, and poet. Her fiction has appeared in Belladonna Publishing's Strange Little Girls anthology and on T. Gene Davis's Speculative Blog, among other places, and is forthcoming in Third Flatiron Publishing's Keystone Chronicles anthology and in Sanguine's Press's Transitions & Awakenings anthology. In addition to Songs of Eretz, her poetry has appeared in Eyes to the Telescope, Star*Line, and Page & Spine, and has been featured in The Society of Classical Poets. To follow her progress, check out her website:talestotellinpassing.blogspot.com.  A Charter Member of the Frequent Contributor ranks, Sierra has been an FC since January 1, 2016.

Mary Soon Lee, Frequent Contributor

A transplanted Londoner of Chinese and Irish descent, Mary Soon Lee has lived in Pittsburgh for over twenty years. She has an MA in mathematics from Cambridge University and an MSc in Astronautics and space engineering from Cranfield University, neither of which is strictly necessary for her work-in-progress, an epic fantasy in verse. The start of this epic, Crowned: The Sign of the Dragon: Book 1, was published by Dark Renaissance Books in 2015 http://www.amazon.com/CROWNED-Sign-Dragon-Book-1/dp/1937128741/. The opening poem, “Interregnum,” won the 2014 Rhysling Award for Best Long Poem. She has a husband, two children, two cats, an antiquated website at www.marysoonlee.com and a second website (for her epic fantasy) at www.thesignofthedragon.com.  A Charter Member of the Frequent Contributor ranks, Mary has been an FC since January 1, 2016.

John C. Mannone, Frequent Contributor

John C. Mannone has work in Blue Fifth Review, Peacock Journal, Gyroscope Review, New England Journal of Medicine, Baltimore Review, Pedestal, and Pirene’s Fountain. He’s the 2017 recipient of the prestigious Jean Ritchie Fellowship for Appalachian literature. Other accomplishments include two Weymouth residencies; three poetry collections—Apocalypse (Alban Lake Publishing), Disabled Monsters (Linnet’s Wings Press) featured at the 2016 Southern Festival of Books, Flux Lines (Celtic Cat Publishing)—and the Joy Margrave Award in creative nonfiction (2015, 2017). He edits poetry for Abyss & Apex, Silver Blade, and Liquid Imagination, and serves as president of the Chattanooga Writers’ Guild. He’s a professor of physics and lives in East Tennessee. See the Art of Poetry, http://jcmannone.wordpress.com.  A Charter Member of the Frequent Contributor ranks, John has been an FC since January 1, 2016.

Lauren McBride, Frequent Contributor

Lauren McBride finds inspiration in faith, family, nature, science, and membership in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association. Her stories and poems have been included in dozens of speculative, nature, and children's publications, most recently in The Aurorean, The Caterpillar, The Grievous Angel, Silver Blade, Spaceports & Spidersilk, and Your Daily Poem. She enjoys swimming, gardening, baking, reading, writing, and knitting scarves for troops https://opgrat.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/scarves-for-troops/.  A Charter Member of the Frequent Contributor ranks, Lauren has been an FC since January 1, 2016.

James Frederick William Rowe, Frequent Contributor

James Frederick William Rowe is a Rhysling-nominated poet and author out of Brooklyn, New York.  When he is not writing verses and crafting yarns, Rowe is employed as an adjunct professor of philosophy at the City University of New York, is pursuing a Ph.D. in the same subject, and works a variety of freelance positions.  In the last few years, he has cut out a substantial niche in the speculative poetry front, having seen over thirty poems published internationally in such markets as: Big Pulp, Songs of Eretz, Tales of the Talisman, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly (where he is also an editor), Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and Bete Noire. His efforts also include a growing number of poems suiting the literary audience. His works have been described as having a, "...style that is bold, imaginative, crisp, and refreshingly simple, yet profound."  Visit him at http://jamesfwrowe.wordpress.com.  A Charter Member of the Frequent Contributor ranks, James has been an FC since January 1, 2016.

Aparna Sanyal, Frequent Contributor 

Aparna holds an MA from Kings College, London, and is a writer, theatre producer, award-winning furniture designer, and teacher. She has co-authored over thirty scripts for an award-winning animated show and is a writer with the Film Writers Association of India.

Aparna is a popular Spoken Word poet and performs at events across India. Her page poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in: Smartish Pace, Broad River Review, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Poetry Breakfast, The Visitant, The Same, Leaves of Ink, Brevis, The Paragon Journal, Califragile, Duane’s Poetree, and elsewhere.  She lives with her husband and son in Pune, India. Visit her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aparnasanyalwrites/.  Aparna has been a Frequent Contributor since January 1, 2018.

Howard F. Stein, Ph.D., Frequent Contributor

Howard is the Poet Laureate of the High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology, as well as a psychoanalytic, organizational, medical, and applied anthropologist, psychohistorian, organizational consultant, and medical educator. He retired in 2012 after spending nearly thirty-five years in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, where he became an advocate of rural medicine and rural health. 

In addition to features in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, Howard has ten published poetry collections to his name as well as hundreds of published papers, chapters, and books.  His most recent poetry collection is Light and Shadow (2016). He is currently working on a book of poetry called Centre and Circumference, tentatively scheduled to be published by MindMend Publishing (New York) sometime in 2018.  The link to his Amazon.com Author Page is https://www.amazon.com/Howard-F.-Stein/e/B001HCZ62C/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0.  Howard has been a Frequent Contributor since January 1, 2018.

Alessio Zanelli, Frequent Contributor 

Alessio is from Cremona, a small city on the River Po in northern Italy, where he lives and works as a private wealth consultant. Self-taught in English, he started writing English language poetry in the mid-1980s.

Alessio's poems have appeared in literary journals from thirteen countries, mainly in the USA and the UK. In the States, his work has been published in:  Antietam Review, California Quarterly, Chiron Review, Concho River Review, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Italian Americana, Main Street Rag, Potomac Review, Sanskrit, Sierra Nevada Review, The Clarion Review, The Lyric, The Worcester Review, The Society Of Classical Poets, World Literature Today, and many other venues. He is the author of four original poetry collections, most recently Over Misty Plains (Indigo Dreams, UK, 2012). 

In addition to being a world-renowned poet, Alessio is an amateur painter, photographer, and ultra-marathon runner.  His poetry and artwork may be viewed on his website, www.alessiozanelli.it.  Alessio has been a Frequent Contributor since January 1, 2018. 

Past Frequent Contributors:

Charter Member
 Anne Carly Abad was a Frequent Contributor from January 1, 2016, to August 31, 2016.  Enjoy her poetry here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/search?q=anne+carly+abad.

Charter Member Tricia Knoll was a Frequent Contributor from January 1, 2016, to November 18, 2016.  Enjoy her poetry here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/search?q=tricia+knoll.
Charter Member David Pring-Mill was a Frequent Contributor from January 1, 2016, to October 27, 2017.  Enjoy his poetry here:  http://www.songsoferetz.com/search?q=David+Pring-Mill.
Charter Member John Reinhart was a Frequent Contributor from January 1, 2016, to December 13, 2017.  Enjoy his poetry here:  http://www.songsoferetz.com/search?q=John+Reinhart.
Charter Member Kaitlyn Vaughn (nee Frazier) was a Frequent Contributor from January 1, 2016, to May 18, 2016.  She came out of retirement and graciously agreed to cover for Frequent Contributor Terri Lynn Cummings who was on a leave of absence from December 25, 2017, to July 2, 2018.  Enjoy her poetry here:  http://www.songsoferetz.com/search?q=Kaitlyn.

Past & Current Contest Judges:

Note: Our Editor in Chief, Steven Wittenberg Gordon, MD (see above for his bio), served as the judge for our first annual contest, which awarded a $500 honorarium in 2015.

Carol Hamilton, judge for our second annual contest, which awarded a $1,000 honorarium in 2016:

Former Poet Laureate of Oklahoma Carol Hamilton was the Songs of Eretz Poet of the Month for August 2015 and served as the guest judge for the 2016 Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which ran from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  Her Songs of Eretz poetry may be enjoyed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/search?q=carol+hamilton.

  

Hamilton is a writer and former educator and storyteller from Enid, Oklahoma. She has a BS from Phillips University and an MA in English from the University of Central Oklahoma. She taught elementary school in North Haven, Connecticut, Indianapolis, Indiana, and on Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.  For the last twelve years of her public school career, she helped develop and taught in the elementary gifted program for Mid-Del Schools at the Academic Center for Enrichment. She was three times selected as Teacher of the Year for her schools and was Teacher of the Year for Mid-Del Schools in 1982.

Hamilton went on to teach in the English Department at Rose State College for ten years and for seven years on the graduate faculty of the Creative Studies Division of the English Department at the University of Central Oklahoma. She has served as a translator at a pediatric clinic for twenty-one years and travels as a translator for medical teams working in Spanish speaking countries.  She received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2007 and was chosen for the Midwest City High School Wall of Fame in 1996. She served as Poet Laureate for the 50^th Anniversary of Midwest City and Tinker Air Force Base. 

As a writer, Hamilton has won: a Southwest Book Award, an Oklahoma Book Award, Cherubim Award, Pegasus Award, Chiron Review Chapbook Award, David Ray Poetry Prize, the Byline Literary Awards for both short story and poetry, and the Warren Keith Poetry Prize. She has published seventeen books of poetry, legends, and children's novels. 

Hamilton has been featured poet in: Voices International, Piecework, Chiron Review, Potpourri, Westview, Drury's Gazette, Newsletter Inago, and PrisaPoetry. Additional poetry, short stories, and articles of hers have appeared in numerous prestigious magazines and journals including: Commonweal, The Christian Science Monitor, Sojourners, Greensboro Review, Roanoke Review, Tulane Review, Hawaii Review, Midwest Quarterly Review, South Carolina Review, ReVista Interamericana, Horizontes, Pinyon, Southern Poetry Review, Potpourri, and others. She has recent and upcoming work in Louisiana Review, Boston Literary Review, Hubbub, Blue Unicorn, Hash, Broad River Review, Caveat Lector, Sow’s Ear Poetry, Flint Hills Review, Bluestem, Main Street Rag, I-70 Review, U.S.1 Worksheet, Reed, Cold Mountain Review and others.  To find out more about Carol Hamilton, go to http://www.carolhamilton.org.

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, PhD, judge for our third annual contest, which awarded a $1,000 honorarium in 2017:

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg was the 2009-2013 Poet Laureate of Kansas and is a long-time transformative language artist.  She was the Songs of Eretz Poet of the Month for August 2016 http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/08/special-feature-inscription-by-caryn.html.  Founder of Transformative Language Arts at Goddard College (where she teaches) and facilitator of Brave Voice workshops, she values social and personal transformation through the spoken, written, and sung word.

She is the author of more than a dozen books including many poetry collections and an award-winning writing guide and has edited anthologies by people living with serious illnesses and by low-income women. Her poetry and prose have been published in dozens of literary journals, magazines, and anthologies. Her blog, “Everyday Magic,” focuses on finding greater meaning and joy in life, and she regularly writes for the Huffington Post.

As a beloved workshop facilitator with extensive experience she has led workshops for over sixteen years for adults in transition, people living with physical or mental illness, intergenerational groups, the Kansas City Latino community, teens and children, and multi-cultural communities. She also offers writing and singing workshops and performances with singer-songwriter Kelley Hunt through their business, Brave Voice. The songs Caryn and Kelley co-write are performed by Kelley and her band in the United States and Europe. With her husband, Ken Lassman, Caryn also leads group process, better meetings, facilitation, and related workshops for community groups, businesses, and institutions.

Caryn was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up there as well as in Manalapan, New Jersey until she headed west to study journalism at the University of Missouri (where she earned a history degree instead). She continued west on I-70 to Kansas City and then Lawrence, Kansas. Caryn received her Ph.D. and MA from the University of Kansas (poetry, women’s studies, mythology) and she is certified or extensively trained in grassroots organizing from the Midwest Academy, poetry therapy from the National Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy, and group process and facilitation from the bioregional movement. She is the recipient of a Kansas Arts Fellowship in Poetry, the Rocky Mountain National Park artist-in-residence, the City of Lawrence Phoenix Award, and other honors. She is also a yoga teacher with 200 hours training and is certified in Curvy Yoga.

Caryn lives in the country just south of Lawrence, Kansas with her husband and their family. Find out more about Caryn at her website: http://carynmirriamgoldberg.com, http://www.goddard.edu/people/caryn-mirriam-goldberg/, and http://bravevoice.com.


Eric McHenry, judge for our fourth annual contest, which awarded a $1,000 honorarium in 2018:
Former Kansas Poet Laureate Eric McHenry was the Guest Judge for our Fourth Annual Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest.  As a run-up to the official contest opening, one of McHenry's poems was featured in Songs of Eretz Poetry Review from August 16 through August 31.  As a special treat, then Guest Artist, now our Art Editor,  J. Artemus Gordon, provided original illustrations to accompany each poem.  

McHenry was the Poet Laureate of Kansas from May 2015 through May 2017 and teaches English at Washburn University in Topeka. Waywiser Press published McHenry’s newest book of poems, Odd Evening, in 2016. His previous collections include Potscrubber Lullabies, which won the Kate Tufts Discovery Award in 2007, and Mommy Daddy Evan Sage, a children’s book illustrated by Nicholas Garland. He also edited and introduced Peggy of the Flint Hills, a memoir by Zula Bennington Greene.

McHenry’s poems have appeared in: The New Republic, Yale Review, Cincinnati Review, Field, Poetry International, Gulf Coast, Poetry Daily, and Poetry Northwest from whom he received the 2010 Theodore Roethke Prize. His poetry criticism has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Slate, and other publications. 

McHenry lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife and two children. For information about his books, visit https://waywiser-press.com/eric-mchenry/.


Lowell Jaeger will judge our fifth annual contest, which will award honoraria as follows in 2019:  $1,000 for 1st place, $200 for 2nd place, & $100 for 3rd place.

Montana Poet Laureate Lowell Jaeger will be the Guest Judge for the fifth annual Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest.  As a run-up to the official contest opening, one of Jaeger's poems will be published every weekday in August 2018.

Jaeger is the Humanities Division Chair and Professor of English/Creative Writing at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell, Montana.  He is a graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writer’s Workshop (considered to be the best MFA program in the United States), winner of the Grolier Poetry Peace Prize, and recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Montana Arts Council, and was awarded the Governor’s Humanities Award for his work in promoting civil civic discourse.  

Jaeger is founding editor of Many Voices Press and recently edited New Poets of the American West, an anthology of poets from eleven western states.  He is the author of seven poetry collections:  War On War  (Utah State University Press, 1988), Hope Against Hope (Utah State University Press 1990), Suddenly Out of a Long Sleep (Arctos Press, 2009), WE (Main Street Rag Publishing, 2010), How Quickly What's Passing Goes Past (Grayson Books, 2013), Driving the Back Road Home (Shabda Press, 2015), and Or Maybe I Drift Off Alone (Shabda Press 2016), and has served as editor for several others.