- Melissa Guillet
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Melissa Guillet (born February 27, 1975) is a poet, writer, and illustrator. She runs Sacred Fools Press, which publishes poetry anthologies, chapbooks, and blank art cards. She was a member of Doc Brown’s Travelling Poetry Troupe and has been behind the scenes at several large poetry events, including the National Poetry Slam 2001 and IWPS 2005.
Reviews
"Melissa Guillet is one of the most lyrical and engaging poets on the Boston scene. Sometimes hailed as a “dancer of words,” she mixes the best of performance poetry with a true literary sensibility."
~ Douglas Bishop
"Melissa Guillet's poetry is slender and hushed in its intimacy. Her roundly contoured images are used with a soft precision to light internal landscapes and lure the sweet terrors of attachment. Her deceptively simple lines tug the innocent reader in to an earned appreciation of their hidden subtleties and layered nuances. Hers is the testimony of a brave and compassionate woman to the broken wonder of our common human experience."
~ Prabakar Thyagarajan Rajan
"Melissa Guillet, despite her former sobriquet as “the silent one,” is a prolific and deeply introspective poet. She explores archetypes and mythologies from ancient Egypt to the 1950s housewife. Her writing pays homage to Sylvia Plath while remaining rooted in life and art. Many pieces touch on her recent marriage and divorce, as she sorts through a kind of tarot of relationships. This collection represents not only necessary bloodshed, but necessary tears and laughter as well."
~ Andrew Watt (2003)
Awards/Exhibits
• Artwork in “Drawing Conclusions” juried show, 1995 • College Honors Project: “Echoes from Babel: Interpersonal Isolation in a Postmodern Era” (artwork and thesis paper), 1998 • Artwork at AS220, the Attleboro Museum, the Bannister Gallery, Cafe Mondo, Frontier Gallery, Kraus Gallery, Woodland Spice and Tea, www.gotpoetry.com • International Women’s Day Festival 2002/2003 • Cirino Education Grant 2001 • RIPIN Grant 2006 • Rhode Island Foundation Arts in Academia Grant 2007 • The Power of Art Scholarship 2008 • ArtsReach Grant 2008 and 2009
Bibliography
“Strange New Skies” Sans Shoes Night Readings in the Dance Studio (Cambridge: Lesley University Press).
“Sounds” appeared as “In Morning” in As We Do Most Sunday Nights Voices from the Asylum 2003
“Greetings” appeared in In Worcester Speak Voices from the Asylum 2002 (Massachusetts: the Worcester Po8ry Project).
“Bread and Circus” appeared in The WCPA Chair Project 2003 (Massachusetts: Worcester County Poetry Association).
An earlier version of “London Blue” appeared in Poet Standard Time 2001 (Providence, RI: Spoken Word Anthology).
"The Past" "Do Not Lose the Moon" Scrivener’s Pen Vol. 3 Issue 4 www.scrivenerspen.com
"Letting the Lions In" Nth Position (England)
"Water Lily" Cherry Blossom Review 2007
"Lost Things" "Token of Faith an Armenian chant" Lalitamba 2007
"In the Hood" Women. Period. 2008
"Serendipity" Public Republic Feb 2009
"Mangoes" Imitation Fruit March 2009 Winner of “Liberal” Contest
"Excavation", "The Wait for Wings", "Why I Garden" Seven Circle Press March 2009
"New Year 2006" Sangam Magazine Fall 2009
"Unauthorized Biography" Lavanderia: A Mixed Load of Women, Wash, and Word. October 2009.
“Quiet Breaks” Dos Passos Review June 2009
“Stoopid Chicken” ESC! Magazine May 2009
"Winter Waiting" City Lights 2009 (GBSPA)
"Sankofa" Bloodroot Literary Magazine 2010
"Grave Peace" Language and Culture Winter/Spring 2010
Categories:- American poets
- Living people
- 1975 births
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