I believe in the power of words. When we tell little children, "use your words," we are helping them take hold of their most powerful posession. Words can be abused, but they can also be used to make the world better--more coherent, more connected, more beautiful, more true.

And because the written word remains, it has even more power. Whether I am writing as a journalist, a poet, or more recently, a playwright, finding the right words feels like one of the most important things I can do. My work falls into separate categories, which you can see here. You can read my Boston Globe column that looks at the city and the world with local writers and poets. You can see some of my poetry, including poems from my book, Afterwords. And you can learn about my most recent venture, writing and performing my one-person play, CenterPiece. CenterPiece is autobiographical but, since I believe that, as one of my poems says, "we all lead the same lives," I hope my audiences find it is about their lives, too.



Here's an E.B. White quote that I love. "I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and the desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."

I hope your day is a good one and that you use your words well.

Ellen