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Books Edited and
Written by
William Mailler

Catch up with Bill for
upcoming readings, current videos, etc.


New Book!
Trauma, Truth & Outrage


Skowhegan, ME: Kellscraft Studio
2024

Trauma, Truth & Outrage. William Mailler. Skowhegan, ME: Kellscraft Studio Publishing. 2024.

These poems, gathered from more than a half century of work, are organized into seven separate collections. Each collection is different in subject, voice, style, and tone. The first collection, Trauma, Truth, & Outrage, is foreshadowed by the dysphoric cover image and differs significantly from all the others. The thirteen poems in this collection are my attempt to speak up for those whose voices have been silenced and unheard, especially, for those victimized by social injustice, war, and genocide. They come first in this book, symbolically, because I believe that the suffering of others — the devastation of so many lives and hearts, millennia after millennia — takes precedence over my own. The reader, of course, is free to read them in whatever order she, he, or they choose, as they all strive to bear witness to human experience.


... what you are doing, as a writer, or any kind of artist, what your role is... is to BEAR WITNESS: to what life is, does, and to speak for people who cannot speak.1

                                                                          — James Baldwin
   
--Forward, by William Mailler


Poems included in this book:

Gaza, 2024

An elderly woman, probably a grandmother
is looking down at her feet, carefully
picking her way through the rubble
of a bombed-out street.  Her grandson, 5 years old

is holding one of her hands and vigorously waving a white flag
In the other. it's hard to tell who is leading who. The two of them
are the courageous van of a small group of refugees
maybe 8 or 9, driven out of hiding by hunger, thirst
and a desperate need for medical attention.

Then the sniper's bullet hits grandma, spins her around
& drops her dead in the street.  The little boy turns

fear-stricken panicked frantic crying running
back the way they came.  The street is empty. 
He is all alone
     with terror, with grief.


Author Information:

William Mailler, reading his poetry to a live audience, May 25, 2024.
William Mailler, reading his poetry to a live audience,
May 25, 2024

     Mailler, a poet for nearly six decades, earned his MFA from UMASS in 1974. Initially fascinated by indigenous, Chinese, and Japanese poetry, as well as classic modern poets like Williams, Olson, Creeley, and Levertov, he continues to explore the bounds of poetic form while allowing diverse influences to help shape his work.  
     Of his creative process he says, “For me, poems always begin in the heart, not the head.  If I had to write a poem on demand or look for something to write about, I wouldn’t bother.  I prefer to let the poems find me. They each arc out of the subconscious already in possession of their own unique DNA.  My job is to craft an inhabitable form out of which they are able to speak.”
   In the current domestic and geopolitical environment, Mailler takes James Baldwin’s advice especially to heart: “… what you are doing, as a writer, or any kind of artist, what your role is... is to bear witness: to what life is, does, and to speak for people who cannot speak.”


Upcoming readings and media events:



View the author on Youtube:

Open Mic'd: Poetry Open Mic Featuring Bill Mailler 
(starts @ 25:04)
May 25, 2024
Holyoke Media

Mailler: Poetry Reading
Parlor Performances, Shelburne Falls, MA.
September 18, 2022




Kellscraft Studio Publishing
Skowhegan, ME

Jeff Kelley, Editor and Publisher

JeffKelley@kellscraft.com

"...We all have a book inside of us waiting to get out,
and we're here to help make it a reality..."

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