Mary Gilliland, Ithaca, NY, is the winner of the 2021 Codhill Press Chapbook Award

NEW YORK - Aug. 29, 2022 - PRLog -- Subverting received traditions, embellishing mythic figures, the lyrics of The Devil's Fools speak to and for those wanting heaven: modern pilgrims, medieval masons; seafarer, axe murderer, alcoholic; daughter, spouse, sibling, mother; a woman on pause, a monarch of the underworld, Eve stepping out past Eden. One country bombs another, there's mass animal slaughter during epidemic, never-ending yard work, love letters from the dead. Humans sorrow and glory, mourn and thrive, treasure the will to live—with burdock and mushroom, apple and willow, cicada, cuckoo, brontosaurus, toad. The poems represent wild and delicious creaturely delusion, deception, vigor and joy.

Mary Gilliland is the author of two poetry collections: Gathering Fire and The Ruined Walled Castle Garden. She is also a founding board member of Light on the Hill retreat center. Her essay 'Eco-Logic' appears in From the Finger Lakes: A Memoir Anthology. Her poems have been anthologized in Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms In Our Hands, in the multimedia Strange Histories: A Bizarre Collaboration, in The & Now Awards: The Best Innovative Writing, and in Wild Gods: The Ecstatic in Contemporary Poetry and Prose. She is the recipient of the Stanley Kunitz Fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, a featured reading at the Al Jazeera International Film Festival, and a Council for the Arts Faculty Grant from Cornell University, where she was instrumental in developing the Knight Institute for Writing, and taught such courses as "Ecosystems & Ego Systems" for the Biology & Society Program and "Mind & Memory: Creativity in the Arts & Sciences" for the Society for the Humanities.

Codhill Press: Poetry. Prose. Purpose.

Codhill Press was founded in 1998 by David Appelbaum, then editor of Parabola magazine. Its voice was conceived as lying at the intersection of spiritual, literary, and poetic thought. Its function was to provide texts for readers on a search for meaning and transcendent value.

Initially, the Press drew on a wide circle of interests, from traditional texts of Buddhism to teaching stories of various ways of wisdom to the iconic art of Frederick Franck. The circle then widened to include esoteric studies in philosophy and in dance. Throughout, the Press had a second focus in publishing contemporary poetry.

At present, Codhill continues to offer books that aid the "serious seeker." Codhill publishes from four to six books a year, in both poetry and prose, as well as translations under its Forsythia imprint. All books have high production values and are of durable quality.

Contest Information: https://www.codhill.com/codhill-press-poetry-award-guide/