Lin Nelson Benedek, a third generation Californian, lives in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains with her husband and son.  She works as a psychotherapist. well-being coach, writing teacher and writing coach, and is a recent graduate of the MFA program in poetry at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, where she had the great privilege of learning about poetry from Kwame Dawes, Dorianne Laux, Vievee Francis, Anna Journey, David St. John, Joe Millar, Sandra Alcosser, Marvin Bell, Ellen Bass, Eduardo Corral and Tyehimba Jess.  

Lin’s poems have been published in a variety of journals and anthologies. Her book of mainly autobiographical poems, I Was Going To Be A Cowgirl, will be released in November of this year.  She is currently revising her own life story memoir.  Lin bows to poetry for all it has brought to her life—truth, beauty and treasured friends—and for bringing her home.

 

Poetic Statement

I want to write generous, big-hearted poetry: Earthy and ethereal; ecstatic and meditative; traditional and experimental; reverent and irreverent. I want to speak from my soul, to speak up for justice, to take leaps. I want to write about lived experience; the beliefs that guide us; the sorrows and joys that make up our lives. I want my poetry to express my love for people and my love for the world. I want my poetry to touch, console, inspire, delight. I want my poetry to remember, to be brave, to be gentle and bold. I want to write about animals, trees, witnessing, peace, home, memory, ancestors; waves and sand. I want my poetry to reach far and go deep.  I want my poems to possess lift and loft; to be unruly, maybe, a bit, at times, and reckless, but not unwieldy. I want my work to be layered, allusive, self-reflexive, expressive and welcoming. I want to write about love in its many forms and guises. And forgiveness. I want my poetry to be true and I want to live true to my word.