Jo-Ann Mort

I returned to writing poetry after a 22-year hiatus.
As a 1978 graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, I was published early as a poet in Pequod, Stand, Social Text, Jewish Quarterly and elsewhere before I stopped writing poetry and returned to it , just four years ago. I wrote (and continue to write) journalism/books/analysis in the meantime, published in Dissent [where i am a long time editorial board member], The Nation, The American Prospect, Foreign Policy, Haaretz, Democracy journal, reported for Chicago Tribune, New York Review Daily, elsewhere and co-authored a book about the kibbutzim's transformation in Israel. I was also engaged as a political activist and was a national trade union activist. Not quite as intense as the poet George Oppen's views about politics and poetry, I did nonetheless go through a similar period where I felt that poetry could not change the world. Now, I know that poetry can redeem our broken world and how necessary it is.
Since returning to poetry, my work has been published in Plumepoetry , Atlanta Review The Women's Review of Books, Upstreet, Stand UK, and elsewhere.
I have a manuscript that I've been circulating.
I'm especially interested in narrative poetry and poetry that places the person in the middle of a political moment. In non-pandemic times, I usually spend at least 6 weeks a year in Israel and am deeply engaged in politics and culture in Israel and Palestine.
I live in Brooklyn, NY.