The gracious and talented and willful Mary Kellogg. Don’t be fooled by the smile. Don’t try and tell her what titles to use on her poems. Don’t try and tell her anything. I call her the Steel Magnolia behind her back. She may be old, but she is tough as nails. And quite a poet.

   April 16, 2008 – This is National Poetry Month, and Mary Kellogg is the best and only poet that I hang around with. On April 22, at 7 p.m., Mary and I and Izzy and Lenore and anybody who wants to come will be at the Berlin, N.Y. Public Library at 7 p.m. (518 – 658 2231). Mary will be reading from her new book “My Place On Earth” to be published by Bedlam Farm Books in late May, and I will be introducing her, along with Team Hospice – Izzy and Lenore – and we will be raffling off personalized copies of my books and some of my photos.
  Mary has been writing poetry since she was eleven and in recent years, decided to come out of the closet it and share it with the world, for which we are all much richer. Her poetry is precise, powerful, accessible and very, very honest. In addition to her poems, the book is illustrated by my photos, so I feel like a proud Papa all around.
  I am powerfully affected by it.
  Mary is an inspiration to me, and to anyone else who has a talented artist bottled up inside. Hers is now free, so please come help her celebrate her wonderful life, her new book, Bedlam Farms new book, and National Poetry Month. Also the new Berlin Library, which is close by both the Massachusetts Turnpike, the New York State Thruway and is close to Albany and Western Massachusetts.