When Hannah Gamble read her poem, “Growing a Bear” on The Poetry Saloncast, I was struck by the line “your life was just so lacking in bear.” It got me thinking about what I was lacking, and how a bear might solve my own neuroses and anxieties. The poem was a way for me to imagine a different life in which a bear could protect and guide me into a better form of consciousness.
Tresha Faye Haefner’s poetry appears or is forthcoming in several journals and magazines, most notably Blood Lotus, Blue Mesa Review, The Cincinnati Review, Hunger Mountain, Mid-America Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, Radar, Rattle and TinderBox. Her work has garnered several accolades, including the 2011 Robert and Adele Schiff Poetry Prize, and a 2012 and a 2020 nomination for a Pushcart. Her first manuscript, "Pleasures of the Bear" was a finalist for prizes from both Moon City Press and Glass Lyre Press. It is still looking for a publisher.
