Dear friends & friends of poetry:
Monica made sure that this news feed was a joyful place, but this sadness can’t be helped. Monica died on November 4, 2022. We are heartbroken. You can read her obituary here. Knox College, where Monica taught for twenty-four years, has also published a memorial page. On behalf of her family, we thank those of you who have reached out to us in our grief.
Even in our sadness, we do have some good news to share. In the weeks since her death, a new poem, “Exhibition objects, they’re called, because I guess” was published in Bennington Review. Monica’s old friend, Michael Walsh, featured poems from her collection Nostalgia for a World Where We Can Live at Poem of the Week. Sincere thanks to these editors—& to you: trusty readers, loyal friends, supportive editors & publishers & curators, all part of the community Monica nurtured, all part of the good company she made & kept.
If you would like to do something to honor Monica’s memory, consider donating in her name to the Galesburg Public Library Foundation. Or find a way to support your own local literary community: subscribe to a journal, or donate to a small press or literary magazine. Donate to PEN.
We hope you will continue to read Monica’s poems & essays. Please know that we are committed to finding avenues & venues to keep the work coming. She left a lot of it. For inquiries about Monica’s writing, public memorials, or permissions, please use the contact form on this webpage. Monica’s literary executor, Beth Marzoni, will get back to you.
In grief & love,
Beth Berlin & Beth Marzoni