Some bios for anthologies....
Maureen Hurley who lives near Fort Ross on the Russian River in Northern California, never dreamed she'd travel to Russia. “After the Coup” was written in California (after a 3-day/nite marathon with CNN ), and polished in Russia during October. She returned from her third trip in December just as the USSR ceased to exist. And yes, the legendary Russian empty shelves and lines are a long-standing clichés. She has work forthcoming in both countries including Chaminade Literary Review, First Leaves, Tin Ear, and Maverick. Having been called a ho-bag, she's learning to speak self-defensive Kentuckyin’ from her friend, poet Celia Woloch, who knows the streets of Louisville like the lines on her own palm.
After the Coup was written during the fall of the USSR. A child of the Cold War, Maureen Hurley has spent considerable time in the former USSR as a cultural worker—before, during, and after the climatic events which unfolded Aug. 21, 1991—coming to terms with, and sleeping with “the ememy”, she discovered the stories were the same on both sides.
Maureen Hurley lives in Forestville, near the redwoods along the Russian River, less than 50 miles as a crow flies from her native village, Forest Knolls, Marin County, where her family settled in 1909. She still painfully recalls the ex-moviestar-governor-cum-president claiming, “When you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.” About the only thing she has in common with said ex-politician is a love of quarter horses; but prefers her ex-presidents drawn and quartered.
"Tocaloma Road," & "Sixth of August" came out of early memories—California poet Maureen Hurley remembers how the words Korean War reverbrated when her uncle said he was going away. She learned other names: a second cousin had worked on the Manhattan Project; her neighbor's ship was bombed on the Meikong Delta. When choosing poems for this anthology, she discovered it wasn't clear where WWII ended and Korea began—let alone Vietnam.
A child of the Cold War, N. California poet Maureen Hurley has lived in the former USSR—as a cultural worker—before, during, and after the 1991 coup. Coming to terms with, and sleeping with “the ememy”, she discovered the Cold War stories were the same on both sides. A relative of hers worked on a secret Cold War project, code name, Manhattan Project, and subsequently died of cancer.
The poem Horseflesh came intact from a dream Maureen Hurley had one full moonlit night while traveling with former partner John Oliver Simon in Baja, California Sur, Mexico. The ancestors referred to in the poem are his.
Maureen Hurley lives in Forestville, near the redwoods along the Russian River, in northern California. Her poems have appeared in Maverick Press’s Paisano, Culebra! and numerous journals and anthologies including Atomic Ghost, & Hermit Kingdom. Poetry awards include Negative Capability, Chester H. Jones, Kalliopea, National Writers’ Union, National Federation of State Poetry Societies, and two regional NEA fellowships. “Feeding the Minotaur” grapples with the unconscious dendritic history buried within her personal mythopoetics.
Widely published poet & artist, Maureen Hurley has won many grants, awards and fellowships; she is finishing up her MA in Creative Writing, and plans to upgrade to the MFA program at SFSU this fall. "Entprophy" was a visual found poem of longing for a relative stranger's past, came from an empty house she & a Dutch photographer stayed in while documenting AIDS stories one bleak winter. An artist in residence, she teaches kids poetry & art, and and caters on the weekends.
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