New books of poetry/prose scheduled for publication in 2018:

Giving Myself Over to J.S. Bach by the Kelsay Press

Fractured Woman by Word Tech Communications

Traveling, a Perspective

Love Poem

Tulips leaves unfurl thin glad green flags.
Yellow daffodils bloom as thoughtlessly as they did in
the years of our childhood.
Now our gratitude for each small sun among the
ferns.

Orange daylilies multiply.
White narcissus flares sweetly towards the sky’s
unmeasured space.
The early sun strains through icy branches
burns our lined faces.
– From Traveling, A Perspective by Kelsay Books, 2015.

Review of Traveling by the poet Lyn Lifshin:
“In spare, tight language, Toni Ortner’s poems move, travel from an almost idyllic journey over the Alps — wine and bread, the beauty and joy of laughing monks in red hurling snow balls, –to a jolting, terrifying change that haunts and grabs hold with heart rending power, takes the reader along this trip with all the emotion and intensity of the writer’s passions.”

Writing with Our Blood, by Moon Publishing and Printing, Inc.

This book honors famous women writers, artists and visionaries of the 20th century as well as ordinary women who were innocent victims of war and genocide. A special section is devoted to Lyn Lifshin, and there are poems about women in relationships.

Explore Toni Ortner’s Prose Works and Poetry in VermontViews Magazine.

Summoned

Summoned (Goose River Press, 2012) can be ordered from gooseriverpress@roadrunner.com and is  now being distributed world wide as an e book. This is a wonderful Christmas gift, for just $12.95 plus $5.00 shipping and $1.00 shipping for each additional book. Here you will find the stories of six famous women from history, each on a spiritual path. Joan of Arc, Saint Teresa of Avila, Marie Curie, Rachel Carson, Mother Teresa, and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross encourage and empower the women of today to trust their instincts and intuition, the vehicle through which a higher power speaks. This book will be enjoyed by young adults as well as adults.

The Ides of March

Connections Magazine

Connections Magazine, a poetry journal devoted to work by women, was edited and published by Toni Ortner on grants from CCLM. Copies of Connections are donated to the archives at Poet’s House for use by researchers.

Real Stories

Real Stories is the first all-inclusive reading and writing textbook in the United States specifically designed and class tested for success with Black, Hispanic, and multicultural students. As Toni explains… By the time these students arrived in my classroom, they were seasoned veterans of frustration, boredom, negative criticism, and failure in English courses. They could not relate to the traditional textbooks, which were primarily written for a middle-class audience. It was clear that these students needed a text designed for them. Upon its release in 2003 by Optima Press, it was much heralded for its approachable style, and it continues to be an effective instructional aid for high schools and colleges. It has been used by writing instructors at the University of Taiwan, Bronx Community College, Norwalk Community College, and the City University of New York. The text contains three sections.

1. The Process of Writing covers the basic building blocks of writing and how to assemble them.
2. Time Savers for Grammar and Punctuation includes every major aspect of a developmental text.
3. The Reader is a reader created by students for other students. Thought provoking questions help develop analytical skills. These questions elicit honest personal responses and open the way for group discussion.

Dream in Pienza (Timberline Press, 1979)

Originally published by Timberline Press in a handset and hand printed limited edition of 200 copies with a hand cut and hand printed serigraph. The title poem was written in Rome; the lyrical quality of the book evokes another century.

Entering Another Country (Basilisk Press, 1976)

Review by Helen Cooper in Motheroot Journal. The title poem, “Entering Another Country” is dedicated to Eli Bodi Enzer, who died. There are exuberant, rich landscapes of imagined travel, journeys into the visual worlds of Grandma Moses and Rousseau, and the painful realization that what the poet means by travel is change and growth, the raw experience of self-birthing. Here Ortner connects with her female heritage. It is a courageous poem of breaking out, and the unfamiliar terrain into which this takes her almost robs the poet of speech.

 Never Stop Dancing (Greenfield Review Press, 1976)

Never Stop Dancing originally published by the Greenfield Review Press. “This is about the experience of being in a mental hospital although it could be about being in any type of prison. The specific are here, and it is well written.” Judy Hogan, Motheroot Journal: a women’s review of small presses. Cover drawing by Karl Stuckland.

Ordering Books by Toni Ortner

• Real Stories: The All-Inclusive Textbook for Reading and Writing is available amazon.com in trade or Kindle editions.
• A White Page Demands Its Letters is at amazon.com and Mayapple Press.
• The Ides of March is at amazon.com. Dream in Pienza is at amazon.com and has a Kindle Edition.
• Traveling, a Perspective can be purchased from either Kelsay Books or amazon.com.
• Entering Another Country is at amazon.com and also a Kindle edition.
• As if anything could grow back perfect is at amazon.com and Mayapple Press.
• Water Poems, Currents We Never Dream and Writing with our Blood are at Kobo, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble.
• Jeopardy is at Finishing Line Press, Barnes and Noble, amazon.com, Kobo and Kindle.
• Stones by Huffman Press, To An Imaginary Lover by Morgan Press
• Requiem by The Black Tie Press, Woman In Search of Herself by Know Inc.I Dream Now of the Sun by the Konglomerati Press are no longer in print but can be found in bookstores in the United States and England.