"This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." - Dorothy Parker

Phyllis Van Buskirk
(1925-2006)

Phyllis Van Buskirk was born in Hackensack, New Jersey on February 26, 1925. She lived a varied and creative life, serving in the armed forces, and later receiving a B.A. in Music and a B.A. in English Literature. She was married for over fifty years and raised a family, all the while following her artistic pursuits. She was a talented painter in watercolors and an accomplished poet with a fine ear for both formal verse and open forms. She loved the outdoors and camping, and traveled the United States drawing and writing about nature. A true artist, Phyllis was writing poetry right up until her final illness. She left behind a great body of painting and writing, including a novel in progress (The White Center) and hundreds of poems. The poems presented here in Verdad are among the last she wrote. She was a generous, intelligent member of the creative writing community at Long Beach City College, and she set an example of the artistic life for the rest of us to emulate and draw inspiration from.

A Moonlight Night

Celebration