I was first and foremost a writer of poetry for adult readers, and I am happy to announce the publication of my first volume of poetry for young adult and adult readers: The Weight of Kindling by Grayson Books. I am currently working on various projects, including my first novel-in-verse called Uncharted: The Personal Voyage of Jeanne Baret, the First Woman to Circumnavigate the World. I’m also working on a chapbook of human rights poems called "Never Again. Again," and Rising Waters: Pictures & Poems. Below are some of the individual poems included in The Weight of Kindling, along with the publications they appeared in. Please note the links to some of the most recent ones, available online, and/or in print. Some of my poems about Jeanne Baret, who had to disguise herself as a male to go on the French Expedition, are being serialized in the Lifespan series of anthologies published by Pure Slush Books (https://pureslush.com/store/lifespan/).

In 2019, I was inaugurated as the very first Poet Laureate of the Town of Vernon, CT, and I now serve as President of the Board of the Connecticut Coalition of Poets Laureates. In 2017, I founded, and am still directing, a poetry reading series called "Poetry Rocks!" in Vernon. It features both well-known and new Connecticut poets. Each reading in the series features a Rockville High School poet, a local accomplished poet, and a nationally established poet. At least one of these poets represents the fabulous diversity we have in the state. Most readings take place at Arts Center East, 709 Hartford Turnpike, Vernon, and is sponsored by the Vernon Arts Commission and Rockville Public Library. We also have an open mic! Google Poetry Rocks to learn more.

Recently Published Poetry, Awards, Readings, etc:

Forthcoming in Wordpeace Fall 2023: “Pre-Coital Contract” and “Teen Closet Wheels”

“December Parking” published in issue #49 of bottlerockets, Aug. 2023.

Summer 2023, in Honeyguide Literary Magazine’s special issue “Oceans and Sea Animals”, you can read my poems “Jellyfish Beached,” “manatees,” and “Hooked on Plastic”. https://www.honeyguidemag.com/issue-6

“Ring around the raindrop” published in Haiku Society Anthology 2023.

Coming Out of Covid, an anthology co-produced with the Poets Laureate of South Windsor and Manchester, CT, features many of my works concerning the pandemic including “Vernon’s Vaccines (to the beat of “My Shot” from Hamilton)” and “Elementary Voices of Vernon”.

Poetry from CT’s Four Corners - Margaret Gibson, Charles Rafferty, Srinivas Mandavilli, Pegi Deitz Shea, and Sandy Carlson - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCJTYYVRfYE&list=PLKFXJNfRMul8TmTgKf5jCu8QSXsni6O_C&index=10

Poets & Their Poems podcast: <iframe src="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/poets-and-their-poems/embed/episodes/A-Visit-with-Pegi-Deitz-Shea---Author-and-Poet-e1urn6t/a-a9asdmc" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/poets-and-their-poems/episodes/A-Visit-with-Pegi-Deitz-Shea---Author-and-Poet-e1urn6t/a-a9asdmc

“American Waste” published in Here: a poetry journal, 2022.

“Car Mechanic” published in Feb. 2022, issue #46, of bottlerockets

Feature Article in the Hartford Courant, 8/8/2021:
https://digitaledition.courant.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=0e5a53a6-86c1-48af-a979-17018028fe0f

New Videos on YouTube’s Brainwaves Channel:

My reading of “White Privilege: For Tamir Rice” published in New Square Journal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XxDOFgXhcA

My reading of “Wasted Lives” in the anthology Waking Up to the Earth: CT Poets on Climate Change, Grayson Books. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmhENvJEn7I.

My reading of “Jeanne Baret’s First Voyage” published in the anthology Birth Lifespan Vol. 1, Pure Slush Books. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyOP6x2EMuA

My reading of “Aphasia” published in The Examined Life: The Literary Journal of the Carver College of Medicine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bnL1axgHbo.

On my beloved Creative Writing Professor, Alicia Suskin Ostriker at Rutgers University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HguDNwCEvc

“December in the Year of Irruption (for Cheri Wood)” in Connecticut River Review, 2021.

“Green Poetry Cafe” hosted by Daniel Donaghy, Professor of English at ECSU, Poet Laureate of Windham County. https://vimeo.com/526250730

“Wasted Lives,” in Waking Up to the Earth: CT Poets on Climate Change, Grayson Books. 2021. p. 101-2.

“Jeanne Baret’s First Voyage,” Birth Lifespan Vol. 1, Pure Slush Books, 2021.

“La Fievre Thyphoide 1749,” Growing Up, Lifespan Vol. 2, Pure Slush Books, 2021, p. 66

“White Privilege: For Tamir Rice” published in New Square Journal. 2021. p. 4.

“Shovel in the Wood,” Here: a Poetry Journal. 2021.

Poetry Rocks “Green Poetry Cafe,” April 18, 2021, Henry Park, Vernon, CT, with Margaret Gibson, CT Poet Laureate, David K. Leff, Poet Laureate of Canton, CT.

“Coming Out of Covid,” Aug. 8 at Henry Park, Vernon; August 22 in South Windsor, with Ryan Parker, Poet Laureate of Manchester, CT; and Charles Margolis, Poet Laureate of South Windsor.

2020

“Mothering Post Newtown, Post Ferguson, Post Minneapolis, Post ETC. https://aurorajournal.org/issue-0-5/ December 2020, plus two photographs: “Who’s Buried” and “Mother Driftwood.”

“Charlotte’s Egg Sac,” First Place, Prouty Memorial Award given by Alabama Poetry Society, 2020.

“CoVid 19 Haiku, Tanka & Senryu. https://thedewdrop.org/isolation-shorts/#pegi-deitz-shea Spring 2020

Connecticut Poets Respond. https://vimeo.com/showcase/7105925

2019

Poetry Reading. “Poems About the ‘80’s”. Roar Reading Series, Barnes & Noble, Storrs, CT. Nov. 4, 2019.

“Spreadsheet of Death (After an installation by Mohamad Hafez)”. Wordpeace. https://wordpeace.co/current-issue-summer-fall-2019-issue-4-2/poetry/pegi-deitz-shea/

Poetry Reading. Connecticut Literary Festival. Real Art Ways. 10/5/19. 

Symposium Organizer, Host, Panel Moderator. “Witchcraft in Connecticut: Past & Present Persecution of the ‘Other’”. Hartford Public Library. Hartford. 10/19/19.

“banging into everything”. A Moment’s Longing. Haiku Society of America 2019 Anthology. 81.

“Anger Expanding”. Connecticut River Review. Connecticut Poetry Society. 2019. 77.

Poetry Reading. Books on Pratt Street, Hartford, Ct. Sept. 20, 2019.

“soil splitting”. Haiku. bottle rockets.  Vol. 20, No. 1. bottle rockets press. 2019. 39.

Poetry Reading, and Induction as Poet Laureate of Vernon, CT. Rockville Public Library, Vernon, CT. 9/16/19.

“Pastor Monica’s Powers”. Honorable Mention. 2019 Connecticut Poetry Award.

“Arrhythmia”. Honorable Mention. 2019 Florida State Poets Association Award.

“Winter Playground”. Honorable Mention. 2019 Iowa Poetry Association Award.

“Aphasia”. The Examined Life Journal. University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Vol. 7. Spring 2019. 57-58.

“Coastal Perspectives: Pictures & Poems”. Exhibit July – August, 2019; Presentation & Poetry Reading July 9, 2019. South Windsor, CT Public Library

 “Bobo”. About Place Journal. Vol. V. Issue III: Dignity as an Endangered Species in the 21st Century. Black Earth Institute. May 2019. https://aboutplacejournal.org/issues/dignity-as-an-endangered-species/witnessing-voicing-wounds/pegi-deitz-shea/

 “Dys-Visioning.” Poem. Second Place in the Nutmeg Award competition sponsored by the Connecticut Poetry Society.

Winner. Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Jane Yolen Mid-list Grant 2019.

 “A Night with Cerberus”. Wrath. 7 Deadly Sins Series. vol. 5. Bequem Publishing/Pure Slush Books. 2019.

“grain of dirt—”. Haiku. bottle rockets. 15. Vol. 20, No. 2. bottle rockets press. 2019.

 “The Worst Thing About the War”. Here: A Poetry Journal. 42. Eastern Connecticut State University Press. 2018.

“Gift in the Heat”. Poem. Snapdragon: A Journal of Art and Healing. 29. Lucid Press. Winter 2018.

http://pub.lucidpress.com/92c78a30-d940-452e-98ed-3d15c903a1a4/#BNATroo8v_Hf

 “Boy Makes Impression (after “Luxe, Calme et Volupté” by Henri Matisse, at Musée d’Orsay, Paris)” and “Charlotte’s Egg Sac.” Surprised by Joy: A Wising Up Anthology. 18-19, 194-195. Wising Up Press. 2018.

 “The Perfect Weight of Kindling” and “Our Story in our Stitches.” The Golden Thread Project. 162, 225. The Golden Thread Gallery. 2018.

 Poetry Reading: Ekphrastics after Edward Hopper. Roar Reading Series, Barnes & Noble, Storrs, CT, 2 April, 2018.

 Panel Discussion. “Writers Talking Writing: A Conversation Among Authors”. And Presentation. “Using Picture Books to Engage K-5 Students in Human Rights”. Literacy Essentials Conference, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, 7 April, 2018.      

"First Vacation Apart", a haiku, appeared in bottle rockets. vol. 37. August, 2017. 

“Hmong Knives” appeared in The Slag Review, Vol. 1, Summer 2016, p.1; and “Café Campana” appeared in The Slag Review Online, Summer 2016. Both poems can be viewed at https://slagreview.com/2016/07/09/pegi-deitz-shea-two-poems/

The following poems: “Nana’s French Twist”, “Work”, “The Roomers”,  appeared in slightly different versions in a series called “Rooms of Nana” published in the anthology, Cardinal House Poetry, published by Flying Horse Press, Autumn, 2016. P. 121-127.

“In the Dust, You” appeared in Earth’s Daughters: In the Jar, vol. 89, 2017. p. 32-33. www.earthsdaughters.org.

"Whoever You Are" appeared in the anthology, The Kindness of Strangers, Wising Up Press, 2016. P. 113-114. www.universaltable.com.

“The Sunken Church of Innisheer” appeared in Ireland of the Welcomes magazine, Vol. 66, Issue 1, January/February, 2017. P. 62. www.irelandofthewelcomes.com.

“Chère Tante Yvette” appeared in the anthology, Forgotten Women, Grayson Press, March 2017. P. 169-170. http://graysonbooks.com/index.html

“Little Blue Hiding Hood” appeared in Peace Poems. NJ Peace Project. 2017. P. 10-11.

“Your Bequest” appeared in Here, Issue 1, 2017. ECSU Publications. p. 29.