Early memories

An excerpt from Linda Neal Reising's poem "Aideen" from Vivia: The Legacy of Vivia Thomas: A Novelette in Poems. See Meter&Mayhem for the full reading and interview.
Linda Neal Reising, a native of Oklahoma and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has been published in numerous journals, including The Southern Indiana Reivew, The Comstock Review, and Nimrod. Her work has also appeared in a number of anthologies, including Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write (HarperCollins), And Know This Place: Poetry of Indiana (Indiana Historical Society Press), and Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Poetry Anthology (Madville Press). She won the 2012 Writer’s Digest Poetry Competition, and her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize four times. Her first chapbook, Re-Writing Family History (Finishing Line), was a finalist for the 2015 Oklahoma Book Award and winner of the Oklahoma Writing Federation Poetry Book Contest. Reising’s first full-length collection, The Keeping (Finishing Line), won the 2020 Kops-Fetherling Phoenix Award for Outstanding New Voice in Poetry. Her second, Stone Roses (Kelsay Books), was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award and the WILLA Award, as well as winning the 2022 Eric Hoffer Award and the Western Heritage Wrangler Award. VIVIA-The Legend of Vivia Thomas: A Novelette in Poems (Kelsay Books), her latest full-length book, was a finalist for the 2023 American Bookfest Poetry Award and the Oklahoma Book Award. It won the Feathered Quill Book Award, the Literary Global Book Awards for Poetry and Novelette, the Bookfest Award for Narrative Poetry, the Typesmith Award for Narrative Poetry, and the Human Relations Award for both Adventure Poetry and Director’s Choice for Cultural Book of the Year. Her chapbook, Perpetual Astonishment, won the Beyond Words Chapbook Contest and was published in 2024. Reising’s first book of fiction, Cigar Box of Loss: Stories from Route 66 is forthcoming from Belle Point Press. She was recently named the Official Eclipse Poet of Indiana by Indiana Humanities.