C. D. Finley, poet + writer @coastalwrite (we're always on the shore of something, right?)
C. D. Finley is a writer and artist now settled in a small hill town in western Mass. Her poetry is featured or forthcoming in SDWG's Pandemic Poetry, the Center for New Americans' 2020 anthology, and (fall 2021) Silkworm 14. In 2020 she was awarded 2nd place in Franklin County's Poet's Seat poetry contest. Fin admits moving to western Mass. has mobilized her writing and shifted it. "It's so beautiful and peaceful --- as close to home as I've ever gotten."
Fin drops into the Wednesday Forbes Library Writing Room (online generative writing) and an active member of Straw Dog Writers Guild, which hosts open Mic readings and workshops. has been a part of Michael Favala Goldman's Poetry Critique and is grateful for SDWG's other significant Craft opportunities and connections. A member of SCBWI, Fin also stays in touch with what's going on in children's literature. "Mainly, I'm writing," she says, "but it's good to connect." As a super-introvert Fin admits virtual events, which have emerged to replace in-person life, have helped her be less of a recluse. "Florence Poets Society and New England Poetry Club, have wide reaching communities and inform me of events I would not otherwise know about. Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop, led by Joy Baglio, is another wonderful resource. My knowledge--I hate to admit--is, to a large extent, vertical. These opportunities to connect help me braid what I know with what I don't know, helping me grow as a writer and reader." 
From New York originally and having lived on both coasts, Fin admits the serene Mohawk Trail area of western Mass. seems an unlikely home, but introduced to beauty at an early age by her dad--whether in a perfect pastry, bright orange Czechoslovakian china or the doorknob of a second-hand bookshop, Fin says, "I developed a passion for noticing the details of beauty and unlikeliness in things."
Fin now witnesses beauty in the apron of land behind her house; how she can see the river when enough leaves have fallen in autumn, or when looking out at midnight seeing moonlight on the snow. "The poet side of me has stepped forward--and even though I used to think of myself as a fiction writer, there is a bleeding through from one genre to another --poetry affects everything." (below) "Nearly March" tells of seeing snow falling off the roof into a perfect rectangle on the grass below. It received second place in the 2020 Poet's Seat Poetry Contest and was published in the Greenfield Recorder. 
Being in touch:
Find Fin on Twitter @Coastalwrite (not so much on Facebook). OR simply reach out via the contact form. Bio box (fairly recent)
Western Mass. Links for Writers: (short list)
"At the Close of Day in Pieces was written in the winter of 2020 when communication was limited to what we heard about each others' day, what we told each other. I was (am) grateful for that communication , how we tried to be with each other in words even if our physical lives were separate."
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All photographs and artwork on this website are under copyright.
© 2020, C. D. Finley
© 2020, C. D. Finley
