Austin, Texas, 14 Feb 2022 – After a career in academia, Maria Wells of Austin, Texas presents her poems and art in her first poetry book, Images in the Clouds: reading the sky, published by Plain View Press and hitting bookstores everywhere on February 14, 2022..
With 60 poems and 10 color photos and art, Images in the Clouds carries the reader forward and back in time, to inner and outer worlds. Taken from Wells’ treasure trunk of a life of adventure and world travel, some verses share memories of places and people, while some delight with pure fantasy and imagination.
A Fulbright Scholar and Doctoral graduate from the University of Pisa, Maria Xenia Wells Zevelechi spent her academic career at the University of Texas at Austin. After retiring, she embraced poetry when a friend’s painting inspired her first poem, “Memories in Silver,” written in Paris at a meeting of Poets and Writers. A member of the Austin Poetry Society, she gives readings in Austin, Paris and Greece. With two daughters, five grandchildren and the memory of a loving husband, she lives in Austin, Texas.
“‘Memories in Silver’ is a wonderful piece of writing—a simple idea, simply done and beautifully sustained. It is full of emotion, yet not over-wrought. Every image, every phrase, every recollection rings true.” —Andrew Lycett, London Author / Biographer
“These poems have personal integrity and are both deeply felt and clearly voiced, always welcome in any art.” —Kurt Heinzelman, Professor Emeritus of Poetry and Poetics, The University of Texas at Austin
“‘In Trieste by the Sea’ has fine details, good suspense throughout, sense of being there, in that place, that moment…good with mood, tone, emotions quietly expressed.” —David Wevill, Poet
“Maria Wells is a natural poet. She weaves details that invite the reader to share in the moment as if they were standing beside her. Her work reflects her travels, culture, and knowledge without being lofty and her observations reveal parts of the human psyche with wisdom, clarity, and sometimes humor.” —Cathy Sydlo Wilkes, Author / Poet, New Braunfels Creative Writers
Images in the Clouds: reading the sky, ISBN 9781632100948, can be purchased on Amazon.com, or in bulk by contacting the publisher. Publisher Plain View Press is a 45-year-old issue-based literary publishing house, a far-flung community of humane and highly creative writers, artists and activists, whose energies bring humanitarian enlightenment and hope to individuals and communities grappling with the issues of our time—peace, justice, the environment, homelessness, education and gender.