
Welcome!

Ellie Altman’s poems have appeared most recently in Gyroscope Review, The Shore, and The Broad River Review. Her first chapbook, Within Walking Distance, was released in early 2023 and she is currently seeking publication for a second chapbook, Thin as Air. A finalist for ESWA’s 2021 Crossroads Writing Contest, Altman has attended workshops taught by Barbara Crooker, Meredith Davies Hadaway, Ishion Hutchinson, Nancy Mitchell, and Sue Ellen Thompson, among others.
She began writing poetry in 2014, after retiring as director of Adkins Arboretum. She lives on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with her husband Richard and her beloved Viszla pup Lucy.
author photo by Kris Kelley
Working at Home: Blog
Through the Windshield
September arrives with peak weather of cooler, clearer days and I am feeling urgency to tackle—it being fall, the season for football—yet not literally tackle a pigskin leather sphere with knees and shins slamming into the sod and dirt, but to tackle my self-imposed deadline for this short blog post to circulate into the stratosphere…
Procrastination Reframed
By pushing your dreams further down the road, yet again, are you truly procrastinating? If this concept has been plaguing your life, then I have a gift for you. The word “procrastination” cannot define a truth or be the guide that your behavior actually represents, unless drill-sergeant-berating fosters your growth, creativity, curiosity, and an adventuresome…
The Fork in the Road of Emotions
In October last year, I began to see Brené Brown’s promos for her new book, The Atlas of the Heart, which was just published on November 1. This romp through the spectrum of feeling holds no appeal for me in its promise to dive into all 87 human emotions. Absolutely terrifying. Do we even need…