First impressions do have an impact. The hopeful, positive characters of childhood literature left a permanent optimism on June Nirschl. Life, however, has tempered that view. Her poetry acknowledges the pain of loss and reinforces the choice, as well as the beauty, of perseverance.
Nirschl worked as an English teacher and municipal clerk, and it is her love of the written and spoken word that has spurred her interest in poetry. She has studied the art of poetry with Mariann Ritzer, Ellen Kort, Robin Chapman, and Marilyn Taylor, as well as at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Her work has appeared in the Peninsula Pulse, Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar, the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets’ Museletter, and Fox Cry Review. Her poetry has been awarded the Jade Ring from the Wisconsin Writer’s Association and the Grutzmacher award from the Peninsula Pulse. Her publications are chapbooks: Slightly Off Q, with Nancy Rafal and Judy Roy in 2004; Two Off Q: a Conversation in Poetry, with Judy Roy in 2008. The Wisconsin Library Association recognized Two Off Q for outstanding achievement in poetry in 2009. Her most recent book is Before & After.
