Diane Ward (born November 9, 1956) is a U.S. poet initially associated with the first wave of

Language poetry The Language poets (or ''L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' poets, after the magazine of that name) are an avant-garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The poets included: Bernadette Mayer, Leslie Scalapi ...

in the 1970s and has actively published into the 21st century, maintaining a presence in various artistic communities for many decades. Born in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

where she attended the

Corcoran School of Art The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, DC.Peggy McGloneUniversity names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts and ...

, Ward currently lives in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

where she taught poetry in public schools to 1st through 5th graders for many years. Ward has published more than a dozen works of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and has been included in numerous anthologies, among them: ''Moving Borders'' and ''Out of Everywhere'' along with selections published in The Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Poetry and

From the Other Side of the Century ''From the Other Side of the Century: A New American Poetry, 1960–1990'' is a poetry anthology published in 1994. It was edited by American poet and publisher Douglas Messerli – under his own imprint Sun & Moon Press – and includes poets fro ...

. She has read widely in the United States, including the District of Columbia Arts Center, Small Press Traffic at New College (San Francisco), The Bowery Poetry Club and The Poetry Project of St. Mark’s Church. Ward's work has appeared in dozens of small press publications, including: ''Crayon'', '' Conjunctions'',

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

Sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

, and Raddle Moon. Ward has received considerable recognition for her work including the California Arts Council Artists Fellowship in Literature, a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Creative Writing Fellowship, and the San Francisco State University Poetry Center’s Book of the Year Award. Several of her poems (including “Fade on Family”) have been set to music by the Los Angeles composer Michael Webster and she has collaborated with the avant-garde sound performer and musician, Emily Hay.

Selected bibliography

*''On Duke Ellington’s Birthday'' (Washington, D.C.: self-published) *''Trop-i-dom'' (Washington, D.C.: Jawbone, 1977) *''The Light American'' (Washington, D.C.: Jawbone, 1979) *''Theory of Emotion'' (New York: Segue/O Press, 1979) *''Never without One'' (New York: Roof, 1984) *''Relation'' (New York: Roof, 1989) *''Human Ceiling'' (New York: Roof, 1995) *''Imaginary Movie'' (Elmwood, Connecticut: Potes & Poets Press, 1992) *''Exhibition'' (Elmwood, Connecticut: Potes & Poets Press, 1995) * (contributor) ''Out of Everywhere: linguistically innovative poetry by women in North America & the UK'', edited by Maggie O’Sullivan (London: Reality Street Editions, 1996) * (contributor) ''Moving Borders: Three Decades of Innovative Writing by Women'', edited by Mary Margaret Sloan (New Jersey: Talisman House, Publishers, 1998) *''Portraits and Maps'' (with art by Michael C. McMillen) (Piacenza, Italy: ML&NLF, 2000) *''Portrait As If Through My Own Voice'' (Studio City, California: Margin to Margin, 2001) *''When You Awake'' (New York: Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs) *''Flim-Yoked Scrim'' (San Diego: Factory School, 2006) *''No List (No List)'' (Seeing Eye Books, 2008) *''Belladonna Elders Series No. 8: Jane Sprague / Tina Darragh / Diane Ward'' (Belladonna, 2009) This work is a collaboration in two parts: "In Conversation" (the text of a dialogue between Jane Sprague,

Tina Darragh Tina Darragh (born 1950) is an American poet who was one of the original members of the Language group of poets. Biography Darragh was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in the south suburb of McDonald, Pennsylvania. She began writing in 1968 and st ...

, and Diane Ward) followed by hybrid (ie., mixed genre/poetry/prose) texts. The second collaborative section begins with an untitled poem ("how you'll know me") followed by "WHAT IS THE MATTER?", and "s aitting dignity". This volume concludes with "Notes for 's aitting dignity'" and a bibliography. It also contains two photographs by Ward, including the jacket cover, of the Los Angeles River ;Further Reading *"Ward on Seaton", L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, Volume 3, Number 13 ecember 1980This is a review by Ward of

Peter Seaton Peter Seaton (December 16, 1942 – May 18, 2010) was an American poet associated with the first wave of Language poetry in the 1970s. During the opening and middle years of Language poetry many of his long prose poems were published, widely re ...

's "Piranesi Pointed Up". The review can be accessed onlin
here
* Silliman, Ron (editor). ''In the American Tree.'' Orono, Maine:

National Poetry Foundation The National Poetry Foundation (NPF) is a book publisher founded in 1971 by Carroll F. Terrell who built its reputation with Burton Hatlen at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine, Orono. Today it publishes poetry by individual authors as well as ...

, 1986; reprint ed. with a new afterword, 2002. This groundbreaking anthology of language poetry serves as a very useful primer and includes Ward's poem "Pronouncing"

External links

The PIP (Project for Innovative Poetry) Biography Archive: Diane Ward
includes extensive biographical notes and Ward's poem "Naming the Baby", reprinted from ''The New Review of Literature'', II, no. 2 (April 2005).
LA-Lit > LA-Lit 8: Diane Ward
includes bio and audio files of Ward reading the entire length of her chapbook, ''When You Awake'' (New York: Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs), as well as a few pieces from a manuscript in-progress at the time (recorded February 5, 2005)

extensive audio files available here for various readings Ward as given over the years. These files currently showcase readings from 1982 through 2008
"Nine-Tenths of Our Body" and "Tender Arc"
these two poems by Ward appeared in 1983's ''Code of Signals'', edited by Michael Palmer. Here it appears in an

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

representation (pdf file). Scroll down to "Table of Contents" to find the Ward selections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Diane 20th-century American poets Language poets Living people Poets from Washington, D.C. 1956 births 21st-century American poets American women poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers