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Harvest Thanks November 26, 2025 – Posted in: recent

7.Pick ONE injustice you find so abhorrent you cannot sleep. Find a doable  way you can combat it, even if it seems at the moment inconsequential, do it and keep doing it. Be that ant, the woodpecker, the annoying retired neighbor that comes out the house everyday, the sun that rises each day–keep fighting for what you believe is right for the planet. You alone cannot change the world but you as an individual can make a difference. 

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2023: A new year, a new book. January 11, 2023 – Posted in: recent

  The galleys for the forthcoming new work are ready and going out as this is written.  DOñA CLEANWELL LEAVES HOME:  Stories written post-COVID.  Yes, I’m back to writing & so grateful for this new team in New York (wo)manning the launch.  My lit agent, editor & publisher & in-house publicist–fabulous & fierce!  I’m in good hands.  

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Summer 2022, a few things happen July 7, 2022 – Posted in: recent

The storm comes and goes, returns.  Next time, harder. We don’t even bother

with shelters.  We give it new names, each time, further fire and rain.

We mourn.  

We start again. It could have been you or me, we say, dying

in public beneath a baton’s blows falling amidst a spray of a sniper’s bullets,

but it wasn’t.  We go on.

Disaster has happened to someone else.
–(excerpt) A STORM UPON US

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MY BOOK OF THE DEAD: MEDIA #5 September 25, 2021 – Posted in: recent

“If you’re looking for inspiring and relevant poetry, look no further than My Book Of The Dead ($25) by Ana Castillo. In her latest anthology, the Chicana author touches on everything from Latinx families in camps to the pandemic and the environmental emergency.” –BeLatina

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