Poet Profile

Kelley Jean White

Pediatrician Kelley White has worked in inner city Philadelphia and rural New Hampshire. Her poems have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Rattle and JAMA. She is a member of Wrenku, a New Hampshire haiku group which participates in the annual September Haiku Gathering at Wild Graces in Deerfield, New Hampshire.

Awards and Other Honors: Dr. White is the recipient of a 2008 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant. She has received 16 Pushcart Prize nominations. Her chapbook Rule of Thumb, poems related to domestic violence, received the 2005 Cynic Award.

Books Published: Most recent books: Lotus Feet [chapbook] (Finishing Line Press, 2014); Ice Solstice [chapbook] (The Broadkill Press, 2013); Two Birds in Flame (Beech River Books, 2010); Toxic Environment (Boston Poet Press, 2008).

winter concert—
a chickadee lands
on my wind chimes

Night chill falls early.
I still expect the old dog
to limp to my door.

last sight of you ...
grass growing through gaps
in a fallen millstone

Independence Day—
fireworks cancelled by
thunder and lightning

ten thousand kisses
and I remember
one

last patient, Friday afternoon
I cup a newborn’s head
in a single hand

Credits: “winter concert” - Akitsu Quarterly (Winter 2015); “last sight of you” - Butterfly Dream (November 2016); “ten thousand kisses” - Akitsu Quarterly (Summer 2016); “Night chill falls early” - The Aurorean (Summer 2001); Dreamstreets (Fall 2002); “Independence Day” - bottle rockets (Summer 2007); “last patient, Friday afternoon” - Butterfly Dream (June 2016).