Diane Kirsten Martin was born in The Bronx and grew up just north of that, in Yonkers, New York. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, in print and online. She was awarded second place in the Nimrod /Hardman Pablo Neruda Prize competition, judged by B.H. Fairchild, in 2004, and was nominated for and included in Best New Poets 2005. In 2006, she was semifinalist in the “Discovery”/ The Nation competition. She has received a Pushcart Special Mention. Her poem “Hue and Cry” won first prize in the Erskine J. Poetry prize awarded by Smartish Pace. Diane has a B.A. in English from the University of Rochester and an M.A. in English, Concentration in Creative Writing, from San Francisco State University. In the 1980s, Diane cofounded the group that is now the 13 Ways poetry workshop. Diane has been a fellow at Vermont Studio Center (2002) and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2009) and has attended Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Napa Valley Writers Conference, and Bread Loaf Writers Conference. She has taught poetry workshops for City College Continuing Education and has given many readings. Diane works as a technical editor and writer. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, John, and her dog, Greta Garbo.

Other poems by Diane Kirsten Martin in Verse Daily:

Books by Diane Kirsten Martin:

Other poems on the web by Diane Kirsten Martin:
"Angle of Incidence"
Two poems

About Conjugated Visits:

"Seldom does beauty collide naturally with gravity, but that is what happens in Diane Kirsten Martin’s Conjugated Visits repeatedly. Again and again, one fi nely tuned poem after another, this collection brings the natural world into our everyday lives, and we can’t escape or deny our debt. The observed is clearly the crystal engine here, at the heart of Conjugated Visits; an urgent music moves each poem down the page with a calibrated knowingness that releases us to truth and wonderment."
—Yusef Komunyakaa

"Diane K. Martin’s strong voice and measured wit infuse these often bluesy poems with energy and precision … [S]he possesses the ability to carry her readers through 'the infant skin of light,' seeing deeply into the core heat of the physical world."
—Dorianne Laux

"Taut and intelligent, yet spiked with wry humor, Diane Martin grabs your hand, leads you, and never lets go. What a pleasure!"
—Francine Ringold

"These poems visit desire from childhood and fi rst love to the long-term or more transitory and expand to include the yearning toward some kind of god. Diane K. Martin’s art is that of an everwidening embrace of the 'conjugated visits' we call our lives."
—Fred Marchant