Lana Hechtman Ayers is the author of eight full-length collections of poems, with the ninth due out in 2024 from Fernwood Press. She manages three small presses where she has ushered over 100 volumes of poetry into print.

Other poems by Lana Hechtman Ayers in Verse Daily:
December 15, 2017:   "Baba Yaga Advises Red Riding Hood" "I've pulled the plow..."
March 19, 2017:   "'V' from Manhattan Island" "To investigate the universe, converse with Aristotle..."

Books by Lana Hechtman Ayers:

Other poems on the web by Lana Hechtman Ayers:
Seven poems
"When You Say You’re from New York City,"
"Twenty Twenty"
"Baba Yaga Gives Red Riding Hood an Earful"
"My River Runs"
"Whisper, He's Driving"
"Cast"
"Light Always Remembers"
"A Few Things I've Learned This Week"
"Window in Late January"

Lana Hechtman Ayers's Website.

Lana Hechtman Ayers on Twitter.

About When All Else Fails:

"When All Else Fails reminds us that poetry can arise from even the most difficult circumstances. Lana Hechtman Ayers takes the raw material of extreme childhood poverty and abuse and turns it into one arresting poem after another."
—John Brehm

"Ayers generously takes us along on her journey from violence and decay to a hard-earned rebirth into nature, love, and art. In the end, we too are redeemed."
—Alison Luterman

"These poems sing with joy and reverence for a world hard as agate but twice as beautiful. Ayers' work speaks to us in a vividly rich lyric voice born to be the sky's reporter, mood ring for the rain."
—Paulann Petersen