J. Rutherford Moss - The Hand You're Dealt (Print)

THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT. J. Rutherford Moss, aka Jacqueline Tedrow Moss, lives by the sea with her husband in East Quogue, New York, where she regularly greets the sunrise with her camera and pen. Her poetry is informed by the whispers of tides, symbols of dreams, and revelations that rise from contemplative practices. Family ancestry, heightened states of consciousness and transcendence are common themes in her work. Jacqueline’s award-winning poems have been published in several literary journals. A mother, grandmother, and retired teacher, she now spends her time performing with the Long Island Sound Chorus and serving as a hospice volunteer.

Born in Mount Pleasant, PA in 1952, to a family with Scottish, British, and Czech forebears, she heard about distant relatives who resisted in The Whiskey Rebellion, others who labored in the region’s coal mines and coke-ovens, and others (the Rutherfords) who owned some of the mines, mills, and enterprises of Western Pennsylvania’s brief golden age of industry.

She studied at California (PA) State College, Brooklyn College, and also at Parsons School of Design and Suffolk Community College, finally getting a teaching degree from Long Island University. She received an MA in Social Policy from SUNY Empire. For a number of years she owned and ran the progressive Hampton Bays Children’s Center, and later worked at The Ross School, where she was both teacher and curriculum designer.

This is the 310th publication of The Poet’s Press. Published April 2023. 156 pages, 6 x 9 inches, paperback, $14.95. ISBN 9798391018094. Shipping weight 8 oz.