Mark Gaffney

Mark Gaffney has always been a writer. In high school writing came easily. Later, while a student at Colorado State University, he edited the school literary journal, Reach, and wrote for the school newspaper, The Collegian. After college, he embarked on a medical career but this did not go well. It only succeeded in bringing him back to writing.

In 1986, he began work on his first book, Dimona: The Third Temple, published in 1989 (Amana Books), a pioneering study of Israel's nuclear weapons program. For several years (1989-1993), Gaffney did environmental work for the National Audubon Society, mapping old growth forests in eastern Oregon. In 2002, he completed a first draft for a novel. In 2004, he published a scholarly book about Gnostic Christianity called Gnostic Secrets of the Naassenes (Inner Traditions), which was a finalist for the 2004 Narcissus Book Award. His most recent book, The 9/11 Mystery Plane, was released in September 2008 (Trineday Press). Gaffney's current writing goals are to publish a first volume of poems, a novel (in progress), and another book of non-fiction (also in progress). For more about his writing, please see the following websites: www.gnosticsecrets.com or www.the911mysteryplane.com.

Poetry has always been central to Mark Gaffney's vocation as a writer. The reason? Poetry is the wellspring of language. Writers who ignore this run the risk of becoming stale or irrelevant. It’s why, each year, he devotes a portion of his time and energy to the goal of completing a first volume of poems. In recent years, Gaffney's poetry has been posted at the Poet's basement at Counterpunch.org, and at Lowbagger.org. Several poems have appeared in anthologies, including the International Library of Poetry and in Jackie Hofer's Tree Magic, Nature's Antennas.

 

poems by Mark Gaffney