Barbara Joan Schaffer

I am a native New Yorker, raised in Roslyn on Long Island. Now I live
in Puerto Escondido on the Oaxaca coast of Mexico, by way of Ibiza,
Buenos Aires, and Berkeley.

I heard someone on the radio say that poets were people who explore
their feelings so that other people don't have to. I think that's
carrying the idea of the division of labor a step too far; but
emotions are the stuff of my poetry. In fact, I would not have had the
strength to follow my feelings or impulses if it were not for the
equally strong desire to write about them.

I've dedicated this site to the macaques of Catemaco, but I must have
had in mind my son, Gabriel Lautaro Schaffer (a.k.a. DJ Riddm) who as
a child had many monkey-like qualities.

I wish to thank Jorge Guerra and Eloísa Martínez Silva for their help
with the Spanish translations. Thanks also to Abisai Morales Ramírez and José Eduardo (Lalo) Sierra who turned my ideas of what my website should look like into reality.