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"Maguffin's work is enchanting and engagingly succinct."
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The Pithy Poetry of Penelope Maguffin _____by Chocolate Waters
My Religion
You cannot categorize me Penelope Maguffin has been a "religious woman" since the second grade when she wrote her first poem:  Brooklyn-born and raised, Penelope now lives in Manhattan where she says she writes poetry because, "It's in my head and I just have to get it out." She has been delighting audiences with getting it out since 1975 when she first performed her work at the Centerfold in Manhattan. The booking, which grew out of an association with a West-side writers' group called the Scribblers, led to many more engagements at the Centerfold and also to venues such as the Cornelia Street CafÈ, the Back Fence, Wetlands, the Redroom, WNYC Radio and the popular New York City Cable TV show, Poet-to-Poet. A lively and charismatic entertainer, Maguffin's work is enchanting and engagingly succinct. Inspired by writers like Rilke,
Whitman, Millay, Nash and St. Exupery, her poetry is often about "healing myself and others." I believe strongly that poetry
is an extraordinary instrument of healing because it facilitates introspection and deep self-expression." Her self-expression
always lifts the spirits of those fortunate enough to attend one of her performances.
I am longing to absorb "Real," is how she describes her own work. "Some pieces are very personal. Other pieces depict the world and things happening
in it. Recurring themes are joy, cynicism and frustrations, but I love to laugh and I look for humor in everything."
 Shorter but Taller
My qualifications list Maguffin, who attended Brooklyn College where she studied journalism and public speaking, has been employed in a myriad of professions: a reporter for an Ohio daily newspaper, a library reference clerk, an advertising copywriter, a public relations woman and the managing editor of a wrestling magazine. For five years she also worked as an artistic facilitator for special populations, which included homeless men living in shelters, prison inmates and East Harlem Spanish-speaking citizens. "These experiences," she says, "helped me grow as a person by opening my heart to empathizing with other people and consequently making me a better poet." Some of what she has learned in these adventures is delineated in a recently- assembled collection of poetry, Healing Poems.
"I know it will be well-received," and "I won't give up until I find a publisher. I don't believe in chapbooks," she adds.
"I believe a poet should be paid for her work."
I have now reached the living room Inquiries and further information about the poetry of Penelope Maguffin may be addressed to
egg.plant@usa.net
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