Cheryl Denise is a Canadian Mennonite poet from Elmira, Ontario. She currently lives in Philippi, West Virginia with her husband Mike Miller, where they raise Jacob sheep in the Shepherds Field community. After attending nursing school at Conestoga College in Guelph, Ontario, Denise worked in a rural Hispanic community in Colorado as a nurse. She has also worked at the Barbour County Senior Center and conducted cancer screenings for low-income women as a nurse. She currently works as a nurse supervisor for in-home care for elderly and disabled persons.
Much of Denise’s poetry focuses on themes about Mennonite beliefs and practices, her childhood in rural Canada, and her life in West Virginia. Denise’s work has been featured in Coal: A Poetry Anthology, Wild Sweet Notes: Fifty Years of Poetry 1950-1999, The Journal of the Center for Mennonite Center and Mennonite Life. Her first book, I Saw God Dancing, published in 2005 through DreamSeeker Books, won the 1998 West Virginia Writers Poetry Competition. DreamSeeker also published her second book, What’s in the Blood, in 2012. Denise released Leaving Eden, a CD of her poems, in 2012, with Ben Regier, who played mandolin and guitar between poems. Writers and poets such as Jeff Gundy, Julia Spicher Kasdorf and John Ruth have praised her work for its liveliness, approachability and humor.
Much of Denise’s poetry focuses on themes about Mennonite beliefs and practices, her childhood in rural Canada, and her life in West Virginia. Denise’s work has been featured in Coal: A Poetry Anthology, Wild Sweet Notes: Fifty Years of Poetry 1950-1999, The Journal of the Center for Mennonite Center and Mennonite Life. Her first book, I Saw God Dancing, published in 2005 through DreamSeeker Books, won the 1998 West Virginia Writers Poetry Competition. DreamSeeker also published her second book, What’s in the Blood, in 2012. Denise released Leaving Eden, a CD of her poems, in 2012, with Ben Regier, who played mandolin and guitar between poems. Writers and poets such as Jeff Gundy, Julia Spicher Kasdorf and John Ruth have praised her work for its liveliness, approachability and humor.
Books
Denise, Cheryl. What's in the Blood: Poems. Telford, PA: DreamSeeker, 2012. Print.
Denise, Cheryl. I Saw God Dancing: Poems. Telford, PA: DreamSeeker, 2005. Print.
Other Media
Denise, Cheryl. Leaving Eden. Perf. Ben Regier. Cheryl Denise. CD Baby, 2012. MP3.
Selected online publications
Denise, Cheryl. "Eagerly Have I Desired to Eat." Mennonite Life 55.4 (2000): n. pag. Dec. 2000. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
Denise, Cheryl. "Poetry by Cheryl Denise." Shepherds Field. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
Denise, Cheryl. "They'll." The Writer's Almanac. American Public Media, 9 Oct. 2007. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
Denise, Cheryl. "Three Poems." Ed. Ann Hostetler. Journal of the Center for Mennonite Writing 1.6 (2009): n. pag. Center for Mennonite Writing. Center for Mennonite Writing, 2009. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
Denise, Cheryl. "Where I'm From." Ed. Nancy McKeithen. Fluent Magazine 2.2 (2013): 47. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.
Selected print publications
Denise, Cheryl. "The Relief Sale." Wild Sweet Notes: Fifty Years of West Virginia Poetry, 1950-1999. Ed. Barbara Smith and Kirk Judd. Huntington, W. Va.: Publishers Place, 2000. 95-100. Print.
Works Consulted for Biographical Sketch
Bishop, Jim. "W.Va. Poet to Read Works at EMU - EMU News | Eastern Mennonite University." EMU News. Eastern Mennonite University, 6 Feb. 2008. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
Denise, Cheryl. "Eagerly Have I Desired to Eat." Mennonite Life 55.4 (2000): n. pag. Dec. 2000. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
Denise, Cheryl. I Saw God Dancing: Poems. Telford, PA: DreamSeeker, 2005. Print.
"Local Poet Releases Book, CD." The InterMountain. The InterMountain, 20 Apr. 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
-Hayley Brooks
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