Paris Paint Box

Paris Paint Box, New and Selected Poems, brings together over forty-five years of poetry by Helena Minton. The book opens with a sequence about the life and work of the French Impressionist painter, Berthe Morisot. Additional new poems focus on everyday moments, and meditations on the past. In selections from her previous work, poems touch on family, gardens, New England history and landscapes, and the Alaska wilderness. In a quiet but determined voice, the poet draws the reader into her world with direct, spare language and a keen eye to detail. 

Helena Minton’s previous collections include The Canal Bed with Alice James Books, The Gardener and the Bees with March Street Press, and The Raincoat Colors with Finishing Line Press. Her poems have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Ibbetson Street, The Listening Eye, Sou’wester, Poetry, West Branch, Nasty Women Poets, An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse, and Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace. She worked for many years as the director of a public library and has also taught English Composition and Creative Writing.  She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and serves on the Board of the Robert Frost Foundation, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She lives north of Boston.