Identity Theory

"Dorothy Wall consistently uses language as a tool to expose her own vulnerabilities and the frailties of the world. Her pen leaves nothing unturned, unexamined-joy and grief receive the same scrutiny and, as a result of that process, the source is rediscovered and offered to the reader as a small gift."

~ Stewart Florsheim, author of A Split Second of Light

"In Identity Theory, Dorothy Wall 'holds aside marble folds / exposing the white undersheen, / a monument to the art of / disrobing.' This collection moves from objective, almost statue-like representations of emotional realities to a world of passion and uncertainty wherein a dead mother begins 'talking almost every day.' These clean, well- wrought poems bring alive the personal struggles of a master poet."

~ Charles Entrekin, author of Listening: New & Selected Work

"This is the poet who will ground you inside terrain where you can walk around in wonder, yet lift you to heights that give a view of the world that is transformative. This poet has mastered her craft with an attention so meticulous and so fine-tuned, so sensitive and sensory that it has resulted in this body of work, one that deserves to be read over and over."

~ Andrena Zawinski, author of Something About, PEN-Oakland Award recipient

           Dorothy Wall is author of Catalogue of Surprises: Poems (Blue Light Press), Identity Theory: New and Selected Poems (Blue Light Press) and Encounters with the Invisible: Unseen Illness, Controversy, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Southern Methodist University Press), and coauthor of Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction (St. Martin's Press). Her poetry has been nominated for Best of the Net, and her poems and essays have appeared in magazines and anthologies, including Prairie Schooner, Witness, Bellevue Literary Review, Sonora Review, Cimarron Review, AMA Journal of Ethics, California Magazine, The Writer, Dos Passos Review, Nimrod, Puerto del Sol, San Francisco Chronicle and others. She has taught poetry and fiction writing at Napa Valley College, San Francisco State University, and U.C. Berkeley Extension, and works as a writing coach in Oakland.