Some places visited just once stay in the mind forever. A weeklong holiday helps. So does a photograph. And, for me, the experience of writing in such a scenic spot. Wherever I am, I find the most peaceful time is early morning, before dawn, when there is enough light to see, but not so much as to blind me to the possibilities.
Jim Tilley’s most recent publication is a personal essay, "The Elegant Solution," appearing digitally as a Ploughshares Solo. His second collection of poetry, "Cruising at Sixty to Seventy," will be released in the spring of 2014 by Red Hen Press. His first collection, "In Confidence," was published by Red Hen Press in 2011. His recent poems have appeared in several top literary journals, including Virginia Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, Southwest Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, New Orleans Review, Cimarron, and Hotel Amerika. He has won the Sycamore Review’s Wabash Prize for Poetry, the New England Poetry Club’s Firman Houghton Award, and an International Publication Award from Atlanta Review. Four of his poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He earned a doctorate in Physics from Harvard University. During his 25-year career in insurance and investment banking, he wrote several prize-winning papers on finance and investments. In 2008, the International Insurance Society announced Tilley as the winner of its Beckley Award for his pioneering work in asset-liability management. He resides with his wife, Deborah Schneider, in Bedford Corners, New York.
