Howard Zinn
Maggie Jaffe's poems have a rare power and beauty. She writes ... always in a way that astonishes us...

W. D. Ehrhart
Maggie Jaffe's 7th Circle is not for the squeamish. It is filled with broken dreams, broken lives, and death.

Susan Luzzaro
"The unflinching lyrics and haunting illustrations peel back the scabs of history and ask questions about the 20th century..."

Book Description
The title is informed by Dante's Purgatory where the 7th Circle is reserved for suicides. Poems about famous and "infamous" suicides: Diane Arbus, Jean Seberg, Lewis Puller, Jr., Van Gogh, Mayakovsky.

About the Author
Originally from New York, Maggie Jaffe lives in San Diego and teaches at San Diego State University. In 1993-94 she was a visiting lecturer in the Czech Republic. She is a recipient of a 1998 California Arts Council grant and is Poetry Editor of Cedar Hill Review. Her publications include Continuous Performance, How The West Was One, 1492: What Is It Like To Be Discovered?, a collaboration with the artist Deborah Small, and 7th Circle, which won a San Diego Book Award for Poetry.