Priscilla Long

Priscilla Long’s latest book is Cartographies of Home: Poems. Forthcoming is a collection of essays, On Spaces and Colors. She is author of two other books of poetry, a book on thriving while aging, a collection of memoirist essays titled Fire and Stone, the how-to guides Minding the Muse: A Handbook for Painters, Composers, Writers, and Other Creators and The Writer’s Portable Mentor, as well as Where the Sun Never Shines: A History of America’s Bloody Coal Industry.

Family Trees

Threats to our woods are threats to us all

By Priscilla Long | Monday March 2, 2026

Electrons That Bind

The molecule at the center of everything

By Priscilla Long | Monday March 3, 2025

Imperiled Planet

The ecological havoc we’ve wrought

By Priscilla Long | Tuesday September 3, 2024

We Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet

After Covid-19, what might be next?

By Priscilla Long | Thursday June 1, 2023
A picture of the moon

Ten Sights (I Wish I’d Seen)

Purple ocean’s majesty, the dodo, and other wonderful things

By Priscilla Long | Tuesday September 3, 2019

Becoming a Poet

By Priscilla Long | Monday August 29, 2016

How Chemistry Became Biology

And how LUCA, Earth’s first living cell, became Lucas, my adorable grandnephew

By Priscilla Long | Monday December 7, 2015

What Killed My Sister?

The answer—schizophrenia—only leads to more perplexing questions

By Priscilla Long | Tuesday March 11, 2014

Remembering Steve

A tribute to my friend Stephen Jay Gould

By Priscilla Long | Wednesday July 3, 2013

Till We Meet Again

And thanks for dropping by

By Priscilla Long | Wednesday June 26, 2013

Our Life’s Purpose

By Priscilla Long | Wednesday September 7, 2011

The Moon

By Priscilla Long | Thursday August 25, 2011

Interview with a Neandertal

By Priscilla Long | Wednesday March 2, 2011

Ode to Joy

By Priscilla Long | Wednesday December 1, 2010

My Brain on My Mind

By Priscilla Long | Tuesday December 1, 2009

The Peacock Problem

By Priscilla Long | Sunday March 1, 2009

Polymer Persons

By Priscilla Long | Saturday March 1, 2008

Worked Well with Others

By Priscilla Long | Thursday June 1, 2006

Genome Tome

By Priscilla Long | Wednesday June 1, 2005

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