Dominican-born and bilingual, and a former high school English teacher in NYC, RPE writes poetry, essays and short stories in both English and Spanish, and translates in both directions. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and some seventy-five anthologies. She was a founding member of two long-lived, active poetry workshops: NYC's Fresh Meadows Poets, and the Powow River Poets in Newburyport, MA, and has served on the faculty of the yearly West Chester Poetry Conference.

Books  

Lapsing to Grace (Bennett & Kitchel, 1992)
Where Horizons Go (Truman State UP, 1998)
Rehearsing Absence (Evansville UP, 2001)
The Shadow I Dress In (David Robert Books, 2004)
Playing at Stillness (Truman State UP, 2005)
El color de la memoria: cuentos/The Scent of Memory: Short Stories (bilingual) (Ediciones CEDIBIL, 2007)
Her Place in These Designs (Truman State UP, 2008)
Oscura Fruta: Cuareta y dos Poemas RICHARD WILBUR (2013)
Algo hay que no Es Amigo de los Muros ROBERT FROST (2014)
Agua de dos rios (Water from Two Rivers: Bilingual Essays & Poems) (Obsidiana Press, 2017)
And After All (Able Muse Press, 2018)
The Field (David Robert Books, 2019)

Chapbooks

Mundo y palabra/The World and the Word (Oyster River Press, 2001)
Greatest Hits: RPE 1942-2001 (Pudding House Publications, 2003)
The Story-Teller's Hour, (Scienter Press, 2004)
Translation: The Shared Art of Writing Backwards (Élitro Editorial del Proyecto Zompopos, 2019)
Brief Accident of Light, with Alfred Nicol & Kate Sullivan (Kelsay Books, 2019)

Anthologies

The Powow River Poets Anthology II (Able Muse Press, 2021)

Poetry Online

Profile and a Selection: Poetry Foundation
“Out of Focus,” “How Tiresome,” “Here,” “Work in Progress,” “Rhymes with Banish,” “One Defense,” and “Familiar Faces,” Rattle
Translations of St. John of the Cross, First Things
“Idle Comments,” “Tu y Yo,” and “We Regret to Inform You,” Mezzo Cammin
“Economics,” “The Field,” “The Closing Year,” “Crossword on the Bus,” and “Instant Sonnet,” Per Contra
“Learning Bones,” Umbrella
A Selection at: The Hypertexts
A Selection at: The Poem Tree

Honors

T. S. Eliot Prize in Poetry: 1998
Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award: 1998, 2003
Richard Wilbur Award: 2001
Oberon Poetry Prize: 2002, 2003
Robert Frost Foundation Tree at My Window Prize for Translation: 2004
Several from the New England Poetry Club, including the May Sarton Award
Several from the Poetry Society of America
Several from the Ministry of Culture & Education of the Dominican Republic
Salem State College 2008 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award

Other

Melopoeia CD recorded with Alfred Nicol & classical guitarist John Tavano
Per Contra Interview
Guidelines for the Teaching of Poetry
Poetry Foundation Guide to “Bilingual/Bilingüe”