Poems

Note:  The Forest Primeval" appears in Willis's collection Visiting Home (Pecan Grove Press, 2008) and "Family Systems" in his collection Say This Prayer into the Past (Cascade Books, 2013).

Paul Willis has published eight full collections and six chapbooks of poetry, the most recent of which is Orvieto (Solum Literary Press, 2025). Individual poems have appeared in Poetry, Slant, and Zócalo Public Square. Born in Fullerton, he is an emeritus professor of English at Westmont College and a former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, Sharon. But more often than not they can be found in Orange County with their four young grandchildren.