Girlfriend

About

Girlfriend is a collection of poetic prose short-shorts about my relationships with girl and women friends from childhood through the present. I like to think about the collection as a meditation, a string of beads. Included are friends, family, teachers, mentors and certain women artists, authors and characters who were meaningful to me at important moments in my life. The writing wavers between poem and prose, like a collage of consciousness, following the way my remembering mind intersects with my poetics.

Reviews

• Pat Nolan, Parole Blog, October 25, 2025

• Geri Lipschultz, “Girlfriend by Barbara Henning,” Mom Egg Review, August 1, 2025

• Michael Londra, “Ode to Sisterhood — Barbara Henning’s Girlfriend.”The Arts Fuse. June 28, 2025

Interview

• Sean Glatch. “Interview; Barbara Henning on “Girlfriend” and the Craft of Writing Poetic Memoir.” Writers.com September 15, 2025.

Publications

• "Kay (Johnson)," "HD (Doolittle)," "Maureen (Owen)." The Brooklyn Rail. September 2025.

• “Jean Rhys,” “Marie,” “Karen,” “Kay,” “Virginia Woolf,” “Sylvia,” and “Lisa.” Hanging Loose Magazine,  Issue 116 (Fall 2024).

• “Esther (1),” “HD,” “Esther (2),” “Lorine,” “Elena,” and “Cari,” “Louisa,” and “Elsa.”  Forthcoming in Hurricane Review, Issue 22. January 2025.

• “Marlene,” “Donna,” “Linda,” “Lucy,” “Faye,” “Bernadette,” “Nancy (1),” “Kathy,” “Norma,” “Grace,” “Marguerite,” “Mary,” “Luanne,” “Marie,” “Georgia,” “Julia,” “Harryette,” “Gloria,” “Miranda,” “Julie,” “Martine,” “Jane” and “Nancy (2)”. Heavy Feather Review, August 2024. 

• “Lorine,” “H.D.” and “Mina”.  The Solitary Plover: Lorine Niedecker Newsletter, Summer 2024.

• “Dot & Me,” Cindy,” “Eileen,” “Janet,” “Sharon,” “Kathy V,” and “Suzie” in Hanging Loose Magazine,  Issue 115 (Spring 2024). Print..

• “Käthe Kollwitz,” “Ferne,” “Ginny,” “Patti” and “Linnée,” MER: Motherhood Literature & Art, March 14, 2024.

• “Brenda and the Twins,” “Catherine Earnshaw,” “Emily Dickinson,” “Anele Rubin,” “Bobbie Louise Hawkins,” The Hurricane Review, Issue 21, Spring 2024.

• “Dot & Me,” Cindy,” “Eileen,” “Janet,” “Sharon,” “Kathy V,” “Suzie,” “Jean Rhys,” “Marie,” “Karen,” “Kay,” “Virginia Woolf,” “Sylvia,” and “Lisa.” Forthcoming Hanging Loose Magazine,  Issues 115 (Spring 2024) and 116 (Fall 2024).

• “Sally Young,”  Live Mag! Issue 20, 2023, print and web.

• “Diane di Prima,” Juleboard, Issue 2, Sept/Oct 2023.

• “Linda & Barb,” “Laura Ingalls Wilder (print),” “Marilyn Meyer,” “Harriette Hartigan,” “Maureen Owen,” “Diane di Prima,” Mom Egg Review, October 14, 2023.

Recordings

• The video of the book launch for Girlfriend (held on Sunday May 4th, 2025 at Young Ethyls Bar & Stage in Brooklyn is now available at Penn Sound

• Barbara read at the Main Detroit Public Library on Friday July 18th 4 pm as part of their Book Festival. In Old Fine Arts Room. Recording posted on PennSound.