Ruth’s poetry books include: A Portable Past (Realities Library Contemporary Poets Series, Sand Jose); Between One Future and the Next (Papier-Mache Press, 1995); About a Year (Small Poetry Press, Select Poetry Series 1996); The Moon Inside (Newton's Baby Press, 1997); Ruth Daigon’s Greatest Hits 1971 to 2000 (Pudding House Publications, 2000); Payday at the Triangle (Small Poetry Press, Select Poets Series, 2001); Winner of a Poetry Anthology Stained Glass Cantatas (Kota Press, 2001); Winner of a Poetry Anthology and featured poet on Three Candles 2002; Handfuls of Time (Small Poetry Press, 2002). 

Poetry honors include finalist in Marianne Moore National Poetry Competition (Helicon Nine, 1991); The Richard Eberhart Poetry Prize 1991; 1993 winner of the Eve of St. Agnes Poetry Award (Negative Capability) and runner up  the next year; 1997 Winner of the Ann Stanford Poetry Contest as well as 1998 Winner of the Greenborough Review National Poetry contest. 

Ruth’s poetry has appeared in over 900 major poetry journals, as well as many anthologies over the years.  She has toured throughout the United States, Canada, England and Israel in readings and workshops.  She organized Pub Poetry, a television series of monthly reading featuring Connecticut poets and she had her own monthly series- Poetry A La Mode.  She was the Poet-In-Residence at Wavertree Arts Colony, Ossabaw Arts Colony (Georgia), and Fellow at ant the Virginia Center For The Arts.

Ruth was the Editor and Publisher of 40 issues of Poets On: from 1976 to the present day.  The magazine received national recognition and grants from CCLM. It has been adopted as an official text book by the Creative Writing Dept. at the University of Kansas. 

She organized ten days of poetry readings with more than 70 participating poets for the Hartford Festival of the Arts. 

At a special celebration at Trinity College, she was honored by the Connecticut Commission On The Arts and the Literary Supplement of The Hartford Current in recognition for her contribution to poetry. 

She was organizer for the Marin Poets Evening which included 8 Marin poets at Fort Mason's National Poetry Association and organized monthly reading featuring Marin poets, as well. 

She was one of ten poets whose work was broadcast on the BBC, Radio Europe and in the US in an international poetry competition sponsored by the BBC. 

She was Poet-of-the-Month on The Web Pares Cum Paribus in 1997 and has several chapbooks on the internet (WebDelSol, Alsop Review, Three Candles), and has poetry published in over one hundred E magazines apart from being interviewed in a number of E mags and hard copy magazines as well.  Daigon was a member of several discussion groups and has written several articles on the relationship between poetry and music and the friendship between poets and poets - “some warm, helpful and a positive delight, others disappointing and at times very painful - but they evened out in the end and nothing could destroy the marvelous relationships that were established and maintained for years and years and hopefully forever”.

Lily: Having first been a musician, tell me how your transition from music to poetry came about. 

RD: The transition from music to poetry came out of necessity. We had been living in New York and the New York area where contacts and jobs were plentiful: tours, TV, recordings, etc. When we moved to the wilds of eastern Connecticut because my husband was going to teach at UCONN, the possibility of quick access to performance possibilities slowed down plus I now had two children and couldn't just dump them somewhere and take off. Although the University and the Hartford area  (recitals, guest artist with the Hartford Symphony and several concert series and guest artist appearances) were still available to me.... It was nowhere like living and following a New York career.  I felt the necessity to use my surplus energy and since I had always enjoyed writing whether it was diaries, descriptive accounts, letters to family and friends, I was always comfortable with a pen between my fingers. Also, every song is based on a poem and since I had covered three or four centuries of vocal music and sang in six languages, I was very much aware of the importance and appeal of poetry.  It was almost natural to supplement my involvement with music with my growing interest in poetry. And when I started performing my poetry, it was rather a heady feeling not to rely on Mozart and Schubert et al. but on my own compositions (at whatever stage they were ).  A rather exciting transition. 

Lily: What was it like to work with W.H. Auden? 

RD: Auden was very much the professional, even though he came to rehearsals in an unraveled sweater and old carpet slippers (something of a costume).  It took a little while to overcome my awe of him, since the last time I saw him was in my college text book but his interest in the music and the performance quickly made me more comfortable, and he was always most polite if a little formal.  But that was to be expected. 

Lily: Who has been the main influence of your writing career? 

RD: The main influence of my writing career was, of course, my lasting involvement with music.  The sound and flow of my poetry, the rhythm, the cadence, lyric quality was given direction by my allegiance to music.  There was no other way to express myself honestly and with conviction. 

Lily: What led you to begin Poets On:? 

RD: Since musical performances always depended on instrumental accompaniments (piano, chamber groups, orchestras ...) it became rather lonely sitting at my desk, once a piano now a  computer and I needed the stimulation of others.  When it was suggested I make contact by publishing a little mag (Poets On:), I thought, "Why not.  It may be an adventure."  And it was! 

Lily: Were there any important lessons learned from your years as an editor that helped you with your own poetry? 

RD: Yes.  The most important lesson was that if I turn down a poet or find his/her work not quite satisfactory, I must apply the same principles to my own work. I would subject my own poetry to the same critical eye that was used in examining others.  I learned to reject so much that stood  in the way of an honest poem. I learned to be more disciplined in my approach, less accepting of something that was "almost " good enough, and I learned how to say "no".  I also learned to recognize lack of conviction or lazy solutions, and to use the RED PEN ruthlessly, even though it was painful. 

Lily: What has been your proudest achievement in regards to your poetry? 
 

RD: The book Payday at the Triangle, based on the terrible fire that broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in NYC in 1911,  resulting in the tragic death of so many young people - primarily young immigrant women - was a work of such dedication and almost obsession that it comes close to being the kind of work that gave me more satisfaction than any of my other books.  It incorporates all my beliefs, disciplines, ablility to translate the story of others and bring them back to life. 

Lily: How do you think poetry itself has evolved over the years? How has your poetry evolved? 

RD: That's a very difficult question.  I think poetry has broken so many rules....so many of the "DO'S" AND "DONT'S" dictated to us by the academics and what I consider to be old-fashioned and rather superior attitudes.  But I still steer away from the Language poets that play with words and turn everything into a game of nonsense and numbers.  There is a lot of that around masquerading as serious poetry. A pity!   

I'm not prepared to comment on how my poetry has evolved because it is still evolving, becoming more open to experimentation, honing down to the essentials, finding new ways of looking at things but never abandoning the music. 

Lily: What do you think every good poem should do? 

RD: Again, that's a difficult question, but words like "honesty", "conviction", "fearless yet controlled",  "alive", "unselfconscious" rise to the surface and WRITE TO PLEASE YOURSELF NOT TO IMPRESS OTHERS. 

Lily: Do you write every day? What is a common inspiration for you? 

RD: Yes, I DO write every day.  Just as I went to the piano to practice every morning, I go to the computer and "practice".  Whether what emerges is successful or not, I make my fingers move along the keys. I don't think in terms of "inspiration" but if I dry up I listen to poets reading their own works on recordings or in performance or just steep myself in the poetry of others until something in me responds. 

Lily: What advice do you have for aspiring writers? 

RD: My advice is to set aside a certain amount of time each day. Start moving your fingers on the keyboard.  Read the work of those you admire and those you don't.  Go and listen to the poets in bookstores or other venues.  Find a group of people who are on your own level and listen to their criticism - even in you disagree you will learn something... something will rub off.  Read  your work aloud.  Listen to your voice.  Get your friends and relatives responses, no matter how negative they may be, and for God's sake enjoy what you're doing.  And when that's all done, forget about it.  Go for a walk.  Go to a concert or movie or party.  Do something different to feed your interest whether it is politics or a smashing time with friends, but cut away from the slavery of the page and then come back refreshed.