Three bodies wiggled in close. “One more, please, mommy, read one more!” The educator in me delighted in the interest my children took in the picture books we read every night—some every night. They each had a favorite. Tired from a long day, I enjoyed these quiet moments, but [...]
“Thirty days has September, April, June, and November.” 30 Days of Poetry The perfect number for any 30-day challenge, but April’s poetry marathon of 30 poems in 30 days consumed every creative moment I could squeeze into those days. Will I make this an annual event? Last year I [...]
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” — Howard Thurman Come Alive With pencil and tablet, I walk out to the pasture around grandma’s house keeping an eye open [...]
Wind Blows Wind blows dandelions send life floating onward words spoken leech into our lives touching. . . . Poetry is the best words in the best order. —Samuel Coleridge If you are a writer, you know the feeling when words float in the air unwilling to move [...]
Only a Pencil Will Do The teacher handed me the big, fat, round pencil because only a pencil will do. My hand, small, awkward, felt overwhelmed. What will I do with this? What magic will ooze on the page of the Big Chief? Years pass by and still, the [...]
Shadows Shadows cling to the dry grass shaping vertical lines of fences and trees. In a moment, the black stripes disappear and what was seen will fade into the blackness of the night gone, forever as the universe, and me, constantly evolve, transform, unfold, become. . . . [...]
Fuchsia Sky The fuchsia sky moved my soul playfully across the purple mountains while mandolins calmed the melancholy forests. I counted moments before the silent trout swam in octagon pillows of lake grass and the Colorado clouds swarmed above. Where will this counting of passions take me? The opal [...]
Every morning, I read. I venture into newsletters, writer websites, news, and literary offerings. I meander the expanse of words on the internet. Why? Feeding the Muse I’m searching for the glint of an idea, a combustible fragment eager to set ablaze my Muse. What I find exuberates me [...]
I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too?” —Emily Dickinson Who am I? I sat on a zoom call of unlikely poets. Analysts, field inspectors, payroll, and human resource professionals from different departments of a state agency gathered together with only one purpose. Each came with a [...]
“Did you hear me? I want to know why. How can you keep going day after day as voices spin a web of untruth? Don’t you care? What can we do? I am fearful for the future and what will happen if we continue down this divisive path.” My [...]
