Jun.
09
2022
My poem “The Abandoned Well” is in the online spring 2022 edition of Two Hawks Quarterly,
https://twohawksquarterly.com/
This is a poem I wrote during a Tarot card meditation, different from what I usually write. I really loved the other poems included. What an interesting journal. It is fun to write from a vision rather than from an experience or memory.
May.
26
2022
My poem “For Good” is included in the beautiful Winter/Spring 2022 issue of Calyx A Journal of Art and Literature by Women. In this poem, I explore one of my faults that annoys me the most – saving our best things and not using them. My grandmother Esther is included here. She continues to inspire me in spirit often. Many thanks to editor Brenna Crotty and to all the other poets, writers and artists for sharing their deepest thoughts and feelings in the most evocative and original ways.
May.
03
2022
Volume 20 of the Mom Egg Review is centered around the theme of ‘Mother Figures.’ Two of my poems are included. One is entitled “Night Nurse” and is about those who care for others in the quiet hours and how these nurses, female or male/old or young – become the comfort the sick and dying need. The other poem is titled “Mokosh” and describes my maiden name Slavic goddess that I often write about. I love Mokosh because she is an earthy girl without temples or specific worship who comes to help with daily matters. Her symbol is a breast shaped stone and her feast day is any Friday.
It is especially wonderful to have my work included in this issue since 3 other poets that I know well and respect greatly are also here: Libby Maxey, Susan Rich and Francesca Bell. Thank you, Mom Egg Editors and staff!
Apr.
21
2022
My poem “Snowy Owl” appears in issue 4 of Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts published by Northeastern University. You can read all the beautiful work by going to http://pensivejournal.com. So many things that happened to me during my home health and hospice work have stayed in my mind and heart. I find that writing about them is another form of service. This wonderful journal hosted a reading with both in-person and Zoom participants. I was so excited to share my poem with this group. All the poems seemed both heart breaking and healing. Thank you, Pensive editors and staff – and fellow contributors!
Mar.
30
2022
My poem “Wound Nurse” is now up in the online version of HEAL: Humanism Evolving through Arts and Literature, the literary journal of the College of Medicine at Florida State University. There is also a print version. The writing here is of course wonderful. The art is absolutely stunning. There is a beautiful goddess that accompanies my poem. Much of my work in Home Health nursing involved wound care. The skin, our outermost defense, is strong but also very vulnerable, especially as we age. This poem describes the work generally and also a particular patient. The editor generously invites the public to experience this outstanding journal by clicking on: https://public.med.fsu.edu/images/newsletters/Heal/22_vol12/images/HEALVol12.pdf
Mar.
24
2022
My Poem “To the Stalker Who Said He Wanted to Draw My Hair” is included in the Lily Poetry Review’s Winter 2022 edition. This is a very personal poem and includes mention of terrifying incidents that happened to my grandmother and my mother. This happened to me many years ago but I still remember it vividly – this man approaching me in a store when I was a teenager and telling me my hair was beautiful and that he was an artist and wanted to draw it. He wanted me to get in his car. I recall my confusion. I knew it would be wrong for me to trust him, but… Then a vivid picture of the aftermath of what happened to my mother one summer afternoon when I was 11 flooded my mind. I am so grateful to Eileen Cleary and the other editors and readers of this outstanding journal for including my work. Reading over the other poems here makes me feel more and more honored that my words are alive beside them. Editing and publishing a literary magazine these days takes a huge amount to time and funding. I so appreciate those who dedicate themselves to this invaluable enterprise.
Feb.
21
2022
My poem about crows’ nests just appeared in the Fall/Winter 2021 (35th) Edition of The Comstock Review. “Crow Hold” was inspired by my friend Hilary who has been a wild bird rehabilitator for 30+ years. Many of the birds she has saved have been crows and she has several resident fellows who keep her and her husband and their cats amused every day. When I mentioned once the crows’ nests were such messy looking things in trees, she explained to me that crows are not born knowing how to grip and that the nests are constructed to teach this necessary skill. I was so impressed, I wrote the poem about it:
Crow Hold
Leaflessness reveals the mess
of a crows’ nest. Random twig
trash as though the dark goddess
forgot how to weave or kept
this secret from the lowly crow.
My friend who has tended injured
Corvids, studied their wings
and spindles, their eye shine,
tells me there are lessons
in the stash. Crows are not born
knowing how to grip. Parents
teach their young the opposable
talon, baton by baton, tightrope
by guidewire, limb and limber.
The fledglings learn their manners
on tines and knives. Become almost
human enough for violin. Not ours
to judge the shack at the edge
of the river, the canted tent
from which notes spill
like crooked silver.
Dec.
28
2021
This past year I have been reading and experimenting with various kinds of sonnets. The Modern Sonnet is complex and intriguing. Of those I have produced, this is the first one I have had published. It appeared recently in the Fall 2021 Issue of The Heartland Review. My sonnet is titled “Seeing Soul Is Not the Same as Seeing Ghosts.” It does have 14 lines – which seems to be the most consistently employed sonnet trait, beyond rhyme scheme and syllabic line. I use some off-rhyme which I enjoy in poetry. Thank you to Mick Kennedy, Editor, and the editorial assistants of this excellent publication.