Feb.
20
2020
Two of my poems are now online in the Fall/Winter 2019 issue (Vol 7, No 1) of Medical Literary Messenger, An Artistic Voice for the Healing Arts. The journal is easy to access at med-lit.vcu.edu. The first poem on page 4 is “The Loon,” and is the true story of a woman who lost her mind and with it her voice. She lived in the family home on a hill above Eld Inlet which was visible through the evergreens. But more than visible, it was audible. This is her story. The second poem, “The Beauty,” page 17, is about another Hospice patient. Even in her late eighties and having undergone several rounds of chemotherapy, she still had the most beautiful hair. She was so proud of her hair. She and her family also lived not far from the ocean.
Dec.
31
2019
My poem, “Intimacy of Water,” is in the January 2020 issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN)!!! It can be read online by googling the magazine, clicking on Table of Contents and then “Art of Nursing,” which is a monthly feature. I have sent work into this premier nursing publication a couple of times our the years and felt moved to submit again this fall. I can hardly express how happy I am to have my writing appear in a place that I consider my nursing periodical Bible!
And I am happy they chose this poem which shows me that I can still practice my nursing in specific ways even after I am retired. Things that we do that we love make the best poems perhaps. This poem expresses my love of nursing, my affection for my neighbor and my confidence in myself self in my role of compassionate caregiver.
Nov.
25
2019
Two of my poems, “Following Water” and “Gaze and Shutter” just came out in the Fall 2019 issue of Zone 3! This journal originates at Austin Peay University, where daughter Carolyn earned her degree. “Gaze” is about a grandfather and granddaughter we witnessed while hiking at Hurricane Ridge. They made such a touching pair, I knew immediately they deserved a poem! “Following Water” is a true poem about our son-in-law who passed away tragically. Travis was the ultimate woodsman and we think about his forest wisdom often.
Nov.
14
2019
My poem, “The Woodsman,” is in the 2019, Volume 2 edition of the wonderful Seattle-based Crab Creek Review. This poem is based on a story told to me years ago and brought to mind again when I taught a poetry class at the Correctional Facility near Shelton, WA. Hopefully it portraits how beauty deeply touches the heart of each of us — to the point of pain at times.
Aug.
19
2019
I just received my copies of the We’Moon 2020 Datebook themed “Wake Up Call.” This beautiful annual publication is packed with art and writing by and for women. It includes moon phases, astrology, and every aspect of earth wisdom imaginable. This year I have 2 pieces: “St. Anne, Patron of Mothers of Daughters” and “Mokosh, Goddess of the Working Woman.” St. Anne is, of course, in Christian lore, the mother of Mary the mother of Jesus. I have long thought about Anne’s story and how difficult it is for mothers of famous daughters who follow a path that almost totally excludes them. And in that light how tough it is for all mothers to let their offspring go to follow their true path and purpose. Mokosh is my maiden name, bequeathed to me by my Czechoslovakian grandparents who immigrated here in the nineteen-teens without money, language or knowledge of their gods. I found out by accident on the internet many years ago that Mokosh is an actual slavic goddess who is being studied more actively now. The Slavs didn’t have a written language years ago and the culture was too poor to erect lavish statues. Besides Mokosh is a homely goddess of fieldwork, spinning and childbirth. Her name means water, something they had little of. She is not glamourous, with a big head and large hands. Her feast day is any Friday.
Aug.
19
2019
My poem, “Glass Midden,” one of a series I am working on about our fascinating shoreline at Cape George in Port Townsend, is up now on the Split Rock Review website. Got to www.splitrockreview.org, click on Current Issue, Read, and my poem is the second one down under Poetry. I continue to collect treasures from the past on this beach that seems to me to hold both history and heartache.
Jul.
22
2019
Two of my poems are in volume XXXV of The MacGuffin, the fascinating journal out of Schoolcraft College. This publication has been around from years and I have submitted a number of times and am so proud to finally have my work included! I have been intrigued by the focus which is on a “macguffin,” something, often simple, upon which the plot turns in a story and even in a poem. My macguffins are a comb, a symbol for a homeless child, and a pewter teapot, the only thing left behind by a thief. I wrote the second poem last year at Centrum. It is based on a true story often told to me by my grandmother, an immigrant girl who came to America in her teens.
May.
14
2019
My poem, “Glass Midden,” is set to appear in the September issue of Split Rock Review! This is a Port Townsend poem written about our fascinating glass beach where erosion has taken down and re-formed debris from over a hundred years of peninsula history. I love beach combing there and hope my poem reflects the mystery and pathos of physical history.