Pinewood Musings: Writing Life in the Foothills

Letter of Happiness

2012-01-12T13:51:00.000-08:00

In the midst of tragedy, there are sometimes happy moments. I mean that sometimes I feel very happy. I don't mean ecstatically happy, or happy in an epiphanic way. I just mean a sense of simple, calm happiness. Such is the feeling I got when I recently received a lovely letter from memoirist Suzanne Paola. Apparently, my memoir piece of 18 pages has been accepted for publication in the online

Forgiveness and Cookies

2011-12-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

I must now admit that I have gained too much weight since this time last year. I can no longer say that it is because I am off those horrid meds that suppressed my appetite. I could say that I have been "stress-eating," which would, in fact, be monumentally true. Since the death of my son, I have also not felt like hiking, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing as much. The sky seems a little less

Gregory Corso and an Observation from Miss Emily D.

2011-11-17T20:48:00.000-08:00

Years ago, I had the opportunity to attend Naropa University's Jack Kerouac Conference. This was really back in the day. A girlfriend and I volunteered to be "hostesses" at a private party and we wore little black dresses and walked around the party with trays of fancy hors d' oeuvres. There were so many people there. I remember William Burroughs sitting like a statue in a corner surrounded by

Littles: Come Back

2011-11-15T17:11:00.000-08:00

I Dream My Son

2011-11-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

I dream my son walkswith me to the edge of a teal-colored alpine lake.I dream it sparks blue embers and reflects only that I mayhave imagined my son'sentire existence. I dream my own facetransfigured in blue-veinedicicles melding into cobaltwave after wave. I dreamthe epiphany of frosthushed across cottonwood branches,and willow in early spring,the very day my son was

Writing Gigs/Gorgeous Autumn

2011-10-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

After a year off as senior editor of Winds of Change, I finally landed a dream gig. I am now the editor at Cultural Survival Quarterly. This is a wonderful gig! Not only do I get to edit articles that relate positive information about North American indigenous people, I now edit articles about the world's indigenous peoples! In fact, just the other day I was given a poignant story about the

Cantos, Sérénité, & the End of Summer

2011-08-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

I just finished my last research paper for my last summer grad class. I don't have much breathing room here. As soon as this class ends, I start another 8-week accelerated class through Regis University. And I really am enjoying it. My paper was about the similarities between Ezra Pound and Gary Snyder in terms of their writing styles. I had of course read Pound before I read Snyder. So, years

Fire Trails are not always easier!

2011-07-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my friends Tim and Rob, and me, went searching for the best place to avoid the hordes of tourists wandering around Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). So we decided to try the Wild Basin Area and go all the way up to Finch Lake. Well, that turned out to be a big mistake. There were no parking spaces. So, we headed to Allenspark and picked up the trail to Finch and Pear Lake. All the

My Book In Light and Silver & Miss Emily D.

2011-06-30T16:24:00.001-07:00

Here is my book with the lovely photo by Scott Pope and with the silver sticker that signifies I was a finalist! I am so proud of this little book because it went so far. And it is such a little book! Now I have to get down to business and publish a full-length collection. Here is a little poem by Miss Emily D. that I included in my grad research paper on the emergence of compassion and empathy

An Honor Won Is a Promise of More

2011-06-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

I have to say: this has been a summer of breathless beginnings. From teaching application essay writing to Native American students at CSU, to going to NJ and NYC for a family reunion, to going up to Aspen as a finalist in the Colorado book awards, this June has been singularly spectacular. It's always pleasant to meet up with old friends, too, like I was able to at CSU. Sid is one such friend

Colorado Book Awards Finalist Reading

2011-06-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

I am a Colorado Book Award finalist! I am so happy. I don't think I will win; the other two women are such great poets. However, it is nice being in a finalist spot. I am reading this Friday night at Baur's Ristorante in Denver at 6:50 p.m. Baur's is located on 1512 Curtis St. My family and many friends are coming. Hope to see many of you there! The actual awards ceremony will be on June 24th,

My Chapbook Release Reading and Things to Look Forward To

2011-03-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a memoir piece for several years now and finally sent it out to various presses. Not hearing back from them is frustrating, so I've been breaking the whole manuscript up into shorter pieces that are easier to read—quicker to get through. At the same time, I've been sending out to some first-book poetry contests. These are equally frustrating, since my chances of winning

Hair, Work, School, Cats, & Poetry (memorize these items for a neuropsychological exam)

2011-02-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

The other day I was examining my hair. After months of watching the strange tufts that were left on my head after surgery, I can say with a great deal of joy: my hair is finally growing back normally! Hurray for me. And, more importantly, I've gone from a size "0" in pants and skirts to a healthy size 8-9. Also, from all of the frequent cross-country and snowshoeing I have done this winter, I've

Christmas Joy, Christmas Sadness

2010-12-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

If you are from a large family that suffered from a tumultuous, alcoholic background, you may understand this blog. Going home for Christmas can be a little tricky and volatile at times. Amid all the beauty of fresh, sugar-white snow; the crisp, sweet smell of the decorated tree; the lovely faces of your nieces, nephews, children, parents, etc., there is a sort of shadowy sadness that tugs at

The Pedestal Poems

2010-12-22T04:47:00.000-08:00

They're here and online at: http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/gallery.php?item=14961 My neighbor, Evan Reeves, recorded my poems being read. He is a professional sound engineer, so the quality is quite good. YAY!!!

Early Christmas Presents

2010-12-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

For writers (at least this writer), nothing could be more wonderful than having your work accepted. This month has been extraordinary for me. Over the summer I sent two pieces to Women Writers of Haitian Descent . I sent a poem and a nonfiction piece. This was in response to an anthology they are putting together. They said contributors did not have to be Haitian, only have a great love for the

My Book & Publishing Surprises

2010-12-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

So first of all, it is snowing like crazy up here! And it is gorgeous. I may even snap on my cross-country skis and head up my road. Having said all of that, I really, really need to work—and not at this blog! My new chapbook from Main Street Rag Publishing is out, Song From the Deep Middle Brain. You can still order it through their website (under new releases) or through me! I was offered a

Fear and Love at Bosque del Apache

2010-11-16T08:15:00.000-08:00

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. How do I fear thee? Now that I can answer pretty quickly: I fear rattlesnakes. However, not as much as I fear mountain lions. Both were present amid all that I love at Bosque del Apache, in New Mexico, a few weeks ago. Just enough fear to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground, so to speak, and my heart thumping as Mary Jean and I rounded the corner

Poetry, Rally, Rambling and Peace

2010-10-30T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days when I had a million things to do and all I really wanted to do was write poetry and take a nap! I accomplished the nap! Hurray for me! I just found out the other day that I was accepted into the low-res MFA program at Queens University in Charlotte, NC. Hurray for me again! They were effusively enthusiastic about my portfolio of poems I sent them. An advisor called me

Fierce Landscapes Indeed

2010-10-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite nonfiction books is one my mother gave me a few years ago to help deal with my illness. It is by a professor of theological studies at St. Louis Uni. where my oldest son, Aaron, started out at college in Madrid. It is The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality, by Belden C. Lane. Lane writes, "Fierce landscapes remind us that what we long for

Aspens, Lion's Gulch Trail

2010-10-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I finally got my BFF Liz to hike with us. Last weekend Mary Jean and Scott and I did a quick 5 mile hike up to Lake Haiyaha and this weekend we did a 6 mile hike up to Blue Lake. The colors were more spectacular on this hike. I don't think the Indian Peak area gets as much wind as RMNP. Lakes are so lovely in the fall. If you're on a trail toward one, there are always

October's Song

2010-10-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Last days of the Farmer's Market, days shorter, aspens bright yellow, deep oranges, russet. And trying to sell my books. Tomorrow night, Sunday, Oct. 3rd, I'll be on 88.9 KRFC FM with Dona Stein and The Poetry Show from 6-7 (MST). Hope you'll listen!

DBS- Part 2

2010-08-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

So in the next room right now, wouldn't you know it, my son, Aaron is trying to explain the theory of science to my mom, my other son Bryon, and my husband. My goodness they are getting loud. Anyway, I feel sorry for my mom, because she is going to lose this argument. All I wanted was a quiet night at home to recuperate from my second brain surgery. Oh well. So much for that. My head is full of

BUY MY BOOK

2010-08-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends, Main Street Rag Publishing Company has decided to publish my book Song from the Deep Middle Brain as part of the MSR Editor's Choice Chapbook Series. The book is scheduled for release January 25 and will sell for $10, but you can get it now for $6 + shipping by placing an Advance Discount order from the Main Street Rag Online Bookstore or, if you are more inclined to pay by check,

My Happy DBS-Part 1

2010-08-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

I had to be off all my pharmaceuticals the night before my first surgery. So, knowing that I might not be able to walk well in the morning due to my dystonic feet, I dressed fully and had everything by my bedside the night before. This included my list of medicines, my overnight bag, and my face wipes. I fully intended to stay awake the whole night and watch movies. I stocked up on the slowest,

Enchanting Summer

2010-07-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

I am so happy not to be living down in the valley areas during this nasty heat wave. Our house gets “warm” around 2 p.m.-4 p.m. when it’s REALLY hot outside, but only upstairs. Of course, the upstairs is where I do all my work. But I just pick up one of the laptops and go downstairs where it is so cool, I still have to wear a sweater in the middle of the day. My husband and sons really went to

Freelancing Adventures

2010-07-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

After 15 years of writing for Winds of Change (WOC) and loving every minute of it, we finally had to let it go to another publishing team. Our last issue will be out in a couple of weeks and the cover by Pawnee and Ojibwe artist Raymond Nordwall is extraordinarily gorgeous. The new magazine will look entirely different, I imagine, and I am sad that we (our staff) are all going our separate ways.

Absurdities Through the Window Pane of Frozen Lake

2010-06-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well, my plan was to sleep in tomorrow because it's supposed to be rainy, chilly and miserable out. I worked so hard today on Winds of Change galley proofs and organizing poetry submissions, that I thought I'd just rest on Sunday. But part of me was feeling guilty about not exercising enough this week, which of course I must do for my health--more so than other people. However, I wasn't

The Sublimity of Surgery, Doves & Flowers

2010-04-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

After myriad visits to the University of Colorado Hospital's Anschutz Medical Pavilion, undergoing batteries of tests by neurologists, speech therapists, rehabilitation therapists, and one obnoxiously long, SIX-HOUR neuropsychological exam that included cognitive-related commands like: "define the word 'tenacious,'" I have finally been deemed eligible for deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery. I

Back to the Fast Track

2010-04-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Almost as soon as I got home from my week in Alabama with no wifi service whatsoever, I was immediately bombarded with phone calls & emails about the CU Museum of Natural History poetry/nature project I'm working on, the arrival of the spring issue of Winds of Change, and my involvement in the 2nd Annual Kirkland Museum Ekphrastic reading. I had to take a deep breath and sadly let the soft, slow

Fun Times Ahead: AWP, Alabama, Readings, Washington DC

2010-04-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

The other night, I was scrolling through the long-winded schedule of this year's AWP events and getting more and more excited about attending. The fact that it is in my backyard, so to speak, makes it even sweeter. The last one I attended was in NYC and I was able to meet some of my favorite poets like Diane Glancy & Simon Ortiz. I even got Simon to sit down and grant me an interview, which I

Brainy Stuff

2010-03-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

In the brain department, things seem to move forward one day, then take two steps back another day, at least in my neck-of-the-woods. For instance, Medtronic, the company that makes implantable devices for all kinds of ailments, keeps creating newer, smaller, more advanced, and user-friendly neurostimulators. This is great news on many levels. It definitely supports an article published just a

Storytelling

2010-03-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

I was on my way up to Gem Lake with a friend this past Sunday and it was snowing huge, crystalline flakes. We did not have snowshoes because there wasn’t enough of a base to really dig in. However, we could have used yaktrax or crampons of some sort as there was a thick layer of ice just below the surface of snow the entire way up. The clouds were low and obscured the view of the valley once we

Another Way to View Native American Art

2010-02-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

It’s been several months since I sat down with Melanie Yazzie to talk about her lively, whimsical paintings that have layers of meaning hidden in them. Yazzie is also a printmaker, sculptor and ceramicist. I had been meaning to write an article about her for Winds, and concentrate on her painting, but the article was put on the back burner while I was dealing with health issues. Now, I feel

The Relief of Acupuncture & Community

2010-02-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

Those of us who struggle daily to actually feel good, go through hell just to find affordable places that will alleviate pain. I'm convinced that bringing together the knowledge of Western medicine and alternative therapies is the best way to approach a chronic illness. Unfortunately, a lot of insurance companies don't recognize therapies like acupuncture as legitimate. My insurance allows me 12

Letters from Survivors

2010-01-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

Hello Weler Pierre: How are you? Do you remember me? Do you remember my sons Aaron and Bryon? I am so sorry about what has happened to Haiti. I think about you all the time. I wish I could come down to Haiti again, but I have been sick for many years. Can you tell me what has happened to St. Rilio Franck? Was he in Port au Prince? How is his family? Barbara Sorensen Mon Amie, malgre je

Never Underestimate the Power of Trinkets

2010-01-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, I sold my sequined wall hanging of St. Clare for $40 at a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders In Haiti. During the years I went to Haiti, I collected so many trinkets from the Episcopal cathedral's gift shop. I believe it is one of the buildings that has been destroyed. I could be wrong about that. At any rate, even though I gave most of them away, I still found

Learning to Sing In the Midst of Climate Change

2010-01-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

I shut the door and place my cell phone on my desk. It is routed to the loudspeaker so I can type as Orville Huntington from the Huslia Tribe in Alaska speaks softly to me from thousands of miles away. He sounds tired. He's been traveling and glad to be back home where on a good day it is 60 below. I'm interviewing him for an article on polar science for Winds of Change. Before I began the

Beautiful, Beautiful Haiti

2010-01-16T05:08:00.000-08:00

In 1997, my friend Nathalie and I put together a little booklet for the children who attended the Episcopal school in Petit Trou de Nippes, Haiti. We had a graphic design artist do all the drawings of the children based on the hundreds of photographs we had taken while there. We wrote four little chapters on health and hygiene. The topics ranged from frequent washing of hands; not touching

Deadlines and Decisions

2010-01-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

If I didn't have to work full-time, I would probably lose my mind because I thrive on deadlines. This is why I'm pretty good at getting organized for poetry and other creative writing contests. That finalist placing that I received from the Joy Harjo Poetry Contest gave me a little more of a nudge too. There are so many contests going on right now, plus the AWP coming up, it's enough to make a

Playing Above my Home in Pinewood

2010-01-11T16:31:00.000-08:00

I am lucky that my neighborhood has an open swath of land that is national forest access. In my previous blog, I wrote about our adventures up at the top of a lovely foothill that affords you a great workout. Switchback after switchback takes you up to a plateau with deep, dizzying drops and panoramic views of the plains all the way to DIA. Just the week before, my neighbor Julia and I broke

Face the Force of January: Write & Play Outside

2010-01-10T05:49:00.000-08:00

Though I'm stating the obvious, I am still surprised at the force of breathtakingly low temperatures we were subjected to at the beginning of this month. Of course, I face it head on: I continue to cross-country ski & engage in lots of snowshoeing. I have really utilized my Grabbers inside both my mittens and my boots. They give hella heat. So even yesterday, though it was balmy up in here in

The New Year-Practice Resurrection

2010-01-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Manifesto:  The Mad Farmer Liberation FronLove the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer. When they want you to buy something they will call you.

Christmas, Poetry, The Right To Be Lazy and The Big Lebowski

2009-12-27T14:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas was entertaining to say the least. At Liz's open house party, I reconnected with some old friends I had not seen in years: Mame and Mark Furhman. Then I had a long "book talk" with Margie, a friend who I don't normally have highly detailed conversations with even though we both work with Native Americans, but in different capacities. She's an attorney; I'm of course, a magazine

Goofy T-Day pics

2009-12-11T05:27:00.000-08:00

Perpetual late-poster. Here are some pics of us being goofy at Thanksgiving, courtesy of Liz who cooked EVERYTHING!! The rest of us played.

The Lovely Single Digit Temperaures

2009-12-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

When three of us planned our first snowshoe outing of the season, we had no idea we'd be venturing out into a dry cold of 7 degrees. I was tired having been at The Lighthouse Writer's party down in Denver the night before. Though I don't normally drink because of my many pharmaceuticals, I did have a half glass of white wine. There was great catered food, good company, some delightful poetry and

Full Moon & Snow & Brain Surgery

2009-12-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

All good things are happening in this opening of December. The full moon slid along a pale sapphire-blue sky at 6 a.m. and the deep snow invited me to step out and play. No matter that it is bitter cold. Last night I called my "play" friend, Barb, to tell her I was standing in the living room, no lights on and the moon was so bright you could see every tree's shadow and I wanted to rush out in

Memoirs, Projects, a Scary Doctor Visit

2009-11-26T20:42:00.000-08:00

This past month I have been piecing together a manuscript that I hope will be published by someone who can recognize the overlap of memoir and self-help. I have been so completely wrapped up in it that I temporarily forgot the wise words of poet Chris Ransick who warned all of his "students" in a Lighthouse Writer's class, that eventually you have to stop revising and revising and let it go. I

Bittersweet Conference

2009-11-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

So I just returned with my husband from the 32nd American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES) Conference. This year we were in Portland, Oregon. Winds of Change was there in 2000, I had not been back since. This was the first AISES conference that my husband had ever attended. He was a great help during the career fair, helping me run the Winds of Change http://www.wocmag.org/ booth,

A Jersey Autumn

2009-10-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

Comparatively speaking, you could say the East Coast's tri-state area hosts perhaps the gloomiest fall. When I was recently there, a non-stop, heavy rain and a sun that only periodically mustered up enough energy to squeeze itself through clouds, could have kept me pining for a tropic break. But then I would not have allowed myself the patience to witness the performance of a temperamental East

Apology and Poetry, Music, Travel: My Lovely October

2009-10-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

I apologize for saying that I did not like G.C. Waldrep. I guess I just didn't "hear" the words. I needed to read them and "see" his words. I absolutely love his poems. I am reading his book, "Achicembalo" which is about music. He stretches metaphors out from musical terms. His poems have titles like: What is a Cantilena; What is a Descant; What is a Bass (my favorite!), which chronicles the

A Poem In the Mountain Gazette

2009-10-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

My friend Liz happened to remember a poem I had written awhile back and posted a link to the Mountain Gazette, a kind of rough and tumble journal highlighting where-to-go, what-to-do in the mountains for people looking for kayaking adventures, mountain biking thrills, climbing, etc. But they also have a soft spot for poetry. I sent several poems to them and they were accepted for publication. Not

Reconciling and Lots More

2009-09-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

So this past month I have been trying to reconcile the fact that I will no longer be running salons for the literary magazine, Many Mountains Moving http://www.mmminc.org/. I have finally accepted the fact that my illness makes me more tired and that it is progressing, however slightly. Trying to work full-time as an editor, take care of my body with yoga and exercise, spend lovely time with my

Missouri's Siren Song of Faith & Acceptance

2009-09-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here it is in September and I am listing beneath a slow ceiling fan, trying to keep the humidity at bay, scrolling through the internet to find the strange wave-like pulsing sound of dog-day cicadas and periodical cicadas. Damn them! They won't shut up! No small wonder that there's enough "Goth" the further South you travel than anywhere else in the U.S. By that, I mean, Southern Gothic writers

The Agony of Insomnia

2009-08-31T02:55:00.000-07:00

I know I am not unique. I know thousands of people who are my age, and even younger, who struggle with insomnia. However, when one has a degenerative brain disease, sleep is really crucial. So I approach each nightfall with double apprehension and anxiety. I find it alarming that I can take all kinds of horrifically strong sleep aids and nothing helps. Also, the L-Dopa I consume inevitably begins

Entente

2009-08-24T15:54:00.000-07:00

I always think the best hikes are ones in which you set off not really knowing where you will end up. Mary Jean, Scott, and I started out this past Sunday with the intention of going to Lake Helene which is a quick three mile hike. My feet were doing quite well at that point and it seemed a shame to not go further. We gazed up at Notchtop and could just barely see what seemed to be people

Lake Irene

2009-08-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

After battling up to Solitude and Shelf Lakes in early August, my little hiking group and I decided to do a very easy little jaunt around Lake Irene which is just past Milner's Pass, the breathtaking trail that leads up to Mt. Ida. On the right side of the road, the trailhead to Lake Irene is easily missed. It is certainly not spectacular enough after going over Trail Ridge Road. However, there

Family, Seizures, Black Lake, Poetry

2009-07-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

On July 19, my sister and her husband, precious niece and nephew and their accompanying friends flew in fresh from Newport Beach, rushing in with the force of sleeper waves. How strong they all are still and all the world spread out before them for their enjoyment. My sister, her children protected in ways my siblings and I were not by her money, habors a fear that something dreadful will happen

The Swing I Covet

2009-07-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

When the Mormon family moved down to Lyons in May, they left their free-standing porch swing. It sits on a hill overlooking the valley below us and just the top of our red-tiled roof. It sits in rough-hewn tranquility amidst blue-eyed grass and an assortment of wildflowers that change almost as quickly as you can breathe.They had raised the square, small, wooden house like the Amish; a group of

Upper Beaver Meadows

2009-07-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

Before the onslaught of tourists who come up to Estes Park to see the fireworks and nothing more, Mary Jean, Scott and I, were able to squeeze in an evening hike up in Rocky Mountain National Park. The area that we were in, Beaver Meadows, is still considered a montane region of the park. At the beginning of July, these meadows are still full of wildflowers that we see here in Pinewood Springs

Bboyz chez moi

2009-06-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hikes, Hailstorms

2009-06-23T20:12:00.001-07:00

Almost the end of June and we (me, my husband & son, Aaron) watched a wicked lightning storm last night from our front porch. Every piece of sky was changing from twilight shades of white to impenetrable black, minute by minute, and simultaneously ripped by jagged yellow electric needle-thin lines. We huddled together in awe and were startled by silly things like a poor, lost poodle who scurried

Tasting Pomegranate

2009-06-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the poem that won 1st place in The Denver Women's Press Club contest:Tasting PomegranateMy mountain bike neededtuning after years of neglect so I took it to the shop and the young man working there looked at it in disdain.It would take days to fix my old bike,he said and rolled his eyes.I looked at his long hair, white t-shirt, his low-slung pants and though I was old enough to be his

Distractions-Hopefully Temporary

2009-05-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

So, finally, I am on Facebook, the noisy, frenetic cyberspace world where you can connect with just about everyone and babble endlessly about nothing if you so choose and people respond. My sons finally brought me into the 21st century by showing me how to set it up and I am even connected to Cormac McCarthy, though I doubt he would answer me if were to ask him a question about one of his

What is Wrong With These People???

2009-04-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

I usually try to avoid politics on my blog as I want this to be a place for reflection, but the recent and alarming rhetoric spewing forth from GOP followers has me simultaneously in tears and laughter. Usually a good dose of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert can relax me, but REALLY!Between Hannity on Fox News, Michelle Bachmann and Limbaugh entangling history and NORMAL interpretations of torture

Nephews & Nieces & Crazy Home Movies

2009-04-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

My nephew Jon Michael is playing cello now and eyeing the camera. The youngest nephew, Shayne is learning soccer backwards. Enjoy the crazy home movie! It's from all the way back in December, but I just now got it loaded on to my blog! Better late than never. Plus, I love these children's poems that seem to capture these moments so wonderfully. I added one to the home movie of my niece Emma on

Kirkland Poetry Reading

2009-04-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

In a previous blog, I mentioned that I had read at Kirkland Museum in Denver as part of a writing group I belong to: Poets Beyond Reason. This was an experimental event with ekphrastic poetry. It is fun to choose a painting, especially an abstract expressionistic one and write about what you felt or saw while viewing the painting. Of course, there were so many people moving from one painting

Emma & Me

2009-04-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

Since I last blogged, I've turned 50, gone to San Francisco to spend time with my sister and niece, and discovered that the Pasque flowers are officially here! Now I know spring has arrived! In the bay area, spring was out in joyous array. Poppies were everywhere, my sister's pepper tree was ripe with berries and the Half Moon Bay Nursery was packed with people carrying home armloads of

What Is This Blog All About?

2009-03-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

"Everything here is some visible stage of cosmic momentum begun long before the sun was."-From The Dawn Collector, by Reg SanerRecently, I was asked by a fellow blogger what the focus of my blog is. I guess I don't really have a specific focus and my blog has been like an open journal. I write about the little epiphanies I experience living an ordinary life. As a writer by trade, I will write

Our New Many Mountains Moving Journal

2009-02-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's out. Many Mountains Moving Journal Vol. IX is here! You can order it on line: http://mmminc.org/It is packed full of wonderful poems and an entire section edited by Diane Glancy dedicated to indigenous poetry. There are some great "older" poets in this section: Linda Hogan, Simon Ortiz, as well as some young, rising stars like Eric Gansworth and Jennifer Foerster.There is also a drama

Little Collaborations

2009-02-28T12:42:00.001-08:00

I have never been a huge fan of abstract expressionistic art. Sometimes the inherent movement of the paintings remind me of what you might see on a bad acid trip. Objects that breathe and expand like they have invisible ribs tend to spook me. But I was given the opportunity to be a part of a small group of Denver poets who are collaborating with the historic downtown Kirkland Museum to write

Zebra Finches and Serendipity

2009-02-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

I stopped writing in this blog in early January and have practically skipped February. I could say I've been too busy, but how pompous that sounds! The fact is, I have been busy. As with most people, I am entangled with work, home life, children, significant other, extended family, friends, activities, etc.But I did take a breather one day to wander through a pet store in Boulder. I had been

Cadillac Notes

2009-01-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

Rented a fine 2008 cadillac SRX V62W to make the tedious drive across eastern Colorado, Kansas and Missouri. Our destination was St. Louis to visit family for Christmas, a trip we have taken every other year since the boys were born. Now, with 20-somethings, I relish these "tedious" drives because as a parent I can hardly count on them happening again. But these flat landscapes have always

Vandals, Monuments & Iambic Pentameter

2008-11-24T16:34:00.000-08:00

A large owl, wings spread, drifted slowly over my car as I drove into Lyons from Highway 36. The grasses along 36 are so blanched in color now it is often difficult to discern deer that pop up suddenly from the low ditches. The owl took me by surprise too. Its wings were brown and white, talons ready to snap something. I thought of all the things the appearance of an owl can mean to different

Copper Nickel

2008-11-04T05:52:00.000-08:00

On October 17, with my parents, husband, son, his girlfriend, other friends and fellow poets in tow, I read my two poems just recently published in CU-Denver's journal Copper Nickel at the release party at the Denver Press Club. I was dressed in poetic black. I did well. No visible shaking, I read slowly. It helped that I spoke to Pushcart Prize winner Eliot Wilson, who a week before had heard me

Dorianne's Paring

2008-11-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

"Late have I loved you, O Beauty, so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!"-St. AugustineOn October 11, I was lucky to take a workshop with Dorianne Laux. I would urge you to read my fellow blogger's take on it: http://bethpartin.com/:"We sat surrounding Dorianne Laux, up a twisty stair in a room at the top of the Tivoli. She was warm. We were worried, for our poems would be workshopped in

Density & Desert

2008-11-04T04:29:00.000-08:00

Having just returned from the land of Disney and density, I appreciate so much more the weekend of Oct. 26 in Moab. Though floating on my back in the Marriott's pool at 6:30 a.m., in Anaheim, everything still dark, the water turquoise and yellow, the sky mottled and releasing cool drops of rain on my face was very nice, and the warm water excellent for relieving the angst of dystonia, I could not

Manifest Destiny Redux?

2008-10-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading Joseph M. Marshall III's book The Day the World Ended at Little Bighorn. For those interested in how our country solved the problems of expansion by simply pushing aside the American Indians, this book is of course a "must read." Many people probably know something through some reading about the genocide enacted upon Indian people and I am not going to go into an

September Slipping

2008-09-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I am thoroughly embarrassed that nothing has been done on this blog the entire month of September! I have had a few things on my plate. I have been hiking a lot enjoying the colors of autumn--so much rabbit brush and blue sky. But in all honesty I must say I have been, like everyone else, immersed in politics. I am firmly in the Obama camp but have family members who are stoically

Independent Lens

2008-08-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already heard about Independent Lens, do some quick research! It is an Emmy award-winning weekly series that is aired every Tuesday night at 10 p.m on PBS. I just received a copy of the film "March Point," which is set to be aired on November 18. It chronicles the lives of three Swinomish teenage boys who are given a chance to film their reservation life and the environmental

A Word About GoodReads

2008-08-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

I am so flattered that in the last few months I have been asked to be a friend on several GoodRead lists. Everyone is doing this now. But I also must protest. At the risk of offending all these good people who have thought of me, I must still ask: is everyone out of their minds??? Do I really want to keep yet another list and feel pressure to report on every book I am reading, want to read, just

Family, Oh Family

2008-08-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

Do I really want to stay at my parent's house in St. Louis? Moth balls in closets, old photos of Moultrie, Georgia and my beautiful grandmother. To remember Annie McGee's Road. But that's a different dream. St. Louis is suburbs and suburbs and no open space left. Malls surrounded by malls. My father's flowers. The browning grass he waters on perfect schedule. Jazz music, sometimes soft. Fox News

How to Manage a Hot July

2008-07-14T21:32:00.001-07:00

Hike in the Rockies. That's my only cool suggestion for handling this awful heat we're going through this month. Up here in Pinewood it's actually bearable. Of course, my husband built a wonderful "green" house that is unbelievably insulated so that I still have to wear sweaters when I watch T.V. downstairs in the evening. But driving down in Boulder is horrid. I have to blast the air

Copper Nickel's Women Writing the West

2008-06-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

For several days now, we have been struggling to pull up water from our well. Our pump burned out, literally. It's always been that way with us up here. Either not enough water and you've got to fracture the well, or your pump burns out. So, we've been heaving buckets of water up from the neighbor's house that my husband and sons are remodeling. Mark, the owner, doesn't mind. I used his

Spring's Sacred Bird

2008-05-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

End of May. Spring is fast ending—at least as it is interpreted by May. Between graduation parties, weddings, work and more work, I've barely had the chance to enjoy the cool, pale green grasses and tiny wildflowers that are scattered across the trail I walk on every day to get to my mother-in-law's house. At 88, she still gardens like mad, but she totters more, so I like to check on her. We have

Needles and Nerves

2008-05-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

A canyon wren's call is a lovely sound. A claretcup cactus in full, blood-red bloom is a spectacular sight. I thought of these things as I lay on my back with the acupuncture needles protruding from my ears, head, feet and legs. All this to quiet my nerves and to help with the painful dystonia in my feet, particularly the right foot that has a penchant to twist inward in the early mornings and

The Audacity of Advertising

2008-03-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

The new Volume VIII of Many Mountains Moving is out and it's gorgeous! If you would like to purchase a copy, go to our website: www.mmminc.org or send $12 to MMM, 549 Rider Ridge Drive, Longmont, CO 80501.A poem I like from this journal:Brown ChristYesterday, I saw GodA Brown Christ hoveringAbove an onion fieldOver tilled plains of ColoradoFrayed constellations of denimOx hide work bootBroken at

Happy Easter!

2008-03-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

Every particle of matter is a Christ: each one come from nothing to be nothing. The portions tell a different aspect of the story. The horses,for example, with their heads in séance, illustrate the final moments of hislife: the sad glance down. The stone: his face with eyes closed. The eel: hisspirit swimming up.-David KeplingerFrom "The Prayers of Others"

Oh Bright Hollow That Is NYC

2008-02-05T16:03:00.000-08:00

Well, most writers this week will be blogging about the AWP in New York City last week and how much it resembled a hurricane or a paradiso terrestre, depending on your point of view. I think there were 7,000 people in attendance. And such stunning poets reading like Yusef Komunyakaa & Sharon OldsBut what can you say about NYC that hasn't already been said? It is surreal and in the winter with the

A New Year: The Panache of Pound & McCarthy & of course Rachel

2008-01-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

Thy quiet house.And Ezra Pound's Drafts & Fragments of Cantos CX-CXVII.The month of December was one in which I woke exualtant and now I am only too happy to have a quiet house. My children (grown men at that) make me so happy at Christmas that I can literally "see with the eyes of coral or turquoise."The last literary discussion I was involved in was with the Bay area poet Joseph Lease. I asked

Little Apple

2007-12-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

I.A woman who looks in the mirrorsees behind her shapes much like herself:blue heron in tree pose,heliotrope Chinese Houses in the garden.II.A woman who bathesin water like glass,feels it shatter inside her. In her mouth,cross as a gull’s beak,sea stars shorn from salt marsh. III.A woman who breaks a branchof a manzanita,desires its color,the red so like a garnet fastened to the sun.IV. A woman

Oil Spills & Garbage

2007-12-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

We did not see any signs of the recent Bay Area oil spill when we were at Half Moon Bay over Thanksgiving, though a ranger told us we might. We did see tiny snowy plovers nesting deep in sandy footprints. They seemed unconcerned by the surf. They would fly up all at once with such clean incision, like white crescent shells cutting the sky.We also saw a blue, rubber surgical glove that had been

Going Backwards

2007-11-19T21:24:00.000-08:00

"Sparrows shoot over the white earth."-Noah Eli GordonI forgot to write about September. The perfect outline of trees against the sky that folds itself into yellow. These green-going-to-yellow, writes Marvin Bell. There is yellow behind everything always. Always the tint of eternity. A field of white flowers before yellow. The grasses and mullein holding in the noise of creatures. Everything in

Moth Art

2007-10-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Small moth pressed betweena manilla file folderand several loose pages of poetry.Flattened transfigurationof wings cover poem words:ice, light.No sign of pulp,in its arrested whorl,just the quiet smalt I brush my hand across,feeling blue-fanned ashes between fingers no better than assassins,the silken pleasureof body-charcoal smudging the page, adding landscape,sky.-Barbara Sorensenpublished in

Consignment Shopping & Pedicures

2007-10-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

So I was shopping today at a consignment shop in Boulder and clicking through the hangers with some fast-paced women on either side of me who were oozing with the zealous mission to grab the newest items off the racks. And I realized that the consignment shop was oh so wonderully snobby because they did not take certain BRANDS. Most of the BRANDS they did not take were the kind you see at J.C.

Favorite clips of eddie izzard

2007-10-24T09:36:00.001-07:00

If you haven't listened to him before, you're in for a treat! Fun times!

Redress

2007-10-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

(From the Floral Radiographs of Steven N. Meyers:Amaryllis, Mountain Fire Pieris, Fern Forest, Rose Petals, Dogwood Blossoms, Four Callas, Foxglove Ballet, Columbine #2)“Flesh, our one possession, the heart is its own redress.”-Matthew CoppermanA doctor peers at x-raysand sees what she knows:spalled bones,mass on a skull,small spills of cells.At night she dreams these things change,that in the