Looking back, I never liked English class and the interpretation of poems - or any literature for that matter. It didn’t seem to make much sense. I was horrible at it. Just ask my English teacher, who is still my friend today.

At the end of my first marriage, I was grieving the loss of my world as a stay-at-home mom for 16 years. Every part of my life was turning upside down. I walked, meditated, drew, cried, and screamed long into the night, just enough to be able to breathe. My family was being ripped apart. My reality was walking away into the middle of the night. Never to be seen again. It was heartwrenching. I knew if I did nothing, I would lose myself. I later wrote a poem about this time called Surrender.

My poems are influenced by the ancient Persian greats, Rumi and Hafiz, whose writings I happened upon during a meditative weekend retreat. Their love of nature, the human spirit, and inner human turmoil lit a fire in me. One night after meeting a young lover I sat down to write. The Night Collection was born. And so was my love of writing short poems. When reading this collection, you will see that two of of these poems mirror one another. First reading Anticipation and then Desire reflects the same scene from two different perspectives. I was imagining my young lover, standing outside my front door with torrid visions floating in his head. While I, on the other side, felt my heart racing as I approached the door to let him in. Ahhh, Anticipation and Desire!

You could say my writing has become a form of therapy. Now it is clear to me what Poetry is: an art form of human expression. A translation of our human experience throughout life’s seasons. It can be seen as either dark and cold or breath-taking goodness and light. That decision is left up to the interpreter and their lens. With that as my guide to living the experience of what I call my life, I have written over 300 poems in hopes to get them published. That day has come.

For now, that is my story, and these are my poems – so far. I am a lover of people. Passionately expressive. Fascinated by our nature, the human spirit, and how it translates into what we call life, I remain inspired. This will never change.