My love for words has been lifelong; I am an avid reader and books like The Secret Garden and A Wrinkle In Time (even Home For a Bunny!) helped form my character and soul.

The ability to express myself in poetry was a lifesaver, for the written word speaks into silence and brings hope--that's how I made it through adolescence!

Yet there's a tension between the written word and the spoken word--the spoken word is alive, with breath, with laughter--and the written word attempts to take a moment out of time--is necessarily artificial--artifice,artifact,art--and yet, through some magic--it remains, while unchanging, ever-new--for even the artist has changed (one hopes) when viewing/hearing/experiencing again.

I want poetry to be useful. To be used. Somehow through poetry I am brought to a place of wonder--a place that moving meditation takes me, too. It's a means to an end for me--communication with the world, with the Beloved, with the Divine, with the Other, with myself. So it's not about being published for me, it's about connecting.  Poetry and teaching are part of my spiritual practice.

I've worked with the lower grades, K-3 as a visiting poet. I've done poetry walks with Kinders, and coaxed from them both individual and group haiku. I've watched them read their poems aloud in front of their classmates and in front of a wider audience on the community stage. I've worked with older adults using writing to help in their life transitions; I’ve had the privilege of working with some exceptional classroom teachers. And I have had joy in the students and the work itself.

Whatever brings me to Truth, Beauty, and Bliss--that's Art. That's my life.

Links:

My Facebook Page

Laughter Yoga

I'm now a certified Laughter Yoga Leader--laughter for world peace and enlightenment... 

The Shift Network

The Apocalyptic Picnic, my blog 

Democracy, published in New Verse News, June 2006, (scroll down to June 20) 

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

Teachers and Writers Collaborative 

Poets & Writers

 Goodreads.com

Librarything 

Flor y Canto

Poetry is the song of the heart
the spirit’s flower

In the beginning
was the first song:
voice of stars and fire
voice of water
green voice of trees

Words have power
words bring into being

the song of the heart
the spirit’s flower

While bombs are falling
flowers of blood
let us teach the children poetry

Sing a new song
make a new world