Readers and writers both take journeys. I started the journey writing Tales From a Teaching Life: Vignettes in Verse as my teaching career was winding down. I wanted to capture the stories that I told and retold over the years. The opening poem, "The Writing," lets readers in on my process. I really did begin each day thinking the poems before I even got up. I wanted them to spin out in my head before I committed the first draft to paper. I invite the reader along on my journey. I hope that teachers who read the book will resonate with my experiences; I hope that non-teachers will have an insider's view of what the day to day, decade to decade life of a teacher is like.
The writing journey for Elephant of Sadness, Butterfly of Joy started during pandemic. The phrase "elephant of sadness" just came to me, because the weight of sadness about what was going on in the world was huge. We awakened each morning to news of more sadness. The notion of coupling emotions with animals then sent me on a quest: I looked up the wheel of emotions; I researched animals; I rifled through strong memories of moments with animals; and poem by poem, the collection grew. I hope that the book will invite readers to take their own writing journey, using the pattern of the text to create their own metaphors and write their own poems. Hope, if you do, that you'll send me your poems on the contact me page.