I had a very interesting conversation last night about mentors, submissions, and punctuation. My friend, in a moment that sounded a lot like despair, wanted to know where her mentor was. “I can’t do this myself,” she said. I know of a few amazing mentor stories. A woman whose teacher sent her poetry manuscript to […]
This is how I remember work on the farm — a picture of my dad (beside the wagon) and either a brother or cousin on top. We cut the hay, raked it (see my poem, “The Hayrake”), shocked the hay into big stacks, loaded it on the wagon, and used a huge fork on a pulley to […]
Begin Again is the title of a collection of Grace Paley’s poetry. It’s also an excellent title for a short blogpost about my weekend at the farm. My nephew and his family are now living there. There is a wading pool in the back yard, a tricycle and a bicycle with training wheels and a […]
Two days ago my friend Shawna visited. She brought me two bird candles and a stone with the word “stillness” etched on it. Today, in Barbara Abercrombie’s A Year of Writing Dangerously (which I highly recommend), I came across this: “To be engaged in reading a book or in writing, to connect to your inner […]