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Field Notes
Wild irises spring up after the daffodils line the city streets, after the trillium dot the animal paths in the forest. Wild irises, tiny, delicate, purple, and white, are no match for the beasty ornamental varieties, of which three flowers can fill out a vase. But still, I prefer them wild. Wild irises hint that…
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Thank You for Funding Our Anthology!
Freeing Our Frozen Songs: Transmuting Pain to Power contributorsLeft to right: Mikell, Terah, Crystal, McKenzie, Kaid, Kirsten, Kaya, Meg and Abigail; Not pictured: JC Smith We did…together! In November, 87 backers pledged a total of $6,201 to support our independently published anthology Freeing Our Frozen Songs: Transmuting Pain to Power. We want to sincerely thank…
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Book Reveal! Freeing Our Frozen Songs: Transmuting Pain to Power
Hello faithful readers, I trust the seasonal changes, wherever you may be, are inspiring you to slow down, go inward, and savor the feeling of autumn’s presence. Those things are certainly true for me. On top of it being a very special time of year, the time of year that my daughter and I both…
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Killing My Darlings at the Colonyhouse
Late August brought with it my long anticipated road trip north to the historic Oregon Writers Colony Colonyhouse in Rockaway Beach, Oregon. A trip I’d been planning for a year. The time to “kill my darlings” had finally come. I’m quoting William Faulkner there. He was speaking to the act of “letting go of the…
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Dancing With Daisies
“What makes you so special?” “Nothing and everything all at once.” Shasta daisies always bring to mind Spring, 1989, and the kindness of strangers. I was four years old at the time, the same age my daughter is now. I was one of a dozen other mini ballerinas parading across the stage at Crescent Elk…
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Half Sweet
I want to know your antidotes for bitternesswhat you hang on the walls of your soul to help soften all those hard edgesyou know the onesthe ones that lol because you thoughtafter rounding the corner to thirty fiveall would be well and fineand you’d have all you ever wantedbut you don’t(you have more than all…
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Laughing
You’re no fun,they told me I couldn’t help but picturemyself hanging upside downon a tree branch laughing marchingup the hillsidein search of wildflowersand fungi singing one of myfavorite songs Dear Prudence You’re no fun,they told me I couldn’t help but pictureDad’s obituary, which I wrotea few short months ago,and likenedhim to Christand got his age…
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If I Took My Grief Out to Lunch
Dear Reader, Throughout the month of October I, along with a small group of other writers, wrote about loss in “Write Your Grief Out” with Anne and Maria Gudger. Here is one excerpt from that period, based on the prompt “If you took your grief out to lunch, what would you talk about?” If I…
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What Matters Most
I shouldn’t still be thinking about the earrings I wore on the day of our wedding on Sunday, May 22, 2022, but I am. I’d wanted to convey that, despite Dad’s passing less than three weeks earlier, I was OK. It was all good and everything was fine. But when I look back at the…
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Town
There is nothing more difficultI believethan relaxing Than just being We are human beingsNot human doingsYet who out there is willingto “just be” with me? My most treasured doingsare workingthen eatingthen shoppingthen teching outthen vapingin no particular order I am not doing a very good job of setting myself upto just be Upon wakingI am…