Learning to Let Go

My husband and I loaded the kids, the dog, and everything else we needed for a couple days on the road into the car late Friday morning. He’d already been into work earlier that morning, into which time I’d tried to force an entire day’s worth of grading, emailing, and student meetings while our threeContinue reading “Learning to Let Go”

Stubborn or Naïve

Undeterred a new explorer slips through the waterfall, dodging gray, crumbling blocks of the world we coated with layers of paint until we hid its curves and built its locks, sidesteps pebbles for unknown reaches where our souls don’t live for paper notes and clocks but dreams that blossom from dawn’s promises before we learnedContinue reading “Stubborn or Naïve”

First published poems!

Some days, I liken writing poetry to stringing my heart and soul up on the clothesline for everyone to see, but there’s a beauty in sharing our deepest words. I have two particularly honest/intimate poems up at Flora Fiction’s Spring 2022 issue about New Beginnings, “Sunrise” and “Writer, Revisited”. Check out the free download hereContinue reading “First published poems!”

Poem: Love Sprouts

Fog concealed the ghosts riding through our damp fields, forging their haunts in valleys still tingling with frosty breath and grassy hair. They ask questions I can’t answer about men who start wars and women who pick up the pieces and swear history won’t repeat. Are we driven to chisel our bricked hearts, our doubtsContinue reading “Poem: Love Sprouts”

Little Bits of Celebration

Here’s the literary magazine I refer to in the video: Flora Fiction. Check them out and give my poems a little love when the spring issue comes out. 🙂 Also, since recording this video earlier today, I received the news from my husband that our middle child is recovering from his surgery and doing well!Continue reading “Little Bits of Celebration”

A Lesson in Resilience

I’m working on two writing projects at the moment: one is a novel and one is nonfiction. The novel is a thoughtful sort of love story that is as concerned about the characters’ growth as it is with romance. It explores issues that are important to me, including life as a young cancer survivor. ThereContinue reading “A Lesson in Resilience”

Two Under Two Plus Cancer

NOTE: I originally wrote this piece two years ago, in February 2020, while going through chemotherapy for stage 3 breast cancer. Though times have changed, my kids are still crazy. I had a really weird dream the other night. I was in a dimly-lit room, a combination movie theatre/computer lab/lecture hall. A large projector screenContinue reading “Two Under Two Plus Cancer”

Press Restart

The other weekend, my husband and I took the kids sledding on a little hill behind our house. Even though it was only just barely above zero, we were bundled up warmly, and the kids screamed with laughter as they flew down the hill. Our youngest child bounced over a particularly wavy patch of frozenContinue reading “Press Restart”

Poem: Koi Pond

Wonder gleams in your eyes as sunlight breaks the pond’s surface. I wonder at your reckless joy, the way you tumble with cartwheeling legs for refuge in our arms. Handfuls of small, sand-colored pebbles Scatter the water until– Plop! You shriek and leap with every splash, pointing at tangerine streaks of life and bubbles thatContinue reading “Poem: Koi Pond”