My Poem “Running on Air “Included in the Poetic Visions Anthology 

Thank you for visiting My News, followers. Kevin Campbell, thank you for inviting me to enter the Poetic Visions Competition and for all your work to promote poetry and poetry slams.  

I’m sorry for my huge hiatus. Since my last blog, Barry and I have moved. At times, we’ve felt as if the ground has been pulled out from under our feet. Our downsizing has been difficult, but we’re both looking forward to being inspired by our new backyard full of squirrels scurrying around our huge tree.

If you’ve read my Silent Series, you may have gathered I identify with squirrels. Like the little rodents, I gather and store things for later and played in trees when I was young. Owning a tree house writing space or a houseboat topped my bucket list for years. 

In her book, You’ve Got a Book in You, Elizabeth Sims, one of my mentors, suggests writers find their garret, a place to be alone to think and write. Ideally, my special writing spot would be a tree house or houseboat because reading and writing are my forms of escapism. To write I must fantasize, daydream, and leave troubles behind me.

As a tree hugger and Pisces, I look to nature in the form of a houseboat or a tree house to restore my normal Pollyanna attitude. I’m optimistic, but not foolhardy. Our less lofty lanai will suffice in lieu of an expensive tree house or boat. For now, I’m being a realist. The pandemic and the attack on our nation’s Capitol forced my transformation.

But my feet aren’t planted on the ground yet. Like Jack Mitchell’s Bill Cratty, the gelatin silver print that inspired my ekphrastic poem I responded to in the Museum of  Art’s Poetic Vision Poetry Competition, I plan to spend some time running on air. I’m still racing toward better days.