“It happens this way” are the opening words from a poem of mine called “A Few Words on Inspiration.” They signal that this blog will share what inspires me to stand up – like poet Galway Kinnell – and say “with as little concealment as possible, what it is for [me] to be on earth at this moment.”
Welcome to the journey!
From Italy and Albania with Love
By popular request, here is the original interview in English with Irma Kurti. If anyone speaks either language, let me know how she did! Your poems have appeared in more ...
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Remembering 9/11
It happens this way … Twenty years ago today, I settled in the front row of a hotel conference room after delivering a management training presentation to 300 people in ...
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“About Nothing”: An Early Spring Poem for the End of August
It happens this way … When Sarah Law, the editor of the UK-based Amethyst Review, accepted “About Nothing,” I was delighted. But when she told me she scheduled this early ...
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Fifteen Thoughts for the Last Thursday of August
It happens this way … My name is Carolyn and I am a collector of quotations. I have files and files of them that I occasionally re-read for inspiration or ...
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Breaking News: God’s Rewilding Plan Leaked
It happens this way … Not being super tech-savvy, I just discovered last week that I can add audio-recordings to my blog posts. Since some of you told me you ...
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The Catalog of Small Contentments Launched
It happens this way … Yesterday I had the pleasure of reading from my new poetry collection with two fine poets from New York at The Poetry Box’s monthly show ...
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To Each Her Saint
It happens this way … Happy Father’s Day to all our dads –– here and gone. Mine died in 1998 at the age of 80 after quadruple by-pass surgery. John ...
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Memorializing Gratitude
It happens this way … On this Memorial Day Weekend, I’d like to share something that arrived in my inbox a few weeks ago. Two friends had been emailing back ...
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Happy April Fools’ Day
It happens this way … For all you lovers of jokes, pranks, hoaxes, and punks, this is your day to shine – or, according to Merriam-Webster Online, to behave foolishly, ...
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Let’s Celebrate February 2
It Happens This Way … It’s Candlemas Day: the half-way point between the December Solstice and the March Equinox. This day was important to farmers. As an old English song ...
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To resolve or not
It happens this way … I hate New Year’s resolutions. They always seem a set-up for disappointment, guilt, and self-incrimination. Then I came upon this wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh ...
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The art of feeding birds
It happens this way … One early winter years ago, I felt a twinge of empathy for all the birds scrounging for food around our yard. I hadn’t gotten into ...
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Order Nothing More to Lose
It happens this way… Therese and Carolyn with their preview copies Thanks to all of you who have already pre-ordered Nothing More to Lose, my poetry chapbook based on based ...
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In the Season of Geese
It Happens This Way … Since it’s that time of year when flocks of noisy geese migrate across our skies, I thought I’d reach back to a poem I wrote ...
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Nothing More to Lose
It happens this way … For several years I had been playing with the idea of writing a series of poems based on the journey of a dear friend whose ...
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Permit Me to Scream
It happens this way … The words appeared in the comments section of a Facebook post. The post was a video clip by a black activist who argued brilliantly — ...
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Fresh air, blue skies, and RBG
It happens this way … It’s been months since I opened this page to write a blog. So much has happened since last June — some depressing, some discouraging, some ...
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Calling All Creatives …
It happens this way … Like most of you, I keep searching for ways to stay sane during these challenging times. When I can’t write or garden, I’m out in ...
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Challenges for a Non-Pet Person
It happens this way … My local friends are probably tired hearing about the anxiety I’ve been feeling — not about important issues like the virus or riots — but ...
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Anything Is Possible at 75
It happens this way … I’ve been in love with the dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp ever since I read her book The Creative Habit, Learn it and Use It for Life ...
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Around the corner
It happens this way … One of the minor disappointments during this time of quarantine is not being able to make my annual pilgrimage to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden ...
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A Sunday Thought
It happens this way … Last Sunday at 8:00 a.m. I was standing on a long line of folks waiting to get into Home Depot. Masked and unmasked, we were ...
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An Easter Sunday Memory
It happens this way … In 1970 I was a Sister of Mercy and an English teacher at Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hill, NJ. When Easter Sunday arrived ...
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Welcome to my new blog site
It happens this way … Why use two sites when one will do? In the name of simplicity and frugality — and with the help of Shawn Aveningo-Sanders, my favorite ...
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Ode to Toilet Paper
It happens this way … Sometimes levity is the best reaction to today’s news. Here’s the lightest of light verse. Ode to Toilet Paper Oh, what enticing names: Angel Soft, ...
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Sharing Sight with Monet
It happens this way … Thanks to Jacinta, Petra, and Aimee for publishing “Eye-minded” in the Spring 2020 issue of their glorious magazine. Snapdragon: a journal of art and healing ...
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Poetry in English and Arabic
It happens this way … Next Saturday, March 7, from 2-4 p.m. the Ledding Library in Milwaukie, Oregon, will host its annual bilingual poetry reading. The event is a collaboration ...
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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
It happens this way … I just finished reading Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb. Gottlieb is a therapist who not only shares her experiences with challenging patients, ...
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