I have been writing poetry most of my life, in May of 2002 I overheard a bicyclist friend say, "If you are a biker, you got to ride." I sat and listened to him say this several times, the words penetrated me and translated into, "If you are a poet, you got to read." That very month I started reading my writing at open mikes again.
PUBLICATIONS AND AWARDS
My chapbook "Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails her Blues." is written in honor of the over one hundred clients and friends who have died from AIDS complications. It is published by Finishing Line Press. You can order it on their website as well as on Amazon.
Garrison Keillor Featured my poem
"Only What I Can Do" on December 17, 2007
Read and listen to him read it: THE WRITER'S ALMANAC
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REVIEWS OF MY CHAPBOOK
Reviewed in by Georgia Banks-Martin in the Books section of Her Circle Ezine
Reviewed by Jen Garfield in Prick of the Spindle, Issue 2.1—Chapbook Collective Review,
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Hear me read from Case Walking
Featuring poet David Rowe, from New Orleans, reading first (April 6, 2008)
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April 21, 2008 I read on KBOO, Portland Radio, with poet Ellen Bass. This is not yet on podcast; I will post it when it is available!
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My Poem A Family Visit is in the newly released anthology: Letters to the World Pomes from the Wom-Po LISTSERV. Eight local poets read from this book on April 17th, 2008 at the University of Washington.
You can link to a reproduction of my poem, The Wrong Funeral, it was the featured poem July 2003 in The Writers Hood Internet literary journal.
My poem Sunshine is published in Arnazella, 2007, Bellevue Community College's yearly literary journal.
The journal Arabesques has published several of my poems: Borderlines and We Carry Our Dead are in their issue Colors, my poem Face to Face with Audre Lorde is published in their Contemporary Women Writers issue.
Winter 2005 my poem Methadone Wanderer is published on the online journal MindFire.
January 2005 my poem Invisible world was published in Off The Coast, a journal from Bristol, Maine. Recent poems are in Main Street Rag, Pontoon #8, The Healing Muse, and Tattoos on Cedar, the second annual Anthology of the Washington Poets Association.
I was awarded Third Prize for the "Unfinished Works Competition" sponsored by AIDS Services Foundation Orange County. As prize winner, my poem death walk was published in their exhibition catalogue. I read my poem at their exhibition opening ceremony on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2005
"The theme of "Unfinished Work" is meant to symbolize all that remains to be done in helping those affected with HIV/AIDS and to prevent the spread of HIV. While we have seen many medical breakthroughs and people are living longer, healthier lives, many are still facing on-going illness and infection reates are continuing to rise. With no cure or vacination on the horizon, we are likely to be battling this epidemic for years to come. What lies ahead is our "unfinished work." Each submission should reflect the artist's hope, desparation, celebration, fear, or dream about HIV/AIDS and the work left to be done." It was a juried show with catagories of Visual arts, Multi-Media/Film, Creative Writing, and Music. The poetry judge was Eloise Klein Healy. Poet Eloise Klein Healy the founding chair of Antioch LA's pioneering MFA in Creative Writing program.
My erotica writing was published in Penitalia Collegiate Erotica at the University of Washington. They published my first story, Grab Bag Moon in their Summer 2004 issue.
Two poems of mine are published in Knock, Fall 2004, published by Antioch's University Seattle. Las Cruces Poets and Writers Magazine has my poetry in their September and November 2004 issues, I was featured in an interview in their March 2005 issue.
I have two poems published in the text CD "Under a Silver Sky: An Anthology of Pacific Northwest Poetry, Volume 1," published in July 2003 through Evergreen College. This CD is not available for sale but will be in Northwest college libraries as a research tool for people interested in the poetry of this reagion. I will post updates as I am published.
In November 2002 I began my study of Dangerous Writing in Portland, Oregon with Tom Spanbauer and his group of fiction writers. In July 2003 I attended the Haystack Arts Program with their five day intensive; this work has broadened my writing.
My first performance poetry piece was on July 26, 2003 at Joan Laage's "Intimate Stage." It was titled "The Wailing Wall" with a fifteen minute spoken-art CD background called "Wall of Death." This CD was put together by my technical wizard friend and co-worker Joe Plotts. It was composed totally with my voice in several variations, one of my poems was slowed down to total breath, in the background are my wails, and whispers from my Case Walking manuscript. I improvised Continuum movement and poetry throughout the fifteen minute piece. Joe has done a project interviewing people with AIDS; he compiled photographs and audio stories; click on his name to access his website, Venacular, and hear his work.
**On July 21, 2008, 7:30 pm I will perform "The Wailing Wall" again at the Continuum Studio in Santa Monica, CA.**
Continuum
I have been studying Continuum movement with its founder, Emily Conrad, and co-founder, Susan Harper, since 1988. In 1996, 1997 and 2001 and 2004 I attended Emilie Conrad and Rebecca Mark's "Poetry in Motion" intensives. The combination of Continuum movement and writing inspired and enflamed my passion for writing. It added an essential integration of the thoughts, feelings and images that Continuum evokes. I have taken advanced classes including Susan Harper's "Em'oceans and Sensations," which intergrate Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing work, as well as Continuum's "Beginning Teacher Training." Susan Harper runs groups through Continuum Montage.
Herbal and Wild Food Enthusiast
An article I wrote for Health Corner was republished in Susun Weed's December 2003 Ezine, link to it here, Herbal Wise.