A house of music and books raised me, along with two dedicated parents, a flutist/journalist father, and a visual artist/interior-designer mother. At an early age, I was thus scandalously and irrevocably seduced by the world of art. Rocking my crib rhythmically at age 2, and nearly down a staircase in an absurd mode of transport (cribs had wheels then and parents were missing a few gears), I was tagged as musical, and by age 6, having started piano, was heard correcting my mother's plunked piano notes from another room, evincing perfect pitch. I could have played baseball, but hitting balls to anywhere has never been of interest, though I took an untoward liking to tetherball in fourth grade.  At age nine, I began a scrapbook,  composed my first piano piece, and at 11, performed that piece in recital, and began my diary (which I still maintain). I became hooked on positive feedback, both external and by extension, internal.  A chemical imbalance in the brain has rendered me a depressive, although I have no diagnosis, and am now, in midlife, a walking ideopath, a contellation of ridiculous, teasing symptoms, and a near-complete insomniac, or what some call a "lucubrate." Muses torment me chronically, to my delight and damnation.  My greatest influences in literature, in developing a social conscience (earth's ecology), and a more general one which remains ineffable were, respectively, Florence Crooke (literature), James Stephens (science) and Carol Umphrey (math).  I became passionate over T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and literature in general, with a special place in my heart (I don't believe in hearts, so, basically, mind) for poetry. I edited the high school newspaper and co-edited the literary magazine.   In college, I  ddouble-majored in English and Philosophy, graduating from the University of NC (Chapel Hill) and Emory University (Atlanta), with Master's work in both English and (a half-go-round: 9 courses) in Psychology.   As an adult, I have performed compositions in concert in Georgia, Florida, and Colorado, to which I relocated in 1993. I married a brilliant man, also a poet, who has nurtured my writing and composing, and at age 40 took up painting and have had many shows.  Struggling with short stories and children's books has gone nowhere; everything shapes up to a poem. My greatest poetic loves include of Lawrence Durrell, John Keats, John Donne, Dylan Thomas, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robinson Jeffers, Conrad Aiken, Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Delmore Schwartz, Sidney Lanier, and Leonard Cohen, to name but a few.  A member of Poetry West, serving as past Salon Co-ordinator and current Co-Vice President, and newsletter substitute editor, I have had the extreme pleasure of meeting several incredible poets there, Yousuf Zaigham, Lois Beebe Hayna, and Karen Sucharski among them.  Currently, I am self-flagellating to keep a New Year's resolution to write a poem a day. I call these PODs. I am a severe and relentless reviser.  Art is my god, and god must be good.  The real world is my inspiration and nemesis.  I perform poetry whenever possible, am working on my first manuscript, and my favorite outlet at this time is poetry to the background of acid-rock jazz.  Go figure. Generally, there is no real explanation for the creature that is I.