Excerpt
INTRODUCTION
It has taken many years for my poems to find their voice, though I knew that they were inside of me, waiting to emerge.
Some of my earliest poems were within me even as a child. I remember looking up at the sky and feeling a deep connection to nature. I didn’t know I would turn my feelings and observations into poetry, but I knew I was an empath with a poet’s heart. I trusted life enough to believe that if it were meant to be, it would manifest.
Petals of Love is a collection of my poetry written between 1990 and the present. My poems explore relationships, love, family, places I’ve been, nature, beauty, and events. They also include a collection of sixteen Haiku.
In 1990, at forty-seven years old, I started writing in earnest while living in Madison, AL, near Lady Anne Lake. I loved those days when I would take my blanket and sit near the nascent weeping willow, taking in the peace and beauty that surrounded me.
Out came my pen and pad, and a new poem was being born!
I loved the creative act of writing a poem. I was drawn into a beautiful liminal space, where time didn’t exist, only the meeting of the head and the heart in their special dance. Creating a poem is a joyful and precious place to be; it manifests from the soul level and is a profound process.
When I moved to Florida in 1996, my days were busy with students and teaching, and I was on a strict schedule; my poetry’s expression would have to wait.
Unbeknownst to me, however, my poems were being incubated!
In 2005, when I realized my sister’s health was deteriorating from cancer, I felt compelled to sit down at my laptop and compose a poem that would express the deep love we had for each other.
I spent many hours composing "Morning Glory Morning" and completed it in early November of 2005. My urgency stemmed from my desire to sit with my sister and share the poem, which depicted a beautiful memory of our early years together.
Several days before my sister transitioned, I sat with her and read the poem. She looked up at me and said, “Those were wonderful days.” I will always have the memory of her looking lovingly into my eyes, knowing that what we shared was very special.
Our time together was pure and loving, and I knew I could reach her in a way that transcended time and place—poetry made that possible.
I always experience unbound joy while I am in the process of writing a new poem. Perhaps it is because it’s the place where I am most at home.
I have been privileged to teach nursing students and practice as an advanced practice nurse in gerontology and holistic nursing. I have delved into astrology’s depths and have done consultations, and am the author of Jupiter Remembered and Until It’s Time: Embracing Life in Our Later Years.
I am very proud of my accomplishments and have come to realize that being a poet may define me more than anything else. Writing poetry always brings me back to my youngest self - to that little girl who loved to look out her window and wonder about life and all its mysteries. Poetry truly honors her.
 
EMERGENCE
(In honor of finding our true natures)

It patiently waits,
Through those many years
Of trials and experimentation,
Of beginnings and endings,
Of striving and searching,
Always with tears.

It patiently waits,
For your readiness to change
To a fluid form,
Unfettered by expectations
Ready to discover
Your Self to be born.

It patiently waits
To honor your potential,
Re-forming,
Allowing,
For you to arrive
At wisdom’s gate.

It patiently waits
For you to come,
Alone and free,
And when you do,
The dancing can begin
among the buttercups...
Finally, as one.



DEEP IN SPRING
(Sitting as I did that day at Lady Anne Lake in Madison, AL, 1992; it was almost as if I became Spring itself, green, fresh, and new.)

At her first awakening
With air rich in budded breeze,
I sat neath a newborn willow,
to experience the arrival of Spring.

Though many spots were there for me to light
The willow beckoned me the most.
I found her through a special eye,
Born of intuit and loved sight.

Somehow, we were one that day,
Deep in Spring's unfolding,
Sharing our special qualities,
Gathered by each along our ways.

I recall, hence the gifts we shared,
On that day of springtime's promise.
For I gave to the willow my joy at her birth,
And received the strength of her innocence.