Please tell our readers a bit about yourself. I am a recently retired BSN RN. I've been in nursing for forty-three years and worked in a wide assortment of areas. For the most part, nursing didn't fit me. I was drawn to it in the beginning because I wanted to help people. I found instead a career involved with policies, procedures, paperwork and frantic rushing. People got lost in the push of healthcare to become corporate. Nursing no longer fed my soul. This sent me on a quest for spiritual nourishment which led to meditation, Edgar Cayce, Joel Goldsmith, Florence Shinn and others. I was at a meditation class in Manhattan talking at break with the teacher. She looked me in the eye and asked me if I was a writer. Then said I should do it. So, I went home and tried my hand at writing. Poetry spoke to my heart and became my medium. “Pelican Peace” is your first book, correct? How does it feel to be a published author?
Actually, it seems very strange. When I walk by and see a copy of it lying on my table it always gives me a moment of shock. Then it makes me smile. I've had twenty-something poems published individually in anthologies here in the US and one in the UK. Initially, that was fun but lost its luster after a while. The book was a long time coming and took a great deal of energy and focus to bring into form. When it was finally published I thought I was done, LOL. I had no clue about the work that comes after bringing to the attention of others. What prompted you to begin writing poetry?
I have always, always loved the rhythm and rhyme of poetry. It touches the soul and brings a sense of balance and satisfaction. Well written verse soothes the ruffled places inside us. When my meditation teacher sent me home to write it was a quick step to poetry. It speaks to my soul. How does a poem begin for you, with an idea , a form or an image?
It always begins with a feeling. The feeling is triggered by a circumstance in the world or in my life or another's life, a scene of beauty in nature, colors, scents, sounds, seasons. I translate that feeling into words that others can feel and experience too. Why did you settle on poetry as the vehicle to tell your story?
Painting feelings with rhythm and rhyme makes me happy. It flows from within and brings me contentment and satisfaction. The process feeds my soul and fills a void my career never could.
As you write, do you have a vision of a certain audience for your poetry?
I speak to one person. I'm looking at myself in a mirror and speaking to my own heart. If a real person in my outer world triggers a feeling that triggers a poem, then I am talking to that one person. When someone else reads that poem they feel they are that one person being addressed. It's a one to one communication. I loved reading" Solitary Walker." With the hustle and bustle of our busy lives it can be so easy for us to forget to relax and just enjoy the simple things. Tell our readers a bit about the inspiration behind your poem “Solitary Walker.”
A friend of mine was sent to a conference at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Her accommodation was a large room beach front but she would be at the conference all day for three days. A waste, right? So she invited me and another friend to go with her and enjoy the room and beach while she was at the conference. Even though the weather one of those days threatened a storm the beauty and feelings of peace on the beach during my early morning walk opened the door for this poem to flow out. If you could pass along only one piece of advice to fellow poets, what would it be?
Poetry comes from the depths of you. You have to go within, feel what's there in your heart and soul and open that door for it to come out. That's where the clarity and passion reside. Without those your poetry will not live. If it doesn't live and breathe it cannot touch another person, cannot move them to feel or experience something within themselves through your words. If it can't do that, what good is it? What can we expect next from you?
My vision is a series of books using the "Peace" theme begun by "Pelican Peace". I'm feeling the next book will be "Park Walking Peace". Like "Pelican Peace" the poems chosen will be paired with color photographs from nature walks in the park, colors, textures, scenes that bring a bit of peace to the chaos of life.
Pelican Peace is about sea, sky and sand. It is a collection of poems paired with lovely photographs of the beach offering a bit of peace in a chaotic world. Soft cover, color photographs, well crafted verse in a book suitable for coffee table presentation or a gift for a special friend. Peilcan Peace paints feelings and experiences by the sea in rhythm and rhyme.
About the author:
The author has been writing since 1974, the year she graduated with a BS in Nursing. Her poems have been published in anthologies the US and the UK. Pelican Peace is her first published book released in March of this year. Oddly, this is the same month she retired from nursing. Walking in nature has always been her joy. Whether at the local park or beside the ocean, being with nature is a source of peace and inspiration.
Buy the book:
Trafford Publishing: https://tinyurl.com/ya8bus9v Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/ycp9g9wo Barnes and Noble: https://tinyurl.com/ycr55fs3
www.letuttle.com (coming soon)