The last time I posted was 10 months ago, to let readers know that I had a new book out: 5-7-5: a daily haiku journal. That book seems to have made many people quite happy and I love when someone who got a copy of it says, “I have been keeping up with writing a daily haiku!” I wasn’t sure people would take on that challenge, but I’m glad to know that a few folks have done so. It does warm my heart to know that people are observing the world and writing about it utilizing this brief, daily meditative practice.
Now, I have a new book to share: Sheboygan Occasions, something I had been dreaming about as my time as Sheboygan’s first poet laureate was coming to an end. The book contains all the poems that were requested by city officials, community groups, and arts organizations along with poems that reflect more personal occasions of my own, the shift in seasons, and various reflections on Sheboygan. It is a book about place, and one woman’s place in it. Please visit the the Shop to pre-order your copy. Books will ship in early November, in time for the holidays. Here is a sample poem from the collection:
If a City
If a city was a story,
it would begin long before
streets and structures.
It would begin with land
and proximity to water,
and people who lived there
before it was a city
If a city was a poem,
it would be spoken in slow,
meandering lines with a litany
of occurrences, triumphs,
missteps, and resolutions.
There would be growth,
and it would not always rhyme
If a city was a sentence,
it would be declarative.
It would have a noun, like neighbor
or friend and many verbs
igniting action: create,
discover, help, flourish,
dream, propose, remember
The adjectives in the city
would write themselves
and would be testimony
to all the good works
of the people who live there:
thriving, generous, just,
compassionate, and welcoming
There would be no period
at the end of the sentence, because
like a poem, the city is always
unfolding toward something better
and everyone who lives in that city
adds their voice to the story,
has a hand in its making
Requested by Contra Tiempo Dance Theater, artists-in-residence at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center for the film, What if a City… August, 2021
