A Poet’s Nanaimo
The Writing Life
I wonder if it’s “the” writing life or “a" writing life? I suppose it’s “my” writing life I’m about to describe as while all writers write, each of us approaches our practice differently. Annie Dillard called her book The Writing Life and I rather like that title so...
The Poetry of Presence
I begin my day by journaling about my dreams and whatever those reflections lead to. Poems can begin that way too. It's a beautiful threshold space, in between dreaming and waking. When I offer a writing circle via Zoom on Thursday, June 3rd we’ll begin with a poem by...
Gold in the Shadow
Diana Hayes new book of poetry, GOLD IN THE SHADOW: TWENTY-TWO GHAZALS AND A CENTO for Phyllis Webb (Rainbow Publishing, 2021), is exquisite in every detail: the design by Pat Walker Design and the papers used; the purple and gold of the cover; the size of the book;...
The Listening Path
Julia Cameron has written a new book, The Listening Path: The Creative Art of Attention (St. Martin’s Essentials, 2021), which she describes as a 6-week Artist’s Way Program. Do you remember reading The Artist’s Way which helped many of us enter a “creative recovery”...
Memories of the Mother Goddess
Today, as I begin to write this post, is the anniversary of my mother’s death. She died in palliative care at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto on February 18, 1995 at the age of 67. Mum was named Wilhelmina by her parents Mary Ann (Mayme) and Frank Dobberman in...
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
I’ve read Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Ten Speed Press, 2014) and like her approach to keeping what sparks joy. I know we’re meant to do that with our book collections as well as our clothing and other belongings but I haven’t removed every...