WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT PROFESSION AND FOR HOW MANY YEARS?

What started as a beloved avocation in the midst of so many professions in Taos, at some point I realized as a young writer/poet that everything I was doing, all the education I was receiving, was being funneled into my life as a poet. The language of gemstones, the language of the dyslexic brain, the language of the body and the language of my gardens all became the rich language of my poetry. Slowly, my avocation became my profession, for as a poet I also work as a poetry workshop teacher for children and adults, co-founder/co-editor/consulting editor of “Taos Journal of International Poetry and Art,” and offer private editorial services. So, if I combine all of the years of avocation and profession … it’s over 35 years.

I’m here today overlooking as far as I can see into and through Taos Valley because of my early fascination with language, with words and sounds. But I’m here also because of the encouragement of a few teachers and professors in my early life who said, “Observe through your senses the world around you and then write, and keep writing and keep writing. Write everything you see, smell, hear, taste, touch.”

I’m here also because when I moved to Taos in 1983, young, shy and wide-eyed, I was almost immediately held and carried by those then-new writer friends in writing groups, and then later in poetry workshops, conferences and residencies throughout the country. The emergence of myself as a poet was like the metamorphosis of a butterfly. Patience. Time. Deep breathing. Meditation.

Surround yourself with only those who offer encouragement. As a poet, and as one who loved to write at an early age, I listened when teachers said, “You write well.” Those voices are the ones that helped build my foundation and confidence years before I realized “being a poet” could be real in my life.