On the eve of this day -with all its historical implications and complications - I find myself in a space marked by overflowing gratitude. So much has happened for me this year from the good to very good from great to impossibly fantastic. Is that me to whom these things have happened?
Among the highlights: publishing a new book of poems, a mini book tour in Europe for an Anthology of Salvadoran writers, the successful culmination of my tenure as Seattle's Civic Poet with my Poetic Grid, a segment on the PBS Newshour, the publication of two stories in two separate and highly valued anthologies, and the appointment as WA State next Poet Laureate!!
I am thankful for all of it. For every recognition and for every opportunity to engage with folks, learning from them, sharing together the thing I love and for years was afraid to admit: writing and poetry. Above all I am thankful for the health of family and friends and for my own health.
But most of all I am thankful for the gift of living; I am grateful for the chance to live. I was mulling these thoughts on my walk today when a gust of wind shook hundreds of golden leaves from a Japanese maple tree directly in front of me. I ran toward the spiralling leaves, to be part of their movement, to maybe catch one, the way kids try to snap snowflakes on her tongues. I managed to loose every leaf I tried to grab, but turned behind me following the trajectory of a tiny one to the ground where it became mine. Behind me, above me, over me arched a rainbow. I would have never known it had I not ran to embrace life.
Among the highlights: publishing a new book of poems, a mini book tour in Europe for an Anthology of Salvadoran writers, the successful culmination of my tenure as Seattle's Civic Poet with my Poetic Grid, a segment on the PBS Newshour, the publication of two stories in two separate and highly valued anthologies, and the appointment as WA State next Poet Laureate!!
I am thankful for all of it. For every recognition and for every opportunity to engage with folks, learning from them, sharing together the thing I love and for years was afraid to admit: writing and poetry. Above all I am thankful for the health of family and friends and for my own health.
But most of all I am thankful for the gift of living; I am grateful for the chance to live. I was mulling these thoughts on my walk today when a gust of wind shook hundreds of golden leaves from a Japanese maple tree directly in front of me. I ran toward the spiralling leaves, to be part of their movement, to maybe catch one, the way kids try to snap snowflakes on her tongues. I managed to loose every leaf I tried to grab, but turned behind me following the trajectory of a tiny one to the ground where it became mine. Behind me, above me, over me arched a rainbow. I would have never known it had I not ran to embrace life.
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