I began my blog as a way to give back to the poetry, old and new, that has shaped my life, my poetry, and my way of looking at the world.

I think the idea began when I was choosing a calendar for this new year. I found one titled, "Inspiration." I nearly bought it without looking at the 12-13 photos and sayings on the back; almost as an afterthought, I scanned the images and the sayings for each month. I found myself thinking, none of these inspire me.

In hindsight, it's common sense and common knowledge: trash vs. treasure, etc. What one person values is irrelevant to someone else. So, I wanted to create a space filled with the people, lines, words, and poems that inspire me in the hopes that someone else might discover a line, a voice, a whole poem, and/or a new poet to inspire him or her.

Wife-mother-daughter-aunt-writer-teacher, currently I work full time as a special educator teaching English, reading and writing, in the high-school setting, inspired and challenged, daily, by students and their unique ways of managing their worlds. As an elementary, middle-school, and high-school teacher, I've taught kindergartners through twelfth graders in private and public schools.

Decades out of grad school (MA/UF) for literature & creative writing, poetry, and many years beyond a lit major with a concentration in creative writing/poetry from UCLA, I have had poems published in such literary journals and online venues as Quarterly West, The Antioch Review, Mississippi Mud, Midwest Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Sycamore Review, Berry Blue Haiku, Shepherd’s Check, a handful of stones, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Commonline Journal, Miriam’s Well, and Sidekick Lit.

I've taught adjunct comp at community colleges in Southern California and in Southern Nevada while working other "day jobs". While teaching middle school, I was also the Senior Editor for a lovely children's online haiku journal, Berry Blue Haiku, created by Gisele LeBlanc.

Eventually, sooner than later, I feel the need to hold whole books of my own poetry in my hands -- whole books, real covers, actual sheets of paper -- something I can concretely set on a shelf / something that may hold a word or a line or a whole poem that may someday inspire someone else to do something (ethically, morally) brilliant with his/her own individually-inspired view of the world.