Northstar

I have been writing poetry since I was seven years old apparently.  This is not to implicate that I was a child prodigy or that this poetry was even good, but for me, even then it was how I made sense of the world.  I guess you could say it is my artistic expression; it is how I process my inner emotional landscape, in addition to what I see when I look out at the world.

I am grateful to Michael Glaser, a professor and Poet Laureate of Maryland from 2004 to 2009, who taught at St. Mary’s College of Maryland for thirty-eight years.

http://ww2.somdnews.com/stories/04032009/weektop133405_32184.shtml

I was fortunate to take his creative writing courses and participate in a couple of two week Poetry Workshops and Poetry Festivals where poets from all over country would travel to read their work as well as offer workshop hours spent with students reviewing their work.

Michael is a dedicated Teacher.  The day that our class read one of Michael’s poems aloud, I was suddenly given a glimpse of a different perspective of a similar experience I once had and I was officially hooked on poetry.

I have been fortunate to attend a writing retreat that Michael and his wife Kathleen directed a couple years ago.  This Fall I look forward to another.

As I age, the gifts Michael bestowed upon his students I appreciate with greater depth.  Twenty years ago in between the trite and cliche images of my writing, Michael was able to hear my true voice.  He has been a constant in my life, even years after I had graduated, I would find a letter in my mailbox from Michael touching base, asking how the writing was going.  He has been my writing’s champion even when I have abandoned it in laziness, fear, or frustration.  He has been a Northstar of sorts in my life and with this page I want to say, Thank You Michael.  I consider you the family I have chosen.

I start this page in reverence to voice, to experience, and to believing in the power of it all…