We went early into the morning woods, for a run, before I had to leave for LIncoln Sudbury High School to teach a workshop for Mass. Poetry, on Writing From Your Photo Stream, so the 11th and 12th graders got to write from pictures they had on their phones. We didn't have quite an hour, and it wasn't as much as I'd hoped, but writing was sparked, and from the sharing I sensed the workshop gave them new possibilities for inspiration – their own personal photos. (There were pets and sunsets and graffiti walls from foreign countries. . .)

After presenting, my daughter is with me, and we stop, nearby, in Sudbury, for a brief nature walk on lovely trails with wooden boardwalks through a nature preserve, Weir Hill Trail and spend time with the red wing black birds and gold finches in the wetlands. 

I love this day for starting, and ending, with poetry and being outdoors. Tonight I met, connecting online across the miles and miles, with two poets I met last Nov. at the Truchas Poetry Retreat with Tupelo Press. We've been meeting, since, from our various time zones, to share poems, and tonight's meeting was exquisite, in the poems we brought and the comments and friendship we offered each other. 

For me, I felt so grateful to share the poem I've worked on for, literally, years and years, a poem that has challenged me more than any other, and to hear from their comments: it's done. This poem had to break so many times. Is it possible, now, it's whole, complete? Their comments gave me even more insight into my own creation.

I was so energized by our exchange, our camaraderie, I asked Charlie to join me for a very short walk outside in the dark. He hesitated, a bit wary to go out this late with me by flashlight, but he came and it was cloudy and quite dark, but warm and fresh.

And, just now, from bed, through the open window, I hear the call of a barred owl in the night. 

All photos and text copyright Kelly DuMar 2018