#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

I wake in the middle of the night, the windows open wide and the rain rushing outside, refreshing the earth. My car is packed. I cannot sleep. I get up, give Charlie a hug while I pass him on my way to the door. I get on the road by 3:30 a.m. It’s still pouring, and the streets are dark and wet and lightless. My journey begins to IWWG 2019 at Muhlenberg. There is very little traffic. I talk on the phone a lot. I arrive easily, six hours later, well before I need to be there. I find a nature trail, stretch my legs on a nice wooded walk and find this butterfly and more. It’s very hot but shady under the canopy of trees. Finding nature, breathing in the woods, I am so happy to be here. Soon I am at Muhlenberg, greeting and being greeted by new and old friends, making myself at home in this habitat. In the late afternoon, I take a long walk in hot sun with my friend Pavlina around Cedar Creek Park in Allentown, across from the college, where I will walk each morning. Pavlina is an American citizen from the Czech Republic, a poet, and a member of one of my writing groups. I pelt her with questions the whole way about her family, her husband, her decision to live here in the US. I know about her through her poems, her poetic voice, and I am intrigued by her voice and the themes she focuses on, family, and the cultural and political history of her upbringing. We walk through the rose garden, the perennial garden, past the creek, growing hotter and hotter, but it’s an entirely pleasant and perfect way to begin this writing conference: intimately in conversation about poetry and life. The rest of the day is a happy whirlwind of gathering with this dynamic, fascinating, friendly, creative group of women writers. And now, exhausted, I’ll rest.