A book of poems

In the woods in 2017

Photo credit: Belinda White of Apple Star Photo

A month or two ago I decided that I wanted to publish a book of poems this summer. Or maybe this fall; I’m not in any particular hurry to get it finished, but due to my work schedule, summer is when I will have the most time to work on it. In May I cobbled my favourite sixty or so poems together into a draft, connected with an amazing designer, got some extremely helpful feedback from local writing colleagues, started to learn about fonts and typography, and got a quote from a printer. Since then, several things have happened (in addition to the usual end-of-year rush of musicals, recitals, and performances) which have threatened to slow me down, such as finding out that we have to move and needing to get ready to do it in the span of a month. This month. But somehow in the meantime I have managed to find an excellent editor nonetheless.

I’ve read a lot of poems, and there’s something so essential to me about reading them on a page. Here I am typing on a screen. Websites are good for some things. Books, I think, are good for poems. I hand-write and ink-edit almost all of my poems before they ever see the light of screen (and not only because they often appear in the woods).

The poems in my book (which still feels weird to say: my book) were written between spring of 2020, which is when I started writing poetry after about a fifteen-year hiatus, and spring of this year. I had fun deciding how to organize them, and that will remain a surprise for now.

I don’t have much to say; just wanted to share my quiet excitement that this is happening. The manuscript is with my editor at the moment, and after we finish our work together it will head over to my designer. More to come as things develop. Thanks for reading.