I took a side trip on my way to Salem, Oregon recently and drove the rim of Crater Lake on September 16, 2016. I caught it on a beautiful day, the lake surface reflecting the blue sky like a mirror. I wrote this piece while on thedrive feeling blessed by the beauty I witnessed and happy to have taken the detour!

According to The Heartmath Institute, the heart puts out signals both to one's own brain and body, but also out to the world through electrical and electromagnetic waves. I often ponder what message my heart may be sending out to the world, whether it is a message of welcome or unwelcome, whether I am saying "yes" or "no" to life. My poem, For This Embrace, asks: How willing or ready are you to offer or receive embrace?

We each have a wild nature, a part we learn to lock up in order to get by in the world, and to keep our heart anchored and at bay. We also have our struggles in life, those times when temptation comes calling out our wild side and we must choose between the life we have carefully crafted and one that skirts the dark side...

Becoming adult often means quelling our passion so that we can live in the world and get along with others. The unfortunate trade-off is that many of us suppress all of our passion, not just the anti-social impulses or unruly behavior that arise out of passion. Maturity reclaims passion and channels it into productive activity, creative work, and spiritual development, but this sometimes means leaving the social cruise because only a lifeboat can take you to your dreams...

Apollo Smitten is a poetic ode to the classic story of unrequited love from the Greek myth of Apollo and his pursuit of Daphne