Though I was born and raised in Windsor, I spent every summer of my life at our family cottage on Cedar Beach and all my married life (almost fifty years) on Road 3 in Kingsville where my husband, Ray, and I built our home. In fact, we built it right next door to where he was raised and now our twin daughters have built a house beside us. It’s a real family affair when our son and daughter-in-law visit with their kids.
I taught high school English and Creative Writing for thirty years in Essex County. My husband and I enjoy golfing, gardening, volunteering, reading and hiking daily with our dog, Bailey, down our town’s many walking trails. I have a loyal, vested interest in our community.
Some of these poems are brief narratives where I tap into my reminiscence of growing up here. Each tells a story, one which I believe is not just for a Kingsville audience but anyone. Other poems show my interest in local history and famous people like Jack Miner, whose migratory bird sanctuary is recognized globally. Some of my writing reveals my concern for our evolving partnership with the land, for changing definitions of “progress”, for the relationships between generations.
I also brought together some local history and family stories with my novel, That Summer at the Mettawas (Cranberry Tree Press, 2014). My chapbook of poems, Songs of Zambia (Cranberry Tree Press, 2015), offers insight into my experience in Africa building homes with Habitat for Humanity. I have been published in such local anthologies as Whisky Sour City (Black Moss Press, 2013); Happenstance (Cranberry Tree Press, 2013); By the River (Urban Farmhouse Press, 2017).
Some research and much imagination went into my writing. One caveat, then, as you read where the barn door used to be: this is poetry, not journalism (I credit Laurie Smith with that reminder).
