Welcome all and sundry,
Those musings of past…don’t they just take you there!?
My Montana alma mater, Western Montana College (so named when I attended—the 90’s—, now the University of Montana Western), had a poetry club, IGNU, and it published a poetry mag titled Solstice. My introduction to the club began in ‘93 after 3 colleges, 1 university, a divorce, and a new start. It was here that I was found.
I smile as I write; one of those smiles that surfaces when thinking not only of a first love, but of that first passionate lover. It was THIS club, the embodiment of the deeply complex soul, that held and swirled my world in its galaxy. Every single person involved in our intimate club: beautiful, inspiring, complicated, steamy, moving souls! They certainly WERE in those days! I pray they still are ALL of that— and, now, marinated with the seasoning of age! How I am smiling in the loving of them all.
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Those days…..Oh, those days were transforming! They say, ‘College is the best time of your life.’ IT WAS! OH, IT WAS! And…yet, it held some of the worst lived moments of my life. My poems from those years prove it. Still, I lived and wrote, lived and loved, lived and laughed, lived and cried….everything we ALL do. What transformed me wasn’t solely the experiences or the people, but the putting of words to the page to chronicle them and give homage to the role they played in my coming to find myself—the title of the last poem published in Solstice 6 in my final semester of college.
An extra: Everything Always Comes Full Circle! Don’t believe me?! Just breath, and find out!
W-Gray
As for these poems, I’ll share them intermittently here at To Be Livin’ Poetry and Prose . I say intermittently, because….SHOOSH….there are A LOT of poems to go through, and that takes TIME! Not to mention, my newer works need space and a place, too! However, I will start with the Solstice pieces so you’ll get a peak at where I’ve been.
While I was at WMC, there were six publications of Solstice and my poetry was published in four of them. Missed the first one because I was SCARED SHITLESS to share my words with strangers! Missed the fifth because, that year, I was an utter MESS and, though I wrote, I didn’t want to share my words with strangers! Ha Ha! A revelation here: sharing anything on this platform with the potential to be viewed by a WHOLE WORLD OF STRANGERS…….maybe I’ve lost my mind!!!?
…Nah, at this age and stage, I’ve lost my ‘fear’ and THAT is a God thing! Something to know: Yes, I am a sinner and a believer; two elements of me, when blended, I hope keep me off the track of hypocrisy as a fellow human being. With that being said, I do hope you’ll stay with me and take my work ‘AS IS’. You’ll have no judgement from me if you relate with the raw or with the divine or both. I love us— Sinners/believers/ALL! No matter what, I know we can share a love for words!
Each Solstice submission will follow this post and can be easily found under the Poetry tab at the top of the newsletter. Happy reading!
This is such a great description of you! You are a special human being and your poetry shows it!! You have grace, most people would love to have that! You are honest and true to yourself! I'm proud to call you my friend!!!