Happy National Poetry Day

Happy National Poetry Day everyone! As I'm sitting here writing this, so many lines of poetry are going through my head. It's such a happy day! Of course, National Poetry Day is a British initiative, but any excuse is a good excuse to talk about and write poetry, am I right?This is also a prime opportunity for me to reveal a sneak peek at the cover for my chapbook, Letters About Losing You.I am making the final edits and touches on the manuscript, so my goal is that you will be able to purchase copies just in time for the holidays! I'll write more about the process of writing, editing, and organizing the chapbook later, as well as my experiences with self-publishing. For now, I can say that I am grateful and excited about the conversations that will come from this work of art. It's already touched a few hearts, and that's more than enough.Wherever you are, I hope you're having a good week and staying safe from all the world's chaos. Here's a poem by Rumi to enjoy before you go: That Lives In Us

If you put your hands on this oar with me,they will never harm another, and they will come to findthey hold everything you want.If you put your hands on this oar with me, they would no longerlift anything to yourmouth that might wound your precious land-that sacred earth that isyour body.If you put your soul against this oar with me,the power that made the universe will enter your sinewfrom a source not outside your limbs, but from a holy realmthat lives in us.Exuberant is existence, time a husk.When the moment cracks open, ecstasy leaps out and devours space;love goes mad with the blessings, like my words give.Why lay yourself on the torturer's rack of the past and future?The mind that tries to shape tomorrow beyond its capacitieswill find no rest.Be kind to yourself, dear- to our innocent follies.Forget any sounds or touch you knew that did not help you dance.You will come to see that all evolves us.If you put your heart against the earth with me, in servingevery creature, our Beloved will enter you from our sacred realmand we will be, we will beso happy.-  Rumi