My poem on the pandemic is online now at the marvelous journal Eclectica! I’m thrilled to have it included in this stellar springtime issue. With thanks to editor Christine Potter for selecting it. Here’s a link to the poem: Eclectica-Dacus. And here’s the poem: After the Great Pause I never wanted to leave the sudden silence, of the pandemic, the global pause shared like a Girl Scout pact and the masks we colored as badges. It…
My new poetry collection. The Artist’s House is a cultural autobiography, honoring the literature, art, and artists that have shaped my writing, with illustrations and interactive features. It will include Art Nouveau style drawings and links to music, dance, and poetry online. Listen to a song by Jacob Collier while reading a poem about Emily Dickinson’s lines dueling with Taylor Swift’s. Watch a performance of Twyla Tharp’s “In The Upper Rooms” ballet after reading the…
Abundance in Springtime — and National Poetry Month. April is a delicious combination, offering bounties of beauty, nature, lyricism, and fun. Find a walking trail near you and dream a poem to celebrate! Poetry Month The Academy of American Poets launched this annual celebration of the art in 1996. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events…
Ode to My Purse The three French handbags came with lifetime warranties. Clasping heavy straps, I cinch them saddle-tight against the grasping world. Dark wells, they incubate details, stash my days in hidden rooms. My black postman’s case clacks clock-neat on thigh, ticking tasks. Weekends I sling a red pouch that eats torn tickets and topless lipsticks. Keys to many locks eel through my caramel creel. Open Purse, I say: swallow phone, glasses, cash. Bring…
A Memorial Day Poem Memorial Day comes at the start of summer, an apparent dichotomy as we picnic and party, but also mark the great sacrifices that created America. We honor millions of men and women who died for our cherished freedoms and our form of democratic government . The American way of life is not cheap. It has been purchased by the lives and blood of so many who have sacrificed for us. A…
Solace From Small Birds A house finch built her nest on the garland of the front door next to ours. This is a week when our dear Soul-friend has just departed. We first noticed twigs on the doormat, then sticking up above the round of faux leaves. Then we heard the cheeping. Now a finch mom and pop sit on eggs at our passageway. Coming and going, we must be quiet under our avian blessing.…
Thanksgiving and thankfulness. I’m thankful for a life of devotion to love and giving. Love has many forms and moments.Prose isn’t well suited to capture them. Art can. Music and poetry are especially good for holding the experience. I call such experiences That. Those moments of extreme gratitude aren’t always about the person or dog or vista that sparks them. Sometimes That comes at the sight of a tiny dandelion struggling through packed dirt, or…
I came across a poem today that speaks with the voice of my aching heart. I was delighted to find the author is Amanda Gorman, whose poetic voice often resonates with me. She’s a poet for this moment on earth. Young, truthful, gifted, she speaks plainly with vibrant images, simply but with rhythm, alliteration, and assonance. Amanda Gorman is the author of The Hill We Climb and Other Poems. She was the youngest inaugural poet…
I’ve been thinking about my heart condition and looking at poems I wrote shortly after having a heart attack. Contemplating my mortality is a new thing for me. I’ve had to adjust my thinking about time and the future. It’s a subtle shift but a profound one to consider that my time to be, to write, and to love is limited. It’s unsettling in the most interesting way to think of the body as having…
In the San Francisco Bay Area and much of California, we’re experiencing a train of historic “atmospheric river” storms. Like a firehose pointed directly at the state’s northern region, we’re being showered with an epic series of heavy storms. Following our multi-year, devastating drought, the ground and reservoirs are not prepared to absorb this much-needed water. But as a weather geek, connoisseur of the names for extraordinary weather events, I can only wish everyone safe…