MARAMIS
e-mail: maramissive@aol.com
 

In Ladies, Lovers, and Lore, I have taken readers on a journey into my past, as well as the past of other women and "lovers" who have crossed my path on that exciting adventure called Life. Sometimes the journey leads down a dark or lonely road, while other pathways lead to the radiant light of spiritual or passionate love. I have also embarked on many side trips into the past of those from the past, taking on my characters' innermost feelings and reflecting them back across time.

When I was 16, the Muse caught up with me on one of my daily walks home from school. The words of my very first poem (which happened to be a love poem) came to me like droplets of rain. I stopped walking, took out a pad, and wrote them down just as I "received" them. That poem, without a word changed, was published in my school yearbook and was the beginning of a wonderful ongoing love affair with both poetry and words, even though at the time, I knew nothing about love.

If I were asked to pick a small bouquet of words with which to express something about my view of life, I would be sure to include the words adventure, brotherhood, imagine, gratitude, kindness and love. Although they would hardly tell the whole story, they could bestir the imagination of one who might choose to ponder the person behind those words.

Weaving my way through the tapestry of the years, I've discovered that each thread is a connection to another day, another friend, and another mystery that surrounds my imagination. Throughout my tapestry, secretly encircling my word bouquet and intertwining the delightful texture and unexpected turns, are azure threads expressing the joy that only the beauty and goodness of life's truth can produce.

Some of my adventures – now wrapped in crisp green tissue and placed off to the side –have literally taken me to the other side of the world. One adventure took me coast-to-coast, as peace poet for the Great Peace March of 1986. Many of my adventures allowed me to "play" in the publishing field that I love, offering me vast opportunity for free-range creative expression.

Poetry was my first love, and time has not dimmed that allure. Poetry is my passion, and will be my consort evermore.

Visit Tuesday's Muse for a new poem every week.