THE HARWOOD MUSEUM OF ART, TAOS NEW MEXICO
SO! I have arrived at The Harwood for my Poet-In-Residence position.
I got in yesterday around 4:30 in the afternoon, after spending the night in Amarillo Texas, at a Best Western, synchronistically named The Sante Fe Inn Best Western. I left State College on Saturday, and drove to Columbus, OH, where I was welcomed by two women working the desk at another Best Western, celebrating Mother's Day together on their shift. Sweet as could be, and after watching me unload crates of journals to use while working on the next collectionof poems while on this residency, one of the women, named Mary, asked me what was in the sketchbooks. I told her writing. She asked if I was a writer, and I said, yes, a poet, and an activist. That led to explaining that I use poetry and performance to raise wareness around doemestic and sexual violence, and she called the other woman out to meet me. They thanked me for doing the work I do, telling me too many people do not realize what survivors go through. I went to my room, and 10 minutes later, there was a knock at my door. Standing in the doorway, with a plate of food from their party, was the second woman, who offered me the food and started crying, thanking me for working for survivors of abuse. She hugged me, said god bless you, and left me with pizza, chicken salad, crackers, and gratitude for being able to live my life the way I do.
I left Columbus on Mother's Day and drove to Rolla, Missouri before stopping for the night. then a long day on the road Monday got me from Rolla to Amarillo. Once I hit Oklahoma, the sky opened up to that expanse of blue, and the speed limit jumped to 75mph. And then from Amarillo yesterday to Taos, where I got my apartment ket at The HArwood form my girlfriend Janet, who's picked it up earlier in the week form Lyn, who directs the Residency program here at the Harwood. The apartment is beautiful - I can see Taos Mountain from it, and the flowers are all blooming, and last ngith it was cold, but the sun has been huge all day. I feel so blessed to be here, am so excited to be able to spend the summer here working on the next collection of poems, before returning to PEnn State for the Fall Semester.
Today is my father's birthday. So, I'm going to go call him, unpack the rest of my stuff and make some tea to take out to my back porch, and sit in the sun.
Be well. Thanks to everyone who showed at Bill and ELaine's for my send off party last week. You all left me feeling loved and supported, and I'm grateful for that, too.
ALL PEACE. DORA
