Greetings!  This post is belated and, as mine always seem to be, brief, but I just wanted to report here that my week with the Community of Writers in Squaw Valley, CA was fantabulous!  It was my first time back since 10 years ago, and I had worried that my warm-fuzzy memories from 1999 had maybe been dipped a few too many times in the river of nostalgia, if you know what I mean.  : )  But, in fact, the workshop and the valley were both as wonderful as I remembered them to be.  I think it has to do with the fact that every poet there is responsible for generating a new poem for each of the seven days we meet.  How could you not bond under such conditions???  Thus, the community-in-name becomes a community-in-fact in about 24 hours, which leaves six more days for people to build on those connections.  We stretch new writerly muscles and watch each other's work take risks and take flight.  I was constantly amazed by all of the fantastic first drafts that people brought to our morning sessions -- the quality of the work made it easy for us to bring strong and celebratory energy to each poem, despite the fact that we were often sleep deprived (because of jet lag and/or staying up all night talking to poets and working on that next poem).

So, if there was anyone out there thinking about applying to this workshop who decided against it this year, I would strongly encourage you to reconsider and put in your application next year.  Both times I've been a part of this Community of Writers, I've come home with a stack of new work, a cluster of new friends, and a renewed sense of joy in the possibilities of poetry.  It was just what I needed!  If anyone reading this was with me in the lovely valley last week, I thank you for your presence and the chance to exchange work and ideas and laughs with you, and I send you warm wishes for many wonderful weeks of poetry in the year to come...

Peace.