My focus this fall has been big picture thinking about my career trajectory. It includes a lot of organizing, outlining, and strategy. In other words, it’s a lot of feeling like I’m accomplishing nothing. (Ugh, I feel like I’m eating my tail.) But. I know I am making progress. And I listen to the knowing […]
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Fall 2021
My word for the season is “settling.” I’m feeling the “begin to feel comfortable or established in a new situation” and “move or adjust (something) so that it rests securely.”
It’s the settling of leaves into the soil, routine as school resumes, and work as I enter my reflective period.
This year looks quite different from last year. Last year, I shepherded my kids through remote learning. I built a play fort in the backyard and shoveled two cubic yards of mulch around my yard—anything I could do to disconnect from the day-to-day and ward off stress.
My desire for settling is a direct response to the upheaval of last year. Our pandemic norms are still evolving, so I settle into the uncertainty. And I can because I’m able to work again. In short, I’m making the time away from my career meaningful by embracing the newness of being back.
Anything That Happens
“I don’t know that I have ever heard of a book of poetry being called a page-turner, but I opened it when it arrived in the mail, expecting to just take a quick peek and read the rest as I had more time, and ended up sitting down and devouring it. Just gorgeous.” —Goodreads Review
“Wilder doesn’t hide behind poetic devices that can make trauma beautiful or romantic or at least palatable. Instead, when writing about the accident and its aftermath, Wilder’s choice is often sparse language with anaphoric qualities…”— Angie Dribben, Aquifer: The Florida Review Online
Available at Press 53 Read more reviews
Looking Back to 2020
September 2021, “On Optimism” – “I’m okay that I’m not okay.”
October 2021, “On Plenty” – “The poetic life?”
November 2021, “To Have a House” – “A light in the window.”
December 2021, “On Reflection” – “Taking stock and making joy.”
On Poetry and Space
There is no shortage of cultural and global issues to be part of right now. I donate, volunteer, and support. But I’m constantly at odds with where to put my public service energy, often becoming overwhelmed by all the options*. I also get sidetracked, wondering if the space where others live inspires or suppresses them? […]
On Teetering
Teetering. To teeter. To wobble, toddle, sway. From Old Norse titra, meaning shake, shiver. From titra to titter to teeter–an unsteady waver; indecision. The teeter-totter I shared with my sister had a curved half-moon base instead of a teeterboard placed upon a fulcrum. Neighborhood kids flocked to our yard. Two at a time, we sat […]
