Dear Ann, Thank you for your kind comments. Yes, I am certainly no expert on what, exactly, is worth our time and energy. I suspect if I hadn’t been knocked down by a series of health problems I probably would not have pursued poetry with enough time or energy to even publish one book. Also, there are different times for different things – I’m glad when I was younger I took advantage of being able to work hard at paying jobs and had the opportunity to travel, for instance. Now it’s harder for me to do those things but I can look back and say, well, I had the chance to climb mountains and horseback ride.

But it may be more ‘rational’ to expend that energy on my aging parents or my job-that-pays-the-bills or my health.

I tell myself that if I were truly a poet, a passionately devoted-to-writing poet, I would find the energy. I am passionately devoted to reading, and to writing, poems. But I am not passionately devoted to getting them into print. (sigh).

It’s encouraging to read what you’ve written here, what you’ve had to consider, where you have had to put your energies. And impressive, too!

I love your work.