Index

Loretta Fleming

I am a 66-year ageing white woman, whose poetry is informed by nature, social justice, family and my own overwhelming need for expression. Recently retired from a chequered career in community health, arts administration, municipal recreation, research and writing, my new found energy has revitalized my prose and poetry. Having undergone surgery and treatment for cancer in the past year, I am acutely aware of the preciousness of life and the beauty of nature in my early morning walks and cycles. While COVID19 is a stark reality for many of us with compromised immunity, this solitude and limited interaction with people and the marketplace has given me inspiration and contemplation on the state of our broken world and the ever-present love and evil that is the human condition. Gardening on our small patch of urban land deepens my respect and amazement at the transformative power of seeds, water and sun. My educational background includes recreation leadership, the visual arts, computer applications, and multiple courses and workshops in mental health and dementia care. A life long voracious reader of literature, cookbooks, mysteries and history, these sources percolate and incubate my creativity. More significantly, I am now a committed daily meditator, and read books or listen to podcasts that support my practice. Hopefully, my spiritual practice seeps into my own poetry and life.

	Why the Hurry published in Bywords.ca September 2020
	Yang Sheng Reprieve published in Bywords.ca August 2004