A Walk in the Woods

 

Thank you d. ellis phelps and formidable woman sanctuary for including three of my poems in woodlands, a collection of art and poetry by 49 writers and artists. You can see the journal by clicking here.

They're Here!

A knock on my door, and then I found a box of these on my porch. What joy!

My third chapbook, Not Me: Poems About Other Women, is now in print. 

(Side note: The cover was inspired by a photo of Bette Davis.)

Here's what poet Diane Averill says about the book:

"Through a prism of voices, both real and imaginary, we gain new understanding of women's lives in a world that is not always made for them. At once subversive and strong, Ferguson's imaginative language both heightens and deepens our awareness of ourselves and others." –Diane Averill, author of Beautiful Obstacles.

If you'd like a copy, you can purchase one from me or order one from Finishing Line Press by clicking here.

Six...Oh!

Me on Christmas morning, 1987

Sixty is sexy.

Maybe?

Anyway, as my birthday approaches, I think this year is going to be good...delightful, even.

Because I've been reading Ross Gay's The Book of Delights, I've been pondering the delights in my life, and they're lots of them...although I gather I'm supposed to feel lousy about my age.

Here are a few delights I'm thinking about:

Cruising

When my husband gave me my Raleigh beach cruiser for Christmas in 1987, I didn't ride it that much.

Now, in 2022, it's my main form of transportation.....especially since our car has been in the shop since August. 

Oh yes! I bike to buy food and to fetch dog supplies and to pick up books at the library. To Taborspace to teach my classes and to visit my son on the other side of town. 

I started cycling about four years ago. Then last year we got a pup who barked a whole heck of a lot, and I rode even more just to get out of the house and away from that awful sound. What bliss to pedal over the Tilikum Bridge and have a moment of peace as I looked down at the Willamette River and saw it slowly moving to its own music.

Like a set of matryoshka dolls, there are multiple delights within this one delight. For instance, what possessed my husband to buy a bike for un-athletic me in the first place? But how wonderful that he did. It was like his way of saying, I know you can do this. Now, that's a gift.

I have finicky knees, I'm not the speediest person on two wheels, and biking on busy and wet streets can be, of course, treacherous. In fact, just this morning a driver in a little silver car cut in front of me...which was delightful compared to the driver of a semitruck who did the same thing last week. Who knows how long I'll be able to keep up with cycling, but for now I ride with a whisper of a prayer for our burning planet and a secret, giddy feeling: Wheee! Look at me go, and I'm nearly 60!

Shall We Dance?

Backstage in 2010

I gave up dancing -- one of the great loves of my life -- 10 years ago and thought, Well, that's that. Now, thanks to two ladies in London, England, my dance journey is beginning again. 

A few years ago, Susan started teaching her mum, Elizabeth (whose body was experiencing the less-delightful aspects of aging), ballet exercises. The two of them were having such a blast they decided to share the fun and benefits of dance by forming Ballet Based Movement, which offers lively, good-humored classes on Zoom for beginning and over-50 dancers from all over the world.

Thanks to Susan's energetic encouragement and inspired choreography, in this class we transcend the real and imagined limits of age and enter a world of music and muscle where we become Giselle challenging the spell of ghostly spirits; or Sylvia, the goddess of the forest with our bows and arrows; or a crowd of cheeky-cheeksters cocking our hips to Scott Joplin's "Elite Syncopations."

We're not just dancing: We're laughing and straightening our spines and getting stronger (dancing these past two years has made me a better bike rider and vice versa!), and falling head-over-pointed-toes in love with movement.

Psst, if you'd like to join us, check out the Ballet Based Movement website. 

Woof

You know those silly people who knew nothing about dogs and went out and got one anyway at the peak of the pandemic? 

Hello, I'm one of them.

Craving long, meditative walks with a warm companion, I started my search for The Perfect Puppy, which led my husband and me to Jenny. 

Jenny, as fluffy as a stuffed animal asleep on your pillow, but also fiercely reactive with an unnerving bark that feels a lot like broken glass grinding into your ear canal. 

Instead of achieving my Zen state through our dog in 2021, I was roiling in the bottomless depths of my own personal hell, which, I was all too aware, I'd made for myself. 

Jenny.

Jenny bug.

Jenny beans.

Jenny bear.

Jenny Sinclair Redpath. 

We named her after one of my husband's relatives in Scotland. My father-in-law was orphaned as a teen, and his aunt took him in. Just like that he went from being an only child to having a houseful of rollicking cousins/siblings, including Jenny Sinclair, his favorite.

After 18 months of training, our Jenny has calmed down a bit. She licks our ankles with her long tongue, and sometimes, when there's no one else out (no neighbors or squirrels or dogs or crows or kids) we enjoy a nice long walk.

*

What makes Ross Gay's book on delight so appealing is that it's not all sunshine and flowers. Gay sees the world's less endearing qualities and still finds delight everywhere, whether it's a bright bloom of happiness, a slender stem of pleasure or a seed of irony.

On a birthday or any day, what more could you wish for?

 

The Golden Shovel

What's a golden shovel?

It's a type of poem. You take a line from someone else's poem and use each word from that line to end a line in your new poem. 

Thank you to the Oregon Poetry Association and judge James Benton for including my golden shovel poem "Our Eyebrows Raised Like Cathedral Arches" among the winners for this fall's contest. Marvin Lurie and Trina Gaynon, the other winners, wrote absolutely stunning pieces. You can read them all by clicking here.