Sunsets and How I Came to Write Poetry

With this time of spending time at home and the often hectic pace of life coming to a halt, we've had time to pause and really enjoy the sunsets. They feel more like rainbows these days bringing hope and a reminder of our connection to the Divine; a Source greater than ourselves yet we are also One with Source and all that is.

When I was given the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease in December of 2006, I got still and asked for Divine Guidance as I always had throughout my life. In February of 2007, the poem, 'Running the Race' flowed out of me. It was in the cadence of Dr. Seuss. After contracting paralytic polio at the age of 5, my physical therapist, Miss Holly read Dr. Seuss to me before every physical therapy session. I invariably chose "The Cat in the Hat". During the painful physical therapy sessions she would have me recite the book back to her in tandem. Dr. Oliver Sachs did research on how music that one listened to as a child gets embedded into the wiring of the brain. On MRI, those areas were lit up when the music was played to adults but other music did not have the same effect. I hypothesize that's what happened to me with the cadence of Dr. Seuss.

After writing "Running the Race", poetry flowed out of me that harnessed the power of the mind/body connection to inspire healing mind, body and soul and turn on happiness and joy where once trauma and dis-ease dominated my subconscious thoughts that manifested in my physical body. Running the Race foreshadowed my 2009 Boston Marathon. I wrote poems in which I visualized all the feelings I would experience on Marathon Monday and using the power of my pen, my Divining Rod for healing, to get me through those tough training runs on the road to Boston.

While I continued to write poetry, it was not with the fervor and passion of those early days until I had a serious knee injury in December of 2014. Poetry became an integral part of healing that injury that Western Medicine said would lead to an end to my running career and result in the need for a total knee replacement. Instead with chiropractic care and a new training program, I went on to run the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Bermuda Half Marathons.

I published an Anthology of my Poems and completed a Trilogy of Transformation about my journey after the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond!

Right before the recent pandemic, my daughter asked me if I would start to write another book. I felt a sense of completion at that time with the books I had written but after news of the pandemic began, my heart and soul opened once again and "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life Volume II" was born.

With Tom working from home, our evenings are no longer compressed and we are no longer pressed for time. We have been enjoying delicious meals together, playing a board game or doing a puzzle or enjoying conversation and being able to take the time to savor beautiful sunsets like these from the other evening:


It inspired this poem:
Sunsets

All is well
come dwell in gift of presence
spectacular sunset
sweeping panorama of hues
selected with Love from Master Artist’s palette
to delight our senses.

A gift in pink, blue and gold
signal to end of day
an invitation to emblazon
entering eternal time
ever expanding
heart and soul's torch ignited
blaze a trail through darkness of night.

An invitation to Be
busyness of day transformed
come be with Me
and see and feel
all is well and in Divine order.

Be sure to visit my website to learn more about my inspirational journey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the Boston Marathon and beyond!

My books are available on Amazon.

To your health and wellness,
From my heart to yours
With love
Mary