Our New Book!

Our new book Why Breathe? has rolled off the press! It is a beautiful book - poetry by both Clem and Elizabeth. It is available from us directly - just email one of us. And it will be available in a number of independent bookstores in the area. We will keep you posted as to when it will be available and where.

We began talking about writing a book together last winter. This time, the title and the cover came first. Then we began the task of deciding which pieces of poetry we wanted to include. Some poems have been around for a while, but not yet published. Others are more recent, including poetry written as we were putting the book together.

One poem is the result of a merger of two poems we had written separately about Sandhill Cranes. A line or two from Clem, then several lines from Elizabeth, until we were satisfied with how we had woven it together. At this point neither of us remember which lines were whose - even though our poetic voices are quite different.

Then the task of editing and rewriting, until the manuscript emerged.

We think it is our best work yet and are eager for people to take a look - and hopefully purchase a copy, so that they might absorb one poem after another as it speaks to them.

A wise person said that when you are writing, what you write belongs to you. When you offer something publicly for others to read, you no longer own what you have written. Every reader connects what they read with their own experiences and derives their own meanings. That is the beauty of poetry particularly. Sometimes poets do not even realize what they have written, since profound poetry comes from someplace deep inside.

It's Why Breathe? A collection of poetry that asks the perennial, unanswerable questions. Why do we get up in the morning,when the world sometimes seems painful and chaotic? And it is Why Breathe! The celebration of precious life and love.