I wrote this poem back in April 1984. My third year of college. On one of my walks with my mentor, Robert. Suddenly, out of the blue, a blackbird landed by our feet. Walking. Talking. Wobbling to and fro. Side…
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Reflections of My Heart: Patchwork Quilt
I wrote this poem in June 1987, the summer before I met Chris, the man who would become my husband. At the time, I knew I would have to let go of a lot of old resentments and pain if…
Reflections of My Heart: Passionate Past
I wrote this poem back in 1981 after facing another incident of discrimination in my career as a fitness instructor. Though the episode itself was ugly, my attitude and beliefs turned it into an experience that opened a door of…
Reflections of My Heart: Paralyzed Little Girl
In 1981, after years of envisioning images and thinking deeply about myself, I wrote this poem. In my late twenties, I was coming of age as I recognized things about myself—about my disabilities—and about what my life would continue to…
Reflections of My Heart: Palette of Reds
In the spring of 1997, I went with my husband Chris to the Exposition Park Rose Garden, behind the Los Angels County Museum of Natural History, with a friend of ours. Silently, we stood, observing the rows of roses, inhaling…
Reflections of My Heart: Palate of Purity
It was now one year later, 1987. A Friday night in November. I had graduated college and accepted a freelance job teaching chair aerobics at the Beverly Hills YMCA. Yes, you might ask. How can a person with one arm…
Reflections of My Heart: Never Giving In
One afternoon in May 1985, I had done my classes and chores for the day. Graduation was coming soon, so it was time to reflect, retreat, and take refuge, time to go to that quiet, secluded place where I could…
Reflections of My Heart: Song
I have taken many a walk in my lifetime, although nothing like the walk I took that day back in 1993. It was a beautiful spring day in April. Alone, feeling free and at one with myself, I walked beneath…
Reflections of My Heart: Must It Be?
On a cold, gray day in March 1983, I left my last class of the afternoon at Santa Monica Community College, the academic community in which I had taken refuge, where I sought validation and redemption. But, above me, a…
Reflections of My Heart: Moon’s Glow
One Friday night back in 1982, I wrote this poem. My friend Robert and I had decided to take a walk from the West Hollywood apartment I shared with Mama up the hill to Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard. It…