Welcome to Poplar Grove!

I remember my excitement as the blogosphere virtually materialized from the ether. As one with more than her share of opinions, always more than willing to share them with friends and acquaintances, I assumed I would be an early and prolific blogger. In fact, I have found myself strangely unwilling or unable to participate in the proliferation of blogs, although I enthusiastically read a few (including that of my nine-year-old daughter). My ambivalence, hard to pinpoint, seems to be located somewhere between acknowledging myself as opinionated and wanting to declare my opinions publicly, for commentary and contradiction; I’m clearly not eager or ready to defend them publicly.

I am, however, eager to participate in this electronic, “bloggheriac” celebration of WWF(a)C-Bloomington. WWF(a)C-Bloomington came into being just as I moved to town, in the fall of 2004. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of it for another 18 long months, during which the dislocation of yet another spousal-support move, a desolating national election, and an ongoing job search took their toll. Would that I had found WWF(a)C earlier, as it has transformed my life in substantive ways since my discovery of the community, and could have done so sooner.
In the (five-year) interim, I have been, however, totally captivated with the Poplar Grove Schoolhouse near my new home. It seemed so centered, so solid, so real and humbly its brick self, on a fast country road in the midst of encroaching development. Having looked at a home across the street (out of our price range), and noticed it each time I passed it (with longing for who-knew-what?), I am deeply moved to be associated with this building that has seemed so filled with promise, this third home (in my time) of this life-transforming writing community, the center of which is held so completely by Beth Lodge-Rigal.

The chosen ground of this blog rests in the aesthetics/poetics of daily life, essentially my own subject for the poetry I have reclaimed in mid-life. Having studied great (overwhelmingly male) poets for much of my life, I have come to think that the contribution I have to offer is a close examination of the life, mid-life, of a mother/wife/woman/writer/friend who is deeply engaged in the moment while also attempting to transcend it.

Cheers to this new writing venture, among many, of the growing community of Women Writing for (a) Change Bloomington! I’m honored to take part.

Mary Peckham for the Poplar Grove Muse