Jersey Shorts

Dear Readers,Always, since my earliest memory of creating a poem about spring at age four, I wanted to be called a writer! While sorting out my many teaching files and journals, including sloppy notes on anything handy, I found that I have always been one. My purpose has been to successfully educate students of all ages, and for that opportunity, I am most grateful. However, my purpose in writing this creative memoir is to inspire others to write for themselves as a form of self-help therapy.I have some favorite authors whose styles have influenced my poetry, from Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Wolfe, and Dylan Thomas to Langston Hughes, Sandra Cisneros, and Alice Walker. I enjoy wordsmithing and playing with language as an artist. The poems in Jersey Shorts have just enough of my story to make it "e;our story."e; Writing down thoughts and expressing feelings are the way to acknowledge and even solve our collective problems. For example, in "e;Phoenix in Ash,"e; the use of a metaphor creates the journey down "e;Grief's Road"e; which is necessary for the process of healing. The narrator's (my) stages of grief are reflected in each stanza--from bewilderment, sadness, and anger to acceptance, forgiveness, and hope.The themes that carry us through the poems are reiterated within the "e;Jersey Shorts Stories."e; They are set in places common to us all but with a Jersey twist--the feminine Jersey Shore perspective. The tone changes from lighthearted and playful to severe and grim as the topics increase in seriousness.Ultimately, Jersey Shorts is a modern survivalists' best friend, an easily readable collection of everyday truths about life, love, and loss meant to stay with and inspire you for a long time.