Sometimes, things are never as they appear and seldom as we wish them to be. As I think back now on moments that had the greatest impact on my life, I wonder what would or could have been different with just one more moment at the door, one more taste of the salt and sand against my skin, what would have changed. I was reminded recently that it is the small moments that dictate our paths. Some moments are lost in time while other are pushed away for something perceived as more desirable. As for me, I still think about that first kiss, the taste of salt, dancing in the rain and thunderstorms. There is such beauty in watching lightning dance off the ocean waves.
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How It All Began
For most of my life, I was a math teacher. Numbers made sense to me. They were steady, predictable, and honest in their own way. Poetry is different. It does not follow rules in the same way, and maybe that is why I found myself drawn to it.
I did not set out to become a poet. I started writing because I felt something I could not quite explain. A moment. A conversation. A look. Something that stayed with me longer than it should have.
That is where my poems come from.
They are not complicated. They are not meant to be perfect. They are simply reflections of what I have experienced and what I am still trying to understand. Love, loss, hope, and sometimes the space in between where nothing feels certain.
I have learned that even ordinary days can hold extraordinary people, and those encounters have a way of changing us if we are paying attention. Some of my poems explore what is real. Others lean into what could be. And some sit quietly in the unknown, where we do not yet have answers.
This is where I am now. Writing, noticing, and learning as I go.
I am glad you are here.
— Lisa / Vandy
