POEM #8 INTRODUCTION I fell asleep in defiance of my muse. But my muse was determined for me to finish the verses it planted in my head way before midnight. By 2:00 o’clock in the early morning, my protest fell on deaf ears. I stayed awake until 5 a.m. as my muse was restless.  Read to see how the verses traveled through a winding path. Even I don’t know how this poem would wind up. I chose a photo taken when our family hiked the Camino de Santiago across Spain in 2010. The trails were varied. Flat plains, valleys, steep hills; muddy and rocky, straight and winding paths became additionally challenging when natural elements such as rain, hail, snow and scorching sun took turns to fight for dominion over land.  The adventure symbolizes the current dichotomy between me and  my visiting muse; and in more severe terms, the unsettling dissonance between earthly beings and threats from the pandemic. Sadly, our adopted beloved country of Spain is in a dire state of the

POEM #1 INTRODUCTION When I felt alone and conflicted while taking care of my mom before cancer took her life, she insisted I take up paintin g. That was almost 40 years ago. After my own diagnosis of crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis almost 7 years  years ago, I turned to writing essays after regaining some use of my hands and fingers. The disease predictably betrays. My pained wrists and hands haven't done much serious writing since my flare ups in late 2019 and early 2020.  I changed that today on February 16, 2020 by writing my first poem in ages. It is sobering to accept that even when I am loved by many, one is still alone in this challenging disease. Remembering that courage may not always sustain one makes me dizzy at times. After decades of dry spell, my muse moistened my appetite for poetry. This curiously meddlesome muse drove me to write my own verses at the very moment when feeling such deep sadness from an unexpla inable fright which gripped my insides in