On Sunday I celebrated my 42nd birthday. I did most of my celebrating on Saturday at the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival. I had a great time shopping and hanging out with friends old and new. I met up with a new friend, Loren, who I’ve been chatting with online on Ravlery.com for the past year. She surprised me with a lovely gift of yarn for my birthday and some chocolate covered mints.

I also received a lovely bracelet, some delicious chocolates and other special treats. After I got home on Sunday evening I hung out with my girls and had a great time. Before I went to bed I checked my Facebook profile and found that I had two pages of birthday greetings. It was fun responding to everyone.

My birthday was relaxing and enjoyable. Turning 42 isn’t so bad.

This year I’m once again celebrating National Poetry Month. I’ve been contributing a few poems in an online poetry group on gaia.com called, Empowered by Poetry. John D. Evans, the group’s facilitator, has put together a blog talk radio show where he will be interviewing a few of the contributing poets on the show. Well, I’m one of the poets that will be interviewed! (here’s me screeching with delight and doing the happy dance).

I’ve been writing these poems and kind of squirreling them away, but now I have this fantastic opportunity to share my work with the world. So, I have decided to collect all of my scattered poems into a book. This way, I will be able say that I am a published poet when I am on the show. How awesome is that?

So, this will be a banner national poetry month for me. While I probably won’t be writing a poem a day like I did last April, I will be celebrating in the most fantastic way ever–by getting published.

Mark you calendar for April 20th at 8pm for my appearance on the Black Author’s Network Radio Show. Visit the Black Pearls Magazine for more details about the other featured poets.

I’ve also got a new article up on the, From a Writer’s POV Network web site. Please go take a peek.

Things are hopping here. The universe is expanding and I’m taking it all in. Stay tuned for details about my first volume of poetry.

Yesterday I was talking with Afridigidiva, a friend and fellow blogger. She was adding a new section to her blog that would highlight the causes that she supports. We were chatting about our various pet causes and I was assigned the task of brainstorming some more non-profits that she can add to her page.

This got me thinking about the things that I believe in and the causes that I support. Having run a non-profit organization, and having been responsible for raising the money that would fund my salary, I am fully aware of how much help non-profits need–especially during these strange times.

My first though then was about gratitude. I have so much to be grateful for as we all do. If I were to attempt to list everything here the list would take up the rest of this page and beyond. I think that even when times are tight we all need to take a look at what we do have and remember to be grateful. We can ‘tighten our belts’ and cut down on frivolous spending, but still open our hands generously to give to those people and organizations that offer help when no one else can or will. So, I’m passing along a gift that is focused on gratitude and how opening our hearts can change our lives and our world.

Next I will share a brief list of a few of the non-profits that I admire and whose work touches and saves lives:

• American Red Cross
• Capital Area Food Bank
• Food and Friends
• Kiva
• The Heifer Project
• Newborns In Need

Now it’s your turn. Give what you can and when you can’t give a financial gift, your time is even more valuable. What are some of your favorite non-profit organizations? Share them with me in a comment and I’ll post your answers later.

Happy Spring!

A few months ago, I discovered a shortcut that shaves a good five minutes off of my drive to take Leila to school in the morning. If I cut through Fort DuPont Park, I can avoid the traffic of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Roads. An added bonus is that it’s a wooded park in the National Park system. (it would be a stat park, but alas, D.C. is not a state so. . .) It’s my beautiful oasis in the middle of the city. It’s hilly, winding path should force drivers to slow down to accommodate the 25mph speed limit, however, since it’s only really used as a shortcut, those laws are largely ignored and it’s become a bit of a raceway.

This morning as I was driving this road that I drive every weekday morning, it seemed as though everything had taken on a new glow. The grass, which had been dead and brown was now springing up a lush green. The buds on the trees are all on the verge of bursting forth with blossoms. Even the sun shining in my eyes as I crested the first hill seemed to shine a bit brighter.

“Does anybody have a pen and some paper?” I called to my girls in the back seat. “I feel a poem coming on.” Jordan said that I could use her notebook. Leila sighed and said, “Jeez, mommy! You’re so weird. You feel a poem coming on?” She shook her head in disbelief. My children just don’t understand that when inspiration hits you’ve got to capture it because it can disappear as quickly as it appeared if you don’t seize it in that moment.

After I dropped the girls off, I scribbled down a few words and then came home and wrote this poem. Happy Spring, ya’ll.

Spring: A Poem by Nobody in Particular

spring’s been here mere moments
cresting the hill at Ft. Dupont
I see the sun creeping up over the horizon
bringing spring

this magic occurs each year
but my wonder never grows old
what was brittle and dead days ago
now is verdant, lush and reaching towards heaven

its an ordinary morning
I am nobody in particular
but I have poetry inside of me
mere words
but bursting with hope and promise
not unlike this precious new season

standing in witness to this re-birthing
brings renewed hopes
this endless cycle of birth and death
will continue on
there will be good days
and dark nights
there will be trials
and rejoicing
while the dream continues
God is

but today I am simply glad
to greet this newborn season
I celebrate the joy of a new day
mindful of how fleeting the moment
the gift is cherished

Evelyn B. Bourne (c) 2009