Emerging Form

For Auld Lang Syne         —Rosemerry Wahtola TrommerWe’ll drink a cup of kindness yet,says the song, and I would give youthe cup, friend, would fill itwith whiskey or water or whateverwould best meet your thirst.I fill it with the terrifying beautyof tonight’s bonfire—giant licksof red and swirls of blue that consumewhat is dead and melt the iceand give warmth to what is here.I fill it with moonrise and snow crystaland the silver river song beneath the ice.With the boom of fireworks and with laughterthat persists through tears. WithLilac Wine and Over the Rainbow and Fever.I toast you with all the poems we’ve yet to writeand all the tears we’ve yet to weep,I hold the cup to your lips,this chalice of kindness, we’ll drink it yet,though the days are cold, the nights so long.         —Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer ____The Next Storm ComesAnd suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.         —Meister EckhartAnd suddenly you know it’s timeto shovel the drive. For though snowstill falls, at this moment it’s onlythree inches deep and you can still push it easilywith your two wide yellow shovels.Yes, it’s time to start something new—though it doesn’t feel new, thisshoving snow from one place to another.In fact, your shoulders still feelthe efforts of yesterday.But with each push of the shovels,the path on the drive is new again. At leastit’s new for a moment, new until snowfills it in. Then it’s a different kind of new.How many beginnings are like this?They don’t feel like beginnings at all?Or we miss their newness?Or they feel new only for a momentbefore they’ve lost their freshness?There is magic in beginnings, says Meister Eckhart,and sometimes we see beginnings all around us,a new path, a new promise, a new meal.A new prayer. New snow fall. A new song.Is it too grand to call it magic, this new calendar year?Too grand to call it magic, this momentaryclearing on the drive? Too grand to be magic,this momentary clearing in my thoughts?Or is it exactly, perhaps, what magic is—something we allow ourselves to believe,despite logic, despite reason, something that bringsus great pleasure, makes us questionwhat we thought we knew, our senseof what is possible changed.—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer_____Watching The Wizard of Oz on New Year’s Eve, I Think of a Resolution toward PeaceAs for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don’t know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.—The Wizard to the Tin Man, The Wizard of Oz, Frank L. BaumGive us hearts that breakwhen we see how cruel the world can beand hands that extend toward others.Give us eyes that weep when we feelthe beauty of home, andlips to speak love, to apologize.Give us courage to say what must be saidand ears to hear what we’d rather not hearand eyes that will not turn the other wayfrom anyone in need.Give us brains that are wiredfor helpfulness, compassionand curiosity. Yes, let us ask for heartsthat break and break and growbigger in the breaking. Let uslove more than we think we can love.And the cup of kindness, may weever remember to drink of it,let us share it with each other.         —Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Photo: Christie & Rosemerry shortly before the pandemic began. (Yes, that is one of Rosemerry’s poems on Christie’s tights.)For creatives, the new year is a chance to look back on what we’ve accomplished and how we’ve grown in the past year, and also a chance to dream about our creative endeavors in the future. In this episode, Christie and Rosemerry have a conversation about how to do your own “year end report,” how a magic wand might help you identify your goals, and how two questions from Motivational Interviewing can help you verbalize why your goals are important to you. We talk about bonfires--both literal and metaphorical, a few of our own goals, some of our skepticism around goals, and our mottos and themes for moving forward. Motivational InterviewingA story Christie wrote about how to make New Year’s resolutionsChristie’s 2021 New Year’s resolutionChristie’s Instagram and Rosemerry’sA little new years goal advice from our episode 28 guest, Holiday Mathis. “Do not set targets for results that are beyond your control. Keep asking yourself what can be done to help this along. Set targets for what you can produce, actions you can take, miles you can move.”_____Bonfire in the Heartby Rosemerry Wahtola TrommerI throw in any talliesI’ve been keeping,the ones that recordwho did what and when.I throw in all the lettersI wrote in my head but didn’t send.I throw in tickets I didn’t buyto places I didn’t visit.I throw in all those expectationsI had for myself and the world last yearand countless lists of things I thought I should do.I love watching them ignite,turn into embers, to ash.I love the space they leave behindwhere anything can happen. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

If you are lucky, as an artist, you have a mentor--someone who recognizes your potential, who offers feedback, who pushes you and helps you grow. In this episode we talk with one of Rosemerry’s mentors, the phenomenal Art Goodtimes, about his relationship with his mentor, Dolores LaChapelle. We cover everything from The problem with the greek alphabet to the mushroom parade down the streets of Telluride and how ritual takes us out of our minds and into our bodies, making us “more than what we are.”Poet, basket weaver and former regional editor/columnist, Art Goodtimes served as San Miguel County Commissioner (Green Party, 1996-2016) and Western Slope Poet Laureate (2011-13). Former poetry editor for Earth First! Journal, Wild Earth and the Mountain Gazette, currently he’s poetry editor for Fungi magazine and co-editor with Lito Tejada-Flores at the on-line poetry anthology SageGreenJournal.org. His latest book out from Lithic Press is Dancing on Edge: The McRedeye Poems(Lithic, 2019). Since 1981 “Shroompa” has been poet-in-residence at the annual Telluride Mushroom Festival in August. A recent cancer survivor, Art serves as program co-director for the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds poetry program, including the national Fischer Prize and Colorado Cantor Prize contests. Talking GourdsFungi MagazineSage Green JournalDancing on Edge: The McRedeye Poemswww.facebook.com/art.goodtimesDolores LaChapelleArt Goodtimes (right) with Emerging Form patron saint, Jack Mueller. (photo credit: Jimi Bernath) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

In this bonus conversation with acclaimed poet Danusha Laméris, we learn about her nocturnal writing habits, her leap from painting to poetry (and the advice that came with her), and the importance of “belonging” and “the tribe.” Danusha Laméris’ first book,The Moons of August (Autumn House, 2014), was chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye as the winner of the Autumn House Press poetry prize. Some of her poems have been published in The Best American Poetry,The New York Times,TheAmerican Poetry Review,The GettysburgReview, Ploughshares, and Tin House. She’s the author ofBonfire Opera, (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pitt Poetry Series, 2020), and the recipient of the 2020 Lucille Clifton Legacy Award. Danusha teaches poetry independently, and was the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, California. Danusha LamérisThe Hive Poetry Collective Podcast This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“You remind me of my humanness by talking about yours,” says this week’s Emerging Form guest Danusha Laméris. We speak with the award-winning poet about how the small stories--what she calls “the understory”--mean as much, perhaps more, as the big headlines, and the creative process around finding and sharing these stories. We talk about the importance of leaning into the complexity and not needing “to be a motivational speaker.” Danusha Laméris’ first book, The Moons of August (Autumn House, 2014), was chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye as the winner of the Autumn House Press poetry prize. Some of her poems have been published in The Best American Poetry, The New York Times, TheAmerican Poetry Review, The GettysburgReview, Ploughshares, and Tin House. She’s the author of Bonfire Opera, (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pitt Poetry Series, 2020), and the recipient of the 2020 Lucille Clifton Legacy Award. Danusha teaches poetry independently, and was the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz County, California. Danusha LamérisThe Hive Poetry Collective Podcast“Small Kindnesses” by Danusha Laméris“June 20th” by Lucille Clifton“Bonfire Opera” by Danusha Laméris_____________________________Writing Haikus for Rosemerry—Christie AschwandenMy dear poet friendDoes not recognize that IWrote her a haiku This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Photo: A Holiday Mathis horoscope. [This thing you’re trying to accomplish cannot be accomplished as a linear pursuit. It’s a holistic process. So when you' feel yourself drawn “off track,” maybe you’re actually just working things from a different angle.]**Note: Apologies! We are re-sending this episode, as there was a technical problem in the first audio file. If you haven’t listened yet, this is the better version. In this bonus episode, we continue our conversation with writer Holiday Mathis, who writes a syndicated daily horoscope column and also happens to be a multi-platinum songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Miley Cyrus, Emma Roberts and many others. We talk about the difference between writing horoscopes and lyrics, more about attending to and chasing the muses, and about the essential quality of openness. Holiday MathisHoliday’s daily, syndicated horoscopesChristie’s blog, I know that astrology is b******t, but I can’t stop reading my hororscopeThe Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan KunderaRosemerry’s poem about her birthday horoscope last year This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Photo: A Holiday Mathis horoscope. [This thing you’re trying to accomplish cannot be accomplished as a linear pursuit. It’s a holistic process. So when you' feel yourself drawn “off track,” maybe you’re actually just working things from a different angle.]In this bonus episode, we continue our conversation with horoscope writer Holiday Mathis, who also happens to be a multi-platinum songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Miley Cyrus, Emma Roberts and many others. We talk about the difference between writing horoscopes and lyrics, more about attending to and chasing the muses, and about the essential quality of openness. Holiday MathisHoliday’s daily, syndicated horoscopesChristie’s blog, I know that astrology is b******t, but I can’t stop reading my hororscopeThe Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan KunderaRosemerry’s poem about her birthday horoscope last year This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

How do you “reduce the drag” and make yourself the most available to daily output in your creative practice? To help with ideas, we turn to Holiday Mathis, who has written over eight million words in her daily, syndicated horoscopes. Talk about learning how to negotiate the daily grind! In this episode, we talk about how improvisation rules help in daily discipline, about Holiday’s muses and how she serves them and great advice from a soap opera actor. We talk ambition, how she got her start, and the role of the reader vs. the process of the writer. It’s a light-hearted, metaphor-rich, treasure trove of advice for creatives of all kinds. Holiday Mathis writes the syndicated daily horoscope column for hundreds of newspaper publications internationally including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and in her hometown, The Tennessean. She is working on the Guinness Book World Record for the most consecutively published words by a single author in newspapers, having currently been published every day since 2005. Mathis is also a multi-platinum songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Miley Cyrus, Emma Roberts and many others. She lives in Franklin, Tennessee with her husband, daughter and two Shih Tzus. Holiday MathisToday’s horoscopes by HolidaySome of Mathis’s songsChristie’s blog post about Mathis: I Know Astrology is B******t, But I Can’t Stop Reading My HoroscopeRosemerry’s poem about her birthday horoscope last yearKoko the gorilla muse This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“Marvelous things happen when you follow your heart’s truth … open doorways you can’t imagine.” So says our special guest Kayleen Asbo in this special bonus episode with the amazing Kayleen Asbo, cultural historian, composer, musician, writer and teacher. We talk about her “pillars of the day,” and her “bookends,” plus habits she has for cultivating beauty and creating anchors in an itinerant life, plus things she wishes she’d known before that she trusts now--especially about reckless generosity. Kayleen AsboChristie’s upcoming workshop, Level Up: business planning for freelancers This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“Find what you long for and be brave and vulnerable enough to offer it to the world.” So says Kayleen Asbo, our featured guest on this episode of Emerging Form in which we speak about how to foster and shape creative community. Asbo is a cultural historian, composer, musician, writer and teacher who weaves myth, music, psychology, history and art with experiential learning. We talk about passion, about ways to help a group find juice, about how a group leader can encourage trust and intimacy, as Asbo says, by leading “with your own breaking open heart.” At their best, creative communities refresh, encourage, support and inspire us--and offer us discipline. This episode is full of thoughts and tips on everything from creating commitment to how to create intimacy online. Kayleen Asbo holds master's degrees in music (piano performance), mythology and psychology. She has been a faculty member at the Pacifica Graduate Institute and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Osher Life Long Learning Institutes at UC Berkeley, Sonoma State University and Dominican University. She teaches on a wide array of topics, ranging from Jungian Depth Psychology to Dante to the History of Classical Music. As theCreative Director and Resident Mythologist for Mythica, Asbo used to spend three months a year leading workshops and retreats in sacred sites in Europe and has turned her treasury of pictures and stories from these pilgrimages into online "Virtual Pilgrimages."Kayleen AsboVirtual PilgrimagesTo learn more about Christie’s freelancing workshops, visit https://christieaschwanden.com/workshops/ or email Christie@nasw.org**The Hero of the Imogene Pass Race --Rosemerry Wahtola TrommerWhen I think of encouragement,I think of Jack Pera,who stood every yearat the top of Imogene Pass—in snow, in sun, in sleet, in fog.On race day, a thousand plus runnerswould reach the top,weary, having climbedover five thousand feet in ten miles,and Jack, he would hold out his handand pull each of us up the last foot,launching us toward the long downhill finish.I remember how surprised I wasthe first time, and grateful,grateful to feel him reaching for me,grateful to feel his powerful gripyanking me up through the scree.“Good job,” he’d say to each one of us,cheering us though we were sweatyand drooling and panting and spent.After that first race, I knew to look for himas I climbed the last pitch,trying to make out his format the top of the ridge.And there was. Every time.“Good job,” he’d sayas he made that last steep stepfeel like flight.There are people who do this,who hold out their hand,year after year,to help those who need it.There are people who carry uswhen we feel broken,if only for a moment.When I heard today Jack had died,I couldn’t help but imaginean angel waiting there above himas he took his last breath,an angel with a firm grip and a big smileholding out a hand, pulling him through that last effort,telling him, “Good Job, Jack. Good job.”And may he have felt in that momentthe blessing of that encouragement,totally ready to be launched into whatever came next.Good job, Jack Pera. Good job. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe