Annie lived in Illinois before moving with her family to Orange County, CA. She now resides in a quiet beach town along the Central Coast of California.

She is a poet, essayist, fine art photographer and artist. She has facilitated poetry workshops at local libraries and has been a member of Cambria Writers Workshop for almost 10 years.

Connie is also a long-time (22-year) member of the Cambria Writer’s Workshop, where she met Annie about ten years ago. Connie principally writes literary fiction with a focus on historical and multicultural topics. She has published short stories in Appalachian Heritage and Story, poetry in Solo Novo and Carousel.and non-fiction articles and essays. An anthropologist and folklorist, she lives in northern California (and joins CWW weekly by Zoom).

The Snake and the Woman in the Woods

I take a walk in the woods along Low Gap Creek to celebrate summer’s beginning. Lost in the light and warmth, I look down. A snake striped black and white lies motionless across my path. I am not afraid of kingsnakes and it doesn’t seem frightened by me. We eye each other a few seconds. I tell it how beautiful it is. It sticks out a delicate black tongue, as if it wants a taste of my salty skin. I raise my feet high to step over it. The snake watches, waiting till I pass by. Then it slithers off into green shadows hanging over the water.
an impasse
forward or backward
giving it over to trust

Banners

I have a friend who most likely is dying of cancer, riddled with random cells like tiny bullets. Also wrapped in a glory she has chosen to wear, pouring out her soul in poems like the unfurling banners of an angelic army. She is afraid and brave and ordinary and astonishing. I can’t imagine her days, how the thought catches her in the midst of the laundry or paying bills--I am filled with a savage disease. Then she goes for a walk, sees a pod of whales or a knot of roses hanging over a high wall and turns them into the ripple and snap of flags caught by the breath of God.
end of days unknown
looking for a touchstone
between the blue hours