Like most people, I love stories—the way they transport me, the way the world so often unfolds while I’m reading or listening.

But recently I started to feel how damaging our stories can be when we identify with them too blindly. For instance, telling myself I am a victim. Or telling myself that no one really sees me. For decades, these deep-rooted stories informed my every interaction and began sabotaging some of my closest relationships. What amazes me is that as powerful as these stories were, I had no idea they were there until one day, I not only saw them but saw through them.

Books and Recordings by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

 It is interesting to me how poetry, which can be a form of story telling, can also be a form of story un-telling. I have noticed that when I come to the blank page with a sense of genuine curiosity and questioning, the act of writing can help bring to light some of those invisible plot strands that have been strangling me. The desire to be good. The desire to be perfect. The desire to be liked.

My new book, The Less I Hold, in some ways explores this same theme—seeing through some of the expectations and desires that limit us.

And as you can read, that theme continues in my recent writings, which you can see here.

Whatever stories you’re telling yourself, I wonder what would happen if you could, even for a moment, seeing the world through a more transparent lens. Here’s an exercise for you to get you started …


Five Undoings

wearing that story
for so long, I forgot
I had slipped it on
*
bad hem day—
tripping on my own
once upon a time
*
rumors of my self
catch on morning sun, snag on
the wake of herons
*
with one hand, I stitch
the small tears, with the other,
I rip out the seams
*
naked
the scent
of hyacinth


POETRY NEWS:

If At First You Don’t Succeed: I have tried, tried again for many years to submit to the ACC Writer’s Studio poetry contest, and this year, my poem “Doce Pequeños de Nicaragua” was selected by Marilyn Krysl to be the winner. What an honor to have her read it at the conference. It will come out soon in the journal Progenitor.

The Moon, The Moon: A new online journal, Dark Pens, is dedicated to haiku and other short poems about the moon. Such a great idea! Here’s the link to the first issue, which features a few of mine.

 Where the Heart Is:
What a fun surprise to find an old poem of mine, Where the Heart Is, featured as the lead in this Denver Post article about New Year’s Resolutions for the home. I found some great ideas myself, in this column!
 
Sneak a Listen:
Rosemerry reads several poems from her latest collection, The Less I Hold,  in this interview with Telluride Inside and Out.

The Less I Hold (Turkey Buzzard Press, 2012)
Rosemerry's newest book is now available on this site. Click here.

A Daily Dose of Poetry:
To read my daily poems, check out my blog