For most of her adult life, Kathryn Ridall has worked in the mental health field as a trainer, psychotherapist and university instructor. In her mid-fifties, Calliope, the fiery muse of poetry, paid her an unexpected visit.
When the Muse Calls
Poems for the Creative Life
With poems by Kim Addonizio
Anna Akhmatova Ellen Bass Robert Bly Leonard Cohen Billy Collins Emily Dickinson Donald Hall Jane Kenyon
Jane Hirshfield Stanley Kunitz Dorianne Laux
Denise Levertov Pablo Neruda Naomi Shihab Nye
Rainer Maria Rilke Rumi
Gary Snyder William Stafford James Wright
and many others
Contact Kathryn
kathryn@kathryn-ridall.com
When the Muse Calls
Poems for the Creative Life
Edited by Kathryn Ridall
We may think the luminous muse belongs exclusively to dancers, writers and musicians. Artists may give more vocal homage to their muse but the muse dances through all lives. Mothers and lovers, cowboys and sailors, gardeners and woodworkers—anyone who has ever had a creative passion—will resonate with these poems about nine aspects of life with a muse.
The Call
From Somewhere Else
The Round
The Need For Song
The Honey Of Words
Seeking The World
Without The Muse
Margins
A Community Across Time