My name is Dottie Joslyn, and I am a poet who writes accessible poetry from the heart that speaks to a wide range of poetry lovers and those new to poetry.

I have been writing poetry my entire adult life and have published poems in a variety of publications and anthologies, including American Tanka, Buffalo Bones, Poetry from the Trail Ridge Writers, Gyroscope Review, and Beginning Again:Creative Responses to Poetry of Presence. I am a retired Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator in the field of Poetry Therapy, Certified Journal Facilitator, and Journal to the Self® Instructor. I worked with the chronically mentally ill in my roles as poetry and journal facilitators.

I am a poet, because I believe poetry is a wonderful medium for expressing the entire spectrum of living in the world, from joy to grief, from curiosity to discovery, from love to loss. I wrote this book from my experiences of depression; losing a child; spending time on the less traveled paths; coping with the tragedies of living in this world; spirituality; and, after it all, the ultimate joys of living.

I want to share my life with you in this way for the purpose of showing you how very much alike we all are and how connected we are to each other and all living things, and to speak to your deepest emotions. I hope you find yourself in some of my poems and know that you’re not alone in, both, your sorrows and your celebration of life.

I am a mid-western woman who has also lived in Germany, the west, and the north. I currently live in Springfield, Missouri, where my friends nourish and inspire me.