Since earliest childhood, my world has been words ~ poems recited or sung by my mother, books brought back from the Brooklyn Library, the jumble of black marks on the newspaper my father read. I have always loved the way words sounded when they were bundled together or how they could say one thing and mean another. My Heart is on Fire I heard, and wondered that so few words could capture so large a feeling. 

Some words are beautiful. Some are not. Some sparkle like glittering fireflies. Others are heavy and hurtful as rocks. I’ve collected them all. Words shape my world.