I wrote this for the Arroyo Grande Centennial Celebration contest in 2011, and it won first place! It earned me an impressive medal and 100 years of immortality, as the poem was included in the time capsule buried in the town square.

Centennial Dreams:
           Looking back at 1911 from 2011

I wake with the dawn,
drapes opening to let in light
filtering between close-packed buildings
and closer-packed people
and smile at the centennial dress;
High-necked cotton organdy,
embroidered, ribbon-festooned,
worth a fortune these days,
flower-trimmed straw hat and high-button shoes
ready nearby for the celebration,
and think how quaint the town once was:
Space to breathe, to range, to live,
where life loomed large in its smallness,
bursting with promise and love.

I shed my daily synthetics,
and let yesterday’s rare organics
kiss my body, warm my heart,
and smile in wonder that,
in the huge density of life today,
we clothe ourselves in the past to find
a way to reach out and grasp
the best of what the future has buried:
Space in which to become small again
and fulfill the promise of love.

Mirror Eyes, an eclectic collection of poems and original song lyrics (Print)

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“Susan’s poems look deep within, capturing the heartfelt, delicate and venerable side of life.”  poet Shirley Radcliff Bruton

Mirror Eyes is an eclectic collection of poems that dip in and out of the events that shaped Susan as a writer. As poet Shirley Radcliff Bruton writes, “Susan uses strong visuals, nice textures, and a distinctly feminine voice to share her hopes and dreams with us.” Separated into three sections, they present the serious, the sad, the heartfelt, and the humorous. There are poems that are “pure magic,” and others that are both deeply personal and universal. The third section presents the lyrics to the songs Susan has written, both secular and spiritual. All in all, these are, “timeless poems that can be read over and over again.” (Shirley Radcliff Bruton)