Front Page - Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

I believe in the transformative power of our stories and in our innate ability to write toward greater courage, resilience, and creativity. As a writer, educator, creativity consultant, coach, and former Kansas Poet Laureate, I work with individuals, businesses, and communities to live our truest stories. You can find my essays, poems, interviews & songs here and my books of poetry, fiction, memoir, and anthologies here.

How Time Moves: New & Selected Poems: Read my new collection of poems, all about time and place, plus the best of my six previous books. "This is the real work of a poet--to see and speak the often-hidden truths of a human life in a way that enlightens and informs," Patricia Traxler writes. Poet Diane Susss points out that "True to its title, time is a paramount issue in these poems—not simply its passing, but its potential, in complicity with imagination, to invent and resurrect the future." Get a copy here!

Loving Aunt Wilma: Everyday Magic, Day 1038

May 30, 2021

Sunday evening, we sat on our back deck around an outdoor table and a wedding gift from Aunt Wilma and Uncle Ron 36-plus years ago, a wonky folding table. It was the first in-person gathering in 15 months of KAW Council, our bioregional community, and after a humid, muddy walk together in the wetlands, it

Meanwhile, the Birds: Everyday Magic, Day 1038

May 21, 2021

We are living in a world of rain lately, and according to the weather forecast, this is life as we know it into the foreseeable process. It started a week or maybe months ago, yet it’s also not monolithic. Spots of blue sky, small and angular at times, open up in between the humidity and

Hugging People As If It's Perfectly Normal: Everyday Magic, Day 1037

May 4, 2021

When I walked into the Merc Co-op today, I spied Ardys. After talking a little through our masks, she leaned in to bump elbows. “You vaccinated?” I asked. She was, so we flung our arms around each other and held each other tightly, laughing hard and not letting go. It was the dazzlement of my

Rematerializing After Being Beamed Up: Everyday Magic, Day 1036

April 23, 2021

In the Star Trek shows and films, someone can yell out, with grave urgency or casual cheer, “Scotty, beam me up” then off they go. But when they land back in the ship after escaping the clutches of attacking lizard-headed creatures or the like, they often have a moment of looking just a little shaken

A Guide to Your Vaccine Sorting Hat Horoscope: Everyday Magic, Day 1035

April 8, 2021

As more of us absorb the wizardry of the vaccine, where we end up might well be up to the whims of an enchanted sorting hat, just like in the Harry Potter books. Although it’s not a choice between Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin at Hogwart’s School, it’s not like we enter into the great

A Love Letter to Shay: For the Love of a Dog: Everyday Magic, Day 1034

March 29, 2021

You just showed up one winter day, nose to nose with our labmatian (lab-dalmatian) Mariah, only the glass of the screen door between you. You were emaciated, sick, and shivering, and we were in a rush to get me to the airport. So Ken and I put you in the minivan, sped off to the

A Visit to Scan Land: Everyday Magic, Day 1033

March 20, 2021

“I’m here for my monogram,” a silver-haired woman told the receptionist. “Yes, your mammogram,” the receptionist answered without missing a beat. Obviously, she had heard such variations before, and this is the way of Scan Land, where many — if not all of us — go every so often to make sure there’s nothing anxious

In Praise of Goody: Everyday Magic, Day 1032

March 16, 2021

“The world will never be the same,” Ken told me right after Goody Garfield’s burial service. “We were witness to one of a kind, and that’s true of everyone, but not to the same level.” Anyone who knew and loved Goody — and if you knew him, how could you not love him? — would

"Life Will Break You": A Year Since Everything Changed: Everyday Magic, Day 1031

March 11, 2021

“This is probably the last time we’ll be able to do this,” we nervously joked with each other a year ago. We were friends, gathered at Haskell Indian Nations University to see and hear Louise Erdrich, one of our most beloved writers. Erdrich had never been to Lawrence or Haskell, the only intertribal university in

Life (and Tinnitus) in the Key of G: Everyday Magic, Day 1030

March 5, 2021

Last night, I found that my tinnitus buzzes and hums in the key of G. How did I find this? By singing in key with the tinnitus while pressing piano keys. Making music out of misfortune is sometimes the order of the day, especially when I’m encased in a cocoon of hearing the workings of

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

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