I have recently moved from the lush greens of Oregon to the plains of Denver, Colorado. My work is dryer here, as is my skin. 


My life has been defined by my moves, attending 14 different schools before graduating, then following my husband all over the country as he served in the military. Afterwards, you'd think we'd settle down in one place, grow roots and never leave. We tried. We lived in Sacramento for seven years, Eugene for nine. We made lifelong friendships that broke our hearts when we left. I can't explain the need to wander, maybe it is gypsy-blood, or the possibility of what might be, but Alison Krauss says it best in her song, Gravity.

And all the answers that I started with
Turned out questions in the end
So years roll on by  
And just like the sky 
The road never ends

And the people who love me still ask me
When are you coming back to town
And I answer quite frankly 
When they stop building roads
And all God needs is gravity to hold me down

from the album, Lonely Goes Both Ways

Denver is still new to me. I am not totally comfortable with the dry climate, but am learning, as I did with all my other moves, that there is beauty in every environment. I can see downtown Denver to the east, and the magnificent Rocky Mountains to the west, so I am rarely lost. 

I have two non-fiction books in-print, and two chapbooks:

The Burden of Wings   http://www.rattlesnakepress.com/rattlechaps_chapbook_series.html

Enough of Daylight      http://www.utteredchaos.org/publications.html

My poetry has appeared in Alimentum, Bellingham Review Online, Crab Orchard Review, Clackamas Literary Review, Contemporary Haibun Online, Ekphrasis, MS: poemsmemoirstory, North Coast Squid, and others. My poetry collection, Unearthed, will be released in 2014. 

Currently, my obsession is  working on my non-fiction book, yes, no, maybe. Of all the frustrations writers face, not knowing why their work has been rejected is the most frustrating! You send your heart in an envelope or an email and receive a form rejection, not knowing if your work even came close. This new book includes the advice I would give you if  we met at your local coffee shop over lattes and scones.  Short chapters that are easy to read and apply, less how to write a poem, than how to write YOUR poem and present it to a publisher. 

yes, no, maybe has inspired a curriculum for workshops, and I am available to teach one-day or a series of workshops based on my experience co-editing Tiger's Eye for 12 years. 

Along with JoAn Osborne, I own and operate Tiger's Eye Press.  The tiger resides at: tigerseyejournal.com

I look forward to hearing from you.


                                                        Colette Jonopulos
                                                        Edgewater, CO

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