How to Breathe at 8,000 Feet Above Sea Level

Step one: let the trees

do your breathing. Sit against

a cluster of Aspens

until your skin becomes

golden-brown and rough.

Step two: open

your hands and mouth,

but not your eyes—

learn to see without

their fear-mongering.

Step three: bathe in the river

at the mountain’s feet,

so it knows you are a friend,

that you cannot do this alone.

Then, eyes closed, arms open,

skin like bark smelling

of melted snow,

remember your lungs.

--E. Donatto 1.15.12

That draft of a poem began last August when, almost 7 months pregnant with our first child and sitting in my car in hot Houston, I learned my husband would be accepting a position as a Youth Minister in Minturn, Colorado. In case you are wondering, that is a tiny town 8 miles west of Vail. Its population is around 1100 and it lies nestled in a valley nearly 8,000 feet above sea level. My first thought about the move was that I would need to adjust to the altitude (weird, I know), so I wrote a few lines down on a pack of sticky notes that have Albert Einstein’s face on them. This is beside the point, but he’s smoking a pipe and his tie is crooked. Thanks, Bennington College bookstore.

I knew I wanted to write about this adventure—about these adventures. I am now a mother, I have moved very far away from my beloved Texas and all I love there, I am an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) student at Bennington College pursuing my love of poetry, and as a side note I love to cook and am passionate about finding ways to make delicious, healthy, real food (munchies). I’m sorry if you were thinking the munchies part would be about marijuana. Never tried it, so that’s that.

Sometimes I will share poems. They will be drafts 99% of the time, so please be aware they are works in progress. This is a difficult thing for any writer, but I'm okay with the possibility that some of these will be failures and some successes. Mostly I will share what I feel is relevant to a journey many women like me will take or are currently taking. I’ll be honest, the selfish part is that I am hoping this writing journey will help me to, well, write! Ideas for poems and essays will hopefully spring from these cyber-pages.

And so this blog, and all you will find here, is brought to you and to me by the letter M.