Hello and welcome!
I’m Jody, author, poet, retired teacher and Nana. My days are centered on lifelong learning, reading, writing, and sharing my love of words and The Word.With 20+ years’ experience in elementary classrooms and my own journey into writing, publishing, and teaching poetry, I’m passionate about inviting others to make friends with poetry.
Read on for a bit of my story (Be sure and scroll to the bottom of the page for Show & Tell.)
MY STORY
The seeds for my love of poetry were planted in 1973,
the year I was married, when I discovered the words ‘poetry’ and ‘Christian’ could actually go together. I began by reading the work of prolific poet & publisher Luci Shaw and dove into years of writing Very Bad Poems. I was always writing.
I went back to school as a mom at the age of 36 and pursued an educational program, graduating with a K-8 Teaching degree & Early Childhood Endorsement. I spent over 20 years wrangling early learners from Kindergarten through 6th grade and loved it, completing my last five years in Special Ed with a team of educators serving kids with autism. I also taught middle school for two years and lived to tell about it. (Give me all the six-year-olds.)
In 2012, after my son & daughter were grown and married, my writing bent resurfaced, filling my in between hours before and after my school days. I discovered the world of blogging and wrote about the widest topic possible, “the intersection of faith and life.” My online readership began to grow as I connected with other Christian writers through social media, ‘bloghops’ and commenting on other people’s work.
In 2017, I wrote my first book, Living the Season Well: Reclaiming Christmas, to help families deal with the pressures of the Christmas season, inspired by my grandkids.
In 2018, after feeling a nudge to explore poetry in my personal writing, I shared my first published poem with none other than Luci Shaw (!) at a Christian writing festival. Her response—“It’s only the beginning”—gave me the courage to pursue poetry wholeheartedly. Since that time, I’ve published two books–Hearts on Pilgrimage-Poems & Prayers (2021) and Mining the Bright Birds-Poems of Longing for Home (2023).
In 2026 I dusted my website off and opened a new online ‘house’ to reflect the marriage of my two favorite things–teaching and poetry–to serve homeschool parents and teachers. I’m so glad you’re here!
3 Things poetry can do:
1. Reading poetry gives us language to express ourselves; we often don’t know what we think or feel until someone says it for us. Plus, we learn new vocabulary! The best poem is one that sends us to the dictionary.
2. Writing poetry asks us to be more attentive, causing us to slow down and notice little things (and big) like sunsets or the way light lands on the trees or the feeling we get hearing birdsong. Poetry’s form asks us to be more intentional, sparking creativity as we learn to say more with fewer words.
3. Helping children make friends with poetry offers the joy of seeing an ‘aha’ on their faces as they discover new ways to think about the world. Poems can hone their ears to the musicality of language, and offer a way to write down the wonder they see, the thoughts and feelings they hold dear.
Luci Shaw on my left in sage green blazer. 2018, Grand Rapids, MI.
