by Angelique Jurd

  
Despite my love of the written word, in recent years I had abandoned poetry, relegating it to a long forgotten box in the corner of my mind.  Within two pages of Saved by a Poem, I had opened that box and was rummaging around.  The very next day I contacted Hay House and asked if there was a possibility of talking to Kim about her book.   A week later I was stammering my awe down a long distance line to Kim in the USA.
“That’s wonderful,” Kim laughed. “I love hearing how the book has touched people. It is so rewarding. 
Armed with a B.A. from the prestigious Yale University and an M.F.A. in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, Kim has successfully led trainings, workshops and retreats all over the world for over 25 years. Combining her devotion to poetry with her background as a spiritual teacher and therapist, she also gives "Poetry Concerts", often working with other poets, teachers, and musicians such as cellist Jami Sieber.   “I became a teacher of consciousness, an explorer of realms of spirituality and psychology – but none of these wisdoms I’d been immersed in could touch the place where I was broken beyond repair.  You know: take four teaspoons of Rumi and call me in the morning,” Kim told me with a laugh. 
In Saved by a Poem Kim speaks of accidentally finding a cassette tape of David White speaking poems that brought breath and feeling to the place that felt untouchable.  Kim made it a point to begin memorising poems – and began doing this as she drove long distances back and forth to her parents who were struggling with their own health crises.
“I found myself not memorising the poems but learning them by heart and each time I said them I discovered something new – about the poem and about myself.”
She began recording poets reading their work and that of other poets and putting it against the deeply soulful cello of Jami Sieber and writing Saved by a Poem to help people discover or rediscover the magic that is poetry in their own lives. 
“Poetry is of the inner life – it’s people who are speaking about life below the surface of our lives.  Poetry is one of the main flashlights I use to help people to open up to the possibilities of who they are.”
 While the book was with the copy editors, Kim found herself again being saved yet again by a poem.  After investing her lifesavings, Kim discovered that like thousands of others, she had lost everything to Bernie Madoff.  As she hung up the phone from hearing the news the opening words of the poem "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye began to play in her mind.
“Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things.”

“You know, people think that all the people who lost money in those schemes were millionaires.  I wasn’t – it was a small amount – but it was all I had.  The poem just seized me - it really arrived from somewhere as if it had been an exam of my own teaching.”
Kim survived the Madoff loss and is not shy in admitting the role poetry played in helping her through that and other difficulties. She believes fervently that poetry is the only language that speaks to those vast shifts, wonders, and  heartbreaks that happen and that speaking poems aloud helps navigate those very challenges.
“Poetry is relationally very private, very intimate – it’s usually written and read in private. Speaking it out loud adds a new dimension. You know, poetry is born out of the grating of tectonic plates of consciousness."

About Kim Rosen:
Kim Rosen, has worked in a variety of settings including concert halls, conferences, universities, professional trainings, corporations, retreats, hospices and juvenile lock-down facilities in collaboration with such musicians as Jami Sieber, Peter Kater, Ulali, Steve Gorn, Paul McCandless, David Darling, Chloe Goodchild and Gary Malkin.

As a facilitator of inner work for groups and individuals, Kim is a Pathwork Helper and a certified practitioner of the Breathwork and the Work of Byron Katie. In addition, her work is inspired by her training in Core Energetic Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Drama Therapy, and Hands-on Healing as well as her personal immersion in the non-dual teachings of Gangaji, Adyashanti and Peter Fenner.
Kim was a consultant to Roger Housden in the writing of his popular books, Ten Poems to Open Your Heart (Harmony Books, 2002) and Ten Poems to Set You Free (Harmony Books, 2003) and her CDs, Naked Waters (with Cathie Malach and Peter Kater), The Fire and The Rose, Vesica and Only Breath(all with Jami Sieber) are innovative interweavings of spoken poetry and music. Her work has been published in O Magazine, Central Park, The Dickens, Eclipseand The Texas Review among others, and she was a recipient of the 2001 Robinson Jeffers Tor House Prize for Poetry.
www.kimrosen.net

Okay, okay - best laid plans of mice, men and writers.  What can I say?  Well, knowing me a lot really.  So what have I been doing other than NOT updating Underground Mainstream?

Well, Joshua is settled at music school and still so thrilled with it all he is sad when Saturday rolls around and he has no class. I'm betting that could wear off soon....Elijah and Meg are both settled in with new classes and teachers and seem to be happy campers.  The dogs, ducks, cats, hens, and man are all happy.  So what does that leave?

Let's see - I am now a Girl Guide Leader in training - something I'm sure I'll talk about in here regularly - especially considering how overwhelmed I feel about it right now.   I've also joined the Monarch Butterfly Trust and we are converting the garden to an official butterfly garden - so be sure to keep an eye out for the butterfly section coming soon. Then there's the Pink Gumboot Project - another garden project that you'll soon see more of in here.  Yes it's going to be a busy week.

The things I am most excited about though are the Kim Rosen interview, some guest bloggers, and the campaign to change attitudes toward obesity.

See you further on up the road

Welcome to 2010

I ended the year on a wonderful high when Dennis, on bended knee under a Pohutukawa Tree proposed.  It was all very romantic and hearts and flowery and wonderful.  Then the children went to spend Christmas with their father and their grandparents from Portugal, while Dennis, the labradors and I spent a few days with my mum.  Keep in mind that it is summer here in New Zealand so we spent much of our time lazing under the trees and reading, stopping only to cool off in the pool or to throw shell fish on the barbecue and wash it down with icy Pinot Gris.  We followed this up with more lazing with Den's parents before picking up the children and returning home.

Our ducks, hens and cats were pleased to see us home - but none of us know what happened to the eggs our Indian Runner ducks were nesting on.  There is no sign of eggs or ducklings and both the runners have rejoined The Henny Penny Gang in the main coop.  I can only assume cats or rodents got to them and I suspect Dennis is actually relieved we will not have the pitter patter of tiny webbed feet around the place.

We saw the New Year in with the kids and their Portugese grandparents (my ex-parents in law) which was lovely.  Instead of giving the kids gifts on Christmas Day we kept them and did it at New Year.  The Grandparents loved it - getting to share two Christmases in one year with the kids.

During the time off I've rediscovered poetry and fallen in love with it all over again.  I especially love Deena Metzger, Maya Angelou, and Thich Nhat Hahn - and I'm even trying to write a bit of poetry again.  I've also taken up painting - and have done a couple of passable watercolours of waterlilies and tulips.  A bit cliched perhaps but very enjoyable.