This is part of a series highlighting some of the poets anthologized in Poetry of Presence. We thank the poets for providing the material. Today we shine the spotlight on Julia Fehrenbacher.
Short bio: I’m an author, a poet and a painter who is always looking for ways to spread a little good around in this world. I’m the author of two books of poetry, On the Other Side of Fear and an e-book entitled She Will Not Be Quiet. I live in Corvallis, Oregon, with my husband and two girls.
Thoughts on mindfulness and poetry: Mindful poetry is poetry that takes the reader beneath and beyond the worried, afraid, resistant chatterbox that is the mind, and drops us right in the center of a quiet stillness. Inside this quiet stillness, hearts can’t help but soften and open. It is from this connected and receptive place that we can move through the world in a way that serves, rather than hurts. Mindful poetry is medicine to a world that so needs healing.
A favorite quote: “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.” —Mary Oliver
Website and social media:
Poetry of Presence I & II 