Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer lives in Southwest Colorado with her husband and daughter. She served as the third Colorado Western Slope Poet Laureate (2015-2017) and was a finalist for Colorado Poet Laureate (2019). Her poetry has appeared in O Magazine, on A Prairie Home Companion and PBS News Hour, in Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry,” on stage at Carnegie Hall, in back alleys and on river rocks. Her poetry collections include Hush (winner of the Halcyon Prize for poetry of human ecology), Naked for Tea (finalist in the Able Muse Book Award), Even Now, The Less I Hold, The Miracle Already Happening: Everyday life with Rumi, Intimate Landscape and Holding Three Things at Once (Colorado Book Award finalist). In April, 2023, Samara Press will publish her newest collection, All the Honey.
She travels widely to perform and teach for clients such as Think 360, the National Storytelling Festival, Ah Haa School for the Arts, Camp Coca Cola, The Mission in Santa Barbara, Taos Poetry Festival, wForum, and Business and Professional Women. She loves co-leading retreats that combine poetry with meditation, art, and play therapy. She served as San Miguel County’s first poet laureate, directed the Telluride Writers Guild for 10 years, co-directs the Talking Gourds Poetry Club, co-hosts Emerging Form–a podcast on creative process, and co-founded Secret Agents of Change–a group devoted to surreptitious acts of kindness. She has been a satsang student of Joi Sharp since 2010.
Rosemerry performs with Telluride’s eight-woman a cappella group, Heartbeat, and sings more often (and more publicly) than her children wish she would. Since 2006, she’s maintained a poem-a-day practice. Since 2011, she’s posted those poems on this site and also sends them out daily to her mailing list. You can sign up for the daily emails here. Her MA is in English Language and Linguistics. Favorite one-word mantra: Adjust. Visit her at www.wordwoman.com . Watch her TEDx talk The Art of Changing Metaphors: Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer TEDx Paonia
I would add that RWT is a woman whose eyes sparkle with laughter, whose heart widens with joy, whose limbs dance the dance of awakening.
Anne, thank you for the kind mirror …
I adored your poem- your words about our shared hula experience. Thank you so much for giving that to us.That meant a lot. I was one of the dancers.
much alohaand many thanks
Judy Walker
Oh, not to be a stone! I’m a fan.
Hi mom it is your son I’m bored in school so I am saying hi “hi”
Hi Finn! What a surprise to see a comment from you! It makes my day, though of course I wish you were not bored. Googling your mom is a funny thing to do when you have nothing else to do … I love you so much.
HI,
I’m Tokoni, a student and poet. Its nice to meet you. I’d like to invite you to my blog at http://www.insanitybeautiful.wordpress.com if you’re interested. Thanks.
Hi Tokoni, nice to meet you, too! I checked out your blog … beautiful images. I especially liked the woman’s hair with the pink garland.
Hi Rosemerry,
Your sentiment (“Even though we have plans…, July 11) lighted up the feelings I had a year ago when I moved to another state and left my friends and my lifelong network behind. I wrote this haiku:
…but I mean….
It hurts, this truth in
my heart: I say “goodbye” but
I mean “don’t forget.”
I shared and I still recall with delight a great many “unhidden” smiles with my friends.
You said it in a lavish and loving way.
Rick
Hi Rick, so hard to leave our networks, a lifelong one especially! Your poem really reflects that. Oh, and it feels so good to hug our friends, not just good bye, but just because, just because it feels so good.
“You’ve felt it too, right?” is a delightful invitation to feel peachier, and I do. I’m old enough to be thrilled about waking up every morning, and I try to do only the things that I want to do, and I’m getting better at walking through propitious open doors that beckon to the new. I wrote this recently:
Morn
Waking at new dawn,
I look around for comfort,
but all’s new. Deep breath.
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015 All rights reserved
Regards,
Rick
What a great response, Rick, and yes to the Deep Breath! And yes to the propitious open doorsand to seeing them!
Thanks for sharing your poem r
From: “comment-reply@wordpress.com” Reply-To: Date: Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 1:40 PM To: Rosemerry Trommer Subject: [A Hundred Falling Veils] Comment: “Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer”
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Hi Rosemerry,
When I read a piece that knocks me out, sometimes I try to do my own riff on what the poet has said so well.
The first of your Four Encounters today is a beauty. You answered the question: “Can 13 words be a palace?”
Here’s my homage:
Beseeching your heart,
my eyes, two trembling pilgrims,
have slipped off their shoes
Usually I don’t bother with all the hodgepodge inventions of formulaic formats for poetry, but the traditional 5-7-5 haiku structure intrigues me, a constraint done all in velvet
Happy holidays
Rick
Can 13 words be a palace? That is a question I wish I had asked! Lovely re-rendering, Rick
Hugs to you, Rosemerry
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer http://www.wordwoman.com tel. 970-728-0399
From: “comment-reply@wordpress.com” Reply-To: Date: Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 2:47 PM To: Rosemerry Trommer Subject: [A Hundred Falling Veils] Comment: “Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer”
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Hi Rosemerry,
Your “On the wall” is heart throb stuff.
Robert Frost wrote: “The right reader of a good poem can tell the moment it strikes him that he will never get over it.” Frost didn’t know he was referring to your poem.
I’m 70 yrs old with three young grandchildren (oldest is 5) living only a few miles away, and it is exquisite pain to be part of their lives and help them to grow joyfully and wish (privately) there could be a way for me to shield them from any future grief.
I wrote this almost 20 years ago, long before they were born:
A simple pirouette
I see her, a child dancing on the sand,
as my child once was—
I see him again—
I almost see the ample sand with a child’s eyes.
Once I was a child on the sand.
My memory spans the years,
simply bridged by gazing at this child in her simple pirouette,
her moment, she surges gaily now, in her turn.
A simple cycle, the recurring rhythm,
the carefree whirl, the blossom of delight—
all quickening my wistful gaze….
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 1998 All rights reserved.
————————-
Rosemerry, I look forward to your offering every day.
Rick
Ah, Rick, a beautiful poem, thank you for sharing it. I especially love the repetitions, how it suggests the generational returns, lovely. I am grateful for you comments and always appreciate it when you take the time to respond. r
From: “comment-reply@wordpress.com” Reply-To: Date: Friday, January 15, 2016 at 6:13 AM To: Rosemerry Trommer Subject: [A Hundred Falling Veils] Comment: “Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer”
WordPress.com Respond to this comment by replying above this line New comment on A Hundred Falling Veils rsubber commented on Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer > Western Slope Poet Laureate Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer lives in Southwest > Colorado with her husband and two children. Her poetry Hi Rosemerry, Your “
I found your beautiful blog after reading some of your poems at Rattle. It’s always a delight to discover a new poet to read, and I’m very much enjoying your work.
Mary, so nice to now discover you, too! Thank you for the nice feedback, for taking the time to connect.
Hi Rosemerry,
“One Lesson in Generosity” is poignant, you have a delicate touch when you find voices in hearts and flowers….
You inspired me to write this one:
“Another lesson”
La fleur blanche, its scent
a gift, so gently teaching
my heart how to give.
Your poetry speaks to me, Rosemerry
Rick
Rick, that is beautiful yes, teaching us to give, to open, to be fragrant, generous, effusive, quiet.
Thank you for sharing your poem with me, and thank you for your kindness, your companionship on this path, r
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer http://www.wordwoman.com tel. 970-728-0399
From: “comment-reply@wordpress.com” Reply-To: Date: Sunday, March 27, 2016 at 8:41 AM To: Rosemerry Trommer Subject: [A Hundred Falling Veils] Comment: “Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer”
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Your cup flows over with “Though Sometimes They’re Hard to Hear.”
Rosemerry, I think you have two poems here, both of them speak to me
I love poetry. For me it began late, at 35 when I discovered Pablo Neruda. I read a lot of it. I read it daily, feel renewed and inspired by it . I must say, over the last several years it is your poetry that most often has sustained me and renewed my spirit. Thank you for the gift of you and your words.
Don, your note meets me at such a vulnerable time. Thank you. Thank you for your words, thank you for reading the poems, and thank you for sharing with me your resonance. Neruda is one of favorites, too!! All the best, r
[…] Learn more about Rosemerry and her practice on her blog at A Hundred Falling Veils. […]
Hi Rosemerry,
with pleasure, I praised your poem “Inner Eden” on my website blog:
http://richardsubber.com/art-rosemerry-wahtola-trommer/
Cheers!
Hi dear Rick,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful words and for bringing that poem back to mind … I am so grateful for your correspondence with the blog, for your support, for your very Rick-ness in the world.
r
From: “comment-reply@wordpress.com” Reply-To: Date: Friday, June 23, 2017 at 5:32 AM To: Rosemerry Trommer Subject: [A Hundred Falling Veils] Comment: “Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer”
[…] the poem’s emerging form! This one was given to me by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, whose friend Jack Mueller shouted it to her, with insistent love. I don’t write poetry, but […]
Hi Rosemerry,
I’m happy to say it again: you’re on my short list of favorite poets. One of your recent poems inspired me to write one of my recent poems, I gave you all due credit in this post:
http://richardsubber.com/all-to-shoulder-in/
You have lavish sensitivity about the right words…
bravo, friend! e pluribus indeed! I love where you took the poem’s end and picked it right back up. Lovely. And I’m glad to be on your shortlist, thanks for making this gal feel good on a Saturday morning. Big hugs to you and gratitude for your big heart and fine pen. Rosemerry
Dear Rosemary,
I love your poetry and your sensibility! I’ve made a resolution to read a poem in every meeting of the writing class I’m teaching for middle school teachers this fall, and I think I’ll just pick from your work–what a treasure trove!
A little while back in my mindfulness class, our wonderful teacher read one of your poems that had to do with someone not needing to be “fixed”, being instead already whole. I have tried to locate that poem, but can’t find it–can you help me? I want to share it with my adult son!
Hello Dera, Thank you so much for this note, and I applaud your resolution! How fun to teach a writing class for middle school teachers! Lucky them and lucky students that they have.
I am guessing the poem that you mean is this one:
http://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2015/06/rosemerry-wahtola-trommer-way-it-is.html
it is odd I don’t seem to be able to find it on my own blog? Oh who knows. But this site, done by the amazing Phyllis Cole-Dai, is a host of phenomenal poems for you to choose from. I wish she were still doing it, but still it’s a rich trove to get lost in for hours!
Is this the poem that you heard? Or is there another? the problem with writing so many poems is that I lose track of them. I am much better at writing than organizing.
Now I am thinking it is maybe this one:
Love,
Though I am undeniably broken
I come to you with no need to be fixed.
I come to you the way one river
meets another river—not joining
out of thirst but because
there is so much power
and beauty in giving oneself
to another, in moving
through the world together.
I come to you the way the half moon
comes into the yard—I could be more
whole, but in the meantime,
I will bring you everything
I have.
*
At any rate, if neither of these is it, let me know and I will see if I can find a different one?
All the best to you, and to your son, too,
Rosemerry
I read One Morning on my morning Gratefulness.org email. It touched me. I immediately signed up for your once a month poem. Thank you!
Our church’s Centering Prayer Ministry is hosting a Silent Saturday on November 10. I would like permission or find out the fee for us to have your poem either printed for participants or on a large poster.
Thank you and God bless,
Jill
Hello, Jill, and thank you for your kind note! I would be honored to have you share the poem … and no, there is no fee. If you would, please, have a credit at the bottom of the poem noting that it is from my book, Naked for Tea (Able Muse Press, 2018). And I hope you won’t be dismayed that the poems come every day … it’s a lot for the inbox! If you would rather not have them sent to your inbox, you can always find them on my blog.
All the best, Rosemerry
Thank you Rosemary. I am grateful to have your permission. The folks who attend the November 9th retreat will so appreciate the thoughtfulness of One Morning. My hope is it will strike interest on, what I’m saying is, your ministry. I will add the credit and know many will subscribe. I look forward to reading more of your writings.
Blessings!
Jill
You are so welcome, and thank you for the work you are doing!!
Read your blog its wonderful.
thank you for reading–may we all be well in these strange times, may you be well.
[…] ~ Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer […]
Just happened here after hearing a teacher read one of your poems (on the day when the world has its way with you). The poem from yesterday (i want a lot) speaks to my soul. Thank you so much. I will be checking back regularly.
Hi Gretchen, Welcome! thanks for the nice note.
with gratitude,
Rosemerry
I read your poems nearly every day on my email, thank you.
thank you for receiving the poems and reading them! I am very grateful.
Rosemerry, i have been scrolling through your beautiful poems to Finn but my comments are disappearing. That happens for me on wordpress. If this comment makes it, please check your spam folder. Meanwhile i will keep reading.
got it! It was just wanting me to check it since it’s your first time posting, but i got it multiple times! I think now that I have accepted it, you should be able to just write comments that come on through.
Hi Rosemerry,
I was reading “Though I Knew Love Before” on Robyn Gordon’s FaceBook page. So I thought I would introduce myself to your work here and was just sort of mindlessly scrolling around when I came across the message further up:
Finn Trommer on October 22, 2014 at 11:34 am | Reply
Hi mom it is your son I’m bored in school so I am saying hi “hi”
Actually, I don’t know why I noticed it, but it stopped me dead in my tracks, as it were. When I looked up the information page on your son, I am guessing he would have been around 10 years old when he sent it…I cannot explain the effect it had on me, but it was as though time dissolved and that he perhaps was still here.
A little background: My son Julian also died by suicide (17 years ago.) He was just 30 years old and unlike Finn, had had a quite a traumatic life–difficult always, for me to remember. I wasn’t the best mother…
I hope you do not find this tactless or intrusive because for a reason I can’t explain, it seems important for me to convey to you how I felt tonight–a touching note from a boy to his Mom, somehow fresh and meaningful.
Thank you,
Lynne (Louisa is my FaceBook name)
Lynne, thank you. Thank you for reminding me of this message. I remember it now, but had forgotten all about it, so your reminder of it feels somehow “fresh and meaningful” as you say. Thank you for giving these words and this moment back to me. Thank you for sharing about your own son, dear Julian. I send light to him, light to you, to all who love you. I am grateful for your thoughtfulness, for your reaching back.
Rosemerry – I have followed and admired your writing for several years, but only yesterday became aware of the loss of your son. My adult son took his own life in late March, so I feel a deeper connection. I’m terribly sorry. My reaction in addition to grief, like yours, has been amazement at the tidal wave of support I’ve received, and the heightened empathy for others who have suffered in similar ways. And I, too, try my best to cultivate connections and relieve the loneliness that so many feel.
Here’s a poem I wrote in 2020 that speaks to the issue.
SOMEONE HAS TO SAY IT FIRST
Living shadows, all around;
some walked stiffly, silently,
steering away from each other;
some stood, careful not to make eye contact.
Faces taut, fists that clutched….. nothing,
postures withered,
arms wrapped clumsily, tightly
to hold loneliness in.
Then I said it, out loud.
Some turned to face me.
Some looked at me sideways, uncertain.
Those who were walking stopped.
And then, some wept softly,
some sank to their knees,
some wore expressions of astonishment,
and some drew near.
One asked, “What did you say?”
“That I love you” I answered.
————-
Thank you for your presence in this world.
Yes, friend. … someone has to say it first, to feel it first, to be charged with it first. A powerful poem. My heart opens to yours as you continue to meet the loss of your son. I wish you more love, more love
[…] Moore also decided to add something more — spoken word — so he commissioned poetry by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer to match the emotional waves of the piece. The poem was then performed by a student from Eaton’s […]
[…] ~ Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer […]
Thank you, Elizabeth–what a beautiful morning practice. I will try it!