Author Biography
Linda Albert has lectured, designed and taught workshops nationally for three decades. A communication and life coach with a Master Certification in Neuro-Linguistics, Linda's Archetypal Pattern Analyst and Dream Translator certifications come from the Assisi Institute led by Jungian Analyst Dr. Michael Conforti.
An internationally published award-winning writer, poet and former theater director, Linda’s essays, short stories and poems have appeared in numerous publications over the past four decades, including McCall’s Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Sacred Journey, SNReview, and Living with Loss Magazine. Among her awards are the Olivet and Dyer-Ives Foundation Poetry Prizes and Atlanta Review's International Merit Award. Linda resides in Sarasota, Florida.
Ben's Bar Mitzvah
Coming down the mountain trail somewhere outside of Bozeman, Montana on a Friday afternoon toward the end of June, we came upon a plant with tiny delicate green leaves casting velvet shadows onto the ground below. Each leaf was the size of a dime perhaps, and slightly heart shaped. It was a little plant tucked into the side of the mountain, overhanging the trail on which we were hiking which had led to a waterfall fed by winter snow runoffs into a reservoir below. The shadows were ... << MORE >>
This Is The Year The Dead Come Marching
This is the year the dead come marching,
Not soldiers, accident victims,
strangers we cluck our tongues about
and then go back to eating, shopping,
making much of small things; no
now it's a parade of people ...
<< MORE >>
A Fable
Breaking the Rules
August (for Jackie and others)
We fall in love
with
rocky
earth
stones magnified
by water clear and moving;
Greedy womenchildren
pockets
filled
to burst,
gather hearty portions:
Stars and messages
we dare to ask for;
Sand
between
our
toes.
Poetry Where You Least Expect It
left metatarsal bone could inspire poetry?
Not I, clumping around all week
in this heavy black boot
replete with stays and Velcro straps
like Jack's noisy giant who lived at the top
of that unstable beanstalk -
though I only crashed down a frivolous shoe.
Then the doctor today,
as he put on the second week's cast,
described the new bone cells
as flying in V formation to mend the fracture;
drew pictures in the air with healing/artist fingers
"six on each side," he said, "like birds..."
He stopped in mid-sentence;
shook his head at the wonder of it.
"It's funny how nature works" he said.
~ Linda Albert
Changing Shapes
I'm not so interested these days
in shape
as I am in shapelessness
and flow.
What good does it do to change
from square to circle
or triangle to polygon or helix
when what is called for
is letting go.
I think it's best
to be like water, to be
not just the ocean, but to know
the tide and current
as supplicant ...
Tantric Breathing
Paddling back to camp from the small island
after the heat stroke and the disappointment
had subsided; the others gone on to see
the bald eagle’s nest a portage and lake away,
we came upon a deer standing alone
in the marsh grass along the near shore,
so close we could almost touch it -
a magician’s gift in the yellow light of
afternoon. We froze on an in-breath,
raised our paddles slowly -
slowly
and with exquisite care
from the clear green water,
as though the air itself was fragile,
and any sound or movement
would tear us from the moment.
The deer remained unmoving, gazing at us
in what seemed equal fascination -
wilderness creatures,
breathing together
in rhythm.
- Linda Albert