Esther Marcella Hoffmann is a fellow writer and poet who I collided with a few months ago because she came to my book release party for Slouching Toward Radiance — a two hour drive from Mankato, her home base. And meeting her and having her presence at the reading was such a gift—because time is precious, and she gave me a lot of hers that day.
Now I get to travel to her. I shared with her recently that I needed to be in Mankato next week to hand my ten year old off to her grandparents for a visit to the farm (it’s the halfway point). So Esther set up a reading at sidetracked, which appears to be a fantastic art/gallery community gathering space, “a curious art salon and retail shop with an open studio space called Art for All.”
Esther also wrote a book of poetry that I’ve just ordered for myself, and if you enjoy poetry and art and Earth, I’d encourage you to do the same. “It’s the love note we all long for. The love note to all of you; your beauty cherished as deeply as your scars.”
~ Ronda Redmond, author of Said the Old Widow to the New
If you’re in the Mankato/St. Peter area next week, I’d love to see you there! sidetracked is in Mankato, MN at 420 Park Lane, and I’ll be there on Wednesday, July 27th from 6-7pm to read from my latest works, and chat about poetry and art. I’ll bring copies of all of my books, too, just in case anybody needs a lot of books to get through the rest of the summer, or knows somebody who does.
sidetracked looks like a great spot to spend an hour in the middle of the week. We could all so with some life-giving diversions now and then, right? Right.
Esther says she’s happiest among trees, and I’d have to agree. But if I can be surrounded by poetry, good people, and art, that’s a pretty good spot to be too.
And now I’m curious: what’s the last life-giving thing you got “sidetracked” doing?
Here’s to collisions of the best kind, and the things that get you sidetracked, or even lost, in all the right ways.
I love how things can play out like this. And I also ordered Esther's book!