Sally Nacker
Sally Nacker received her MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University in 2013. Her poems continue to appear in numerous journals, most recently The Orchards Poetry Journal, ONE ART, Hawk and Whippoorwill, HOOT, Blue Unicorn, and The Sunlight Press. Sally has two prior collections—Vireo (2015) and Night Snow(2017)—published by Kelsay Books. Her third collection—Kindness in Winter—is due out in April, 2021, also published by Kelsay Books. Sally lives in Connecticut with her husband, and their two cats.
My Trail Wood Experience
[slideshow_deploy id=’80757′]I have always desired a writer’s residency—the particular solitude it would offer— and now, having experienced one, I see why. The time that I was granted to spend completely alone, without any noise or interference from the outside world, can never be replaced. I visited a quiet place within me from which I could see more clearly. At Trail Wood, that meant seeing more clearly the natural world around me. I count my days at Trail Wood among the best of my life. Time passed as it did in childhood, with the days long and wide. I walked the trails in the beautiful rain; slowly, like Nellie. I spent early morning hours reading on the back patio where so many species of birds flew back and forth. I stretched my arms up as I stood before the meadows to thank them. I sat in the summerhouse (and once, set a house wren free that was trapped inside it). I wrote in the dining room. I stood in awe of the silence in Edwin’s study, grateful for the invitation to observe his surroundings, his books, and his notes. I talked to no one. I retired when it was still light enough to watch the darkness fall over Edwin’s writing cabin through my bedroom window. I lived quietly, in solitude; in long ago.
