Poet Profile

Margaret D. McGee

Margaret D. McGee's books include Stumbling Toward God, Sacred Attention, and Haiku – The Sacred Art, as well as numerous user guides and other technical pieces written for software companies over the years. Her short work has appeared in such publications as Creative Writing Demystified, Kingfisher, Frogpond, The Heron's Nest, bottle rockets, Englewood Review of Books, and Modern Haiku. She is a licensed lay preacher and worship leader in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. Her liturgical prayers and skits have been used by faith communities across the United States.

Awards and Other Honors:

First Place Porad Award, 2018.

Books Published:

Haiku - The Sacred Art: A Spiritual Practice in Three Lines (SkyLight Paths, 2010); Sacred Attention: A Spiritual Practice for Finding God in the Moment (SkyLight Paths, 2007); Stumbling Toward God: A Prodigal’s Return (Innisfree Press, 2001).

March gusts
I hold the baby’s foot
for ballast

daybreak
the slug beat me
to the strawberry

thickening sky
the scent from the soup pot
gathers us in

can't be helped the winter moon

slow, slow dusk
cicadas flood the pause
between apologies

night rain
finally the noir novel
gets to bullets

Credits:

“March gusts” – First Place, 2018 Porad Award, first published in a hole in the light, The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2018, Red Moon Press (2020); “thickening sky” – Frogpond vol. 36:2 (Spring-Summer 2013); "slow, slow dusk" - The Heron's Nest Vol. XI, Issue 2 (June 2009); "daybreak" - bear creek haiku 89 (2009); "can't be helped" - Modern Haiku Vol. 42.2 (Summer 2011); “night rain” – Kingfisher #2 (2020).