PAMELA SHEA, the ninth Poet Laureate of Sunland Tujunga, has lived in the area for nearly 40 years. She is a writer and poet who chronicles her life through verse. Pam was born and raised in the foothills community of La Crescenta and studied at the University of Redlands. Her professional life has included medical office work, from which she is retired, and teaching in the fitness field, in which she is currently active. She has a long history of community service, which she has combined with her writing. She finds inspiration in family and nature as well as in triumph and strife. She enjoys sharing her poems in hometown open poetry readings. Poetry has been her passion and therapy for as long as she can remember. Her poems appeared numerous times in the local Voice of the Village newspaper, as well as in the monthly newsletter for Salem Lutheran Church in Glendale and the fundraising literature for the Health Ministries of the Foothills. Other poems appeared online in Village Poets and Poetry Laurels blogs.

Ms. Shea was a featured reader at the Shouting Coyote Performing Festival in 2004 and led a workshop at that event on the Poetry of Nature. Since then, she participated in many readings with the Wide Open Readers, led by Elsa Frausto, and the Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga at Bolton Hall Museum. Her extensive record of community service includes many endeavors, such as volunteering for the Verdugo Hills Family YMCA's annual Campaign Support Fund Drive for several years. She was also a member of VHY's Senior Advisory Committee. She started a poetry group that met weekly at VHY as well as served as a board member for two terms (six years of service) for the Health Ministries of the Foothills. She has also been involved in the Relay for Life. Ms. Shea is the proud mother of three and grandmother of two. She has been married 43 years and has lived in the same house in Sunland for almost 40 years

PLANS FOR THE POET-LAUREATE TENURE

"I plan on taking poetry out into the community by facilitating quarterly seasonal poetry writing events for all ages. These events would be held at local venues that feature the flora and fauna of our community, such as Descanso Gardens, Deukmejian Park, the meditation garden at the Crescenta Valley YMCA, McGroarty Arts Center, and Bolton Hall. My goal is to foster a spirit of inspiration, affinity, and support for both established and budding poets, and to encourage them to experience the beauty of our environment together and use it as a muse for their own work."

THE JOURNEY

The dimension of openness
Is to live without restrictions
It is to break limitations
Flying free through the universe
Embrace all while holding nothing
Unclasp the mind, the heart, the hands
Float in the sea of the cosmos
Journeying into expansion

(c) by Pamela Shea


ROSEBUDS AND LOVERS

The bud of a rose
Layer on layer of petals
Held tightly, perfectly
Unfolding when the time has come
Bursts open and a flower is born
Releasing sweet perfume

The heart of a lover
Layer on layer of emotions
Trembling, hidden, waiting
When touched by the beloved
Bursts open and a poem is born
Sweet music fills the air

(c) by Pamela Shea