And I'm wondering why you decided this poem to be what opens Blue on a Blue Palette.

Well, now you're jumping into the very important discussion for all poets who have proceeded to a point where they think they want to have a book.

And so you've got this group of poems that, unless they're telling a specific story, are kind of all over the place.

This one seemed to me, this is a book, Blue on a Blue Palette, is primarily about women's joys, sorrows, anger, frustration, history, etc., And this poem, which is a cento, which as we talk, you'll discover this is one of my favorite forms to use.

Cento basically means quilt or patchwork, where you use the work of another poet or group of poets to create an entirely new work.

So this poem is a poem within a poem within a poem because it relies on, Sarah Arvio, I think is how she pronounces her last name, Arvio's Poet in Spain, which is a translation of the work of Frederico Garcia Lorca.

So it's a poem within a poem within a poem.

Absolutely.

Was there a struggle that you had to overcome?

I tell people who ask me that, and I get asked it fairly frequently, I said, have a plan.

Don't just say, I'm walking out the door and now I don't know what.

Whether it's volunteering, it doesn't have to be my path, but have a plan.

Because otherwise, you run the risk that you're sitting at home popping bonbons and watching the TV all day.

So have a plan for it.

Something specific that a friend of mine that I went to college who retired the year before me said, within the first 30 days of your retirement, plan a trip.

No,