[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!
Melanie Faith
Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.
Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.
The Society of Professional Journalists
In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.
I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.
Maxine Greene
Philosopher and Education Scholar
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Ode to My Socks
by Pablo Neruda
Maru Mori brought me/ a pair/ of socks/ which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands,/ two socks as soft/ as rabbits./ I slipped my feet/ into them/ as though into/ two/ cases/ knitted/ with threads of/ twilight/ and goatskin./ Violent socks,/ my feet were/ two fish made/ of wool,/ two long sharks/ sea-blue, shot/ through/ by one golden thread,/ two immense/ blackbirds,/ two cannons:/ my feet/ were honored/ in this way/ by/ these/ heavenly/socks./ They were/ so handsome/ for the first time/ my feet seemed/ to me/ unacceptable/ like two decrepit/ firemen, firemen/ unworthy/ of that woven/ fire,/ of those glowing/ socks.
Nevertheless/ I resisted/ the sharp temptation/ to save them somewhere/ as schoolboys/ keep/ fireflies,/ as learned men/ collect/ sacred texts,/ I resisted/ the mad impulse/ to put them/ into a golden/ cage/ and each day give them/ birdseed/ and pieces of pink melon./ Like explorers/ in the jungle who hand/ over the very rare/ green deer/ to the spit/ and eat it/ with remorse,/ I/ stretched out/ my feet/ and pulled on/ the magnificent/ socks/ and then my/ shoes.
The moral/ of my ode is this:/ beauty is twice/ beauty/ and what is good is/ doubly/ good/ when it is a matter of two socks/ made of wool/ in winter.
About Katie
From Louisville. Live in Atlanta. Curious by nature. Researcher by education. Writer by practice. Grateful heart by desire.
Buy the Book!
The Stage Is On Fire, a memoir about hope and change, reasons for voyaging, and dreams burning down can be purchased on Amazon.
