Hello

William Rogers

11 Jun 2025 — 2 min read

Alan Brilliant on the left with me on the right, William Rogers, taken by Chess partner Charlie when I was a nursing student

For the last 114 consecutive new moons, I've emailed a list of people that started at three dozen and now includes eleven dozen people. This slow, steady project has been a delightful way to keep in touch with the folks who want to receive these "poemails," plus a way to develop a connection, sometimes an intimacy, with the moon as it circles around us.

This new newsletter is for the full moons. On nine of each year's full moons, starting now, I'll be sending out some reflections, some of which will focus on my work in eldercare. I'm not sure what I'll do for each year's three or four remaining full moons. For my future selves, I set up a paid subscription option, so that if that this project becomes more difficult to manage, future me might more likely be compensated for that. Good for us.

In 2020 when I moved to a smaller nursing school, part of the plan was to have more time to write, compared to my social reality of the Bay Area. During these 4+ years of life between the Appalachians and the Atlantic, I’ve written/gathered two short-book-length collections of true stories, and it's nice to see the plan pan out. Part of why this newsletter exists is to make some of those stories more available.

This includes the story of Alan Brilliant, pictured above. Al lived as a writer, publisher, bookstore owner, chess player, and friend. His primary chess partner took the photo a few years ago, when I was still a nursing student, after Al had guided me through the process of binding a book of essays I'd written, also pictured. I look forward to telling you more about Al, and to maybe sharing some of those essays.

I'm also giving myself permission to include new stories, processing life as it happens. It's so much. In eldercare specifically, I get these intense tastes, most of it cut into blocks of eight or nine hours each. I have so much respect for the nurses who work twelves, and just as much respect for round-the-clock caregivers. Part of the privilege of not having to be constantly "in it" means that while I'm catching my breath I can also share these missives with you.

Hello, I'm a Quaker nurse poet.
Doing my best with this life; aren't we all?

I'm glad you're here.

webcam photo of three men smiling at the camera

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