I am Margaret Goka, a writer, retired teacher and grandmother. My book contains poems from the early years of my marriage to the present. I found similar poems to group together, and as the number of poems I wrote grew, I saw the possibility of presenting them in a book.

I enjoyed writing poems and stories when I was a child teenager at home in Maryland. I grew up in suburbia with two brothers and parents who were scientists. I moved to St. Louis, Missouri to attend Washington University. After I finished an undergraduate degree, I stayed in St. Louis to teach at a Community College, get married, and have my first daughter. My new family soon moved to California where i have spen the rest of my life. Here I had two more daughters and completed a Masters Degree in Linguistics which enabled me to become an English as a Second Language teacher working largerly with Vietnamese refugees and other ESL learners.

Whenever possible I have stepped back from my life and writted poems about my children, pets, places, family, questions, and sources of inspiration. When i retired I decided to compile the poems I had accumulated, sort them, and arrange them in a book.

I am also active as a volunteer and grandmother, and enjoy making jam from the fruit trees in my back yard. I belong to a bookj club whose members have patiently listend to me read some of my poems alpiud. I am grateful for my friends, my cat, and my family.