Notes on Serenity

Merimee says, "I arrived in New Mexico from Portland, Oregon, May 1, 1970. First contact with the ground was a grocery store parking lot where we all were making bologna and green chile sandwiches. Nothing ever tasted so good, white Wonder bread and all. My bare leg and foot sunned while the other remained in the car. I was following directions to stay with the stuff. My car mates also were escapees from the Pacific NW: two Viet Nam vets, a girlfriend of theirs, their pot connection, me, and two dogs. I was looking for my friends who had settled in El Rito the previous year. That was forty-three years ago now, more than half a life-time." I've raised a large family, taught thousands of students, and written pretty steadily since 1964, first in years of journals sadly long gone, and now in poems and stories. The wonderful writers' community in Albuquerque holds me here as much as my family and grand-kids do. Notes on Serenity is a living collection of writings about addiction in my family, and in our country."