Karen Vanasse, 40, decided last year that time was hurtling forward and it was time to pursue a long-time dream. Within a year she pulled together a book of poetry, some of it written in past years, and got it printed. This Saturday marks her first book signing at Barrington Books.
A single mom with two children, Ms. Vanasse keeps busy writing and working part time. Her mini Schnauzer, Lucy, often jumps onto her lap as she pens her poems. The book, "A Woman's Life in Verse," volume 1, is a collection of poems about woman-hood. Ms. Vanasse has lived in Barrington almost all her life.
Time bomb: "One day I woke up and I was 39; life gets in the way, you have kids and jobs. When you have a lot of drama in your life it's very therapeutic to write and get it out."
Being a mom: "My oldest, Dylan, is 12, and my baby is Richard James, we call him R.J., he's two. I dedicated the book to them. They're the reason for everything I do."
Spare time: "I love to spend time with my kids. We like to ride bikes. We play guitar together, Dylan takes guitar lessons. I play the guitar a little bit and I've written a few songs. I go to the park with R. J."
Lunch with anyone: "Oprah Winfrey. She's inspiring to me, what she's done with her life and where she came from. She's like every woman's hero. I'm going to send her a copy of the book."
Meeting writers: " I would love to meet Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, people who convey themselves with words."
Read: "I like to read everything. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a Chicken Soup book. My absolute favorite book is called 'The Trinity Book of Verse.' It's from Trinity College, back in the 1900s. Trinity was an all girls school."
Music muse: "I love jazz, I love 70s music; you listen to that music and it brings you back. I can listen to everything depending on the day and the mood, and the time, everything but rap. There's nothing better than jazz on a Sunday morning."
Choose one poem: "It's like picking which child you love more."
She's a goner: "I've had Lucy, a mini Schnauzer, for three years. She adopted me. I went to the pet store and I had them take her out of her cage and I figured she would run around the store because she's been in the cage but she stood by my feet and looked up at me, like, 'I'm going home with you, lady', and it was a done deal. She just looked up at me and I was a goner."
In the workforce: "I work part-time as an aide to the elderly. It's a few days a week. I enjoy it, it gets me out."
Favorite food: "Thai food, especially from Siam Square in Riverside. It's very fresh and it's healthy. It's like Chinese, but better. My brother has a friend that's Laotian and he introduced us to Thai food years ago."
In the trunk: "Tennis rackets and tennis balls. I have a beach chair and my son's camping equipment."
Time for tennis: "I love tennis. I play at any of the local places. I play tennis with my boyfriend sometimes."
Favorite place: "My family goes up to New Hampshire every summer, we have a house right on a lake. The air is clean and it's quiet, I love it up there. We've been going up there every year for about 28 years. I write there, a lot of my poems were written there last year."
Dramatic weather: "I remember one year we went to Mt. Washington, driving up the mountain in a jeep. We hit four weather patterns; everything was happening at once, I thought the world was coming to an end. We started out, it was sunny, we went up a little ways, it started raining. We ascended a little more, it was snow and we got near the top, it was sleeting."
Choose one thing: "I would have to wait until my youngest got a little older, but I would take my kids on a trip around the world, let them see all different cultures."
Philosophy of life: "To treat people as you would like to be treated, and to hold steady through all the adversity in your life."
Book signing
Barrington resident Karen Vanasse will sign copies of her book, "A Woman's Life in Verse" at Barrington Books on Saturday, May 20, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. An excerpt from her first poem in the book follows.
"On Being a Woman ... Another little girl emerges / Into the possibilities / Of womanhood ... You would not have been chosen / As woman /If He didn't have faith / In your strength / Go forth / And prove your worthiness / That your blood flows not in vain / That you are the reason / This world / Still turns."
On Being a Woman
Though not by choice
But fate
Another little girl emerges
Into the possibilities
Of womanhood
And the promise
That this new responsibility brings
To nurture
To love
To give life to this world
To do what is right
With the little piece of eternity
Her womb possesses
So jealous is man
Who lives only to die
Sacrificing nothing
For the cause
There will be beauty
In your suffering
For that is what makes you
Perfect
You would not have been chosen
As woman
If He didn't have faith
In your strength
Go forth
And prove your worthiness
That your blood
Flows not in vain
That you are the reason
This world
Still turns
Precious Child
Precious child inside of me
I feel your presence
Though unseen
Right now I am your world
As you are mine
Though you don't know me yet
I forgive the aches and pains
The figure that will never return
Your heartbeat
Supercedes these things
And the miracle that you are
You kick me
As if to say "hello"
As though I could forget
That you are there
I can't believe God
Has trusted me with you
You make me more important
Than I've ever been before
Your life won't be perfect, child
There are those
Who will try to hurt you
But a Mother's love is stronger
Than all the evils of this world
And as long as I am breathing
You are loved
The Back of my Closet
I don't remember the day
I put my high heels away
I saw them today in the back of my closet
And it's there they seem to stay
I don't remember the day
I put my mini skirt away
The one I used to dance in all night long
It doesn't fit anymore, anyway
I don't remember the day
I put my red lipstick away
The one I wore to make me look older
Looking older isnít a problem today
I don't remember the day
I put the young girl away
Carefree times I took for granted
Youth is wasted on the young, as they say
I don't remember the day
I tucked my dreams away
They must be somewhere in the back of my closet
And it's there they seem to stay
by Cindy VanSchalkwyk
cindyv@eastbaynewspapers.com