JOAN PLUMMER

After careers in social work, computer programming, and graphic design, Joan left Hamilton, Massachusetts to retire in Santa Fe in 2010. She bought her Sand River home in 2019, joining three friends who already lived here.

Joan’s eclectic background also includes painting, book arts, poetry, and energy healing (Reiki).

Her most prized creation is a 75-page handmade book containing her father’s World War II journal, photos, and memorabilia. She currently enjoys making pop-up cards, pop-up books, and collages. Joan is a member of the Santa Fe Book Arts Group and the New Mexico Poetry Society.

---

PEOPLE

---

REPLANTED
Joan Plummer

I saunter along the arroyo trail
winding past sun-baked slopes
and rugged gullies. A ruddy finch
on a parched juniper repeats
a sweet refrain. Hazy Jemez peaks
blend with blissful lucid blue...
Déjà vu.

What connects me
to this high desert land?
Was I a Medicine Woman?
Did I gather healing herbs
beside an ancient stream?
Did my delicate airborne form
adorned with lustrous ebony feathers
scan this landscape?

My roots are in the moist soil
of Mediterranean olive groves
and Nova Scotia farmlands.
My forefathers replanted themselves
in Massachusetts and Maine.

Nothing here in Santa Fe
resembles New England’s
lush vegetation, salty shores
and hurried pace.
But this is my home.
I was here before.
How do I know that?