KAREN G. JOHNSTON is a social worker by trade, a Unitarian-Universalist-with-Buddhist-tendencies by faith, a mother by choice, a socialist by inclination, a lay preacher by gift, and a poet by avocation. She performs her poetry at various community venues primarily in Western Massachusetts. Her work has been published in Red Weather, Equinox, Silkworm and is forthcoming in the anthology, *Women. Period*. (Spinster Ink, 2008). She obtained her Masters in Social Work from Smith College School for Social Work in 1995. She continues to follow her professional path by working in the field of home visiting and child abuse prevention. She is the proud mother of two adoptive children, all three of whom live in Florence, Massachusetts.