_Dissolve and other poems_ now available at Lyon Books, Chico!

_Dissolve and other poems_ is now available at Lyon Books in downtown Chico--earlier than was previously expected! Please check it out when you are downtown. Enjoy! Below, a hiker's bridge across East Weaver Creek--the creek I grew up on in Trinity County.

Big Boulder Lake

Big Boulder Lake in the Trinity Alps...one place in the Alps where I camped last summer.

Many thanks to those who have purchased my book of poems! Here is the Amazon link for my book: http://www.amazon.com/Dissolve-Other-Poems-Shannon-Rooney/dp/150033443X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406743360&sr=8-1&keywords=dissolve+and+other+poems

_Dissolve and other poems_ is available...

...on Amazon, both Kindle and paperback! As of Aug. 5, it will be available at Lyon Bookstore in downtown Chico, and, soon after, it will be available in Weaverville.

The Trinity River

This is my dog Blue and me playing at the Trinity River at Douglas City campground, Summer 2011. Some of my friends in Chico think I might be a little bit "spoiled" because I won't swim in the "pool" at One-Mile in Lower Bidwell Park. But I grew up swimming in the Trinity River and Trinity Lake, as well as the high country lakes. I don't settle for less! Give me that (relatively) clean, flowing water beneath gorgeous blue mountain skies. That is the kind of place where I swim.

Book Signing and Reading Scheduled for September

My book signing and launch will be held Tuesday, Sept. 16, at Lyon Bookstore in downtown Chico (Main St. between 1st and 2nd). This event will include a short slideshow of some of my favorite Trinity County places as well as a reading of some of the poems in Dissolve and other poems--along with some of my stories about experiences I've had in Trinity County. I have a bear story, a mountain lion story, and...a number of others. You'll enjoy my bear and mountain lion stories! All are invited, and...the evening will include refreshments. Below is a URL for the Trinity Alps, which was, literally, my backyard while growing up on East Weaver Road outside of Weaverville. The Trinity Alps wilderness covers 517,000 acres (2,090 km2), making it the second largest wilderness area in California.

My poodle, Blue, in the woods of East Weaver

Little Boulder Lake in the Trinity Alps

The cover of my book, Dissolve and other poems, holds much meaning for me. It is a photo of the creek, East Weaver Creek, that ran right next to the house where I grew up. That creek lulled me to sleep for so many nights of my life, and there is nothing like a creek to lull a person to sleep. The sound of a creek is nature's lullaby. When my brother and I were really young, we played down in the creek fairly incessantly in the summer. We gathered creek stones and built little "frog resorts" and then caught frogs and set them loose in the resorts. We also caught polywogs and minnows in coffee cans, looked at them for a while, then poured them back into the creek. One time we gathered red and yellow clay from the creek banks, mixed it with water, then "painted" (using our fingers) our faces with "war paint." It is this type of childhood activity that seems increasingly rare these days, and I feel so fortunate to have had that kind of fun. We would spend a whole afternoon wandering up and down the creek, picking and eating blackberries, having neither a care in the world nor a fear of anything. The particular area of the creek that's in this photo is several miles upstream from where I lived, a short distance above East Weaver Campground. I used to ride my horse, a bay mare named Sassy, through this area, and I once attended a week-long girl scout summer camp that was held close to where the photo was taken. The water in East Weaver Creek comes from East Weaver Lake and its surrounding watershed, a place I have hiked in to many times. East Weaver Lake is but a short hike from the road that leads up to the Weaver Bally lookout--one of the easier Trinity Alps lakes to access. The particular day I took the photo gives another layer of meaning to my book's cover. It was an early evening in June 2011, and the reason I was in the East Weaver woods that day was because my sister, brother, and I had met in Weaverville so we could take our mother's ashes out to the forest and give her back to the earth. Summer storms had been passing through, so the semi-cloudy skies were tinging everything with the most beautiful light, and it was that special light coming through the leaves of creek-side trees that my lens captured as we walked in search of the right place. There is a poem in the book that reflects upon that time.

_Dissolve and other poems_ is now available on Amazon!

I am happy to share that my book of poems, _Dissolve and other poems_, is now available via Amazon, both Kindle and paperback. It will soon be available in Weaverville, Chico (Lyon Books), and beyond. An excerpt from the intro of the book is as follows: My long relationship with the wilds of my homeland informs much of my poetry and other writing. Trinity County is the only place on earth where I’ve experienced what Gary Snyder calls “a sense of place.” It’s a magical, untamed land embedded in my heart, a refuge enduringly providing me with strength, peace, and insight. These poems have emerged from my wilderness roots." Here is the Amazon link for _Dissolve and other poems_: I invite you to read my book and share your thoughts with me!

My soon-to-be-published book

My book of poems is getting closer to publication! Exciting.