‘Into the Weeds’ at SOMOS

POETRY LOVERS GATHER IN the salon of the SOMOS Bookstore on Wednesday May 31 at 5:30 p.m. to join three local poets on a journey into the weedy world of life, love and politics in Northern New Mexico.

Judy Buffaloe, Linda Fair and Gaia Mika have collaborated on a new collection of poetry entitled “Into the Weeds.”

In this book, they give the reader glimpses of worlds carefully tended, harvested and preserved over their collective lifetimes. In the course of their lives, the usual floods, predators, droughts, revolutions and wars make their appearances, and are viewed through the lens of each poet.

Judy Buffaloe arrived in Northern New Mexico in late-1996, trained as a family therapist and mediator, and took up residence along the banks of the Rio Grande. Gaia Mika, who currently lives in Boulder, Colo., moved to Taos in 2005, armed with a degree in psychology, teaching and consulting. Her passion has always been justice, be it earth, civil, or animal rights. Linda Fair has lived in Taos since 1966, working in many different fields, including art, writing and apple farming. She currently weeds.

This trio of women have been meeting and writing poetry together for 20 years, as they seek to come to terms with this incredible journey called life and to unravel the mysteries of existence.

They found connection through their shared amazement at the inconceivable beauty and mystery of the world of plants and critters, of the vastness of the New Mexico skies, and through their shared grief and outrage at what human hubris has wrought.

Each attuned to nature in her own way, they bear witness to the interaction of human and other beings and try to bring understanding and empathy into their perceptions. The result is a gumbo of rainbows, bugs, political shenanigans, dreams and humor.