Maureen was a co-founder of: WA Poets Inc, creatrix poetry e-journal, the annual WA Spring Poetry Festival, The Word is Out Poetry Journal, Creative Connections Art and Poetry exhibitions, and Walking on Water readings.

Maureen has been a regular guest reader at venues around Perth and Adelaide since 1995, and has organised many readings in WA. Her poetry and haiku have been widely published internationally and nationally. She has also had success in national poetry competitions, and many of her short stories, articles and reviews have also been published.

Maureen has studied Photography, Web Design and Maintenance, and Secretarial Skills at TAFE in WA. She was a TAFE lecturer in Oral Communication at Challenger TAFE in Rockingham. She was born and raised in Perth WA, and has two sons, Jeffrey and Robert, and a daughter, Kathy.

Associated websites:
www.wapoets.net.au
www.creativeconnectionsaape.net.au

droving

.

      i am the dust   my spirit in the
crevices of the dry creek bed
      with a closed mouth bitter against
the harsh desert sun
i am the worn tracks mapped out
by bullocks centuries ago
their remains - dust mingled with mine
on this long hard journey
      if you follow the map of my
face it will take you to a place
where only the harshest survive
where hard work and anger replace the
heart where the soft inside of a
mouth knows only silence     shrivels
up and dies   it is only
my eyes where you will see the life
once lived       did you notice
that one tear in the corner?     it
contains a faded memory
      if only i had not breathed in
the dust of this land to be
shackled to its eternal existence