The IAWP recently lost our longtime Director, friend and colleague, Dr. Martha Plender. This page is dedicated to her memory and will feature writings by those who knew her and loved her. If you would like to share a memory of Martha on this page please email joshua.fenton@ucr.edu.
To Martha:
I wrote to you so uncertain
Which way to go, what choice to make.
You answered soon without hesitation.
Some words of wisdom I would take.
I had to choose but never lost it
That "want" to be right there with you.
To let trapped words escape from in me
Something you knew that I could do.
These tears have caught me quite unguarded
We had never met ... now never will!
But somehow you touched so deep within me
And lit that spark fear tried to kill.
I found myself searching for your emails
Looking for those words so kind.
Now more determined than imagined
To write the words you knew I’d find.
-Barb Sabatini
Consultant, Summer Institute 2008