Of This Earth

Earthly LN was raised in southern Colorado in a valley between the Wet Mountains and the Sangre De Cristos where she spent much of her time outside. Her mother is an watercolor, sketch and pottery artist and her father was a rancher and chemical engineer. Ellen Feighny’s father was the type to read the dictionary before bed; he collected rocks, and looked through his telescope for the heaviest ones fastened to the night sky far out of reach. Late at night when guests became weary of his stories he would recite his favorite poem Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. In keeping with the ancestral tradition of Ireland’s Bard Ellen developed a love for words and respect for their power. She began writing shortly after the passing away of her father. In high school she had a creative writing class with Mr. Meir. When she wrote her first assignment about what she had for lunch, Ellen was sure that she had no talent for writing or communicating. But that was just the beginning and she began to put on paper the pain of loss and growing up. It was then that the ground she stood on and the past she came from began to whisper to her that her experience may help her be of service to others. She left New Mexico and returned to where her father was buried in Colorado and there she found a thriving community of poets, writers and musicians who supported her work and its development at open mics and other gatherings. Through poetry Ellen discovered a way to compassion and continued on this road by becoming a Social Worker. She has worked in Rape Crisis Centers, Shelters, for Peace Organizations and an Elementary School and at every opportunity shares her literary craft so that others may transform their lives with language. Her latest venture is working as an addictions counselor. Her writing is inspired by the resilience of the human spirit and the earth that sustains us.