The View from Rockriver Hill

My two smallest are helping me celebrate the arrival of the spring 2025 edition of The California Quarterly by the California State Poetry Society! My poem, "Flow" was featured in this edition. It's an extended metaphor about mothering, or really any stage of life where we feel a little "stuck," but it's all part of God's plan for us. Flow The patch of water flows downstream Beneath the blue cathedral of sky. Moving around bends, winding around rocks, Through arches of trees, Beneath bridges of stone, Burbling, laughing, thundering in its work, Housing fishes and carrying bits of straw— Going ever down, down, downward… Until it stops. Rocks, stones, sticks and branches Formed a dam last fall, Impeding the flow of the water, Frustrating the flow of the water, Stopping the water from following its joy, Its ever-downward flowing. Trapped. Caught. Stagnated In a little pool where the algae thicken, And mosquitoes ...

 I am excited to announce that my short story, "Dusk Falls" won third place in the 2024 CBU Alumni Creative Writing Competition!  My certificate came with a lovely gift basket full of CBU merchandise including a hat, water-bottle, and even some lancer socks!  If you'd like to read a copy of the winning piece, here it is!    Dusk Falls By Sandra Rose Hughes                 The sun had long since sunk over the horizon and its residual light faded quickly. Electric lights turned on throughout the camp like pinpricks of light blazing in the black landscape. Rihanna reached inside her backpack to pull out the plastic leather sensory helmet, but her fingers grabbed only air. With a growing sense of terror, Rihanna fumbled around in the pack. There was a hole in the bottom, more than large enough for a helmet to slip through at any point during their trek on the long, bumpy trail. No- this couldn't be happening. It must be ...

My poem, "The King's Dinner" was recently featured in California Baptist University's online publication-- The Dazed Starling: Unbound.  I am always proud to work with my alma mater and I'm honored they chose to feature my poem.  The editors included the first half of the original poem, which can be found here:  https://issuu.com/dazedstarling/docs/_ds_unbound_2023/9 If you'd like the read the entire poem, I will post it below.   The King’s Dinner The phoenix sang her final song, her mournful tune, last night. A song of grief, a song of joy, a song of dark and light.   My king believed the phoenix chick, if served upon his plate, Would grant him immortality, and stave off all man’s fate. Thus in the morning I was sent to find the new-hatched bird. I started forth before the dawn near where her song was heard.   In top of a palmetto, an oasis in a glen, I found her small and trembling in a nest of cinnamon.   I found the blue-eyed fledgling bird a-cry...

Our passage in Sunday School this week involved Joshua reminding the Israelites to remember of all the things the Lord had done for them to.  The Lord has been faithful to my family, too.    Remember  I remember.   How you saved the life of Ruth Bennett’s baby boy Who one day became my daddy And a servant of Your gospel.   How you saved Juanita Blackwell’s body from the flames And used a catholic priest visiting the hospital To save her soul.   How you brought Ruth’s son and Juanita’s daughter together To form a family Dedicated to you.   How you’ve sent their children Throughout Kern County Throughout California Throughout the country Throughout the world In service of Your gospel.   How you answered my prayer for a husband who loved you And his prayer for the wife You wanted him to have.   How you sent me to this wild and rustic place And gave me the courage, strength, and fort...

    We were a family.       Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother, Me.     One dog, some rodents.     We lived in a house That smelled like cowboy cookies And aging hamster.   Played hide and go seek Ate dinner around table Dug holes in back yard   Made purple plum jam Walked to school, roller skated. Mom read Narnia.   Dad preached and sang deep. We were the pastor’s family. Family camp every year.     Why was it urgent That we start our own families? Multiply we must.   Multiply we did. And I would not trade my kids For those days again. We are still family. Three siblings and their spouses 10 grand grandchildren.   But sometimes I miss Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother, Me. All under one roof.          

 Fellow CBU Alumni and poet Kaci Rigney graciously featured my poem, "Aging Hands" on her blog. It is a poem I wrote in response to the loss of my final grandmother this year, and watching my parents age.   Check it out at:  https://kacirigney.com/2022/03/25/featured-poet-sandra-rose-hughes/

What Grows Where You Live?  What Grows Here? By Sandra Rose Hughes   What grows here on Rockriver Hill with decomposed granite soil, Defensive space toil, scant water, wild currant briars, forest fires or gopher root-attacks thrown in?   Resentment can grow here, in our high desert loam, My heart knows this all too well. But so can juniper trees, and bull pines, And forgiveness--and fresh starts.   It’s too dry on our hill for cottonwood trees And it’s too cold for citrus, though we can’t help but try, And our pomegranates, peaches, and iris bulbs (do you need any?) Never seem to die.   Very little is convenient here-- still, we stay because,   Like the junipers and yuccas, This is our home.   We send down deep roots In search of water where we are, And we thrive.

       Fellow writer and poet Alicia Pollard featured my poem, "Wolf Song" in her Winter Eyrie Project. The wind howls. It growls, snarls, swirls, threatens, Curls about my cottage walls, Seeking chinks and gaps where it might slip in... To finish reading, click  HERE .  Thanks for all the encouragement, and for including me, Alicia!

  Dear Readers,  Since last September, I've been blessed to begin working toward a Digital Media and Advertising Certificate at Cerro Coso Community College online.      I wanted to get the certificate because I believed it would help me with non-profit fundraisers and ministry advertising, but it's turned out to be much, much more!       Last Semester I took "Digital Imaging," and learned about design and basic photoshop skills. I was thrilled when I realized it was essentially an art class, but with computers!        This Spring, I am taking "E-Commerce" to learn about how to run a business online.  I was less thrilled when I realized it was essentially a business class....but with computers.  (Though I am definitely more "artsy" than "business-y," it's been an extremely valuable class.)  In addition to giving me skills I can't understand how I've been living without all these years, I'm just having ...

For the past few months, I have been logging in for a Zoom open mic night for Kern County Poets. They graciously invited to interview me for their most recent Kern Poets update.  My interview is the last one, and you can find it Here. If you'd rather not scroll through all of it, here is just my section:  Interview with Sandra Rose Hughes, First Friday Zoom Open Mic, January 7, 2022 by Carla Joy Martin Sandra shared this thoughtful poem with us that evening: Write Your Way Home by Sandra Rose Hughes Something bad has happened to you. The lid to your green-grass world has been torn off. Being Snow White doesn’t work anymore. You can’t just “sweet attitude” and “can-do” spirit your way out of this. Was it your fault or was it theirs? Where did you go so wrong? You are lost, lost in the woods, with no Prince Charming in sight, Though there are plenty of wolves. How do you find your way back home? After the bad thing, the thing that wasn’t supposed to happen, at least not to you,...

  Many of you know that I am part of an amazing online faith-based writing community called The Habit .  I joined almost a year ago, and it has provided me with numerous blessings and some truly incredible relationships.  For the past few weeks, we have been discussing God's expectations of us as writers and in his weekly newsletter, Jonathan Rogers included a prayer that I had penned.  If you'd like to see it the blog, you can visit it here If you'd just like to read the prayer, here it is:  A Writer’s Prayer By Sandra Rose Hughes The list of things I am not good at is quite long. But people tell me that You have given me some ability to write.  Thank you for this gift, Lord. Let me not hide it under a bushel Or use it to make others feel small. But let me share with them generously- For myself, my family, my community.  Help me to trust in the process, For you are a God of process, And you gave me this gift to be used.  Help me to trus...

Dear Readers,  This will be my last blog post for a few months.  Hughes Baby #4 should be due sometime in June and I can already feel the weariness in my body calling me to rest more and wait patiently for my new little one.  I plan to pick the blog back up again in August, and switch to a weekly update instead of twice weekly. Thank to so many of you who have told me how much you enjoy reading my blog posts. The fact that you take time to read the snippets I post on here means more than you know.  But for today, I present my final blog post for May: The Sunflower Jungle  Sunflowers are my kind of flowers. Sunflowers are easy to grow, cheerful, impressive, drought-resistant, and bird-friendly. My Grandfather Blackwell grew them every year and not a year goes by that I don’t think of him when the sunflowers grow tall. This year, we planted nearly 50 sunflower seeds. For some reason, (perhaps having to do with the “help” of my 4-year-old, or perhaps having to...

       Imagine that you are three years old. You are sitting in your backyard pouring dirt from a spoon into a blue plastic pail, watching the light catch on the shiny flakes in the dirt. An ant wanders near your purple Velcro sneakers. But not just any ant! This ant is larger than most, and its body seems to be covered in white, fluffy fur. Unlike most creatures you have tried to befriend, this one is moving slowly, as if it has nothing in the world to fear. Perhaps it is waiting for a friend to pick it up, pet it, and play with it.                 You consider vaguely that your mother has told you not to pet the fluffy ants. There was some pressing reason she did not want you to touch them. But even for all her words, you often misunderstand her; perhaps this is one of those times?   Surely there could be nothing wrong with gently, ever so gently, stroking that soft, white fur. ...

Cat On a....Well, You Know.    The rain barrels are dry.   We keep hearing the word, “drought,” in the news. I’ve heard that word so many times in my lifetime living in California that I wonder why we keep calling it a “drought,” and don’t just call it, “the way things are here.” Miniature Yellow Roses- Not Native This is the season when my garden starts to look weary, and a small percentage of plants which I planted hopefully in March and April will begin to die, especially non-native plants like the strawberries, the lemon trees, and my miniature rose bushes.  Aloe Vera Blossoms  A better gardener might be able to keep them alive. I am not that gardener. The agaves, aloes, cacti, hot-weather succulents and other desert plants will stubbornly survive and continue to propagate faster than I can transplant them and give them away. Harmless Garter Snake       Snake season continues upon us, and wildfire season looms its terrifying, red-hot he...

  We adopted a new kitten a few weeks ago. Bluelight is friendly, sweet, and social, with shiny black fur and bright green-blue eyes. When we first got her, Bluelight had a few scaly patches on her nose and ears that made me wonder if there was something wrong. She was also a little scabby on her belly and tail, and I hoped that with good care and good nutrition, those issues would resolve themselves. 2 ½ weeks after we adopted her, the first white and red circular mark appeared on my 4-Year-Old’s arm.   “If I didn’t know better,” I thought to myself, “I’d think that was ringworm.” A quick google images search confirmed my worst fears. It was indeed ringworm. And, according to the articles I began feverishly hunting through, the most likely infectious culprit was Bluelight the Kitten. What had I done? I had unknowingly introduced a sick kitten into an otherwise healthy household, and now she was infecting my children, who have been gleefully sleeping with, playing wit...