Barbara Bottner has roamed freely through the arts since her childhood; this included drawing, painting, set designing and directing award-winning animation, acting Off Broadway, writing lyrics for Jim Henson, staffing network comedy, and co-writing screenplays. Her essays have appeared in the LAWeekly and The Miami Herald’s Tropic Magazine. She’s penned short stories that have appeared both in national and literary magazines. Bottner has performed Spoken Word in NYC and LA. She’s authored fifty books for children of all ages. Her website is www.barbarabottnerbooks.com The featured poems are taken from I Am Here Now, a fictionalized version of Bottner’s troubled childhood, which was published by Macmillan in 2020.