Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer & Tony Babbitt

A marvelous night of poetry and soul-soothing music!

Spend an evening exploring the creative process with poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and special guest Native American flute player Tony Babbitt. Rosemerry will recite poems, sing and converse with the audience about creative habits — and how hers have changed over the years, blank page blues, inspirations, learning and unlearning. As a special treat, Trommer and Native American flute player Tony Babbitt will experiment on stage with the creative process, spontaneously interacting in an exchange of music and spoken word.

Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer “is a chanteuse of the heart,” says poet Art Goodtimes. She served two terms as San Miguel County’s first poet laureate. She has authored and edited twelve books, including:

• THE MIRACLE ALREADY HAPPENING: EVERYDAY LIFE WITH RUMI (poems) 
• INTIMATE LANDSCAPE: THE FOUR CORNERS IN POETRY AND PHOTOGRAPHY
• HOLDING THREE THINGS AT ONCE (finalist for the Colorado Book Award)
• CHARITY: TRUE STORIES OF GIVING & RECEIVING
• IF YOU LISTEN (winner of the Colorado Independent Press Association poetry award)

She’s widely anthologized, including AN ELEVATED VIEW: COLORADO WRITERS ON WRITING, POEMS OF AWAKENING, RED THREAD, GOLD THREAD: THE POET'S VOICE, COME TOGETHER: IMAGINE PEACE, THE GEOGRAPHY OF HOPE: POETS OF COLORADO'S WESTERN SLOPE and WHAT WILDNESS THIS IS: WOMEN WRITE ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST. Her work has also appeared on A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION and in O MAGAZINE.

In addition to writing, Rosemerry leads writing workshops for hospice, recovery programs, women’s groups, teachers and people who think they hate poetry. She performs with a poetry troupe (EAR), teaches poetry in schools, independently and with Think 360, sings with a 7-woman a cappella group, leads (for 13 years) a poetry discussion series, and is mother and step-mother to Finn, Vivian and Shawnee. For ten years, Rosemerry served as director of the Telluride Writers Guild and wrote an award-winning column on linguistics for the TELLURIDE DAILY PLANET. In 2007, she and her husband, Eric, bought a 75-acre orchard and now grow organic peaches, pears, cherries, apples and apricots. She teaches part time for Parents as Teachers. Her master’s degree in English Language & Linguistics is from University of Wisconsin—Madison.

“To witness Rosemerry Trommer’s myriad talents before a group and to hear her message is to restore one’s faith in humanity.” —Mike Nobles, Director of “A Gathering of Writers” 

Special guest Native American flute player Tony Babbitt began to play native flutes in 2007, and by 2009, he had started his own company, Quahada Winds. His hand-crafted Native American-style flutes are truly one of a kind and continue to grow in popularity. Currently, Tony’s flutes are distributed around the world. Also in 2009, Tony started The Grand Valley Flute Circle, an organization that allows him to share his passion for the flute with others, and more importantly, with those who are interested in learning to play these unique instruments.

Tony released his first CD, SONGS OF THE HEART, in October, 2010. Two songs from this release were selected to be used in the musical score for the documentary, COLORADO NATIONAL MONUMENT: CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF JOHN OTTO'S DREAM. His most recent CD, SHADOWS AND SAND, was released in October, 2012.

Tony says, "The flute affected my life in such a profound way, why wouldn't I want to share its song with others? The native flute has a surreal voice. It captures your heart and sooths your soul."

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