On My Desk

Here's another entry for the "On Your Desk" photo series: The desk where I'm working while I'm in Manhattan, in Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's magical, rambling, Arts-and-Crafts filled old apartment near the river on the Upper West Side. The drawing on the desk is by my young friend Magda Hackney--a picture of the hills of Devon to remind me of home. (Tilly, Howard, Magda and I are in it, along with a couple of enchanting Dartmoor fairies.)

Jane Yolen sent me this beautiful poem today, and gave me permission to share it with you. She's been writing a poem a day for quite some time now, and I'm honored to have inspired one of them.

Letter to Terri in New York

So you are in the exact right place now,

where William Morris meets Riverside,

where fantasy and reality are tree and holly,

where love is the knobbed trunk

sorrow grows like ganglion,

and Devon informs the rest.

Long after you are home,

both spine and spindle will remember

this place, this last homely home

where comfort surrounds you,

coffee sustains you,

and welcome is always on the mat.

"Letter to Terri in New York" is copyright c 2012 by Jane Yolen, and may not be reprinted in any form without the author's permission. My photos of the guest room in Ellen & Delia's apartment also appear here with permission.