The music of words has enthralled her from the beginning. Although she has advanced degrees in several disciplines, including literature, engineering, and theology, and has worked in widely varying fields, including teaching, telecommunications, and hospice chaplaincy, poetry has been the thread through all of them. She has felt both fed and ignited by the poetry of Jane Hirschfield, Marie Howe, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Wendell Berry, Tina Barr and many others. Like many poets, Kathy finds that writing is a way of integrating and understanding her experience and is, therefore, essential. Her poems have appeared in numerous print and online journals.