Biographical Sketch of Linda Sue Grimes   Education Linda Sue Grimes earned a PhD in literature from Ball State University.  In her dissertation, titled "W. B. Yeats' Transformations of Eastern Religious Concepts," she argues that Yeats misinterpreted many of the basic Eastern religious and philosophical concepts that he attempted to portray in some of his poems and plays.  Grimes has been studying the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and practicing Kriya Yoga since 1978.   Publication Linda Sue has published poems in many literary journals, including Sonoma Mandala, RATTLE: Poetry for the 21st Century, and The Bellingham Review, and three academic essays in The Explicator.  She participated in a roundtable discussion titled "Spirituality in the Workplace," which appeared in the September 2005 issue of Effective Executive, published in India.  Her article, “MY SOUL IS MARCHING ON: Using Mystical Poetry to Carry the Mind to Celestial Realms,” was published in the Winter 2005 issue of Self-Realization Fellowship Magazine.  Her book of spiritual poetry, Singing in the Silence, was published in 2005 and a book of fables, Jiggery-Jee's Eden Valley Stories, in 2004.  In addition to serving as Feature Writer for Poetry at Suite101, she also contributes articles to Alternative Spirituality and American History.   Origin of Stone Gulch Born to Bert and Helen Johnson Richardson on January 7, 1946, Linda Sue Richardson, (who became Linda Sue Grimes on March 10, 1973, when she married Ron Grimes of Brookville, Indiana), grew up eight miles south of Richmond, Indiana, at the end of a country road whose name she did not know until she was about sixteen, when the Wayne County Highway Department put up a sign, ENDSLEY RD.    But a sign that had long impressed her was the one that read, “Stony Gulch,” and it stood on a embankment at the first bend of the road, marking the clubhouse of Harry Hoff, the man who lived on the estate.  Hoff owned a factory in Richmond (Linda Sue says, "I think he manufactured bicycles, and my dad had worked in his factory for a time.")  She thinks she might have met Mr. Hoff once but isn't certain.  She did admire his sign, and the glimpse of the clubhouse always captured her imagination. On down the road about two miles from US Highway 27, where the Richardson family  lived near the river, there stood a cabin that fascinated Linda Sue as she was growing up.  The rustic seclusion of that cabin and the name “Stone Gulch” (she changed it from “Stony” to “Stone” to make it more her own) combine into a mental image and create an imaginary place, where she muses on all things literary. “River God” at Stone Gulch The following poem reflects an attitude Linda Sue lived with as she was growing up along the Whitewater River in central Indiana: River God   Every spring along the Whitewater I saw that some mysterious hand Had rearranged the rocks and sand. The path I followed the summer before   Was slipping off into the water.   I could not figure whose force could drive That water among the reeds & shift its bed     & every spring draw me to its side.   Whose muscles uprooted those trees? Whose fingers patterned those stones   Along the edge?  I guessed Only the spring thaw Conjured up changes In those sleeping river images. That attitude changed, as did her life, after she encountered the book, Autobiography of a Yogi, by the founder of Self-Realization Fellowship, Paramahansa Yogananda.  Linda Sue no longer guesses who "Conjured up changes / In those sleeping river images."  Her life is dedicated to becoming one with that ineffable Creator. Publications Books  Singing in the Silence: Poems of Faith, PublishAmerica, March 1, 2005. Jiggery-Jee's Eden Valley Stories, PublishAmerica, February 9, 2004. Poems   1.  “Starvers.” The Pointed Circle.  Portland OR.  1992-93 issue.  Annual.   2.  “On the Pond.” Manna.  West Valley City UT.  Fall 1992.  Biannual.   3.  “These Bones.” Innisfree. Manhattan Beach CA. #83. Bimonthly. Rex Winn.   4.  “As Long as Gravel Bitterness Rattles.” Struggle. Detroit MI. W 92-93.   5.  “Iron Robert.” Dog River Review. Parkdale OR. Fall/Winter 1992.   6.  “After the Spring Thaw.” Ship of Fools. Rio Grande OH. W 92-93   7.  “Rivers.” The Berkeley Poetry Review. Berkeley CA. Annual. Cynthia Pierce.   8.  “Metaphysical Reminders.” Amelia. Bakersfield CA. #24. Quarterly. Raborg.   9.  “Primal Mud.” Portable Wall. Billings MT. Fall 1993. Semiannual. Struckman. 10.  “City Boy.” -----------------------------------------------------------. 11.  “Driving.” ELF: Eclectic Literary Forum. Tonawanda NY. Winter 93. Quarterly. 12.  “Chief Muncie.”ELF: Eclectic Literary Forum. 13.  “Pollen.” Amelia. Bakersfield CA. #25. Quarterly. Frederick A. Raborg, Jr. 14.  “Every Time You Don't Speak.” ----------------------------------------. 15.  “Indulgence's Reward.” ------------------------------------------------. 16.  “Twentieth Anniversary.”   A different version appeared in Eidos  Vol 7 #4 17.  “The Truth of the Bones.” Ellipsis:Literature and Art. Salt Lake City UT. 18.  “Funereal.” CQ (CSPS). Orange CA. Autumn 1994. Jack Fulbeck. 19.  “Blood Fire.” Oyez Review. Chicago IL. Nr. 23. William Feehan. 20.  “Twenty-Eight Lines on the Moon.” Poetry Motel. Nr. 24. Duluth MN. Ryan 21.  “The Man in the Poem #2. The Bellingham Review. Bellingham Washington. 22.  “The Man in the Poem #7. ---------------------------------------- 23.  “Glass Hammers.” West Wind Review. Ashland OR. Annual. 1995. 24.  “The Pause.” Sonoma Mandala Literary Review. Rohnert Park CA. 1995. 25.  “Couples in the Park.” ELF: Eclectic Literary Forum. Winter 95. 26.  “La Berceuse: Two Views.” Pegasus. Boulder City NV. Quarterly. 27.  “In the Undergrowth.” -------------------------------------------------. 28.  “River Music.” Dog River Review. Parkdale OR. Nr. 28. Laurence F. Hawkins 29.  “Greek Skin.” Trestle Creek Review. Coeur d'Alene ID. Annual. 30.  “The Eyes of the Pumpkin.” --------------------------------------------. 31.  “A Bright Charm.” -----------------------------------------------------. 32.  “The Starry Night on his T-Shirt.” RATTLE: Poetry for the 21st Century.  1996. 33.  “The Divine Gardener.” Rites of Spring. Spr. '96. Chapbook. Pecan Grove Press. Palmer Hall. 34.  “Lovers in The Poet's Garden, Arles 1888.” Interim. Fall 1996. Jim Hazen, ed. 35.  “August.” Java Snob Review. Spring 1997. Bellevue MI. Denise Foley, ed. 36.  “My Onions, My Opinions. The Brownstone Review. Brooklyn NY. 37.  “In Light of The Potato Eaters.” The Comstock Review. Syracuse NY. Spring 1997. 38.  “if my words could rise.”  Free Zone Quarterly: A Poetry E-zine.  Winter 1999. 39.  “Water.” The Salt River Review.  Spring 1999.  James Cervantes. 40.  “Listening to the Oldies Stations on a Saturday Afternoon.” (this) poetry site.  1999.  41.  “Our Table at the Cafe Terrace at Night.”  Moonshade Magazine.Spring 1999.   42.  “Dust of a Baptist.”  RATTLE: Poetry for the 21st Century.  Winter 1999.   43.  “The Starry Night on his T-Shirt.” ONTHEBUS.  Fall/Winter 1999. Alan Fox. 44.  “I Envy.”  Fairfield Review.  Winter 2000.  45.  “River God.”  FZQ.  Spring 2000.  Linda Everett. (Renamed "River Spirit") 46.  “This Salt Sea.”  FZQ.  Spring. 2000.  Linda Everett. 47.  “Good Poetry/Bad Poetry.”  The Salt River Review.  Spring 2000.  48.  “My Son, My Dissident.”  The Salt River Review.  Spring 2000.  49.  “Listening to the Oldies Stations.”  Radio! Radio!  2000.  Pecan Grove Press Chapbook. 50.  “Beauty of the Bones.”  Eclectica Magazine.  July/August 2003.    Essays / Prose 1.  Emerson's “Days.”  The Explicator Fall 1986 2.  D. H. Lawrence's Women in Love.   The Explicator Winter 1988 3.  Dickinson's “There's been a death in the opposite house.”  The Explicator Summer 1992 4.  “Spirituality in the Workplace.” Effective Executive.  September 2005. 5.  “My Soul Is Marching On.” Self-Realization Fellowship Magazine.  Winter 2005. 6.  “How to Read a Poem.”  Belly Full E-Newsletter.  July 2006.       Online Weekly Feature Articles     Poetry at Suite101.com  Back to Stone Gulch Home