Singing from Silence

Jane Downes (1947-2017) began writing poetry as a teenager. Her writing was always given by a love of language and the challenge of expressing the inexpressible. It was in England while attending Edinburgh University for a year of study abroad that she began writing seriously and published her first poem. Returning from Scotland and encouraged by Scots poet Norman McCaig, she was accepted into Stanford's Masters Program in Creative Writing where she studied with English poet Donald Davie. After graduating, Jane stayed on at Stanford to teach Creative Writing as a Jones fellow, as well as in community women's programs in East Palo Alto. After a profound experience of awakening in the early 1970s, Jane entered a new life of public service, facilitating transformational programs around the world for thousands of people. More than twenty years later, at the completion of that active work with individuals and organizations, the poetry began to flow again, now enriched by the years of working profoundly and intimately with many people. A whole new period of solitude, and meditation began. While living alone and close to nature, she began a time of deep meditation. This included reading and being profoundly touched by the great mystic poets and writers, and her own spiritual teachers. "Singing from Silence," a collection of 40 poems, emerged from that time. They are an invitation for us all to stop, be still, and listen deeply.