Colette Volkema DeNooyer began her career as a teacher. She later became an ordained United Church of Christ minister, but turning fifty, chose to more intentionally pursue her love of writing. In 2002, after training in the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) method, she began Come Write with Me, leading writing groups and writing retreats. Her poems have appeared in Peregrine (AWA Press) and Dunes Review (Michigan Writers) as well as in Waterlines, an anthology, and her recent book of poems, titled This Time... (Chapbook Press). 

Posts By This Author

When America Took Down the Welcome Sign

by Colette Volkema DeNooyer 11-13-2018

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

She’d kissed her
gently on the forehead
before setting her down
and then — just walked away.
Walked on water right out of the bay,
headed toward the ocean. She’d had enough —
seen enough, heard enough.
She wasn’t made of stone. 

After This Life, Guns Will No Longer Exist

by Colette Volkema DeNooyer 07-24-2018

No more breaking news breaking our hearts. 
No lock down drills, students learning
to drop to the floor, out of the line of vision.
No bump stocks. No more AK 5’s, 47’s. No need
for women to open their purses before they enter
the play, the movie, the concert. And no need
to fear windows that offer vantage points
for taking aim.

A Poem for Ruby Sales

by Colette Volkema DeNooyer 10-26-2017

Image via JP Keenan/Sojourners. 

You listen to her tell the story — then listen to her tell it again
You want to learn her story by heart so you never forget
what she told that interviewer about the time she was arrested
for protesting — when she was just seventeen.