By Mary Alice Murphy

Bonnie Buckley Maldonado recently published her memoir in poetry.

"I have been writing since I was nine years old," Maldonado told the Beat. "I began writing poems then, and faithfully kept my diary for five years. I wrote little in my late teens, but took it up again in my 20s. I didn't share my poetry with anyone because I was afraid it was not good enough. When I finally got into college at about age 24, I began to write again, and have never stopped since."

The book, The Secret Lives of Us Kids: A Childhood Memoir 1941-1942, contains four seasons beginning in summer 1941 and ending in spring 1942.

"I could continue on with the following years covered in my diary 1941-45, but have no plans to do so at this moment," Maldonado said.

To a question about any changes in her style, she said: "I think my poetry is less formal than it was in my first two books published in 2006 and 2008. I feel freer in my style. That is probably because I am more confident of its worth."

She should, as she is a professor emeritus of psychology from Western New Mexico University, and after her retirement, she was named the Inaugural Silver City Poet Laureate in 2012. During her two-year tenure, she was often seen reading her poems to rapt adult audiences and giggling children audiences, who always had questions.

Maldonado's poems are written in a narrative, poetic style. She explains that she sees herself as a storyteller, so her poems are based as stories.

"I assumed the responsibility of preserving family stories, and that is the nucleus of the book that describes my great-grandparents and grandparents' generations in From the Marias River to the North Pole," Maldonado said. "My second book, Montana Too, moves the reader forward to the stories and experiences of my generation, as well as a few more about the elders. The poems branched out to include issues that were important to me like preserving certain western lands from development and respecting women as equals."

She said she now has the time to write, and "I allow myself more time for other pastimes, such as reading and working in my garden, than I did during the years I wrote my first three books. I do write everyday, but have had a hard time disengaging myself from the childhood memoir."

Maldonando believes it is because she resisted writing it for so long. "I did not want to make my mother look bad. Telling the truth, as I experienced it, was not easy. Like most families, we were good at looking good, and never told what happened at home, or even at school, if it was not favorable."

She said she is currently forcing herself to write more poems on aging with humor, which is much brighter in its own way than some of the subjects explored in the memoir.

Why write the memoir now?

"My Montana editor, Kathy Sprinmeyer at Farcountry Press kept nudging me that there was a story there that needed to be told about my childhood," Maldonado said. "I finally agreed because I thought it might help other young people who must endure hard times. I think what made our situation even harder is that our lives first on our grandparents' ranch, where our dad was foreman, were so safe and secure with an extended family, as well as hired men, sheepherders, the cook and even the sheep shearers who cared about us and made us feel special. We never had to worry about preparing food, or having enough money for a pair of glasses."

She had her memories from her five years of writing in her diary, plus her older brother by two years, Patrick Buckley, also had his memories of the good days before and the bad days that followed. But even in the worst of times, they could find good and hope. No matter the material covered in Maldonado's poetry, it is from her heart.

In a news release about her book, it said the family was evicted from the family ranch during the Depression, and the Buckleys made a hard living tending the oilfield. Between their father's alcoholism and their mother's suicide threats, the four children struggled to keep the family going, when their parents could not.

"The contrast to that environment with the harsh reality of a remote oilfield with almost no support system was overwhelming," Maldonado said. "Perhaps it would have been easier to find ourselves poor and living on the edge, if we had never known anything better. Our parents' inability to get over their losses also affected us.

"This book has gained a surprising amount of attention," Maldonado said. "I didn't expect that."

She told the Beat: "Things slowly improved for our family. They leased farm land, and later owned oil interests of their own We four children are fiercely independent, never afraid of hard work and collectively believe that a sense of humor and also resilience carried us through the tough times."

Anyone who has read even a single poem by Bonnie Buckley Maldonado is not surprised by the amount of attention given to her memoir. Her poignant, humorous and poetic writings bring readers to tears, make them laugh out loud or just appreciate and enjoy the poetry of stories that she recounts.