Thelma Giomi is a novelist, award- winning poet, and psychologist. As a therapist she has treated children, families, and individuals experiencing a wide range of psychological and life stressors. While working in a university medical setting she trained medical students, residents, and graduate students. In her personal life, a diagnosis of systemic lupus became the impetus for her to focus on her lifelong love of writing and develop as an author and motivational speaker.
She draws from the essence of her being. She infuses the challenges of living with an “invisible illness” with an invincible vitality that sustains a creative energy and belief in caring for others.
I live in the high desert of the southwest. For me, New Mexico truly is the Land of Enchantment. Much of my poetry and my first novel, Weather’s Store: Encounters with the Sacred, reflect the mesmerizing nuances, the moods, traditions, rituals and people of this unique place.
The true passions of my life have been both writing and therapy/caregiving. I began writing poetry as soon as I knew how to string letters together to make words. In clearing out my mother’s house I found a Christmas poem I gave her when I was seven. Writing a holiday message has been my personal way of celebrating the season and the first volume of 20 years of poems appear in the poetry collection, Winter’s Invitation.
Growing up in New Mexico the Native American and Hispanic cultures infused our daily life with rich traditions. My family background includes a wonderful heritage of a close Italian community from Lucca, Tuscany. On my mother’s side I had a true pioneer heritage that included a highland Scottish legacy. These wonderful experiences have poured their abundant culinary and holiday traditions into my daily life and celebrations.
My mother and father each lived with disabled family members. My mother’s sister suffered the long-term effects of polio and died just two years before I was born on the exact same date and day of the week as her birthday. My father grew up with his father having uncontrolled seizures due to a botched surgery in the U.S. military in WW1.
I was part of a caregiving family from my earliest memories. My mother inspired in me a compassion and deep respect for those with disabilities and a passion for taking care of each other. Becoming a therapist was so intrinsic to my nature that I forsook the urgings of several of my English professions to drop out of college and just write.
When I was diagnosed with the chronic illness, systemic lupus (SLE), I decided not to let it define me. For the first years after the diagnosis I was bedridden much of the time. My family never let me down in those times. I believe that each experience we have can create strength and resilience in us. Those experiences offer an opportunity to help others with their own struggles. A quotation from Camus has always inspired me, “in the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. …No matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger-something better, pushing back”.
Thelma Giomi has written numerous books and collections of poetry including: Weather’s Store: Encounters with the Sacred, Weaving the Wind, Winter’s Invitation, The Beagle Blues, and Church of My Heart. Find these and more on Amazon, Kindle, other digital media, and in bookstores. To read more from the author or to join our mailing list, get updates, deals, and more, go to www.thelmagiomi.com.
Books by Thelma Giomi
Weaving Winter’s Magic is a meditative journey through the holiday season. These poems bring life into the long darkness of December. Both calming and revitalizing, the poems weave spiritual magic through the winter landscapes.
Weaving Winter’s Magic is available through Amazon.com
Thelma Giomi, award-winning author and poet, has brought light into the long darkness of December. Her elegant words are both calming and revitalizing as she weaves spiritual magic through winter landscapes.
- “I read your precious poetry when I need to reconnect. I keep your poetry on my desk and reread it often. True wisdom, true blessing, and true life.” —Glenn Humphrey, Ph.D.“Not only is your poetry beautiful—it creates a profound message of hope—that we can create the world anew.” -Reverence Kathleen Fannin
“Your poetry is at the heart and soul of the universe. I frame them and hang them where I can read them all year long.” -Carolyn Williams
“Thelma’s poems are a daily guide to spiritual awareness.” -Janet Ferrell, News Journalist
“I want to take lines from your poems and put them all around my kitchen.” – Grace Colvin
Shatter My Heart follows the lives of Ian, Lauren, Mikki and Paul as their hearts and lives are shattered by illness, loss, infidelity and the demands of commitment to each other. Individually and together they face and overcome some of life’s most devastating events with poise and compassion, becoming the heroes of their own lives.
Winner “Best Fiction from New Mexico” in the 2019 National Federation of Press Women’s Communication Contest.
Winter’s Invitation is an opportunity to pause just as the holiday season draws us into its demands and incessant activity. The poems and art provide a sanctuary for quiet reflection and a resource for the high energy and excitement of the season. Lyric and elegant with a resonance and rhythm that moves through the words, they vibrate with meaning on levels that surprise the reader with each new reading.
Weather’s Store’s unique and meditative qualities explore the traditions and ancient methods of spiritual healing through herbs, rituals, and ceremonies. This highly compressed, sensual novel takes the reader on a suspenseful journey with Jessie Eaton. Through Weather’s Store, Jessie encounters the magic and mysticism of the enchanting New Mexico landscape, a healing curandera, terrifying Indian witches, and the most ordinary and extraordinary women of this area, as well as Weather himself. With each encounter, her illusions and beliefs are challenged by new perspectives of the true meaning of dignity, acceptance, and purpose. Mesmerizing and empowering, Weather’s Store weaves the elegance and spirituality of northern New Mexico cultures into a journey of self-discovery and profound understanding of the demands of individual destiny. The writing is fluid, rich, and rhythmic, creating imagery and a cadence to life that stays with the reader to the last page and beyond.
Church of My Heart contains stories and poetry written by Thelma’s sister, Debra Giomi. The stories and poetry reflect Debra’s deep feelings about the sacredness of the Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, NM. Thelma honors her sister by publishing these writings.
OTHER BOOKS BY THELMA GIOMI
Poetry
Jaleo
Weaving the Wind
Beagle Blues
Novels
Weather’s Store: Encounters with the Sacred
Shatter My Heart
Memoir
Church of My Heart – a Memoir
