Francie Davis cannot pass up a brand-new, crisp, clean college-ruled notebook.

As a writer, it is the one tool the Kadoka woman cannot live without.

"I absolutely love them. I love the way they smell, the way they feel. I cannot wait to write in them," she said.

Davis has been named the new editor of Pasque Petals magazine, the official publication of the South Dakota State Poetry Society.

Davis said she believes when most people think of poetry, they immediately think of Robert Louis Stevenson, William Wordsworth or William Shakespeare, and think they could never write a poem.

"For me, I feel strongly that poetry and writing is just another form of expressing oneself. You could say it, but if you just take a minute to put pen on paper, you draw a picture of what's happening with your words," she said.

Poetry doesn't need to be frilly and fluffy or even rhyme, she said. "It needs to be true."

Writer and rancher Bruce Roseland of Seneca, who is on the board of directors of the South Dakota State Poetry Society, said when he learned that the editor position was opening, he immediately thought of Davis.

"Francie brings fresh ideas and a lot of energy," said Roseland, who won a 2006 National Cowboy Museum Wrangler Award for his poetry. "Her own writing, in my personal opinion, is quite good."

Pasque Petals began as a monthly publication in 1926 and later became a quarterly magazine with spring, summer, fall and winter editions. The magazine will now publish twice a year, with a fall/winter issue to be released Oct. 1 and a spring/summer issue April 1. That is just one of the changes in store for the publication.

"We would like to broaden our appeal across the state and become more inclusive of the various elements of poetry out there," Roseland said. "Francie's of like mind, too."

As member chairwoman, Davis said the poetry society is trying to grow membership and readership.

"We have been trying to host more poetry readings and getting more people aware that South Dakota has a poetry magazine," she said.

One of those ways is with a poetry day to be held Sept. 5 during the South Dakota State Fair in Huron.

She said board members consist of English teachers, farmers, ranchers, housewives, bankers and several professors.

"This year, we are trying to have everyone who can either host writing clinics or poetry readings," she said.

Cindy Stupnik, president of the poetry society, said board members believe Davis' hire will be good for the future of the society.

"We appreciate her enthusiasm and believe she will be a great addition to the board. She has already proven it," said Stupnik, adding that she hopes the magazine's new look will encourage more readership "and encourage others to join the society and submit their poetry."

Davis grew up south of Belvidere on a ranch. She said grass has always been a big part of her life.

"Anyone who grew up in the agriculture lifestyle would understand that because it's so very vital. I've always been very attune with the prairie and feeling at home there," she said.

She completed two years of journalism in high school at Sunshine Bible Academy under Darnly Motter, whom she said was a great inspiration. Davis also taught journalism for a year at the school in the fall of 2002.

Davis said she won some awards for her writing and had some of her works published on a cowboy poetry Web site. She spent her first year of college at the University of South Dakota and transferred to Black Hills State University, where she majored in secondary English education with a minor in writing. She is one semester shy of earning her degree.

In addition to her new position as editor, Davis home-schools her three young sons - Grady, 9, Garrett, 7, and Gage, 6. She also breaks horses. Her husband, Chad, is deputy sheriff in Jackson County.

Finding time to write is a challenge, but she said she fits it in whenever she can.

"I will wake up at three in the morning and have to write something down. Then I can go back to sleep. A lot of my poems happen that way," she said.

Or she'll be driving along and have to pull over to jot something down. "Then I go back and polish them so they are more cohesive," she said.

And she consistently has kept a journal.

"From that, I can get some of the events of my life down on paper and some of the emotions I am feeling. I think having the relationship between pen and paper and having that connection already made makes writing so much easier because your brain is already thinking through your hand as you write," she said.

If she ever suffers from writer's block, she has the tools on hand to see her through it.

"I probably have 50 brand-new, college-lined, wire-bound notebooks in my house that I can go and smell anytime I need inspiration."

A Good Day

By Francie Davis

I remember these mornings -

Hot, black coffee sipped from a shared thermos lid;

Layers of shirts, vests, jackets, scarves all melded

Together as kids catch the tails of their dreams in the back seat,

And then -

The dawning -

Birthed with the last notes of a coyote's chorus

And the rattle of pickups and horse trailers kicking up dust.

And then a symphony of metal gates

And silver spur jingles and cold, creaking leather

Is punctuated by horses blowing and hooves stomping,

And cowboys quietly greeting each other with a handshake -

Leather palm to leather palm -

And a comment on the weather and good spirits.

It is a good day…

Today, we get to cowboy.

Mama's Roses

By Francie Davis

"It's another small miracle," she said,

Swinging down off her sorrel mare.

She would reverently pick the chunk of rose quartz

Up from its rocky hillside home,

And gently brush the clay from its surface.

She then held the rock up to the sun,

Allowing sunshine and shadow to play across her face.

Each piece was then placed inside her saddlebags.

She, certain of divine intervention,

Knew each finding was not mere chance,

But rather her bouquets -

Her "roses" -

Left to her by the Lover of her soul

In the midst of a dry and dusty prairie.

Pasque Petals

Members and nonmembers of the South Dakota State Poetry Society can submit poetry to Pasque Petals. The magazine accepts free verse, syllabic, rhymed or traditional works no longer than 40 lines. The rights are returned to the author. Mail poetry submissions for Pasque Petals to Francie Davis, P.O. Box 465, Kadoka, S.D. 57543. For more information about the South Dakota State Poetry Society and Pasque Petals, go to www.sdstatepoetrysociety.com.