Happy Birthday Newsy Catch Up!

Hello, Blogville friends! Today is Gumbo Writer's FOURTH birthday, so I thought I'd check in and see how you're all doing. [If you need a little coloring therapy, feel free to print out the image above and get busy.] :) 

A few confessions ~~~ It's been so long since I posted, I got locked out of and had to obtain a new password. The nerve, hunh? LOL And to add insult to injury, there were 76 pieces of spam (much of it foreign), that needed deleting. Ugg. So glad I've got comments older than two days old set on moderation mode! 

 

As per usual, I've got about a million creative projects going on simultaneously: editing a few book manuscripts, keeping up with the functions and duties of Rose & Thorn Journal, enjoying Facebook and several groups I've started there, and {insert excited voice} I'm showing some artwork and photography at several local galleries! I'm engaging in a serious romance with photography of late, have gotten some poetry and anthology acceptances, am still hosting a monthly poetry workshop through our Arts Council, and yada yada yada. So, you can see all the creative goodies that are vying for my time, and some of the reasons I've not been as active as I should here. 

    On the home front, my youngest has moved onto LSU's beautiful campus, my oldest has graduated and is now teaching special needs students, and my middle son has returned to college. Yes, we've been a busy bunch. Oh, and thankfully, we weathered Hurricane Isaac well, unlike many of our neighbors along the Gulf Coast. 

Those are the high points in my What I've Been Doing journal. Sooooooooooo, what are YOU up to? Please share! 

Will be back tomorrow with a new Tasty Tuesday recipe or two. 

Huggage and all good things to YOU! 

Writerly Wednesday ~~ Great Scoopage: Of Chap Books & Author Interviews

That's my reading glasses and the book I just finished, set off by a nice cup of espresso made by our hosts, the Magendies. Ahhhh, pure-d heaven, I tell ya.

If you're looking for a great read on the pitfalls and joys of parenting kids (of special needs or of the "regular" variety), and balancing the demands of career and relationships, Tanya Savko's Slip might be just the book you're looking for. I ordered a signed copy after reading her interview at Carrie Link's blog, and I'm so glad I did.

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Chicory Bloom Press Poetry Chapbook Series announces the Summer 2010 release of


The Gift of Laughter by Daryl Holmes

In pumpkin time the holiday spirits arrive on the winds
that billow the curtains and shimmy
beneath the door to tickle the candle flames
and stir anticipation from its nap.- excerpt from Pumpkin Time

“I'm always jealous of poems such as ‘Donna Jane’ with its conversationally prosaic yet fluid poetry. The poem holds brilliant advice I wish someone would have offered me years ago. Daryl Holmes' The Gift of Laughter offers instruction to the hasty young as well as some light-hearted jabs at gathering the wisdom that comes with age. It is both clever and charming. (Camala M. Ryan, author of God is Southern: Louisiana Poems)


“What [Chicory Bloom Press is] doing is rare and special and it is no wonder that [they] are beginning to attract attention." (Darrell Bourque, Louisiana Poet Laureate, 2007-08, 2009-2011)


$15.00 Per Chapbook (including shipping & handling)
Glenn J. Bergeron II
127 South Dennis Street
Thibodaux, LA 70301
gbergeron2@gmail.com


Publisher & Editor: Glenn J. Bergeron II / Editorial Advisor: David Middleton

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Interview with Author Julie Compton

Julie Compton is the internationally published author of TELL NO LIES, a legal thriller that earned a starred review from Kirkus, and RESCUING OLIVIA, which Kirkus called "a pleasing hybrid of fairy tale and contemporary thriller" and Publisher's Weekly said was an "intense, entertaining second novel" with a "super-satisfying resolution." An attorney by profession, Julie no longer practices but keeps one foot in the courthouse by volunteering as a guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children. She lives near Orlando, Florida with her husband and two daughters. You can read the first chapters of both novels at her site.

1.) You've got a great Q&A section at your website. Anything you'd like to elaborate upon or amend?

Thank you! Your question compelled me to look at the Q & A with new eyes. I think I should add a few more questions: How did you come up with the idea for Rescuing Olivia? and What is your writing process like? These are two questions I get quite often from readers.
 The idea for Rescuing Olivia began from a writing prompt. For many years I've attended a writing workshop where our leader begins each meeting with a prompt. One week, the leader asked us to write a scene involving a character who was in possession of a box he or she wasn't supposed to have, for whatever reason. I spent the next thirty minutes writing a scene about a guy who comes across a box and is afraid to open it. At the time, I didn't know who the guy was or what was in the box. Later, that guy became Anders (the protagonist of Rescuing Olivia), and the box turned out to be a box that belongs to his missing girlfriend (Olivia) and which he hopes contains some clues to her whereabouts. It plays a pivotal role in the book.

As for my writing process, my answer above reveals a lot! When I begin a story, I usually don't know what the story is about or what will happen. I start with a seed (which more often than not is a character I have in my head) and simply start writing whatever comes to mind. It's a very organic process that can have me one day writing a scene from the middle of the book and the next have me writing a section that belongs at the beginning or the end. Often I don't know where a scene belongs until much later in the process. I'm a bit amazed by writers who prepare a detailed outline before they begin writing. I can't do that because I don't know the story – it reveals itself to me as I write. Also, I think the process of outlining would dissipate the pent-up excitement that grows inside me as the story develops.

2.) I *loved* Rescuing Olivia as much or more than Tell No Lies. How was writing a second book different from the first?

In one way, I found it harder because I constantly wondered, can I do it again? Can I come up with a whole new story and new characters and actually pull them all together to finish another novel? Yet, I also found it easier, because I'd learned so much from writing and editing the first one. The first draft of Tell No Lies was 730 pages! I didn't know any better. With Rescuing Olivia, I understood a bit more about where to begin a story, how to pace it properly, what was relevant and what wasn't. I knew a bit more about structure. Writing Tell No Lies was like entering a room blindfolded and having to feel my way around. I eventually figured it out, but the journey was a bit more arduous. By the time I wrote Rescuing Olivia, my eyes were wide open.


People often ask me which book I like better. I have trouble answering that question. It's like asking a parent which child they love better. I think my writing improved with Rescuing Olivia – I'd be concerned if it hadn't! – but Tell No Lies was my first so it will always hold a special place in my heart. And because of the nature of the story, it struck a nerve with more readers than Rescuing Olivia, I think.


3.) Did you intend for your books to be so character driven? (I love that in a book!) Are your people real, fictional, or some hybrid compilation?

Until I began writing seriously, I never really thought consciously about whether a story was plot-driven or character-driven. As a reader, I'd read a novel, and I'd either like it, or I wouldn't. But looking back, the novels I enjoyed the most were always the character-driven ones. The plot-driven stories never sustained my interest. So I think I instinctively wrote character-driven stories because that's what I liked to read. Now, of course, I understand the difference, and yes, I would say that I intend my stories to be character-driven. When I write a story, I'm constantly asking myself, why is this character reacting the way he or she is? What motivates him or her?

4.) How does your background in law come into play in your writing?

Well, it played a much larger role in Tell No Lies, which is most often characterized as a legal thriller. I didn't really intend to write a legal thriller; I was simply writing a story about people, and they happened to be lawyers because that's what I knew. The story has a murder, so I guess when you put lawyers and murder together in a story, it's called a legal thriller. LOL!

But really, as a lawyer you do a lot of writing – albeit a different sort of writing – but most lawyers I know love to write. So in that respect, I guess it plays a role in everything I write. Especially structure, because structure is so important when drafting a brief.

5.) What do you wish you'd known before you started out on the publishing road?

Two things, really, although I guess they're connected. One, I wish I'd known more about the business side of publishing, especially marketing. I didn't really hit the ground running. With so much information online nowadays, it's much easier for a newbie to learn about the business and to connect with others who have knowledge long before they're published. Two, I wish I had known that getting published isn't the end all and be all of writing. I think when you're unpublished, you think being published is like the Holy Grail. You think being published will mean you've arrived, and going forward things will only become easier. But it's sort of like being promoted at a nine-to-five job. You wouldn't want to ever go back; after all, it's exciting, it means you've reached a certain skill level, and there's nothing quite like seeing your book on a shelf in the bookstore, but it also brings with it a new and different set of issues.

6.) How much of your day is spent writing? Promoting?

Depends upon whether I've just had a new book published. In the couple of months leading up to publication, and then for a few months afterward, my time is probably spent equally on both. Those first few months after publication are extremely important from a promotional standpoint, because that's when the book is in the bookstore. Except for those books whose authors who are well known, books have a very short shelf life.

But when a few months have passed, I'm back in full-time writing mode. I can easily spend 8 to 10 hours a day writing. I love the actual writing; to me, it's like going to the movies but being the producer and director. I'm able to control everything – the characters, the setting, the dialogue, the plot – heck, even the soundtrack (because I always write with music in the background!).

7.) What's the best thing about being an author?

We have a funny essay posted on our refrigerator for our kids called "Bill Gates' Rules for Living." Supposedly it's based on a speech he gave to high school students about eleven things they needed to know but wouldn't learn in school. Number ten is "Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs." (This was back in the day of the television show "Friends.") I couldn't help but pen in my own addition to this particular rule. I wrote: "Unless you're a writer!"

In other words, to me, the best thing is not having to drag myself to an office each day. Ironically, even though I now work from home and could arguably start my workday whenever I please, I pop out of bed easily and can't wait to get in front of my keyboard. It really makes a difference when you love what you do.
 8.) Are you of the get-an-agent school, or do you think it's a good idea to approach publishers directly?

A little bit of both? I absolutely think having an agent is a benefit. They do so much more than simply sell your book. A good one always has your back. And really, even the process of trying to find an agent is immensely beneficial. You can't write a good query unless you understand what your story is really about and can express it in a concise, interesting way. And when you start getting rejections (because you will), the rejections force you to take another look at your work and determine what's lacking. Too many aspiring writers are in a rush to get published, and as a result they send out their work before it's really ready (I'm speaking from experience – LOL!). Agent rejections are a great reality check.

Having said all that, if you really think your novel is the best it will ever be (and I don't mean you think it's the best it will ever be because your Aunt Shirley raved about it), and you're not making progress with finding an agent, why not approach some of the medium to smaller publishers who allow unagented submissions? You'll have to do your research and make sure you're approaching reputable publishers, but there are some wonderful ones out there, especially for certain genres.

9.) What are you working on now?
 I'm working on my third novel, tentatively titled Keep No Secrets, which is a sequel to Tell No Lies. It's funny, because despite the ambiguous ending of Tell No Lies, I never intended to write a sequel. I had spent so many years working on Tell No Lies that when I finished editing it for the last time, I didn't care if I ever saw those characters again. But once it was published, I received a lot of emails from readers asking if I planned to write a sequel. The demand seemed to be there, so I eventually decided that if I could think of the right story for Jack and friends, I would consider it. One day I was driving on the highway and the first line just popped into my head. I went home and started writing, and I've been working on it ever since. Needless to say, I've learned never to say never.

Interestingly, you asked above how writing my second novel was different from writing my first. I've found my third, because it's a sequel, to be the most difficult. You don't want to include too much information from the first, or else you'll bore the ones who know the first book, but you need to include enough so that a reader coming to the sequel without having read the first one will understand the characters and their pasts. It's a fine balance.

Thanks so much for sharing writerly thoughts with us, Julie! Best of luck and much continued success.

Since I've Neglected Poetry Lately...

...go visit Harvey Stanbrough's blog and read his newest post of interest to poets.

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments on my first year as a resident of Bloggeritaville yesterday. Y'all are great!

*Photos by pastaboy sleeps

Interview with Harvey Stanbrough

Gather 'round, ye poets and prose-ers. Enjoy an interview with poet, author, short story crafter, expert editor, speaker and sharer of knowledge...

[*Late breaking news addition~We got a mention in the LA Times blog today! Woohoo. Now on with the interview...]

Harvey Stanbrough -- A Man of Many Hats

Nominated: Pulitzer Prize, ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award, Pushcart Prize, Frankfurt eBook Award (IEBAF - International eBook Award Foundation), and National Book Award. [I stole this from Harvey's site because I knew he'd downplay his accomplishments, of which these are only a few.] Read more at his website Stonethread.com and check out Harvey's new blog - Writing the World.

On Writing in General:

1.) When, how and why did you start writing?

I'm not sure. When I was about 9 a teacher asked us to write a story we made up. Mine explained why the US Capitol sits on a hill. Had something to do with the dome falling off and pushing up the ground. Around the same time I wrote a short story about atoms. It was prompted by a trip to the principal's office. A test question was "Can mankind exactly measure a mile?" I answered No. When asked to explain, I said since we know atoms exist but nobody had seen one yet, we obviously couldn't measure a mile "exactly," as in "from one atom to another atom a mile away." The principal eventually agreed with me and the teacher was miffed. Anyway, I enjoyed telling a story and have been writing ever since.

2.) One of the quotes on your Writers' Quotes page is from Sylvia Plath: "Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing." You've published quite a bit and in different genres, but must have tons of other work sitting in files and old spiral notebooks. Does it taunt you and beg you to submit it?

I do have quite a bit of work sitting "in desk drawers," but no, it doesn't bother me. The gestation period for different pieces of writing varies, and when it's ready, it's ready. Some of it might never be ready, yet it serves a purpose. It might fit in another project or it might take a different direction than I might have forced on it earlier. Besides, it's all writing: some has been seen by others and some has not. Some will never be seen by others, but I still had to write it.

3.) Between writing prose and poetry, editing, doing the conference circuit and everything else you have going on, how do you find time to work on your own stuff? Is there a secret to balance and productivity?

Well, I don't travel the conference circuit anymore. It's become too wearing on me. Now I edit others' works from my home as a day job, and I teach half-day seminars twice each month, one in Huachuca (pronounced wa-CHU-ca) City and one in Tucson. Occasionally I might take the seminars on the road and teach a two-day intensive, but otherwise I just don't have the heart for traveling anymore. As for my own writing, I'm thinking about it most of the time, even when I'm working on something else. When my own work tugs at me, I stop whatever else I'm doing and write for awhile. Once I've drained my pen and left a jagged edge (so it's easier to take up later), I return to whatever other work I have.

4.) What's a typical day in the life of Harvey Stanbrough look like?

Boring. I'm generally up around 5 a.m., dressed and out for a few-mile walk while the coffee's making. When I get back, I usually water the garden (unless the monsoons have brought rain), then drink a cup of coffee, answer emails, shower, dress and head for my laptop. If I'm not writing my own stuff, I open whatever I'm going to edit for the day, glance over the last few paragraphs I've edited, then go outside and take care of whatever chores need doing. There's always brush to clear, rocks to stack, etc. When I come back in, I sit down and get to work, usually around 8 a.m. I usually eat lunch at my desk, work until around six, then fix supper and maybe catch a movie. After the movie I usually find something to write for a couple hours, then zonk off to bed. Oh and somewhere in all that I feed my two cats and my chihuahua dog a couple times. Told you it was boring.

5.) About how many personal writing projects do you juggle at once?

I'm currently working on three novels. I recently wrote a few short stories that were picked up by AmazonShorts. I'm also constantly either developing or revising my Writing the World writing seminars, composing and sending instruction to new writers, etc. I don't really think of it as juggling, though. I just write what's there. I don't really feel a sense of urgency about it.

On Prose:

1.) Do you prefer prose over poetry?

No. Each genre has its uses, and usually the subject matter tells me in which genre it wants to express itself. The main difference, of course, is that the Sentence is the basic unit of fiction, nonfiction, plays, etc. The basic unit of poetry is the Line. As Howard Nemerov once wrote in his essay, On the Measure of Poetry, "Prose is a way of getting on, poetry a way of lingering. ... Poetry shares with prose the phrase, the sentence, and even something which the strophe has to do with the paragraph; only the line, the idea of the line, is distinctive. ...[The poetic line illustrates] that being somewhere matters as much as going somewhere...." That's a much better answer than I could have come up with on my own.

2.) Can you name the most common mistakes writers make, judging from the tons of editing you do?

Taking as gospel what they hear in critique groups. If you're a member of a critique group, you certainly should listen to every criticism, but you should write it down and then consider it later, when the emotion of being critiqued has passed. Then you should apply only those criticisms that You believe improve your work and ignore the rest. You have spent a great deal more time with your work than have members of your critique group or anyone else, so only You know what will really work or not work. I know writers who have rewritten the same novel (we're talking 100,000 words) several times, each time based on a different person's critique. Very sad. The other major problem I see is over narration. Every time the narrator speaks, he's coming between the reader and the story. The narrator's task is to describe the scene, then step out of the way. For example, the narrator should never tell the reader what a character says or thinks. The character's right there, so why not let the character himself speak in dialogue (or express unspoken thought in italics) so the reader can hear it first hand? The more the narrator stays out of the way, the more deeply the reader will become engaged in the story. Imagine going to the theater to watch a stage production of Hamlet. Just as the actor is about to deliver his soliloquy, a little guy in a tuxedo walks on stage and says "Okay, folks, here's what's about to happen." That's the same effect over narration has your reader.

3.) What's more important to a story/novel -- plot, characterization, technical ability or some other aspect?

Characters. You can have the best plot in the world (there are only about 20 or something anyway) but it won't work if your characters aren't interesting or if they don't ring true.

4.) Is an MFA essential to a writer's success, or can one learn enough on one's own?

I don't have an MFA, and I know (or know of) many successful writers who do not have an MFA. A writer certainly can learn on her own, but doing the work to attain an MFA is just another way of learning. Getting into good writing classes or seminars like mine is a good idea too, but no matter the route a writer takes to learn the craft, in her own mind, with her own mind, she should Question Everything the instructor says (yes, even instructors in MFA programs, and yes, even in my own seminars).

5.) What one thing can writers do to spruce up their dialog?

Buy a copy of Writing Realistic Dialogue & Flash Fiction (Central Ave. Press, 2004) of course. :-) The main thing is to let the characters Be who they are and Say what they want to say in the way they want to say it. Sit in the park or the mall or Denny's at two in the morning and eavesdrop. Listen to the inflections people use. Let characters use contractions. Okay, and a thousand other things, but mostly it boils down to letting the characters be who they are and say what they want to say in the way they want to say it.

6.) Is what and how much a writer reads reflected in his/her writing?

I've always heard that writers should read in the genre for which they want to write, and that sounds right to me. How much they read, I think, would only affect their writing if it cut into their writing time. There is one wrong myth I'd like to debunk: Some writers believe reading others' works will harm their ability to develop their own voice or style. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The fact is, reading others' works will certainly Inform your style, but it won't replace it or adversely affect it. The trick is to read authors whose work you admire, and then question it. Would you have written a line or stanza or sentence exactly that way? Why or why not? That's how you learn by studying others' works.

7.) If you could give one piece of advice to those slaving over a manuscript, what would it be?

Keep slaving. Don't make excuses. Most would-be writers experience an "application error," meaning they have a problem applying the seat of their pants to the chair in front of their writing.

8.) What's the biggest writing mistake you ever made?

I don't recall one. The biggest problem I have with my own writing is the inability to "just write" and save editing for later. I tend to edit as I go, and sometimes I forget part of the story.

9.) Tell us a funny or strange story about writing.

As I lay soundly sleeping several years ago, my muse visited. I was teased awake at 3 a.m. by a beautiful line and I knew I had to write it down. I groped in the darkness for my journal and my pen, but unfortunately, my Early Morning Pen and Journal Indicator shorted out and sent a warped message to my Right Hand Guidance System, causing it to veer slightly to the right. My little finger brushed the volume control on my radio, turning the alarm to its loudest setting an instant before the heel of my hand depressed the Wake Up Now! button.

As you may well imagine, things got hectic for the next ten seconds or so. The alarm went off, my wife at the time screamed and fell out of her side of the bed, and I sat bolt upright, straining to turn off the noise. My wayward hand accidentally hit the Touch Me/Light Me Lamp, which immediately sent it to Ten Million Watts.

Then, with amazing agility for a man my age, I leapt from the bed and cracked both my shins on the bedside table while deftly avoiding my wife's bedside lamp. With a sinking feeling (and once my eyes focused), I realized my pen and journal weren't on the bedside table at all. I hobbled around the corner into my study, again groping in the dark, and finally found them lying on my Official Writer's Desk in front of my Official Writer's Computer.

The whole time, of course, I was trying desperately to retain the beautiful, iambic line that had awakened me in the first place. Frantically I reached for my journal. My pen fell to the floor and rolled under my desk. By the time I retrieved the pen and began to write feverishly—you guessed it—the line was gone.

10.) How many cups of coffee do you drink per day?

I'm a caffeine-based life form, but I drink only about three cups of coffee on a typical morning. The rest of the day I maintain my levels with iced tea and/or Coke.

11.) Is there some easy way to understand POV?

If, like most modern novelists, the writer uses a limited-omniscient narrator, the narrator can describe only what the POV character can see, hear, smell, taste, touch, feel or think in that character's chapter(s). You can have different POV characters for different chapters, or one POV character for the whole book. You can even switch POV from one character to another within a chapter if there's a chapter break (e.g., the story changes in mid-chapter from one scene to another).

12.) Why do you offer writers a free edit/critique sample?

I feel it's best to let my work sell itself. Providing a free sample edit enables the writer to see what I can or can't do for her, and it also enables me to see a bit of the story line, the writer's style, etc. I only agree to edit a story if the writer's style and/or the story line interests me, but that way I get to read what I want to read so I'm able to charge much less than the industry standard.

On Poetry:

1.) Rhymed or not? Why?

Depends on the poem. When I wrote poetry, I wrote mostly unrhymed iambic pentameter (blank verse). That gave me the freedom of unrhymed lines and the underlying structure of the iambic rhythm.

2.) What did you do when you heard you'd been nominated for a Pulitzer?

I didn't do anything that I can recall, other than smiling quite a bit. That was in the late 90s. My most recent poetry collection, Beyond the Masks, was nominated for the National Book Award in 2006 or 2007. That was a really good feeling.

3.) Would you share your thoughts on the importance of strong end words in a poem?

As I mentioned above, the poetic line is the basic unit of the poem. Because it occurs just before a brief pause, the end of the poetic line is the strongest position in the line. If you read down the right side of a poem, reading only the last word or two in each line, you should get a sense of the strength of the poem. The end of the poetic line should never be populated with prepositions, conjunctions, state-of-being verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been), or other weak words.

4.) What are the Stanbrough top three poetry pointers?

I have only one: send me an email at h_stanbrough@yahoo.com and request a copy of The Craft of Poetry: Structure and Sound. Those (structure and sound) are the two most important aspects of poetry, and all my tips are in there. *It's a PDF file, and it's free.* style="color:#000000;">
5.) What's your favorite poem you've written so far?

"A Prayer." Although, like Howard Nemerov, I'd have to say "I love all my children, even the squat, ugly ones." Your readers can see a sampling of my poetry here. "A Prayer" and several others are displayed there.

6.) Do you believe in the muse/inspiration, or is poetry written through plain old hard work?

Yes, of course I believe in the muse and inspiration, but mostly because we have to believe in something. And yes, it's written through plain old hard work. As Yeat's wrote in "Adam's Curse" about writing poetry "a line will take us hours maybe / but if it does not seem a moment's thought / our stitching and unstitching has been naught." And Wordsworth defined poetry this way: Poetry is the result of a spontaneous overflow of emotion recollected in tranquility." The "spontaneous overflow of emotion" has to do with the muse, inspiration, and the first draft. But "recollected in tranquility" has to do with revision, polishing, the hard work you talk about.

7.) Why do you write poetry?

Actually, I haven't written a new poem to speak of for the past few years. When I wrote poetry, I wrote it because I couldn't not write it.
~~~

Harvey, thanks so much for your time.

Thanks for allowing me this opportunity to share my thoughts.

Wednesday Writings - An Ocean Poem

I got my contributor copies of Volume 6, Issue 23 of OCEAN Magazine in the mail yesterday. It is a beautiful publication produced by Diane Buccheri. The magazine's mission is "to celebrate and protect" ocean creatures and environs, and all prose, poetry and photography reflect this purpose.

Check out OCEANS when you get a chance and/or consider a subscription. You'll be transported.

I rarely post my own work here, but thought I'd share this poem with you. As always, commentary and opinions are welcome. And I'd love to hear if you're working on poetry, WIPs or other writing projects this summer.

Beach Glass and Other Things

"...maybe life washes itself here, cools off." ~ Thorpe Moecke

i.

Sea hands wash gently

then roughly, turning trash

to treasures of sea glass

water and sand swish,

smooth castaway containers

into vintage mermaid tears

spilt for beachcombers' baskets,

perigean spring tide prizes

preserved on wooden mantles

ii.

A sign says do not pick

the sea oats, resist the urge

to pluck nature's gifts

holding back time's tidal surge;

these pristine beachscapes

need preserving to persevere

against coastal encroachment

iii.

Whitewashed sand dollar, virgin

bride with bright desires, untouched

yet by man's hand, waiting

there on sun-warmed vistas, thin

bloodless communion wafers

to be taken, broken, consumed

the husks cast back to sea

bleaching out completely

leached of life, but for a few

fragile ghost doves { space } witnesses

(c) 2009 Angie Ledbetter

Haiku Hoopla!

Yeah, it's that time again! Write a haiku and post in comments for a chance to win a prize that will probably consist of grits, coffee, cobbler mix and/or pralines.

Or just leave a comment on what you think about poetry if you don't want to enter the Haiku Hoopla! You've got til midnight tonight. Feel free to pass the word around too. *wink*

And if ya missed the post yesterday on how you can have a better blog and accrue some blog love, scroll down and browse at your leisure.

Have a great week!


*Image from Photobucket.com

Poetry Contest Winner

Congratulations to all you brave poets who entered the contest. It's fun and fascinating to me to cull through a specific set of words and come up with something totally new. It's like figuring out a jigsaw puzzle with no picture on the box cover to guide you. Or picking through a page of words, trying to decode a secret message within.

As usual, it was hard picking a winner, but I really like the way Embee at A Would-Be Writer distilled all the photo caption entries and came up with an image-infused poem that saturated my eyeballs and mind with Louisiana elements. Her poem was cohesive. I could "hear" the poet's voice without being overwhelmed by it, if that makes sense.

Reading and rereading your entries reminded me of an important rule of thumb for writing both prose and poetry: What you leave out is just as important as what you decide to keep.

Thanks again to all who entered, and we'll do it (or something similar) again soon. Now...the winner:


Mesmerized by the stillness of the water,
Drowned in memories of dusky summer promises.
The sunlight filtered through the trees
As the Spanish moss drooped above.
My place for reflection.
Around that corner.
Welcome home.

Photo Caption Contest Winner/And a Poetry Contest!

Your entries in the contest were good, and it was hard to pick a clear winner. (Oh, and if you visited early this morning -- sorry for the premature automatic post of my "found poem," composed of parts and pieces of all the entries, minus the winner information. I crashed last night before polishing the post! Argh!) Thanks to all who entered!

The winner of the writer's prize packet goes to...

Anita at Rollercoaster Days! Anita put the evocative and fitting word "drowned" in the sentence with "dock," as a description: As she ambled towards the dock, she was drowned in memories of dusky summer promises and firefly kissed skin.

A prize was also garnered by Wendy at All in a Day's Thought for her lovely entry: Beyond blankets of dirt and canopied leaves, far below the spreading sunlight it waits; my place for reflection and emergence.

Surprise! Here's a secondary contest inspired by the first~~

Make your own poem using only words from the photo caption contest entries found HERE. You can change the word tense, line breaks and spacing, of course, but you may NOT add any extra words of your own.

Email your poems of no more than 15 lines to AngieDLed@aol.com by tomorrow at midnight, and I'll announce a winner on Wednesday! Put FOUND POEM CONTEST ENTRY in the subject line.

Doh, I forgot to state what the winning poet receives ----- a Barnes & Noble gift card! So, keep those entries coming.

Finally, here's my "found poem" crafted from the caption contest entries:

Sweet Home Louisiana

Beyond blankets of leaves below
spreading sunlight waits
for emergence around that corner,
filtered through trees saying
welcome home. Wake up, [ space ] hurry.
Tires scrape and burn slow
as Spanish moss, [ space ] fall coming.
There boys fish,
amble to the dock [ space ] drown
in memories of summer
promises, Hansel & Gretel's
house, a Yellow Brick Road.
Little old men in stable arms
of oaks mesmerized by the stillness.

Poetry & Poop

&

Yeah, you read the title right. Poetry & poop pretty much describes the polar opposites of my life...and most days, I have equal "servings" of both. The poops of life are, well, obviously the things you wanna scrape off the bottom of your shoe and forget about pronto. Here's a few examples:

• Bad things happening with/to your kidlets
• Ill loved ones you are incapable of helping get well
• Writing rejections
• Foiled plans and goals
• Getting woken up from a nap
• Burning supper
• Things that disappoint or let ya down

Conversely, my life's held quite a bit of "poetry" lately. You know -- the things that bring you joy and fulfillment, a new and fresh perspective, unexpected gifts (material or otherwise), and prayers answered. Like these:

• Writing acceptances
• Hugs from kidlets and loved ones, or even a love letter
• Perfect weather
• A juicy book you can't put down
• Finding a blog that really peels your apple
• Connections made with friends
• A new pair of shoes that don't hurt your feet and cost less than $15
• A whole day off
• Nappage to the sound of rain on a tin roof provided by your noise machine
• Kidlet unhurt in an accident that totals his vehicle, insurance covers it without going up on premiums, and you find a good used vehicle to replace the heap
• A recipe that turns out just right

See what I mean? Into every life, a little poop and poetry must fall. Let's just hope when the negatives rain, you have a dayum sturdy umbrella and remember that the sun will shine again soon and dry up the piles.

My favorite poetic moment of late is having a poem, Net Worth accepted at The Found Poetry Project. (Yeah, go check it out and maybe make one for yourself or to submit. And leave a comment while you're there if you've got time to kill. C'mon...it's not like broccoli or liver. You'll like it!)

And the poopy aspect? Well, let's just say I'm covered...literally. Behold the advent of my family's new favorite pair of shoes -- fondly referred to as The Poop Shoes; de rigueur for taking the puppy outside and/or cleaning the laundry room where he spends time til he's fully potty trained~~~

Sooooo, what's the biggest P & P aspects of your life right now?

{Top two graphics from photobucket.com}

Throwin' Out the Bait

Whatcha wanna talk about today? Hmmm. How about your favorite poem, or at least a few lines? Remember when you had to memorize those ghastly long ones in school? But now that you're a mature adult...well, older, anyway, what poet or poem really moves you?

I have a lot of favorites. Some are local and well known; others are international superstar poets. When I think about all my personal favs, I think the common denominator is they are accessible, I don't need a pick and chisel to figure out what the hairy heck they're talking about (although they do have hidden meaning and images and layers through which I can wander at my leisure). They also usually speak to universal human emotions and experiences.

Here's the poem Flounder by one of my top ladies of poetry, Natasha Trethewey:

Here, she said, put this on your head.

She handed me a hat.

you 'bout as white as your dad,

and you gone stay like that.

Aunt Sugar rolled her nylons down

around each bony ankle,

and I rolled down my white knee socks

letting my thin legs dangle,

circling them just above water

and silver backs of minnows

flitting here then there between

the sun spots and the shadows.

This is how you hold the pole

to cast the line out straight.

Now put that worm on your hook,

throw it out and wait.

She sat spitting tobacco juice

into a coffee cup.

Hunkered down when she felt the bite,

jerked the pole straight up

reeling and tugging hard at the fish

that wriggled and tried to fight back.

A flounder, she said, and you can tell

'cause one of its sides is black.

The other is white, she said.

It landed with a thump.

I stood there watching that fish flip-flop,

switch sides with every jump.

Isn't that beautiful? I'm sitting on the pier fishing with the people of this poem, absorbing the beautiful scenery and lessons imparted. The meaning is so subtle and powerful, beginning with the title. I was lucky enough to hear Ms. Trethewey speak before she won her Pulitzer, and get signed copies of her books. More here--->

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/natasha_trethewey

Okay, share your poetry favs, or one of your own! What is it you love about poems, or don't you? If you haven't checked out some of the great contemporary poets' work available now, you really should treat yourself. Many writers believe reading and writing poetry helps them with their prose too. What's not to love?