A lot has changed since my last post. More than a lot. And unless you’ve been living off the grid for the last year (at which point, you’re probably not reading this), I don’t have to delve into what’s been happening. There’s been one bright spot among the pandemic, and that’s the plethora of livestream… Read More Poetry Livestreams: June 2020
“What I thought was an end turned out to be a middle. What I thought was a brick wall turned out to be a tunnel. What I thought was an injustice turned out to be a color of the sky.” ― Tony Hoagland Maybe this is Tony Hoagland’s middle. Hoagland died on October 23, 2018,… Read More Season’s End
Sometimes, writers just get stuck. I won’t call it writer’s block — in my world, that doesn’t exist. I think it’s a handy excuse for writers who’d rather bitch about not writing than explore why they’re not writing. But sometimes, the words take their damn sweet time getting onto the page. In those times, I… Read More Prompting for Creativity
I have reams of poems that are rich in detail, haunting, full of promise and definitely worth sharing. They remain, however, unpublishable. See, the subject matter is one that involves another person. And there’s little doubt who I’m writing about. While the poems aren’t unflattering (well, not all of them), they are from my perspective,… Read More The Unpublishable Poem (or is it?)
Sometimes the best writing I’ve done comes from the worst instances in my life. Personal instances, actually. When my father became ill, I became prolific at writing poetry. There’s so much emotion swirling in your head when you’re seeing the mortality of one of your parents and you’re helpless to stop or even slow down… Read More Writing About the Shadows
It’s inevitable, isn’t it? We start writing poetry, get a few published pieces in our columns, then decide it’s time for a manuscript. Call me predictable. I had an inspired trip with my mom this past August, and the work coming out of that one week has already become 26 pages of content. I run… Read More Dream Theme
Check out my latest published poem at Tipton Poetry Journal (page 30). It’s been a busy month or so of writing. Where at first I started using prompts or looking for ideas, I am now finding ideas flying in faster than I can record them (and I try).I went from struggling a little to idea… Read More How Running Away Made Me More Creative
Remember that poem I was so excited about that my writers’ group wasn’t so excited about? Guess what was just accepted for publication? I want to feel vindicated. I knew that format worked best for the idea I was trying to present. The group didn’t like it, in particular, they didn’t like the format. It… Read More Vindication = Confusion
You know that moment when you finish a poem you think is really amazing and you can’t wait to share it with someone? That was my moment last week when I hosted writers’ group at my house. I was excited because it was the first time I’d used a new format for a poem. Usually,… Read More Being True to Your Audience
An epiphany — no, let’s just call it a moment. I had a moment recently (yesterday) where every poem I’d written looked, well, wrong. Not one — not even the one nominated for the Pushcart Prize — appealed to me. I would open one file, move some words around, then close it in disgust. I… Read More That Sink-or-swim Moment
