Category: poetry
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Celebrating good news!
When I was 21 and my father died, I stopped writing for 3 years. The DSM-5TR probably has a thing or two to say about how I handled my grief back then, but my writing block is all that’s relevant now. Because 19 years later, when my mother died, I fairly bled poems. If you…
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A few of my favorite things
It’s getting to be ludicrous how lax I’ve been as a blogger, so I won’t even bother apologizing but will just skip right on by. Because the year is late and time is short but there’s always much to be thankful for: Journals whose new issues include my poems, to my everlasting gratitude and delight:…
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Autumn nipping at my heels
How on earth did it get to be October already? Georgia is five months old, Vincent’s in first grade, and middle child Aidan is universally praised as sweet and gentle and photogenic as hell: The lateness of the year terrifies me — intimations of mortality etc. — but I love autumn. Kicking leaves on the…
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Taste of Summer
There are some books, some poets, that I instinctively associate with winter — Leslie Harrison’s Displacement, Frost, all the Russians (accurate or not) — but who do you think of as a summer poet? Lyrical, fulsome, hot… give me some recommendations. I’m in a mood. Life is bursting at the seams here. In addition to…
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The Big Poetry Giveaway 2012 — The Results
I’m later than I intended, but I’m sure you understand. But here at last are the results of my contribution to Kelli Russell Agodon‘s Big Poetry Giveaway. I chose the winners using the Random Number Generator. Last year I posted pictures of each result, but I don’t have time for such fussiness this year, so…
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The Big Poetry Giveaway 2012!
Tomorrow is April 1, the first day of National Poetry Month, which means it’s once again time for the Big Poetry Giveaway, a blog event created and organized by Kelli Russell Agodon where poets and poetry lovers giveaway two books of poems on their blog. Please visit her blog to get the full list of participants.…
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When feeling no longer evades
Despite everything I knew and felt, two of my dearest friends died gasping for air. Another couldn’t stop her pain with morphine, so she disconnected her feeding tube. Still another has the same kind of cancer, and after a heartening remission it’s back with a vengeance. Two other friends are sitting with the niece and…
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Winter Ghosts
I’ve been negligent. As I become more obviously pregnant, folks are so obviously and loquaciously delighted, and yes, this new baby, this unexpected girl, is a much-needed bright star in a dark year. How lovely to talk about impending birth instead of death! But it’s exhausting being so grateful all the time. I find myself…
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Poetry Blessings
Since I’m woefully behind, the new year seems like a good time to catch up and clean the slate and acknowledge all the wonderful publications that have been printing and showcasing my poems this fall. My sincere thanks to them. They all do great work, and I’m so honored to be in such terrific company. (In…
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Auld Lang Syne
I don’t want to let the year end without saying that, for all of 2011’s sorrows, I am deeply and heartfelt-fully grateful for my family — my boys, my husband, sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, etc. — and all my loyal and loving friends — virtual and otherwise. You remind me of what’s true and dear…