Blog

nature, Poems by others

The song of birds

HOW BIRDS SING by Kay Ryan One is not taxed; one need not practice; one simply tips the throat back over the spine axis and asserts the chest. (Go HERE to read the rest. Scroll down a bit...) *************** Right around the end of last year, Mary Lee Hahn offered a Kay Ryan book giveaway… Continue reading The song of birds

Writing Prompts, Writing resources

Freelance Writer’s Almanac – February 2014

Welcome to the Freelance Writer’s Almanac for February 2014! The flowers of February are VIOLET and PRIMROSE. The birthstone of people born in February is AMETHYST. It means SINCERITY. 1 Canada’s RCMP came into existence on this day in 1920 (The Christian Almanac - TCA p. 77). George Bush & Boris Yeltsin officially declared the… Continue reading Freelance Writer’s Almanac – February 2014

People, Personal, writing

Poetry and long-term friendship

Has poetry brought lovely, interesting, gifted people into your life? It has certainly done that for me. My poet friend and memoirist Tracy Lee Karner (whom I've never met in person) posts a back-and-forth chat we had about poetry and our long-term friendship on her blog today. In it she interviews me and then answers… Continue reading Poetry and long-term friendship

Uncategorized

Raspberries and Vinegar (review)

Raspberries and Vinegar by Valerie Comer My rating: 5 of 5 stars Three friends, Jo, Claire and Sierra, buy farm property just outside the town of Galena Landing (Idaho) to realize their dream of living off the land in an eco-ethical way. Even the mouse-infested trailer they have to move into (until they get around… Continue reading Raspberries and Vinegar (review)

light, Objects, Poetry Friday

Two halves

Two halves A bigger half is mathematician’s impossibility. But such a thing when cutting pie ever a probability. © 2014 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved) **************** Today, January 23rd, is National Pie Day! I'm sure the Pie Council won't have a problem with prolonging the celebrations into Poetry Friday. The little poem (above) was… Continue reading Two halves

nature, Personal

January Sunshine

Thanks to Keri at Keri Recommends and Dorraine Bennet at Dori Reads for adding wonderful rays of sunshine to my day and, over the last little while, nominating this blog for a SUNSHINE AWARD!  That's definitely the way to brighten up a foggy January! Here are the (flexible) rules: 1. Acknowledge the nominating bloggers 2.… Continue reading January Sunshine

Book Reviews, Non-fiction

She Does Not Fear the Snow (review)

She Does Not Fear the Snow by Bobbie Ann Cole My rating: 5 of 5 stars Bobbie Cole and her friend Terry were both on a quest to find new purpose and meaning when they toured Israel together in the spring of 2007. Bobbie wasn’t expecting anything from her visit to the King of Kings… Continue reading She Does Not Fear the Snow (review)

Poetry Friday, writing

Words

Words i ubiquitous as water, find words on cereal boxes, cracker wraps this pencil, this keyboard shoes, underwear beside the road, on your stove TV remote, light bulb in the speech cloud above my head the thought bubble above yours ii words have texture and heft substance, power and cleft they sing and ring cling… Continue reading Words

Personal, writing

View from my writing window (#poetryatwork)

View from my writing window Rectangles and lines of nonfiction diagonal, horizontal, vertical paragraphs of roof, window, drainpipe Venetian sentences just a little off with the siding (a bit of parallelism would even that out) Eave trough is a green algae poem (if my window opened on the near side I would revise it with… Continue reading View from my writing window (#poetryatwork)

Personal, Writing Life

My (penciled) writing goals for 2014

Can you believe we're almost halfway through January! By now those wonderful New Year's Resolutions have been tested, perhaps broken (if you made any). And what about writing goals? I always start the year full of bubbly optimism. The year is new. It's a clean page. I can begin again. The possibilities are endless. Writing… Continue reading My (penciled) writing goals for 2014