Middle Grade Favorites
At the Bath Book Bash in Bath, Maine, I met some author friends and added a few children’s books to my collection – no surprise. In author Anna Jordon’s debut middle grade historical novel, SHIRA & ESTHER’S DOUBLE DREAM DEBUT, Shira and Esther don’t know each other. But they soon will, thanks to Benny, the hotel bell hop who discovers that Esther has a twin living in the same town. Formatted as a stage play with an overture (introduction), three acts (chapters), and a curtain call (glossary of Yiddish words), the book invites the reader into the different worlds … Read more
A Moon Poem
A Moon Poem Ramona hosts Poetry Friday today at Pleasures from the Page. Thank you, Ramona! A big thank you to Irene Latham for the autographed copy of Moonstruck! Poems About Our Moon, edited by Roger Stevens and illustrated by Ed Boxall. In celebration of the upcoming publication of The Museum on the Moon, Irene offered Stevens’ book of poems by random selection. It arrived in my mailbox! The anthology features Roger Stevens’ fun poems, along with moon poems by other poets. Emily Brontё’s poem “Moonlight, Summer Moonlight” is included. Moonlight, Summer Moonlight ‘Tis moonlight, summer moonlight, All soft and … Read more
LIGHT COMES TO SHADOW MOUNTAIN
LIGHT COMES TO SHADOW MOUNTAIN – a Book Review This book review comes an admission – Author Toni Buzzeo is a personal friend! She is a New York Times best-selling children’s author who has published twenty-nine picture books, including the 2013 Caldecott Honor ONE COOL FRIEND, illustrated by David Small. I am delighted to recommend Toni’s first Middle Grade novel, LIGHT COMES TO SHADOW MOUNTAIN, published this summer by Holiday House. Cora Mae Tipton yearns for electricity to come to her Kentucky mountain in 1937. Convinced of its benefits, she and her best friend set out to educate their classmates … Read more
SUSTAINABILITY, BASHO, AND A NEW BOOK
What does the 17th century poet Bashô have to do with sustainability? As a Buddhist, this haiku master revered nature. His haiku celebrate frogs, cicadas, summer rain and much more. He lived in simpler times when sustainability was a way of life, not a call to save the planet. Bashô traveled by foot throughout Japan and recorded his impressions. The Narrow Road to the Interior is his literary travelogue in a totally new poetic form – haibun. Haibun consists of a paragraph of prose followed by a haiku. The haiku is meant to complement the text or suggest new meaning. … Read more
After Edna St. Vincent Millay
After Edna St. Vincent Millay Karen Eastlund hosts this week’s Roundup. Thank you, Karen. Find all the poetic offerings and end-of-June musings over at Karen’s Got a Blog! This week I’m writing from Maine, and it feels so good to be back in my home state. Almost as if to welcome me home, one of my poems aired on WERU Community Radio in Blue, Hill, Maine last week. During an April online workshop, participants were asked to write a poem using the first line of another poem. I began with the delicious first line of an Edna St. Vincent … Read more
Covid-19 Poem Gets Radio Spot on Esoterica
Who ever imagines they may hear themselves on the radio someday? I sure didn’t, but I recently heard my Covid-19 poem and a short essay aired on a program called Esoterica. It’s a feature focusing on the written word airing on WERU, Blue Hill, Maine’s community radio station. It happened this way. During April, New Hampshire’s Poet Laureate, Alexandria Peary, offered an online poetry workshop. We practiced mindful writing with relaxation exercises before beginning writing. We practiced sestinas, villanelles, and new revision techniques. Alex is an awesome teacher, and each session was focused on writing Covid-19 poems. How could we … Read more
Litany for Pines
This past week we had to do a difficult thing; we cut down 10 pine trees very close to our home. We have lived with these trees for forty-two years, and they were huge when we arrived. This winter strong winds sheared off a thirty-foot top, which, thankfully, did not land on the roof. So it was time to say goodbye with gratitude. We spoke this litany to the sentinels who stood with us for so long. To pines who have sheltered us from wind and snow whose shade has cooled us we offer gratitude, And let you … Read more
Egg Poems and Saint Hildegard’s Cosmic Egg
The old blown egg idea came to me this week, probably in anticipation and hope for spring here in the Northeast. Also because we’ve been enjoying eggs from our daughter’s chickens, and somehow I look at each egg less casually since I know the effort that produced it – both the hen’s and our daughter’s! So I googled blown eggs and set to work with a turkey lacing pin and a lot of hot air! These are the egg poems I wrote. solitude embryo sheltering in place enlightenment first sunlight streaming through pecked hole One of my favorite … Read more
Virtual Facebook Party
A Virtual Facebook party was held to celebrate the feast day of Saint Hildegard on September 17, 2019.
VCFA’s The Launch Pad interviews Joyce Ray about Feathers & Trumpets
Welcome Joyce Ray, author of Feathers & Trumpets, A Story of Hildegard of Bingen! Hildegard agonizes over the origin of her visions. Is God speaking to her? Does she dare share her secret? In 12th century Germany, she could be declared heretic and burned at the stake. In a life fraught with challenges, Hildegard emerges as the most dynamic 12th century female voice. Enduring a beginning unimaginable to today’s teens, Hildegard strains against the ascetic lifestyle of Jutta, her mentor nun. Relationships with Volmar, her monk tutor and Richardis, her daughter nun, bring joy to Hildegard. But does she allow herself to love them too much? Feathers … Read more