WE ARE ART. WE ARE ALL ARTISTS.

We express ourselves in different ways. One’s wild garden tending is another’s storytelling of memories, across the bridge someone walks along the river in deep introspection, another dreams as she looks at the sky, he hopes as he sprints down the road, they smile at passersby…this is art…the living choices we paint our lives with…the colors spilling over onto another’s path…some mixes go muddy…others create spectral arcs that seemingly touch the sky…if you think you can’t create art…you’re not looking deeply enough…we are all artists…each one of us the embodiment of art itself…🌠

My character, Hank Olin, began as a drawing many years ago. He was then slid into a plastic sleeve and clipped into a binder to join other characters who’d grown silent between black vinyl covers. One day he escaped to become an acrylic painting. His accomplice told him metallic paint would wake his spacesuit up too so he could fly. Hank Olin was happy – he no longer had to live in the binder. He was free.

Being the benevolent ele-space-ien he was, he asked for the immediate release of all those trapped between the heavy covers of that wicked black vinyl binder.

His request was soon granted by an accomplice on the outside, who looked at the sky that very day, appreciating their singular freedom to gaze upon such beauty in a world of madness. Hank Olin was lifted from his two-dimensional prison. Today Hank is free to stargaze, to whisper musings in the ear of anyone nearby, he’s dreamed below the afternoon sky and sparkled, he travels to regions real and imagined, he lives his best life while watching his friends grow into the free characters they were meant to be.

A Poetic Soul – A Poetic Angel

Robert – who only months ago shared his stellar poetry through a powerful voice – is no longer here. His generosity and kindness – needed so desperately in this world – will never be forgotten❤️

Find his work here

Endless Love for Millie & Renewed Appreciation for My Little Book

my favorite millie copy

I self-published love of the monster in 2016, followed by the ebook version in 2017.

I’d been romancing the silly notion of selling my books at fairs with my vivacious mom who was all in. So, after the ebook arrived on Amazon, I had the physical books shipped home. (to this day, a few print books remain on Amazon through second-party sellers and – a funny story about pricing for another post another time)

But sometimes plans falter, and life lobs a hardball at your chest. Those of you who’ve been kind enough to read an occasional post of mine here – know beautiful Millie had passed away after battling the ravages of a major stroke for three years. During all that time, my books and a large portion of my heart were shoved into a closet.

Fast forward to 2023, and brighter times (life may lob the occasional hardball, but the timeouts help one’s heart to heal). A unique book-promoting site who goes by the name of Shepherd asked if I’d be interested in having love of the monster featured on a page. At first, truthfully, I had no interest. Then one morning I woke up and thought – What the hell. Maybe it’s time. What have I got to lose? Millie never quit.

I thought through the many books in my life that have influenced me. I wrote about five special books, both past and present, that I adore and how their pages help me in my creative process. This is where the Shepherd experience is different from Goodreads or seeking books out on Amazon. The Shepherd site doesn’t just list an author’s book, it lists their personal stories about other books too. Since love of the monster is an illustrated poetry collection, I wrote about books of poetry.
Author or reader, you should check out Shepherd for yourself: my book recommendations linked here.

I’m happy to say my enthusiasm for my little monster book has returned. And here I am again. Or rather, here is love of the monster again. This time around I’m only online promoting the ebook. To honor my mom, I’ll do my best to smile her smile as I attempt to peddle love of the monster books at fairs. (If you should want a print book and don’t like fairs, you can always email me, amroselli.writer@gmail.com or you can purchase a book from Amazon which could be cheaper than me shipping a book to you. I’d probably charge 5+shipping. I could write a note inside and add a fancy signature if you’d like;))

In summary:
You should absolutely check out Shepherd.com for yourself

love of the monster ebook is re-available on Amazon Kindle. (Going forward, I hope to get it uploaded to Barnes & Noble and maybe Apple Books too. Figuring out file deliveries is quite challenging)

I will be embarrassing myself in an attempt to sell love of the monster books at fairs that have hot coffee in fall and winter and iced coffee during summer and spring. I shall smile like Millie.

I miss my mom like crazy, but rather than get teary-eyed anymore, I smile in the knowledge of how blessed I’ve been to have known and loved such a spectacularly joyous person.

Thank you,
am:)

The 5 books I wrote about and shared on Shepherd: the books pictured below are fantastic! It’s wonderful to write about and to share the spectacular books out there in the world!

book list

I Reread Her Now

Pictured here, my beautiful daughter.
Hope you’re all doing well.

the pegasus clock in ICU15

very excited to have my poem, the pegasus clock in ICU15, appear in this excellent zine!
while you’re there check out fellow poet, Robert Okaji’s prize winning piece, A Further Response from the Hornet’s Nest

The Pegasus Clock in ICU15

such ridiculous tools. as if words could fix a bleeding brain.
preordained fabric dividers meant to separate us if you die.
divert eyes staring at the clock. remember I’d told you the
stories. oversized book. water-washed illustrations. pegasus,
my benevolent savior. the man in golden sandals flies me away.
clouds disconnect from bleached cotton and plastic pillows
sweating the sick. sister mary sometimes foiled my library day
with the winged horse. give someone else a turn annmarie. you
can’t take the book every thursday. blinded by Christian light she
couldn’t comprehend pegasus and me needling defeat between
fetlock and toe. so much tubing here. how many times might it
circle the world?
fall risk wrapped around your wrist. i remember
periwinkle choir robes. living angel singing out with bright lips.
mom, please wake up. Use your words. Use your voice. the
pegasus clock in ICU15 stammers. his magnificent  wings
unfurl. shimmering feathers brush away these hideous blinking
lights and institutional grey floors. fly it all away.

magical words, miraculous changes

it has been said
passed down from yuletide lips
Charles Dickens saved Christmas
not the man, ’twas the book
his story, we all know
if you don’t (your library copy might have gotten jammed in an 1843 chimney)

Industrial Revolution spinning at warp-speed
factory holidays are ghost shadows
we are living in the fast-pacing present–more is better
our dull, simple past soiled with slumming traditions–less was less
one floor above sweating basement workers, the future appears bright and shiny
a young boy’s father gets locked up in debtors’ prison
the child Charles, now forced to labor in a “rat-infested boot-blackening factory”

these formidable memories haunt Dickens

I imagine Charles back then
beneath winter’s moonlight
childhood terrors like bony hands slamming rusted leonine door knockers
he summons these all-too-vivid specters to do battle with his benevolent muse
the war won
A Christmas Carol is born

“…in 1867 Dickens reads A Christmas Carol. One of the audience members,
Mr. Fairbanks (a scale manufacturer) was so moved that he decided to break custom
and give his workers Christmas Day off and not only did he close the factory,
he gave turkeys to all his employees.”

magical words can inspire hearts to make miraculous changes

Little Tree

Little Tree

Charles Dickens, true to his words became an exceptional philanthropist. “…the welfare of the nation’s children was at the top of his list of concerns, and he used his pen and his considerable dramatic and oratorical powers to raise awareness of the plight of poor children and to raise money for children’s charities…”

sources in order of quoted appearance: Uncle John’s, Christmas Collection (yes, the Bathroom Reader, please don’t judge where I sometimes read😉), charlesdickensinfo.com, hharp.org

if my little poetry book love of the monster helps one heart, that would be a gift I’d keep trying to give😘

5 am peaceful, poem published in the Avocet

5 am peaceful

wishing it were contented spirits
dusting the cement grass with glitter
not winter’s freeze

my dachshund’s paw prints
sweet as a postcard
one might send a faraway lover

I linger in the numbing quiet
let the moment warm this blanketed silence
hushed low like swimming beneath water
where despair drowns then floats away
in bubbles and dancing reflections

don’t want to twist the frozen doorknob
and go back inside
I’d love to remain out here
5 am
with the sparkling dust
and all that glitters
in the beauty of this silence
when the world is so peaceful

Rudolph Hug

Rudolph Hug

drawn a few years back with watercolor marker, acrylic, and a dab of prisma pencil

little low, high heeled dude for halloween

be who or what you dream
but just for today;)
top-headthis little guy makes a black and white appearance in my illustrated book of love verse
love of the monster available 12.15.16, maybe sooner:)

Happy Birthday to my beautiful mother, 81 years young today

chapter 3

chapter one
before
chapter two
after

before
I knew
after
I realized

I pray
I can write
chapter three

before my spine
becomes unglued

joy august ripsaw

joy august ripsaw


Homage to Doctor Moreau

“The crying sounded even louder…. It was as if all the pain in the world had found a voice.”

“For everyone the want is bad. Some want to go tearing with teeth and hands into the roots of things, snuffing into the earth.”

“An animal may be ferocious and cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie.”
insane lioness singerQuotes from the transformative pen of H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau

my creature gal created about 3 weeks ago with no hard-core animalistic intent