It’s National Poetry Month!

Well, my friends – I stopped advertising my illustrated poetry collection a year after it came out. Like so many of us, I’m not great at self-promotion. Since we’re stuck between walls right now, I’ve adopted a devil-may-care attitude. At least for the moment😊

Just click on the pic or here and it flies you to Amazon for the ebook version and whatever remains of the printed version. (My book also rests on this blog’s first page) The bulk of printed books are sitting in boxes in my closet. My mother and I were planning to joyously peddle them at fall festivals. I haven’t had the heart to go at without her, though my lovely daughter has volunteered.

Once we all get through this insane period in time, and we will, I’ll peddle away come Autumn. ❤️

Stay safe🙏
Thanks and prayers to all those leaving the safety of their walls to help others. Thanks to those going to jobs that keep our world moving… Thank you and stay safe.

Inaugural Issue of Ailment – Chronicles of Illness Narratives

During these months of such uncertainty, creative expression is a beautiful release. It is an honor to have my poetry and art included in this gorgeous, thoughtful, inaugural issue of Ailment – Chronicles of Illness Narratives.(clicking here or on image also will take you to Ailment’s First Issue)
I hope you, your loved ones, and all people you know are managing the days and staying safe❤️

I sketched the three drawings that accompany my poems when visiting with my beautiful mother at the nursing home. These last few weeks have been difficult not visiting with her, but days when she manages to answer the phone we get to chat a little. The nursing home allows families to drop items off. I go once a week and drop off crullers, comics, and family photos with love notes. My mother is my touchstone. Since suffering her massive stroke, over two years now, she still never complains. She manages small smiles. I selfishly miss that glorious smile of hers, the one I so often brag about-her god-given movie star grin.❤️xo

thank you

if you want to check out Ailment’s website click here

nearer to giving thanks

This piece is near to my heart, as are many of my pieces, but if all my creative efforts remained in my heart heaviness might collect there
I’ve shared this piece before, it’s time to share again
after all, ’tis the season of warmth, good cheer, fellowship and peace – I pray❤️

cup the calm

time to relax the mind, heighten the senses
take the fingers for a stroll
haven’t let them loose in the Egyptian sheets lately
are we getting too closed in, devolving perhaps
like caged beasts and fishermen lost at sea
remap the stars
navigate to him–to her, across bombarding waves
intoxicate the glands, harden the resolve to coexist peacefully
the way temporary humans should on a temporary planet
back to whispering a sweet name in a fit of honest passion
a return to thanking the nakedness of the night
where muscles unhinge from scabbards
and time levels no orders
cup the calm, drink its sanity, inhale slowly and with much purpose
walk into the fray and remain unchanged
purple-wild-hair-edits