National Poetry Month - meet poet Barbara Edwards

Barbara Edwards

I’m Barbara Edwards and I’m so happy to celebrate National Poetry Month with you.  In fifth grade, Mrs. Robinson assigned a poem a week to memorize and I began my love-affair with the beauty of the written word. If you gave me time, I could still recite many of those poems and tell you what they mean to me. It was a wonderful gift from a wonderful teacher. 

STEPH: How long have you been writing poetry?

BARBARA: Since I was a young girl, so it’s been a life-long love.

My poems are about me, my feelings, my emotions, so I never tried to have any of them published.

STEPH:What type of poetry do you like to write? free form? villianelles? Quatrains, Sonnets, hiakus, etc...

BARBARA: Oh my, what a selection of types. Since I wrote for my pleasure, I never settled on a specific format. I did what sounded best to me. Probably free form fist my best.

STEPH: Who is your favorite poet?

BARBARA: I love Robert Frost, another New England native.

STEPH: What is your favorite poem and why?

BARBARA: Frost’s “The Road Less Traveled” is one of my favorites.

 

STEPH: Can you share a poem of yours or two with us? 

**copyright notice** 

The poems on the blog are copyrighted to the author. Do not use without permission from the author

****

BARBARA So many poems, so little space. How about these? 

    

        Winnie

The damned cat died.

Old age, I suppose,

That mangy hair-ball.

Remember her silly kitten act?

Chasing dust balls from under the bed

To scatter tatters across the rug

And sneeze pieces clinging to her whiskers.

How many times did she drop an offering

At my feet or on the back step?

Mighty hunter of baby birds and mice

And once a two foot long snake.

Grooming in a ray of sunlight,

She’d stare contemptuously at my entrance

When I opened the door

Her tongue a tiny pink raspberry.

A purring lump against the small of my back

On cold,  lonely nights.

Her raspy tongue would lick my chin

And tickle before I pushed her away.

So the damned cat died.

And I’m putting her ragged toys,

Bowl and collar into a brown bag.

To dispose of. Maybe.

I’ll miss the damned cat.

Much more than I ever miss you.

So tomorrow I’ll get another kitten,

Although I can’t think why.

Tonight there is an empty doorstep,

And a cold hollow at the small of my back.

And I’ll cry again, for both of you.

But mostly because the damned cat died. 

Or for a change

   TRAVELER

Come

Join me on my journey

Share a way with me

A mile, a league, a pace or two

Time matters not, I am with you.

At a twist in the path

Where a fork split the way

Hushed by the silence

My soul heard yours say

Don’t hurt me, Don’t love me,

Don’t leave me alone...

The words didn’t match

Your expression of stone.

With laughter, caresses, I gave gentle care

Fearful myself, I gave what I dare.

Confused by my feelings,

Lacking a map, sign or guide,

I need to move onward,

Come, walk at my side.

Thanks for hosting me Stephanie. I enjoyed it. Barbara

Please visit me at www.barbaraedwards.net for excerpts from my books,

Buy links and free reads.

If you like my poems, I’ll post a few more on my site.

National Poetry Month - welcome poet Debra Parmley

STEPH: Welcome, Debra! How long have you been writing poetry?

DEBRA: My grandmother taught me to read before I was in school and she read poetry to me. I would make up silly little sing-song rhymes as a child. But writing poems with pen and paper didn't happen until I was a teenager.

STEPH: Are there any distinct themes to your poetry?

DEBRA: Oh yes. I've written hundreds of poems. There were a few years I wrote a poem a day.

I've organized some of my early poems into a book, my first poetry collection. The collection, Twilight Dips, has a theme which begins with the individual and stretches to the world. It contains all my poems which were published in literary magazines while I was in college. I've dedicated this book to my grandmother.

STEPH: What forms/types of poetry do you prefer to write? (free form, hiakus, villianelles, quartrains, etc)

DEBRA: I prefer free form, free verse styles, though I have written in many other forms. There is a place for each. The freer forms allow me to flow into the poem, in a way the others don't.

STEPH: Who is your favorite poet?

DEBRA: Oh goodnesss it is hard to choose. Emily Dickinson was when I was in college. Today I'm not sure I could narrow it down to just one. 

5. What is your favorite poem?

If I thought the question before was hard, wow. This can change according to which day you ask me. That's the beauty of poetry. You can come to the page each day and find something different, something which speaks to you. Today I would choose 

            How do I love thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love with a passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

STEPH: Share one of your poems with us.

Here is the poem my new poetry collection is named for.

Twilight Dips

Twilight dips

elegant fingers

over tree tops

into shimmering lakes

deepest blue

ripples spread

fingers twirling

swirling symmetry

calling out to fish

from deepest depths

fish rise

fish dive

fish mate

fish spawn

fish die

circles

cycles

fishly life.

More of my poems can be found on my website

http://www.debraparmley.com

My poetry collection will be available through Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Debra-Parmley/

and you can find me on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/debra.parmley

and my Facebook fan page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Debra-Parmley/

and on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DebraParmley

Steph, thank you so much for inviting me to visit your blog in celebration of national poetry month. It's been a joy to share my poetry with you. 

You're welcome.  Thanks for joining us, today! 

National Poetry Month - meet poet Tina Pinson

STEPH:  How long have you been writing poetry? 

TINA: I have been writing since elementary school. I've actually started compiling them found myself thinking what was going through the mind of the girl I was at the time. And then have to fight against trying to fix the poetry of the child, because she wrote her feelings then and I would take away from who she was.

STEPH: Are there any distinct themes to your poetry?

TINA:  I write a lot of Christ centered poems, but I would more say I write from where my heart is at the moment.

STEPH: What forms/types of poetry do you prefer to write? 

TINA: Usually free form. I have done some haikus, and some pretty long poems, but more so I just write.

STEPH: Who is your favorite poet? 

TINA: I like several, when I was younger I read a lot of Helen Steiner Rice, probably because my parents bought me some of her books. Now… I still like her, but I can't really say for certain who my favorite is, I like Maya Angelou, E. Dickenson, Browning, Longfellow, Poe, and more, if the poet touches a chord in me, I like the poem. I don't usually like all the work of a specific poet though.

STEPH: What is your favorite poem?

TINA: I like the Footsteps in the Sand poem, maybe because I see it so often, or perhaps it speaks to my life on numerous occasions.

STEPH: Share one of your poems with us.

God of the Storm

I lifted my eyes to the pouring rain

And felt it's coolness spray my cheek,

tracing my anger and fear to the very

soul of my being

I longed to cry out,

but my lips remained shut to the bitterness within.

Idled by my side, my fists couldn't reach to the heavens

Attempting to blame the blameless.

I picked a rock from the wet earth,

And sent it flying in frustration

No longer could I tarry in my refuge of rain,

Standing so silently.

"Why God?" My voice cracked as my pain began to sear.

"Why so many trials for me?

Do you hear me? Are you there?

God, please answer. Please."

Like a mighty wind, but gently calm,

His answer came to me.

Clearing out my bitterness,

my pain and misery.

With a hug of love he held me there,

to show me I wouldn't fall.

Then he took my hand and led me home,

Enveloped in the peace after the storm.

Links to another poem.

Graduation Prayer

Find me online at:

Tina's Blog

Twitter:@Tina_Pinson

Facebook-- https://www.facebook.com/TinaEPinsonAuthor

Pinterest http://pinterest.com/tinapinson/

National Poetry Month - welcome poet Delores Goodrick Beggs

Delores Goodrick Beggs

STEPH:  How long have you been writing poetry?

DELORES:

I wrote my first poem, Tornadoes Over Kansas, as a teenager while attending a Kansas 4-H camp. I was sitting at the lunch table, looked up, and saw the tornado swirl to the ground in the distance through the line of lunchroom windows, and had a sudden urge to capture the feeling. Tornadoes starts:

            "First comes constant, keening wind,

            swirling faster without end;

            briskly banging at the walls

            dusty, swirly, filmy fog.

                       

                        Lightning flashes prong the sky,

                        Thunder crashes, tree limbs fly;

                        Funnels roar, dance near the ground,

                        Lift and soar, then turn around....."

STEPH:   Are there any distinct themes to your poetry?

DELORES: My poems have one thing in common, they capture scenes of my observations of real life.

STEPH:  What forms/types of poetry do you prefer to write? 

DELORES: In later years, as an adult, I studied poetry extensively and participated in several different poetry groups. In my studies I learned to write many different forms, and took advantage of my studies to use whichever form - or free form -  suited my fancy at any given time.

STEPH:   Who is your favorite poet?

DELORES: Robert Frost. I have a copy of the book of his complete poems, 1964. His work speaks to me on many levels.

STEPH: What is your favorite poem?

DELORES: Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken." It sticks with me because I, too, took different roads from the expected norm for women in my thirties, although I did so of life necessity, not by choice. I was a single, divorced mother with three young children, working a job usually reserved (in that time period) for men. My job made all the positive difference in my life, allowing me to support my children.

            "...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

            I took the one less traveled by

            And that has made all the difference."

             

STEPH:     Share one of your poems with us. 

DELORES: My mother was a special woman, and she was responsible for creating many opportunities in my life, which could have otherwise been rather bare due to my severe hearing loss from meningitis - I only have about one-fourth hearing in one ear, none in the other. My parents made the unusual choice for those days (I was only four) and elected to put me in public school kindergarten instead of a state one, state being the normal choice for children with such severe hearing losses in the days before special education. My mother got my public education started by going to school to pick me up on Fridays and speaking with my teacher about the week and the week to come; then we went home and she spent the weekend teaching me what the class would be learning the next week. By the time I was in first grade I had picked up enough coping skills on my own to handle public school by myself and later Denver University. My mother made it possible for me, a Kansan, to live life to the fullest, and in addition, chronicle the richness of my heritage.

            My mother had trained as a concert pianist in her youth, and while she taught me to play,             I never felt a personal calling to pursue piano beyond recreation. But...

MOTHER

By Delores Goodrick Beggs

I listen to your belled voice

peal infectious laughter.

Your fingers blur, held over

yellowed ivory keyboard

of the old three-pedaled upright

that never had a covered

middle C.

Next door, they had a baby grand,

polished, unapproachable.

I never heard it over the choruses

clustered about the upright

with you.

You used to take my hand in yours,

tell me we had the same long fingers,

"You could play..." your voice

wishful.

My songs were always scribed in

ink,

not brushed in ivory keystrokes.

But never fear. You did, after all,

place your wondrous gift

in the palms of my hands.

LINKS:

www.goodrickbeggs.wordpress.com
Breaking Point: Place in the Heart Book One, May 2012, http://goo.gl/Q7L56
Charming Champion, Aug. 1, 2012, http://goo.gl/ROMB5
Substitute Lover: Place in the Heart Book Two, Dec. 2012, http://googl/mzrof

Perfect Tenderfoot, Place in the Heart Book Three, coming June, 2013

Welcome Guest Author - poet Danielle Thorne

Danielle Thorne 

      STEPH: How long have you been writing poetry?

DANI: I've been writing poetry since I was about twelve years old. I always had a flair for writing, but when poems were introduced in school they were a natural outlet for me to express myself. This continued throughout life into my twenties with some being published, until I committed to writing fiction. Today I write poetry to relieve stress and journal my life.

STEPH: What style do you like to write? 

DANI: My poetry is free form and very independent. I enjoy studying and reading different styles, but I don't like to be hindered by rules.

STEPH: What are some themes of your poetry?

DANI: Most often, nature plays the biggest role in my poetry. Whether it's reflective, angry or romantic, I turn to what inspires me the most to express what I'm feeling or seeing.

STEPH: Who is your favorite poet?

DANI: Shel Silverstein always made me laugh, and I love him, but I treasure Robert Frost above all. I'm also a fan of Maya Angelou. Such wisdom.

STEPH: What is your favorite poem?

DANI: "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. I memorized this poem years ago during a difficult time of my life after I suddenly realized the message of endurance and peace I could learn from it.

STEPH:  Dani, can you share some of your poetry with us?

DANI: I would love to. This poem is a snapshot of my curious childhood, which began when my mother moved us from Chicago into the Appalachian Mountains. It was published in my poetry chapbook, Southern Girl, Yankee Roots, available at Amazon.com.

Southern Woman

They called momma a Damn Yankee

because she didn't know

what to do with bacon fat.

She pulled up half the garden

before she learned the difference between

snapdragons and plain old weeds.

My step-grandmama showed her

how to use an iron skillet,

and Momma gave up show tunes for

John Denver records. 

On Saturdays, she’d cut hair free

for everyone in town,

While they taught us kids to drink ice tea

and eat trout.

I forgot about Chicago

when they sent me down the road

to that old mountain school.

From Southern Girl, Yankee Roots

(http://www.amazon.com/Southern-Yankee-Roots-Danielle-Thorne/dp/1475273827/ref=la_B004E5V0LA_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1365800366&sr=1-4)

Find Me!

Website: www.daniellethorne.com

Blog: www.thebalancedwriter.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielle.thorne.184

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/DanielleThorne/e/B004E5V0LA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1365800155&sr=8-1

Bio:

Danielle Thorne writes from south of Atlanta, Georgia. She is the author of sweet romantic adventure books, both historical and contemporary. Danielle has published poetry and short fiction as well as novels.

Other work has appeared with Espresso Fiction, Every Day Fiction, Arts and Prose Magazine, Mississippi Crow, The Nantahala Review, StorySouth, Bookideas, The Mid-West Review and more. She was the 2009-2010 Co-Chair for the New Voices Competition for young writers, is active with online author groups and moderates for The Sweetest Romance Authors at the Coffee Time Romance boards. Her popular blog, The Balanced Writer, focuses on life and the pursuit of peace and happiness.

Ms. Thorne has four sons with her husband, Rob. Together they enjoy travel and the outdoors.

National Poetry Month - welcome poet Paisly Kirkpatrick

 

Paisley Kirkpatrick

STEPH: Who's your favorite poet? 

PAISLEY: My favorite poet is William Blake. I like his philosophy and was quite touched when I read this first part of Auguries of Innocence":

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand 
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, 
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand 
And Eternity in an hour.” 
                                   ― William Blake

My poem shows the love a young Scottish boy has of his homeland after he's grown up in a new land and with new parents. Mountains Chiseled from Stone is the only poetry I've written so far. It's spoken by my hero Declan Grainger in my first book, Night Angel.

Mountains Chiseled from Stone

In lands rising so close to heaven,

Scots hear the flutter of angels' wings,

Flying over mountains chiseled from stone.

Bagpipes echoing from glen to glen,

Gather men to band as fighting forces,

To save their mountains chiseled from stone.

Highland mists settling across rich forests,

Blessing countrysides filled with lochs and glens,

Gracing the mountains chiseled from stone.

My heart still feels the call of this land,

Where my mother taught me to love and grow,

To stand tall in the mountains chiseled from stone.

LINKS

http://www.paisleykirkpatrick.com/

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1272262167

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6537986.Paisley_Kirkpatrick

Welcome poet Lynette Endicott for National Poetry Month

STEPH: Lynette, thanks for joining us. Share for us what it's like to be a poet.

LYNETTE: I wrote my first poems for the Greenville Comet, my high school newspaper, about football. I write free-form almost always, and am not as skilled as I would like to be, but I think that the exercise of metaphors or other descriptive devices is good for the writer. 

While it was the third to be released, Return of Joy was the first book I wrote. Buy link: http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/starting-over-book-two-the-return-of-joy-epub/  I took some of the poems about love and life that I had written in a spiral notebook years before, and reworked them a little so they lead some of the chapters in the book. Some people don't like that style -- but I figure when that is the case they can just ignore the poetry.

It is hard to name a favorite poet. Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Madeline L'Engle? I think Mary Oliver is my favorite modern poet. I subscribe to Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, and he delivers a poem, along with other writer news, to my email almost every day. You can subscribe to either the email or the podcast at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/  This is how I discovered some of the poets I enjoy the most. One of her poems is at least among my favorites, called In Blackwater Woods.

It is almost embarrassing, then, to add my little poems to the discussion after her spare, clear words ring with such beauty and sadness. But here you go -- a short one and a longer one. I haven't ever titled them. You pick:

Molten magic --

            the wine

            the depths of your eyes

            the heat

The fluid flow --

            of conversation

            of warmth and touch

            and every expression of love

Are potent magic indeed.

And another:

I love you because ...

... you are bread and wine to me. Day by day you are there to fill my need

and be filled by me.

...your soul speaks to mine, together or apart,

with words or in silence, in joy and peace and wonder, day after day after day.

... you are known to me.

Your voice, your face, your walk, your dreams, your pain, the feel and smell of you,

all of you.

... you make me whole. We fit together, you and I,

filling up all the  empty places in each other with warmth, excitement and love.

I love you because ...

... of the paradox.

Comfortable -- yet still exciting.

Needing no words -- yet never tiring of talking together.

Knowing one another completely -- yet daily discovering new things.

Thanks for giving the opportunity. Hope your readers will like my page at www.facebook.com/authorlynetteendicott or comment on my website this week for a chance at a free download of a current book to celebrate the one being released April 11.

STEPH: Thanks for joining us today, Lynette. It's been great having you and may you have a lot of success with your upcoming release!