Alas Friends

Several obligations and irons in the fire this month. It has forced me to end participation in Napowrimo for 2016. When life allows, I'll return with fresh prose and poetry. Thanks for stopping by the blog.

Eclectica Magazine will print my poem 'On the North Shore' in their poetry anthology this spring. For more info on the project and/or to support it, please visit Eclectica's kickstarter page at this URL: http://www.eclectica.org/anthology_news3.html  I enjoyed reading Tom Dooley's bio that is there. Visit Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/750824464/eclectica-magazine-20th-anniversary-anthologies?ref=nav_search

On the North Shore is about sighting a rare bird. The heart of that story surrounds believing in oneself when the world tells you different. And of course, it is about the private feelings a true poetry reader brings to it.

Soon I will move writing samples to this blog as well as all my published poems.

This has been a very different year for my family; leaving me with many more responsibilities and little time to write. Hopefully 2016 will allow me more time to manage this blog.

~Patricia L. Johnson

I wish you all a great poetry month. Put a poem in your pocket and give it to someone you see today!

Happy New Year!

May you pick the right path in the woods all the way through 2015!

Get an early start on NAPOWRIMO 2015

Here is the start page for NAPOWRIMO from 2014. Why not do all or a few of the exercises to give yourself a headstart for this coming April's NAPOWRIMO challenge?

Used Book Treasures

One of my favorite poets is Ruth Stone. I have all her recent books, and just added her first two  poetry books to my collection - now that I have them I am reading Topography, her second poetry collection. It is a delight to read all the poems in it. I can see that she masterfully started as a poet and compare how she changed and grew in her newer volumes. The copy I bought is also a bit of a treasure. It's a first edition hardbound with the original owner's name neatly added in the front. It also has the original receipt from Harvard's book store. It is a great way to finish my Ruth Stone collection.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you.

This year I am listing my top five reasons for being grateful.

My family and friends

People who love me just the way I am

Freedom

Getting closer down the road to no hunger in our world

Prayer




Here are a few links to thanksgiving poems and prayers: http://christianity.about.com/od/thanksgivingverses/a/thanksgivingpra.htm

A Poem from a Film Still

The following poem came from a film by Kimsooja titled A Needle Woman. Sometimes a still or picture seems to whisper to me a whole life, this poem developed that way. Here is a link to the film still at the artist's website. The image on the right is the needle woman lying on a rock. My poem was first published in Mystic Horizons, an online lit journal which has gone dark.

View of a Film Still from Kimsooja’s A Needle Woman

Father, I mend your shirt. Its grayed silk soft in my arms.

This view of Kitakyushu with its racing river

looks the same as water standing still.

I am surface, smooth rock against vibrant sky,

slate and azure. I am your needle woman.

A strand of hair at nape of neck becomes my thread.

My body is the needle holding two worlds. I sew together

the field of time where stone and air meet. When mother

hands me clothing to patch my thought is always I am needed,

I am quiet. This I do with the needle’s voice.

Father, what the needle tells me of your shirt

I see again in cloud, ledge and sky.

The fabric stronger for the patching,

more beautiful well-worn. This shirt holds

the shape of your chest, the olive odors of your skin.

I give it back to you mended, whole.

A look through my needle exposes

hip curved into rock. Another look shows

open horizon. Inside my own heartbeat I study

the needle’s point. The slender metal stabs fabric,

emerges to fingers underneath. Blindly I guide the needle.

My fingers anxious, willing to be pierced.

Mother hands me another shirt saying, mend first,

and in so doing you will create.

Patricia L. Johnson

Nanowrimo

Not to late to participate! http://nanowrimo.org/

Voice

When a poem is closest to truth, there is a steady quality in the voice.

After Sending a Poem Into the World

Sometimes after a poem has gone out into the world it tells me its true meaning. That's a delightful occurence.

Rough Drafts

The excitement of a rough draft lies in its ability to suggest different outcomes for the poem. 

Poems in Eclectica

Three of my poems are live now in Eclectica's fall issue. There is so much great work here! Enjoy!

A Poem from Poetry Daily

Today's poem at Poetry Daily starts with a look at making a book about moths. The second verse compares thoughts about the moths to relationships. Please go to the website at poems.com to read the poem. I hope you enjoy it.

Crooked Lines by Holly Michael

Last week I finished Holly Michael's fantastic book titled Crooked Lines. This is a wonderful novel that centers on two main characters, one character is a young woman from America who struggles in a tough marriage and with sad memories of the death of a dear sister; and the other main character is a young man from India studying to be a priest. Through several years and many difficult turns in their lives, they end up in happier places within their lives. This is a great book! 

Three Poems Accepted by Eclectica

I will have three poems in the Fall issue of Eclectica online. I am especially thrilled with this acceptance because I believe in the strong lit works of this little mag, and because the poems are some of my favorites! Follow the link in the first sentence above to read the July/August issue of Eclectica.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I am half way through this pulitzer prize-winning novel, Tartt's third novel. Mostly I read poetry and science books. This book is powerful. Not only can I barely put it down, but it has made me take a break for a few hours as I absorb the powerful scene I just read that had me crying. The last novel I read this magnificent was Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. 

Where to Find Poems and Poetry Information

A beginning poet emailed me today and asked where to start reading poetry, so I gave him this brief beginning guide which I want to share.

Two Poets to start with:

Mary Oliver - heartfelt and full of nature

Yusef Komunyakaa - Viet Nam war, different rhythm to his poetic music, very important to American poetry

As for anthologies:

Each year The Best American Poetry. It comes out every September and is very representative of good poems. Seventy poems are included in each collection.

Each year the Pushcart Prize anthology. Not as many poems are included.

If you study these two poets and two collections, it will lead you down a solid road to discovering good poems.

Here are some great websites:

Poetry Foundation at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/ This is the standard in world poetry. Enjoy!

The Academy of American poets at http://www.poets.org/  Another excellent resource.

and another wonderful site, Poetry Daily, at http://poems.com/

Planet Hunter and how to find an exoplanet

Wobble is the key to finding an exoplanet. See a quick video here:




Here's my poem about finding exoplanets.

Planet Hunter

Wiggle wiggle remote star.

Show astronomers where you are.

Point the way red, yellow, white.

Which strange atmospheres hold life?

Astronomer GM-44 nods near sleep,

shifts in and out of consciousness,

divines an outmost system’s planet. 

On his desk an open catalogue of stars.

He blinks and drifts, recalls star notes:

‘I search one hundred billion stars …

for the precise conditions that reveal

new planets every month.’

Orbs pull, stagger, ripple,

give away their secret,

teetering stars own real estate.

Oh Milky Way

flash your spiral breast,

expose your tottering suns

so planet hunters may detect

new worlds by gravitation.

Newton's principle spins.

The star that wobbles wins.

GM-44 finds new planets

around two new stars, promises

countless more in alien worlds.

A perfect planet circles Star 70 Virginus,

promise of life in abysmal oceans.

Her moons blossom as large as Mars,

she tempers her seas to a tepid nursery.

Electric nights seed protoplasts.

Charmed errors point the way.

Earth’s sun waggles for her planets.

Our solar system is unique and rare.

Where else to search for exotic life?

Patricia L. Johnson