Friday, January 13, 2012

Remembering Haiti



Thinking about Haiti and all of our friends there. Once you know Haiti you cannot forget.

This poem comes from my chapbook VOICES RISE AND FALL, HAITI POEMS, published by Students in the graduate program in creative writing at Chatham University.




IMAGINE HAITI

The sky is blue.

The earth begins to shake,

you tremble and bounce

like brightly colored beads

in the braided hair of the girl walking

Before you can think,

your house has fallen down.

The girl has disappeared

in clouds of gray dust

you cannot breath

in the sudden dark, black like night,

your family is missing,

or trapped, or dying, or dead or gone,

your mother, your father your child.

There is no air

no food no water.

All the people

crawling over rubble.

The maggots crawl on rotting flesh,

Calling your name

your grandmother two floors below

don’t be afraid of death,

her whispers fade, to silence

a voice you do not understand,

claws the cracks with fingers

coming to get you.

Calling you.

Bon Dieu is calling you

until you can no longer hear,

until they bulldoze

you into a grave.

The earth trembles again.

Three colored beads shiver

on shattered cement.

The singing in the streets;

Praise to God and Haiti.

Singing in the streets!

Because that is all that is left,

how you will survive

this day.

Walk and sing and sing.

You sing until your throat is raw.

Until you can no longer speak.

Blood spills from your lips.

You sing and no one will hear

And still you sing.

They call it looting,

You have not eaten for two days

or maybe three. Four. Five. Six.

But you are used to that.

They shoot you in the street when you take

some water, a sack of rice.

You sleep in the street

and the earth shakes again.

And again. The earth will never.

Stop. Shaking.


Tuesday, January 10, 2012

More about Resolutions for a Better Writing Life


In my last blog about New Years resolutions I made it simple...
Eat less
Write more.

But in my experience it takes a few weeks into the New Year, after the holiday settles, to reflect and consider the challenges of the coming weeks and months. For example I am still eating more because we have been on vacation. Writing less with the same excuse...vacation time.

However upon further reflection I realize I forgot to add, "Read More" to my list of resolutions. BUT does reading count as writing time? Probably, if it is for research but then the definition of research can be broad...is just reading in the genre for which I am writing count as research? Possibly.

Another resolution I have considered adding to the short list is: LESS FACE BOOK time. While reading FB is well...yes...reading, it is also huge time suck thus detracting from writing time.

The only reason I joined FB in the first place, 4 years ago was to keep track of my last born who was off to India. He setup the account for me suggesting this was the best way to see his photographs. In the end he was never near an internet that allowed for him to post photographs and I ended up with...well let me check....166 friends by current count. I mean I had to friend my other three children, daughter-in-laws, real friends, distant relatives, virtual friends. After that things got out of control.

The real problem is that I spend and average of 23 1/2 minutes of valuable writing time stalking my son. Recently his posts do not automatically show up on my newsfeed. This is alarming because I suspect he may have changed his settings to eliminate his mother from his private life...or is this just the result of all the new FB formatting? Add several minutes of nervous reflection since I must consider, whether ANYONE is receiving or reading MY posts. A writer is supposed to have many friends reading and responding to posts which in theory should make said writer rich and famous.

I feel the need to check up on my youngest daily because once in a while he implies he has no friends which leads me to believe he may be unhappy or somehow maladjusted...so I check his wall. He has 524 friends and there are 967 photos of him. This looks pretty good to me so I can relax...except there are people out there with say 1070 friends. Still in my mind there is a problem with too many friends so I'm OK with this. He must at least be average on the friends scale. He has after all more friends that his mom has.

But then I can't ignore that fact that there are many comments on FB referring to my son as Party Dad. What does THIS mean? Should I worry? I spend too much writing time trying to find out if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

On the other hand I note many pithy posts referring and sending the reader to obscure memes (I learned this word from my son... while stalking him on FB). I feel like this is a good thing putting him on the intellectual scale above much of the FB posts I see out there.

Still...I must worry about his time management skills. Would he be less anxiety ridden about the upcoming finals if he spent less time ranting about how he hates pennies and posting articles about discontinuing the penny. I might agree with this but wonder what will bring good luck if we get rid of pennies...and perhaps I should pay more attention because I do not think anyone has written a children's book or a poem about the demise of the penny.

So....in 2012 I still resolve to Eat Less and Write More. I hope to read more too. FACE BOOK? Unfriend everyone or make new friends? My son is off to New Zealand, you can bet I will have to stalk him down under..and maybe write that book about pennies. A word to all his friends...watch what you post in the New Year.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT -------- Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction: Many Genres One Craft Wins First Place at London Book Festival

Great news in the New Year...I have two articles in this unique guide to writing popular fiction. Just found out that Many Genres, One Craft won first place for nonfiction at the London Book Fair.

Many thanks to the editors Heidi and Mike for the concept, time and work they put into this publication. Thanks for inviting me to be a part of this project.

Bravo to Seton Hill writers and instructors!

See the link below:

MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT -------- Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction: Many Genres One Craft Wins First Place at London Book Festival

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Ten Resolutions to Make My Life and My Writing Better


Ten New Years Resolutions To Make My Life and Writing Better

OK, I have already crossed out 5 so you are lucky. Here you go…

1. 1. 1. Eat less. This is a problem because I write at a table that is three feet from the kitchen. Eating is one thing that it is possible to do while writing. Witness the crumbs on my laptop.

2. 2. 2. Exercise more. This is a problem because my exercise time, roughly 2 hours, takes away from my writing time. It is difficult to write while working-out although I am able to compose amazing stories while walking that never seem to translate to the written page. I can NOT giving more time to exercise. Cross this one out.

3. 3. Spend less time on Facebook. I joined this virtual society to stay in touch with my youngest when he went to India. One Friend. Now I have …wait let me check…. 164 friends. I agree that is not many friends by FB standards but I do not even know some of them.

On the other hand if you are a writer you are supposed to have a lot of friends so that they will pass your blog around and make more friends for you while making you rich and famous…see Number 4. So maybe this resolution should be, make more friends…still considering.

4. 4. Blog less…or more. Not sure because if I am blogging I am writing (see Number 5) . But is this REAL writing??? I mean “they” tell us to blog so that potential readers and editors will find us. But if I am blogging I am not working on that book I am supposed to be writing. If editors are reading all those blogs, they sure aren’t editing. Watch for more on this rant and more on #3 in the new year.

5. 5. Write MORE. Real writing…must determine if blogging is “real”.

I am going to keep this simple: Write More. Eat Less. Same old, same old.

Happy New Year.

Maybe it be more disciplined than mine…or not.


Saturday, December 24, 2011

Solstice Sunset


Solstice Sunset


I walk into apricot sky,

my dog charges

a windmill

clunks and clatters

on the wind burst

with crystal

flurries.


I should have named her

Don Quixote,

(Qui for short),

that dog, jousting

her demons

on the mesa.

I turn,

she follows.

Me

into steal darkness


and home.

Candel holders made with scrap from the mesa...collected over the last year. Light for a new year ...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Stuff that Inspires




I collect stuff. I admit it. This is materialistic behavior. Christmas time can be the worst. I make sure I get what I want...for me. When I shop...it's one for him...one for me...one for her...one for me. Etc. Etc.

But I like to think the things I have are thoughtful, filled with ideas. The stuff I like has a story behind it, makes connections.

Like these seed pots from the Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo traditions.

These pots range from tiny to 12 or 18 inches in diameter. Today they are intricately hand-decorated and sold to collectors and tourists. Traditionally these vessels with small openings were used to save seeds after harvest time so that rodents and other animals could not get at them. In the spring the pots were smashed open and the seeds planted.

Reminds me of traditional piggy banks...smashed open when full( maybe to buy Christmas gifts). Which brings me to real pigs in Haiti. There, people told me they bought pigs and used their earnings to feed them so they would not spend the money in other less prudent ways. When the pig was grown they sold it and had the cash.... saved up in a real pig.

See? Seed pots on the Navajo Rez, to piggy banks, to Haitian pigs. A writer is always making connections.

Mostly, I love the metaphorical image of saving from the harvest and smashing into rebirth. Saving up the hope for a new planting season. I could work with that.

But first I have to finish shopping, wrapping, baking. Collecting. Procrastinating? Tis the season ...May yours be filled with things that inspire.
(some of these seed pots are even decorated on the bottom!)

Monday, December 19, 2011

Writers Always Steal



It's true, we writers listen in on conversations, read what others have written, and when it suits we make it ours. My children used to introduce me to friends, " This is my mom, the writer. Be careful what you say. It can and will be used in a book."

It works like this sometimes...I have an idea for a picture book I want to write. The story is about a Navajo girl who wants to learn to weave but she is given the task of herding the sheep instead...Not sure where I can go with this story. The idea came from reading a non-fiction book on Navajo weaving.

Then presto I am hiking in the canyon with a Navajo friend who tells me a story about their sheep. Her nephew was herding them and how a bear got one of the sheep and they found the remains in the woods. Of course I am a little dense sometimes, until it hits me. Like a gift this friend has given me the answer to how to write my picture book. I think maybe not a bear but a coyote will work.

Yes, always stealing snippets of conversation, ideas from books, magazines, news programs. I am not suggesting plagiarizing or copying. I am suggesting that we writers take in what we see and hear around us and make it ours...a new take on a theme that is already out there. Or a new theme for an old idea.

And talking about stealing, another friend, writer, Leslie Davis Guccione http://lesliedavisguccione.blogspot.com/ shot me a picture of the Christmas tree HER friend made out of driftwood they collected on the beach. I miss the beach. I live in the desert. I want a tree like that.

Wait a minute...there are tons of wind blown and water- sogged bits of wood on the mesa behind my house. I dragged it home, daily, often under cover of dark so no one would see this crazy woman with twigs sticking out of her backpack, dragging more behind...late evening walks with my res dog, Reena.


I saved that wood for a year, piled in the laundry room. And built my own Mesa wood Christmas tree. Same idea, new theme... a gift from the friend of a friend who doesn't even know I stole her idea. I think she got the idea from something she saw in a gift shop. See? Stealing.

Happy holidays. With thanks for friends... who share tidbits, ideas and stories that I steal turn into something new and exciting.