Wizard Altar, by Janet Riehl “Thinking as if…magic is real.”
If someone gave you a million dollars, what would you do with it?
If you could be a character from any book, who would you be?
What is the silliest thing to ever happen to you?
I’ve been harvesting my journals this week. One of the fruits of my harvest is this series of Riehlife contemplations which I hope you’ll enjoy and use: –for cultivating your own contemplations. –for starting conversations with loved ones and friends. –for prompting your writing. What are your foul weather blue sky gifts? What does your…
Jennifer Perrine, of Des Moines, Iowa, won the Taste Test contest. Her poem “If Life Gives You Lemons, Make” was made into a limited-edition letterpress broadside by Virginia Artists for the Book. Every year there is a contest on a different theme that can be interpreted visually in a high quality book. If Life Gives…
Selections from Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary by Janet Grace Riehl www.sightlinesbook.com Second Reading Bookstore Alton, Illinois April 15, 2006 1-3 p.m. The other day my father recalled the first time he’d heard the phrase “extended family.” We visited Makalamabedi—the place where the two rivers meet. This was the village in Botswana where I’d lived for…
What is poetry? How do we read poetry? What distinguishes poetry from other forms of literature or art? Perhaps “more intense use of language– “higher voltage” per word (Perrine)? Here are two glimpses of Mary Oliver’s view of what poetry is: “The thoughtful machinery of the poem…” Mary Oliver’s introduction to Poetry, 1994 “If poetry…
Poem Against the First Grade by George Venn Marking the Magic Circle: Poetry, Fiction, and Essays Alex, my son, with backberry jam smeared ear to ear and laughing, rides his unbroken joy with words so fast we let him get away on the jamjar without clean cheeks first. He spills frasasass tea with milk and…
Ernie Wormwood is a dear friend of my dear friend and collaborator, Stephanie Farrow. Ernie is a mother, animal lover, transformative meditator, and poet. She lives in Leonardtown, Maryland. Recently, she published in Poetic Voices Without Borders 2 and in The Poet’s Cookbook. You can hear Ernie read “The Poet and the Poem” on Grace…