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?
STOMACH Back in California I give my Midwest cooking a rest. Pizza out of the freezer passes for supper. In Illinois I concoct elaborate stews and spetzle. To cosset my father’s appetite. To help his stomach march through Julia’s death. His savor for life no longer sat at the dining room table after the accident,…
These Days by Charles Olson from “Collected Poems of Charles Olson—Excluding Maximus Poems” whatever you have to say, leave the roots on, let them dangle And the dirt Just to make clear where they come from
I’ve started a new writing project—working with my longtime friend and writing colleague, Stephanie Farrow who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the last weeks we’ve developed a way of working which I’m analyzing into steps below in hopes it might help those writers among Riehlife’s readers. [Note: This is filed in the Write, Pen!…
Enjoy these poems by Evie Bond that have a feel of little folk tales. –JGR ________________ The Old Lady Who Died Crying by Evie Bond The old lady who died crying was a sad sight indeed She lived in a shack, in the very back Of a forest without any trees. A river of fog…
Family stories do not have to be diary-like stories. They can be word ideas. Little boy in diaper. Icecream cone. There, now: don’t you get vivid images and memories from these phrases?
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…