Ghost Ship at The Ekphrastic Review

Are some things real and imagined, alive and dead all at once? That's what this mystifying image by photographer Robert Dash made me start wondering. What can exist simultaneously?

nto the Mystic, photography by Robert Dash (USA). Contemporary. Click image for artist site.

Playing catchup with my poem publications. Am I simultaneously both late and on-time now?

Here's Ghost Ship, inspired by Robert Dash's haunting photo entitled "Into the Mystic." Thanks to Tim Green at Rattle for issuing this ekphrastic challenge, and to Lorette C. Luzajic for publishing it at The Ekphrastic Review.

Here's to all the Mothers - past, present and future!

Happy Mother's Day!

Panoply Magazine just published my poem "subterfuge" in which our heroine fiercely and subtly protects her privacy and dignity on a random weekday in high school.

If you are a nurturer of any kind, but especially the mothering kind, you are no doubt aware of the need to take care of yourself first. We learn this as we grow, regardless of sex, regardless of gender. But there are some very particular ways in which women learn; one of which is what our heroine does here.

I wrote this poem as a mother of teens, reflecting on the particular challenges girls face out in the world as they journey into womanhood. There are tangled, prickly primeval forests to navigate, and friends are not always as they seem. Girls must walk alone on some parts of their paths.

Many thanks to Jeff Santosuosso, Andrea Walker, and Ryn Holmes for publishing "subterfuge" in Issue 3 of Panoply, A Literary Zine.

Day 8: I, of the Grain—a quatern published in The Rat's Ass Review #NaPoWriMo #NationalPoetryMonth

Demeter, Copyright 2013-2014 HoneyJadeCrab from DeviantArt

Happy to announce that on this Day 8 of National Poetry Month, my quatern about Demeter, goddess of the harvest, entitled I, of the Grain has been published in The Rat's Ass Review. Many thanks to Roderick Bates for selecting it. You can read it here!

Demeter is the food bringer, the law bearer, the mark of agriculture upon civilized society. She's not to be trifled with. She is in charge. I imagine her as a goddess who provides swift punishment if her strict rules are not carried out to her exacting specifications. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

A quatern is a French form with a refrain. 16 lines of 4 quatrains. Each line is 8 syllables. The first line serves as the refrain and migrates to the second line in the second quatrain, the third in the third, and the fourth and last line in the fourth. There are no particular rules for rhyme or meter. Play with it, and post your results in the comments section so I too can enjoy the fruits of your labor!