Friday Poem

Assurance
By William Stafford

You will never be alone, you hear so deep
a sound when autumn comes. Yellow
pulls across the hills and thrums,
or the silence after lightening before it says
its names- and then the clouds' wide-mouthed
apologies. You were aimed from birth:
you will never be alone. Rain
will come, a gutter filled, an Amazon,
long aisles- you never heard so deep a sound,
moss on rock, and years. You turn your head-
that’s what the silence meant: you’re not alone.
The whole wide world pours down.
   

from Smoke’s Way, 1983

Motivation

How These Words Happened

By William Stafford

In winter, in the dark hours, when others were asleep,

I found these words and put them

together by their appetites and respect for

each other. In stillness, they jostled. They traded

meanings while pretending to have only one.

Monstrous alliances never dreamed of before

began. Sometimes they last. Never again

do they separate in this world. They die together.

They have a fidelity that no purpose

or pretense can ever break.

And all of this happens like magic to the words

in those dark hours when others sleep.

Motivation Found

"The more you let yourself be distracted from where you are going, the more you are the person that you are. It’s not so much like getting lost as it is like getting found."- William Stafford

My room with a view for a week

 
It's amazing what a little relaxation can do. After a week long staycation with my family at a cabin on Lake Superior, I am feeling inspired. Days on the beach soaking in the sand and sun reading books, poems, short stories and creating some of my own helped me get motivated again.

I entered a couple poetry contests and even sent out a picture book manuscript that's been sitting around for some time. I can do this and so can you. Here's to happy writing, revising, and submitting.

Blog Hop Friday

Celebrating the small things this Friday.

Regina:

1. Attended a Poetry Therapy Session with Nessa McCasey

2. Started drafts to submit to the William Stafford Anthology

3. Had a date night with her husband on a Tuesday 

Juliet had an all-star week:

1. Attended her first class on the topic of historical fiction writing with Mort Castle.

2. Booked a hotel room for a weekend writing workshop through SCBWI-IL with heavy-hitters, Linda Sue Park and Julia Durango.

3. Had lunch with two of her favorite "rock star girlfriends."  (All of her girlfriends are rock stars but Nora actually IS a rock star and Laura is one of her favorite writers.) 

First Post: Carrot Juice and Coffee

The table is set and I am wondering who will arrive to partake. I would serve, of course, carrot juice.
-Regina Gort

What? I haven't even had my coffee yet.
-Juliet Bond

Welcome to our new writing blog!  We hope you will join us on this new venture, that you will share laughs, triumphs and rejection letters. That you might dust off your muse and rediscover what inspires you to write, live and love.

More than likely there will be poetry.

And book reviews and interviews.

Revelations and prompts.

But most of all the growth of a relationship with our muses, a little bit country and a little bit city.

When I Met My Muse

I glanced at her and took my glasses
off--they were still singing. They buzzed
like a locust on the coffee table and then
ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the
sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and
knew that nails up there took a new grip
on whatever they touched. "I am your own
way of looking at things," she said. "When
you allow me to live with you, every
glance at the world around you will be
a sort of salvation." And I took her hand.

-William Stafford

With warmth and welcome and a special toast to something new;

Load up the juicer!

-Regina

Nuh huh.  (Slurp.)  I'll stick with my non-fat latte.

-Juliet

Bring your own favorite beverage, and join us for a bit of nourishment.

Love, Us