How I Celebrate National Poetry Month

Just because April is almost over doesn't mean that I'm done celebrating.

Of course, I've been celebrating by reading and writing poetry. But National Poetry Month is also about sharing poetry, so for the last two (going on three) years, I've also done the following:

After the third attempt at photography, I was like "Maybe the air in here is just blurry."

The other side looks like:

Throughout the year, I write down lines of poetry that capture me. And when April comes, I hide them away in various places for members of the unsuspecting public to find.

Like many of my ideas, this tends to work better in theory than in practice. This year, I didn't get around to finishing all my cards until yesterday, so I've only hidden five so far. Also, even when I finish my cards in time, I tend to forget I have them with me. (I carried fifteen to church today, and I left with the exact same number.)

Sometimes, I worry that the only people who will find them will be much-put-upon custodians, who will slowly grow to hate both poetry and April. ("Another flippin' index card?! April is the cruelest month.")

But I do like finding small, beautiful things in unexpected places. And I doubt I'm the only one.

There's still some April left. So let's see if I can dispose of fifteen more cards before May 1st. Any ideas?

Quick Update and More Shameless Self-Promotion

Between a stubborn illness and editing deadlines, I haven't had much time to even think about blogging. However, since some people (i.e., almost two people) asked about places to find my poetry, I'm happy to use that as an excuse for a post.

My Easter-themed sugar cookies. Because I'm almost as proud of these.

I currently have three poems in the most recent online edition of SNReview, which can be viewed for free.

I've also placed second in the 2015 Koser/Lohr Honorary Award contest sponsored by the Pennsylvania Poetry Society. (Later, my poem will be printed in their annual publication, but I don't have any information about dates yet.)

Happy National Poetry Month, Happy Easter!

April is National Poetry Month.

The Academy of American Poets (through poets.org) offers a list of 30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month. And Writer's Digest's "Poetic Asides" blog is encouraging people to write a poem every day this month through daily prompts (and contests).

Later in April, I will write about what I do to celebrate this month of poetry.

But right now I'm the middle of celebrating something even dearer to me (though I find it impossible to separate poetry from the Gospel). Happy Easter, readers!

The exterior of "Crossroads: Where Art and Passion Meet," a yearly Stations of Cross through art in Port Townsend, WA.

With friends Heather and Vicky. (Thanks so much for taking me!)

The Storybook of Misused Words (Part Two)

I forgot to blog last week.

I had a deadline, and my grandma came to visit (which was wonderful), and blog posts were the last thing on my mind.

Instead, I played this card game from Atlas Games:

The rules say that winning in one round is incredibly rare and unlikely (and if you've played it before, you'll know why), so of course, that is what my grandmother does the very first time she plays.

I guess I'll just have to write two posts this week. For now, here's another tale from

The Storybook of Misused Words

"An Intense Story of Somber Purpose," 

or "The Difference Between 'For All Intents and Purposes' and 'For All Intensive Purposes'"

"What are you doing?" the gardener said, as the pixies giggled and tore the roses to pieces.

"Why are you eating that?" he demanded, as trolls gnawed on his wheelbarrow till the wheel was quite crooked.

But the trolls and the pixies continued to destroy his garden and his tools.

"Why won't anyone listen?" gardener moaned. "For all intents and purposes, I might as well be speaking to myself."

Later that day, as he wandered through town looking for pixie repellent and a new wheelbarrow, he stumbled across an unusual shop. The sign read: "Dunne, Dunne, & DUNNE Modifiers: For All Intensive Purposes."

Immediately, the gardener hurried inside and bought several intensive word forms, including some that were quite strange and rare.

When he returned to the garden, he shouted one of his new modifiers at the pixies, "What in tarnation do you think you are doing?!"

And the pixies faltered a little.

So he threw out at the trolls: "How in the Sweet William am I supposed to work if you keep eating the wheelbarrow?"

And then: "Why the Weeping Willow won't you leave?" Followed by "Who the Monkey Puzzle Tree do you think you are?!"

And under this onslaught of strange modifiers, the pixies and trolls fled.

"That was intense," said one fleeing troll to a pixie.

"I think," replied the pixie, "that was the intent."