It’s Mother’s Day weekend. Hope you have sunny weather ahead. How nice to open my email and receive this poem from Laura Rodley, the Massachusetts poet whose work is often featured here and in other places such as the New Verse News (where her poem Pushcart-winning poem Resurrection appeared in 2013). She is also a freelance writer for publications such as Country Folks. I can always count on her to give me something imagistic, evocative and full of feeling. These days … [Read more...]
Mother’s Day
Happy Mother’s Day. This past week, the weather in Chicago has been extreme. Monday night we wore gloves. Thursday was in the 90s. The spring plants are late; some tulips just now blooming. The flowering trees are coming into their own. So far today’s weather in Chicago is near perfect. I don’t know if it’s the barometric pressure or allergies but I’ve had a persistent dull headache; so there, that’s one reason I haven’t been keeping up with timely posts. But the main reason … [Read more...]
Laura Rodley, Montague City Road
“Not even the tiniest incident of beauty slips past Laura Rodley's watchful eye. . . . ” This is a quote from Boston Literary Magazine Chapbook Review about Laura’s collection of poetry, Your Left Wheel is Coming Loose. I heartily concur. I first became familiar with Laura’s work when we both had work in Kiss Me Goodnight. Her poem “Addicted” is in Solace in So Many Words and she has let me publish "If I Had a Horse"on this website. Last week I put out a call for … [Read more...]
Susan Elbe
I first became familiar with the poetry of Susan Elbe through Kiss Me Goodnight (Syren Book Company) because we both had work in this anthology of writing by women who were girls when their mothers died. Her poems in that book are: "My Mother Isn't Dead" and "At Mother's Bedside." Now we are Facebook friends, and I enjoy her posts whether they are updates on the eagles' nest in Decorah, Iowa or more writerly items. This Father's Day she posted "I Fly to My Father in Late … [Read more...]
Susan O’Donnell Mahan
I first met Susan O'Donnell Mahan in Minneapolis when we both attended the launch of Kiss Me Goodnight. The poem she wrote for that book is titled "World View" and is about her mother Florence 'Sis' O'Donnell who died when Susan was 14. Susan and a couple other poets who appeared in Kiss Me Goodnight (Patti Wojcik Wahlberg and Tekla Dennison Miller) responded to my call for submissions. And now Susan and I keep up on Facebook, where I noticed she has published some poems. … [Read more...]