When Larry Levy reads his poetry, I am transported into the ambiance of the time and place he reveals through his words. Larry has been a friend and mentor for many years, and I am honored to have him as my guest today. Welcome Larry. How do your poems arrive? An image? A memory? A bit of conversation? My poems often begin with a phrase or a line. Usually it’s about something I have seen or heard or recall. Many of my poems begin in memories. Sometimes it comes in a dream. But they almost always begin with words that seem Read More
Tag: inspiration
The Inspiring Tale of a Tornado (or How I Spent Saturday Afternoon)
I was sitting in the basement with my bike helmet on waiting for the tornado to hit. (Rich was out of town.) Now Rich and kids think this is hysterical, but I was just following the weatherman’s suggestion. It made sense to me. If debris were to fly all around the basement, perhaps this piece of hard plastic would save my brain…maybe my life. I’m very trusting. My mind was crystal clear—I was thinking ninja-sharp. After I put on my helmet, I got two afghans, a pillow, both Rich’s and my laptop, and my purse, stashing it all under Read More
Chakras and Totems and Finches, Oh My!
This is a repost of a blog I wrote in July 2013. It is my most popular blog post, and I continue to get hits on it everyday. I also continue to get comments–some very poignant–about loved ones whose passing is followed by a similar visit. I wanted to share it again because this was such an extraordinary experience for me. What I am about to tell you is true. Caveat: if you are a pragmatist, I will probably make you angry. Sunday night after printing out poems I needed for a poetry group meeting the next day, I shut down my Read More
Five Writing Lessons from the “Ode to Billie Joe”
If you’ve never listened to “Ode to Billie Joe” sung by Bobby Gentry, give yourself that gift right now and click above. If you aren’t able to, or don’t wish to listen to it, here is a link to the lyrics. But listening to Bobby Gentry sing it with her whiskey-silk, Mississippi Delta voice is a treat you won’t forget. Gentry wrote and recorded the song in 1967, and Billboard ranked it as the #3 song of the year. As young teens, my friends and I, like the rest of the country, animatedly speculated about what it was that the Read More
I Returned to the Scene of the Crime…and it was Magic
The most amazing thing happened to me the other day. I returned to the “scene of the crime”—the Cavanaugh House—and my characters showed up. While visiting my family in upstate New York, my husband Rich and I drove to the house that, for me, is the Cavanaugh House. There it stood, looking more forlorn than ever. The weirdest thing happened as I stood in the yard looking at it. I could feel Jesse Graham, my protagonist, there. Scenes from The Cavanaugh House floated before me as I stood and watched: Joe swinging the scythe while Jesse pushed the lawn mower; Read More