The following was published in The Floyd Press on October 30, 2008 and at the FP online HERE. A Democratic fundraising rally for the Barack Obama/Joe Biden presidential campaign was held at the Sun Hall on Friday night. “The 9th District could prove to play a pivotal role in the November Presidential Election,” said local […]
1. My friend Jamie Reynolds married Elisha Seigle and changed his name to Jamie Reygle. Recently I received and email from him and noticed he’s now calling himself Jamie Hussein Reygle. 2. My commentary “Does Size Matter: A Vote for Smart Government” appeared with others in a spread of excerpted commentaries in the Sunday Horizon […]
An unlikely weapon Empty white paper A blood sister’s razor sharp complaint Red vertical line on horizontal blue is a thin excuse a slow to heal stinging edit a poet’s occupational hazard
I. A couple of weeks ago I laid my husband’s yoga mat out in the middle of the yard at night and stretched out on it to do some stargazing. Watching the night sky made me feel timeless, vast and minute at the same time. Then, the phrase WE PUT STARS IN POEMS popped into […]
What do you do when you’re at a classical music concert in a front row seat with the lights turned up high and you have a sudden urge to write poetry? You want to pull out paper and pen but the crowd is so quietly absorbed in listening that you could hear the pen drop […]
~ The following was published in The Floyd Press on October 23, 2008 and online HERE. The name “Carolyn” came like a premonition to Carolyn Kirby’s mother long before she had children. “It means “great singer,”’ sixteen-year-old Caroline Kirby said. She was sitting with her mother, Leslie Romano, on an outdoor bench, overlooking the family […]
Being with my first grandchild, 5 month old Byrce, engages all my senses. I deeply breathe in the scent of him. Come in close to kiss his soft skin. Watch his perfect beauty with a sense of wonder. The sound of his voice melts my heart. When I was with him on Tuesday he was […]
1. Fellow poet, Scrabble player and Floyd Spoken Word participant, Chelsea Adams took the words right out of my mouth and put them down in an eloquent order for THIS Roanoke Times commentary about Pro-life vs. Pro-choice. It’s well worth the read. 2. My spell check is like a far right fundamentalist Republican robocall because […]
This is the time of year when there are big changes around here. Not only do the trees along the Blue Ridge Parkway light up in blaze of color, but cars, trucks, and motorcycles stream up and down the road to see them. I live down one of those wooded dirt roads tucked away off […]
We put stars in poems like we name subdivisions after lakes that aren’t there like we name football teams after Indian tribes and put animal ornaments on sprinkler wet lawns while polar bears drown and sea otters become endangered We put stars in poems like we sprinkle salt on summer corn but eat it out […]
A couple plays a game of Shogi, a man works at his laptop, a tourist stretches out on the Café Del Sol comfy couch reading a book to the sound of barista Melissa grinding coffee beans for lattes. Young, soon-to-be thirteen years old Mars, a frequent spoken word open mic participant, offers to be the […]
I was doing home respite care for a Wall Residences client, so I let my friend Mara stand in the rain in a line that wound around the Roanoke Civic Center to hear Barack Obama for me. She called periodically with updates. She was with her soon-to-be 11 year old daughter Kyla, who took the […]
