Stephen Jenkinson, author of Die Wise, describes our culture as death phobic and grief illiterate. And yet, there we were in the spirit of poetic memoir and depth psychology, delving into subjects so often avoided. Katherine left the bedside of a dying friend to share this encore call-and-response reading that she and I had done […]
Ink traps and false starts trip ups and set backs no roadblocks or look ups no epics or opus I’m looking for a crossword to fit an empty space A piece to solve a puzzle A new clue to follow I’m looking for new focus Some good luck A power-up A brainstorm to build on […]
Reading “Eulogy in Self-portrait” at the Roanoke Library at Hollins, a poetry event with keynote speaker and reader Laura-Gray Street — author of Pigment and Fume (Salmon Poetry) and co-editor of The Ecopoetry Anthology (Trinity University Press) and A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia (University of Georgia Press). Hosted by Angela Dribben, VP of […]
Don’t give up the ghost Just lower the lights Invite poetry to visit like a voice from the distance Wait for the right words to rise ___________Colleen Redman /Poets and Storytellers United
Poetry pings but doesn’t pick up It can’t be tracked and doesn’t call back Sometimes it pocket-dials as an unknown caller whose voicemail you listen to over and over _________Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United / dVerse Poets Pub
We’re losing our minds and acting our age with an honest delving into the expanding horizon that comes with the narrowing of life. We’re working on it. It’s a trio this time. Katherine Chantal and I will be joined by Mary Wiley for our next Soulful Aging poetry reading. We might forget a name but […]
-The following is an article by Neil Harvey on the Death and Bereavement class that Katherine Chantal and I were invited to read our poetry for. It appeared in Radford University’s Highlanders in the News January 13, 2022 Robert Frost said poetry occurs “when an emotion has found its thought, and the thought has found […]
I gave it all away spent it all in one place Now I’m doubting my literary ability and checking the sofas for loose change __________Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United
Colleen Redman grew up as one of nine siblings on a peninsula in the South Shore of Boston, MA during the ‘50s – ‘60s. Since 1991, she has lived with her husband in a cabin off the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd, a rural Virginia county known for its mountain culture, roots music, small […]
She liked tunnels but not bridges rooms rather than open floor plans documentaries more than biopics and gingerbread more than brownies She teared-up when she saw Andrew Wyeth’s art in a D.C. museum and listened to every song that Mark Knopfler ever recorded She said, “I always feel more prepared when I have a toy […]
My mouth is slowly disappearing like a shoreline receding a basin emptying into a shrinking waterway of winding lines My hair is fading like a bleached coral reef as my timeline is rising on the way to eternity My skin thins translucent like frosted glass on a night sky view where a veil is lifting […]
“It takes time in the dark room to bring lived-experience into focus and to develop the meaning we’ve made of our lives.” Poems from the Dark Room, Colleen Redman’s third book of poems in a series, has been published and can now be ordered ($13) from Amazon and is available locally at The Harvest Moon […]
