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I am joining with a gaggle of poets in committing to a weekly blog in 2018. I am grateful to this project, which was spearheaded by Donna Vorreyer and Kelli Agodon. Instead of posting blogs here,
I will be posting my blog at risaden.wordpress.com/. Come on over! And enjoy these luscious blogger while you are at it. Beth Adams – http://www.cassandrapages.com Teresa Hichens Ballard – http://teballard.blogspot.com/ Sandra Beasley – http://sbeasley.blogspot.com Carolee Bennett – https://gooduniversenextdoor.com/ Mary Biddinger – wordcage.blogspot.com/ Andrea Blythe – http://www.andreablythe.com Dave Bonta – http://vianegativa.us Jim Brock http://picturesthatgotsmall.blogspot.com James Brush http://coyotemercury.com Angela T Carr https://angelatcarr.wordpress.com/ Patricia Caspers http://www.patriciacaspers.com/ I. F. Caton – http://analogverse.blogspot.com/ Grant Clauser http://www.uniambic.com Kevin Connor – https://ordinaryaveragethoughts.wordpress.com/ Jared Conti – http://www.theoracularbeard.com Josephine Corcoran – http://www.josephinecorcoran.org Jill Crammond https://jillypoet.wordpress.com/ Jenelle D’Alessandro – http://www.borderandgreetme.com Laura E. Davis – http://www.dearouterspace.com/ Kate Debolt – http://www.katedebolt.net/blog/ Heather Derr-Smith – ferhext.com/ Risa Denenberg – https://risadenenberg.weebly.com/blog Cynthia Schwartzberg Edlow http://cschwartzbergedlow.blogspot.com Andrew Eickstead http://www.unleashingthewordhoard.com Lou Faber – https://anoldwriter.com Jeannine Hall Gailey – webbish6.com Gail Goepfert – gailgoepfert.com Erica Goss http://ericagoss.com Uma Gowrishankar – https://umagowrishankar.wordpress.com/ Sarah Kain Gutowski – mimsyandoutgrabe.blogspot.com Erin Hollowell – http://www.beingpoetry.net . T Trish Hopkinson https://trishhopkinson.com/ Jennifer Hudgens https://jenniferelhudgens.wordpress.com Catherine Hume: https://catherinehume.wordpress.com/ Crystal Ignatowski – http://somehiatus.tumblr.com/ MJ Iuppa – http://mjiuppa.blogspot.com/ Charles Jensen – https://charles-jensen.com/kinemapoetics-blog/ JJS https://thisembodiedcondition.wordpress.com Jill McCabe Johnson http://jillmccabejohnson.com/blog-chanson-daventure.html Collin Kelley http://www.collinkelley.blogspot.com Kathleen Kirk https://kathleenkirkpoetry.blogspot.com/ Anita Olivia Koester – https://www.forkandpage.com/ Lakshmi – thiswinterheart.tumblr.com Courtney LeBlanc – wordperv.com Lorena P Matejowsky https://nothingbutblueskies.wordpress.com/ Marilyn McCabe OWrite.MarilynonaRoll.wordpress.com Ann Michael – www.annemichael.wordpress.com Amy Miller – http://writers-island.blogspot.com/ James Moore – jameswmoore.wordpress.com LouAnn Sheperd Muhm – https://louannmuhm.com/ January Gill O’Neill – http://poetmom.blogspot.com . Shawnte Orion http://batteredhive.blogspot.com/ Ren Powell http://renpowell.com/blog/ Bethany Reid http://www.bethanyareid.com/ Susan Rich – http://thealchemistskitchen.blogspot.com . Lee Ann Roripaugh https://runningbrush.wordpress.com/ Sarah Russell – https://sarahrussellpoetry.net Jennifer Saunders http://www.magpiedays.com Carl Setzer – https://questionsall.net Martha Silano: http://bluepositive.blogspot.com/ Kim Bailey Spradlin – www.kimbaileydeal.net Bonnie Staiger –https://bonniestaiger.com/ Rosemary Starace https://thresholdview.wordpress.com/ Hannah Stephenson – http://thestorialist.com Stephanie Lane Sutton athenasleepsin.wordpress.com Christine Swint – https://balancedonedge.blog/ Carey Taylor –https://careyleetaylor.com. Dylan Tweney – http://dylan20.tumblr.com/ Michael Allyn Wells: http://stickpoetsuperhero.blogspot.com/ Lesley Wheeler Lesleywheeler.org Allyson Whipple http://allysonmwhipple.com
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 I've only written a few poems over the past few months, and I seem to be floundering, waiting for someone to publish my current manuscript, Slight Faith, and not quite sure what I want to write next. I'm at a threshold. My writing needs to go in a new direction. It's a frustrating feeling.
I've never been able to work with "poetry prompts" from others, I suppose because they track into what another poet is fascinated by, but don't evolve from the deepest part of my own being. I'm always having interesting conversations with myself, but often I forget to write down my thoughts, and too often, they disappear. But the other day, I made a list of things that do fascinate me, that I spend time thinking about. Perhaps it's a start. The Urban Death Project suicide notes, particular Jumpers earthquakes heroin addiction/ effect on my community Cosmology: constellations, seyfirt galaxies, singularities, gravitational waves Dementia, amnesia, failures of memory  Last week, I didn't post a Sunday blog.
Some days, I feel like I have nothing more to say. I've begun to wonder why I'm doing this at all. Gazing through gray glass at white snow. Every part of me is cold. Looks like The Februaries got a hold on me.  as another Sunday morning passes another January is dispatched and another moment is squandered which offers another chance to practice courage or another instance to lose faith Consolation
The way you curl into a poem, bidding its shell to your mollusk, storm of sea blowing in your ear, inexpressible pain expressed.  Bread
I’m not hungry but I want bread, the crust and batting of bread in my mouth, silk of butter on my tongue. I don’t need the body, just the spirit, to fill this hollow made of teeth with the manna of its ever- readiness to console. dear new year,
bring it on, bring rain, bring snow, bring cerulean bring quakes, bring tornadoes, bring cyclones, beget heat waves bite frost, wave flags, hitchhike, thumbs up, thumbelina, trump the dealer shoot up, steal, kill, lie, fuck make sorry, make babies, make pecan pie, make me run backwards, skip ahead, jump the broomstick stand still for chrisake, for a minute, for the hell of it nice work if you can get it, remain silent, remain steady, remain flush, run on empty meditate, don’t be late, shut the gate, hesitate, just wait a minute subjugate, fluctuate, conjugate, fight the power pray away fear, eat fear, forget the past, be present pay your dues, pay your way, pay check, pay pal bring it on: diwali, ashura, tisha b’av, year of red monkey don’t mind, eat dogs, drown cats, regard aardvarks, send missiles, stream podcasts, cast the first stone have a heart, have a biscuit, have the nervous energy of a flea be a sport, be gentle, be smart, be a do-bee be busy, but not too busy, a time for anything, brick-a-brac, “bracket that” break a leg, break a sweat, bemoan your fate, have a date and everything else, possibilities, more war, more dead black boys, less compassion beer belly, sugar-pie, don’t cry think of what you’re missing smoke crack, shoot heroin, be my heroine make a promise, make a wish, make hay don’t think twice, blink and you’ll be toast POETRY (in no particular order)
Next week: Fiction  Since Thanksgiving, I've been counting the days until the solstice, that is, until we start to go back into the light. For several months each year, I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. My mood hovers on a ledge over a deep ravine. When the moon is new, and blustery winds bring slant storms, I knuckle the steering wheel as my aging eyes try to make out white lines on the road. Lights, dotted along the road, cheer me through darkness and rain, the simple grub of this season on the Olympic Peninsula. Then, just as I arrive at the clinic, these lit trees greet me.
After Tuesday, it will reverse and I will sigh a modicum of relief, another year opens the window and welcomes the light. I can still drive, so I can still work. No guarantees for next year, but it appears that I'm willing to hold on. My reading recommendation for Christmas: The Road to Emmaus, by Spencer Reece. It redeemed the season for me. Read the title poem. Buy the book, with its cover photo by Thomas Sayers Ellis. It's a gem. Trust me on this one. |
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