Kristiana Reed Interview / her second book / Flowers on the Wall

Candice interviews poet Kristiana Reed

TheFeatheredSleep

Recently I had the great fortune to interview one of my all-time favorite modern poets Kristiana Reed and here, alongside her interview, is a short of her reading one of her poems from her second collection of poetry, Flowers on the Wall. This collection is coming out early August.

Candice: You have a background in Classics and you write a lot of very high-quality poetry that pays homage to your learning. Do you feel that helps you as a writer? And if so, how?

Kristiana: Thank you. The fact my degree is in Classics has afforded me a knowledge of mythology, of empire, of how history repeats itself, of the beginnings of poetry in the oral tradition, and of some of our earliest poets (Sappho, Theognis and Hesiod). Consequently, I find myself alluding to the past, our legacy and ideas which perhaps enrich the poetry I write. I think…

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The refugee heart

TheFeatheredSleep – A wanting, a seeking, a heart

TheFeatheredSleep

Todd Davidson/Illustration Works/Corbis

Before hard faced words and tightened bouquets of spite,

came silence

The child swirled in embryo, unscathed by adult cast of hate

Yet unknowing we inhabit cruelty, like a brand in darkness will

light no way but vengeance, reflecting shadows of lost conscience

against petroglyph walls

stories dissipated in forgetting what is true.

This child who once had temerity and self-worth clad about her, the vestige

of some right to exist, perhaps.

An instinct, as weeds will thrive in exhaust and skinny cats climb insurmountable

to glut on that thrashing impulse, called survival

words now scarred, like badly bandaged souls do not forget the echo

of a tender heart turned wicked, nor that merciless piercing

through skin thought impenetrable, to embrace hot metal

as if it did not catch our very soul on fire.

Once, we all wished for, love, pure and unfettered, blooming as night rose

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Tuesday Tunes. You Edition.

Pattimouse wants songs

Pattimouse

A day for me to discuss music

So Tuesday I share the music video and lyrics of songs that spark my need to say something. This week… Well I think that I want you to tell me what you are listening to. Give me a band and song, a video link, or just a song title so I can go look it up. I will listen and tell you what I think of it.

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WRITING DURING THE APOCALYPSE

Christine Ray – Writing in this time

Christine Ray – Writing in this time

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Coffee house writers Disbelief

Pattimouse has a new poem at Coffee House Writers

Pattimouse

https://coffeehousewriters.com/disbelief/

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On Tyranny Or How to Tell If You’re Living in an Authoritarian Regime and What to do about It

Calico Jack – The meaning of the use of paramilitary forces against demonstrators .

The Psy of Life

If you’re social media feeds are anything like mine you’ve been seeing the terms fascism, authoritarian, and dictator being thrown around with increasing frequency and vitriol since the Ol’Pussy Grabber took office. if you’ve read Ye Olde Blogge over the years, you’ve seen me build a case for the fascist authoritarian bend the Repubes have taken. Now, it seems like the Ol’Pussy Grabber and his little friends are busting a real authoritarian move going straight past Go, not collecting $200.00 dollars, and going straight to jack-booted tyranny. With paramilitary forces in Portland and Kansas City and 60,000 more coming to a Democrat -led city near you, we’re staring tyranny in the eye and we dare not blink.

I caught The Rachel Maddow Showon Friday 24 July when she interviewed Tim Snyder, history professor at Yale. He specializes in modern East European history which makes him an expert on the…

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The Promise We Must Be

A poem for our time

Hearing The Mermaids Sing

Image courtesy of Sue Vincent

https://scvincent.com/2020/07/23/thursday-photo-prompt-darkness-writephoto/

Darkness gathers upon the horizon of our land:

A land we have loved with the lives of our sons and daughters,

A land we have bled for,

A land we have built upon golden ideals,

Shining as a beacon to other nations

 

But the darkness gathers upon the horizon of our land:

For which we have done things of shame and sin,

For we have killed our sisters and brothers

Of all different colors,

For we have kept others in chains of injustice

Because we saw others as less than.

 

And now the darkness gathers in our cities,

Creeping along the horizon of our land.                                                          

 

Now. Now is the time to carry that torch

Lifted above the water of a harbor

And see its light spread across our land.

We must be the promise

For which our daughters and sons died.

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Get out the Vote: Send Postcards to Swing States

Calico Jack shares the Postcards To Swing States plan.

The Psy of Life

Get Your Vote On 2020 With VOTE411

The election in November is going to be won by getting out the vote. It is crucial that we all go out and vote. Traditional campaigns always include a component that focuses on getting their voters to the polls which means getting people registered, pumping up enthusiasm, and, then, literally, getting them physically to the polls. As you know, #COVID19 has pretty much shot that model all to Hello Kitty! Now, we get the new plan: Send Postcards to Swing State Voters! Sounds like fun, right!

Aside: You should also make sure you are all set up to vote by using the League of Women Voters snazzy website, VOTE411 to make sure you are registered, haven’t been purged, find your polling place, and find out what is on your ballot.

Help save democracy by hand writing postcards to voters in ten critical states…

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Election anxiety may well kill me if I don’t calm down…

Many, I think can relate to The Chatty One’s feelings.

The Chatty Introvert

I think this is the first election in my life where I’ll be cheering like mad or screaming in upset and anger while reaching for a bottle to get drunk as fast as humanly possible.

And I’ve never been tipsy, let alone drunk.

I can partially blame my general health. I’m in that point my iron levels are at my lowest naturally and have had a lousy time remembering to take my supplements. I did this morning, thankfully, and need to start making post-it notes again to remind me. So, that might be part of my problem.

Sleeplessness has been hitting hard. I figured maybe it was leftover anxiety from finally quitting my job and starting to close that chapter of my life story and move on to another. But when I was so determined to quiet my mind and ended up staying up til 4:30 a.m. this morning to…

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Call your MoC has moved to its very own page!

Calico Jack has an announcement about Call Your MOC.

The Psy of Life

Call Your MoC

Howdy y’all!

I love the Call Your MoC series. I love the idea of calling your MoC every week and keeping a running list of legislation that you are concerned about. It is part of being a responsible member of the electorate and participating in our democracy. It is one of the big pieces of the Great Civics Lesson that we are all enduring.

Here’s the but: it takes up too much space! I figured I could highlight five pieces of legislation every week and devote my Sundays to writing them up (more about that later). At first, I tried including them all in one post, but that produced a huge humongous very long post that discouraged people from reading it.

Then, I started making each of the targeted pieces of legislation their own individual blog post. It made nice bite-sized posts that could be quickly…

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