"This work is unlike any other, in its range of rich, conjuring imagery and its dexterity, its smart voice. Carroll-Hackett doesn’t spare us—but doesn’t save us—she draws a blueprint of power and class with her unflinching pivot: matter-of-fact and tender." —Jan Beatty

Archive for August, 2019

Daily Prompt Love <3 Did You See That?

31 August 2019 

“The apparition of these faces in the crowd; petals on a wet black bough”–Ezra Pound

Make art about an apparition. 

 

 

Daily Prompt Love Catch-Up <3 Get Ready

30 August 2019 

Make art about assembling what you need to be ready. 

getting ready

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

Daily Prompt Love <3 Healing

29 August 2019 

Make art about what you do to heal. 

Daily Prompt Love <3 Wherever You Go

27 August 2019

“Not all who wander are lost.”–Tolkien

Make art about where you wandered. 

wanderer

 

Monday Must Read! Blood Dazzler by Patricia Smith

In minute-by-minute detail, Patricia Smith tracks Hurricane Katrina as it transforms into a full-blown mistress of destruction. From August 23, 2005, the day Tropical Depression Twelve developed, through August 28 when it became a Category Five storm with its “scarlet glare fixed on the trembling crescent,” to the heartbreaking aftermath, these poems evoke the horror that unfolded in New Orleans as America watched it on television.

Buy this amazing book here! 

blood dazzler 1

Assuming the voices of flailing politicians, the dying, their survivors, and the voice of the hurricane itself, Smith follows the woefully inadequate relief effort and stands witness to families held captive on rooftops and in the Superdome. She gives voice to the thirty-four nursing home residents who drowned in St. Bernard Parish and recalls the day after their deaths when George W. Bush accompanied country singer Mark Willis on guitar:

The cowboy grins through the terrible din,
***
And in the Ninth, a choking woman wails
Look like this country done left us for dead.

An unforgettable reminder that poetry can still be “news that stays news,” Blood Dazzler is a necessary step toward national healing.

Patricia Smith is the author of four previous collections of poetry, including Teahouse of the Almighty, winner of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the Paterson Poetry Prize. A record-setting, national poetry slam champion, she was featured in the film Slamnation, on the HBO series Def Poetry Jam, and is a frequent contributor to Harriet, the Poetry Foundation’s blog. Visit her website at http://www.wordwoman.ws.

Daily Prompt Love <3 Um, Nice To Meet Y'all

26 August 2019 

New semester starts today. I love teaching so much, but being the performing introvert that I am, those brand new student faces are always an experience.

Make art about how it feels to walk into a room of people you’re meeting for the first time. 

crowd of people

Special Sunday Call for Submissions <3 Reading Series for Virginia Womxn Writers!

Womxn at Red Door 104: Words & Art

A New Reading Series Celebrating Virginia Womxn, Womxn-Identifying, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, & Nonbinary-Identifying Writers

red door logo

Womxn at Red Door 104: Words and Art, created to celebrate Virginia womxn writers, is a partnership between Creative Writing at Longwood University and Red Door 104, a unique gallery and art learning center owned and operated by the tireless and talented Audrey Sullivan,  in historic downtown Farmville,Virginia.

The series will consist of two events annually:

  • A reading and reception in April 2020, with two featured readers and five cameo readers.
  • All selected readers will then also have the unique and exciting experience of having visual art created by central Virginia artists in response to their submitted work. This art will be revealed in a second event, an art opening at Red Door 104 the following October.

The first Womxn at Red Door 104 reading will take place from 2-4 pm on Saturday, April 4, 2020. The art opening will take place in October 2020, date tba.

Selected writers must be available to read in person, and should be willing to attend both events.

Believing that artists should be compensated when possible, we will award all selected readers a small token honorarium.

Please submit writing samples, as detailed below, along with a 50-75 word bio, via Submittable. Please include in your bio your current Virginia city of residence.

Submissions are limited to current Virginia residents.

Full Details Here! 

 

Daily Prompt Love <3 Before It's Lost Forever

25 August 2019

Make art about what’s irreplaceable, about losing what can never be regained. 

irreplaceable

How to help the Amazon rainforest

The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world and vital to combating climate change. In the aftermath of the wildfires, several organizations have stepped up to assist in aid or other ways to help save the Amazon. The following organizations have been rated 4 out of 5 stars by Charity Navigator, a non-profit that evaluates financial health, transparency and accountability in charities.

  • Amazon Conservation Team fights climate change, protect the Amazon and empower indigenous peoples.
  • Amazon Conservation Association accepts donations and lists exactly what your money goes toward –– whether it’s planting trees, sponsoring education, buying a solar panel and preserving indigenous lands.
  • Donate to the Rainforest Trust to help buy land in the rainforest. The organization has saved over 23 million acres and counting since 1988.
  • The Rainforest Foundation is committed to making sure donations made reaches projects such as supporting environmental defenders, indigenous advocacy organizations and deforestation monitoring.

From “What You Can Do to Help the Burning Amazon Rainforest” —from CBS News 

Weekly Plant-Based Love <3

For various health reasons (grrr cholesterol!),  I’m supposed to get at least a cup of oatmeal every day.  I like oatmeal, but cannot eat it every day. I am too easily food bored to do that 🙂 And because my diet is primarily plant-based, I’ve found this to be the easiest answer: Homemade Oat Milk!

Just some quick pics of this weekend’s Oat Milk Makin 🙂

Daily Prompt Love <3 Sweet Solitude

24 August 2019

My alone feels so good, I’ll only have you if you’re sweeter than my solitude.”–Warsan Shire

Make art about being alone, about the difference between being alone and being lonely, about the beauty to be found in solitude.

solitude

Image by lucia parrillo from Pixabay

Tag Cloud

%d bloggers like this: