Sometimes the Day Is the Poem <3
February 13, 2019
Daily Prompt <3 The Kicked Dog
February 12, 2019
12 February 2019
Once when I was a little girl, with my mama, we encountered a particularly grumpy, difficult person. As we moved away from the angry man, under her breath, Mama murmured in her lilting Southern accent, “Mmm, somebody kicked that dog.”
Being the mouthy kid I was, and an animal lover 🙂 I immediately asked, “Dog? What dog, Mama?”
She smiled, saying, “Not a real dog, Mary. That man.”
“The mean one?” I asked.
She nodded, and explained, “When we meet a dog that seems mean, or aggressive, growling at us, we never assume the dog was born vicious, right? We assume that something has happened, that the dog has been mistreated or hurt in some way that made it mean. But we don’t give difficult people the same benefit of the doubt, do we?” She smiled. “Maybe we should.”
Make art about compassion, about a moment you learned compassion, or recognized that you needed to respond with compassion.
Monday Must Read! When She Was Bad by Gabrielle Brant Freeman
February 11, 2019
An amazing first collection from a fierce and amazing poet!
Gabrielle Brant Freeman‘s poetry has been published in many journals, including Barrelhouse, Hobart, Melancholy Hyperbole, Rappahannock Review, Shenandoah, storySouth, and Waxwing. She was nominated twice for the Best of the Net, and was a 2014 finalist. Freeman won the 2015 Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition, and she received a Regional Artist Grant in 2015 from the North Carolina Arts Council. Freeman earned her MFA through Converse College. When She Was Bad is her first book of poetry.
Visit Press 53 to buy this beautiful book here!
Praise for When She Was Bad
Lust. Love. Betrayal and loyalty. Temptation and hilarity. Gabrielle Freeman dissects her speakers’ hearts, tenderly, with supreme attention to what it is to be human, female, and fierce. Gabrielle Freeman’s poems are bad—by which I mean badass bold. Michael Jackson bad. Freeman’s bad and you know it. That’s why you read her. When She Was Bad is a smart, compassionate, tightly crafted and explosive debut.
—Denise Duhamel, author of Blowout
The poems of Gabrielle Freeman’s When She Was Bad are by turns amorous, witty, fierce, ironic and erudite, but they are always sensual and often erotic. As the title suggests, Freeman explores the promises and surprises of the human heart, and her deft free verse addresses temptations, rewards and disappointments. Her bold inquiries sharpen both her eye and her tongue, but her first collection is far from single-minded, as she makes room for owls, spider wort, Bela Lugosi, Stephen King, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Renoir. When She Was Bad is entertaining and enlightening, and with its publication Gabrielle Freeman steps onto the stage in full voice, singing true.
—R.T. Smith, editor of Shenandoah Review and author of Messenger: Poems
11 February 2019
A weekend busy with work, but I managed to finish the prep for all five of the classes I’m teaching this semester. I also got meal prep done for the week, and got a jump on a project not due for a couple of weeks. Feeling all kinds of adult-prepared right now 🙂
Make art about being ready.
Daily Prompt Love <3 Doing v Being
February 10, 2019
10 February 2019
Talked with a friend yesterday about the difference we need to remember: between being a human doing and human being. We’re driven to do, and we forget how much we need and should value rest.
Make art about rest, about the struggle to rest, about your restful place, about finding real rest.
Daily Prompt Love <3 Second Hand Beauty
February 9, 2019
9 February 2019
I love thrift and second hand stores. Not only does thrifting feel like a treasure hunt, but it’s good for the planet. After a rough couple of weeks, I rewarded myself by doing a little thrift shopping yesterday.
Make art about an unexpected thrift find, about second hand beauty.
Friday Call for Submissions Love <3 Two Hawks Quarterly
February 8, 2019
One of my favorite journals 🙂
TWO HAWKS QUARTERLY is an online journal affiliated with Antioch University Los Angeles’s BA program in Creative Writing and is setting the bar for contemporary literature with bold and illuminating poetry, fiction, CNF, and quality experimental work. Read us. Write for us. Submissions accepted year-round. For guidelines, see www.twohawksquarterly.com
8 February 2019
Make art about what the land remembers.
Daily Prompt Love <3 Talisman
February 7, 2019
7 February 2019
The word “Talisman,” derived from the Greek verb “teleo,” means, primarily, to accomplish, or bring into effect. A Talisman is an object believed to confer on its bearer power or protection.
Make art about a talisman.
Mary Carroll-Hackett: Poetry and Prose 
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