Happy National Poetry Month! Ain’t gonna lie–Kinda really love that Poetry Month is the same month as my birthday 😀
So my daily prompts will continue, but if you’d like to get a bunch of prompts at once, join us in the Better Than Black Friday Writing Group on Facebook, where I’ve created and posted a whole list of prompts for those who want to write every day for Poetry Month 🙂 30 Prompts for 30 Days!
Join the Better than Black Friday Writing Group Here!
Has to start with one of all time favorite poems ❤
My daily postcards to my elected reps have been mailed, my phone calls made, but my most important action today is to support and empower and encourage my community of writers and artists, however I can 
🙂
Tomorrow, April 1, begins National Poetry Month, and I run a writing group on here providing art and writing prompts to anyone who passes by and is interested. For the nonwriters here, we have a tradition of celebrating Poetry Month by doing something called PAD–Poem a Day 🙂 But whether it’s poems, stories, dreams, or journal entries, celebrating spring by writing something every day is both inspiring and empowering, and I think, needed now more than ever, this beautiful raising of our collective voices, strengthening our creative spirits in a political culture that seems determined to dim them.
So please come play with us 🙂 Celebrate spring and the power of your creative spirits! You’re amazing! And we need you! 
❤
Celebrating National Poetry starting tomorrow!
15 Brand New Prompts Up at the Better Than Black Friday Writing Group!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1512919158978356/
Seems appropriate 🙂
31 March 2017
Twice this week, I’ve dreamt of peacocks. I also saw one alongside of the road.
In Greco-Roman mythology the peacock is identified with Hera (Juno) who created the peacock from Argus whose hundred eyes (seen on the tail feathers of the peacock) symbolize the vault of heaven and the eyes of the stars.
In Hinduism the peacock is associated with Lakshmi who is a deity representing benevolence, patience, kindness, compassion and good luck.
Similar to Lakshmi, the peacock is associated with Kwan-yin in Asian spirituality. Kwan-yin (or Quan Yin) is also an emblem of love, compassionate watchfulness, good-will, nurturing, and kind-heartedness. Legend tells us she chose to remain a mortal even though she could be immortal because she wished to stay behind and aid humanity in their spiritual evolution.
In Babylonia and Persia the peacock is seen as a guardian to royalty, and is often seen in engravings upon the thrones of royalty.
In Christianity the peacock symbolism represents the “all-seeing” church, along with the holiness and sanctity associated with it. Additionally, the peacock represents resurrection, renewal and immortality.
Themes of renewal are also linked to alchemical traditions to, as many schools of thought compare the resurrecting phoenix to the modern-day peacock. Along these lines, the peacock is a colorful symbol of transformation. Like the phoenix, the alchemy peacock can remind us that we can rise out of our darkest moments. It’s a metaphor that speaks about dying to the ego-self, and being reborn into a new life of awareness, spirituality and illumination.
Make art inspired by the peacock.
30 March 2017
Make art about empowering others, about being empowered, about sharing empowerment, about how we rise.
29 March 2017
Make about being heard, about needing to be heard.
28 March 2017
Make art inspired by this line.
“In the distance someone is singing.”-Neruda
27 March 2017
Find a photo, and make art about what’s not in the picture, what’s missing.
The Legend of Jesse Smoke is the latest novel from one of my favorite people, Robert Bausch.
Robert Bausch is the author of multiple novels: On the Way Home; The Lives of Riley Chance; Almighty Me; A Hole in the Earth; The Gypsy Man; Out of Season; In the Fall They Come Back; Far as the Eye Can See; and most recently, The Legend of Jesse Smoke. In 1995, Bausch published a collection of short stories called The White Rooster and Other Stories.
Bobby was born in Georgia, at the end of World War II, and was raised in the Washington, D.C., area. He has worked as a salesman–of automobiles, appliances, and hardware–a taxi driver, waiter, production planner, and library assistant. He was educated at George Mason University, earning a BA, an MA and an MFA, and he says he has been a writer all his life. He spent time in the military teaching survival, and worked his way through college. Since 1975, Bausch has been a college professor, teaching creative writing, American literature, world literature, humanities, philosophy, and expository writing. He has taught at the University of Virginia, American University, George Mason University, and Johns Hopkins University. For the balance of his career he has been teaching at Northern Virginia Community College. He has also been a director on the board of the Pen-Faulkner Foundation. In 2009 he was awarded the John Dos Passos Prize in Literature.
About The Legend of Jesse Smoke
What would happen if a young athlete came along who could throw a football as well as John Elway or Peyton Manning? What if this person was as strong, quick, and resourceful as any of the great quarterbacks? And what if this person was a woman?
When Skip Granger, the assistant coach for the Washington Redskins, first sees Jesse Smoke, she is on the beach in Belize. And she has just thrown a regulation football a mile.
Granger knows that Smoke’s talent is unprecedented for a woman, and nearly unparalleled among men. As Granger observes her throughout a season as quarterback for the Washington Divas of the Independent Women’s Football League, he decides to sign her to the Redskins, even as he faces losing his job and credibility. As the first woman on a major NFL team, Jesse Smoke’s astounding success places her in the tradition of athletes like Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis. Yet Smoke is quickly faced with her own battles, including the clamors of the press, the violence of her teammates, and the institutional resistance that seeks to keep football in the hands of men.
While a female quarterback in the NFL is a fantasy at the moment, Robert Bausch’s genius as a writer makes it a highly engaging reality on the page. Fans of football–and readers who were just waiting for a player worth getting excited about–will relish Jesse Smoke’s journey to the big leagues.
Buy Bobby’s Wonderful Books!
The White Rooster & Other Stories
More from Bobby Online: Readings & Interviews
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/media_player?mets_filename=evm00000463mets.xml#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sbrfgT8Xoo
http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/buzz-bin/2014/11/11/robert-bausch/
http://renaissancesofreading.blogspot.com/2012/06/q-author-robert-bausch-1.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwyF-H922OM
https://spaceslitmag.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/writers-reading-bausch/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNSg3nzyvMw
Happy Reading, Y’all!
xo
Mary
Mary Carroll-Hackett: Poetry and Prose 
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