"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 the ‘Bless the Day’ Category

Monday Must Read! Rachel Heimowitz: What the Light Reveals

Monday Must Read! Rachel Heimowitz: What the Light Reveals

rachel HThis week meet Rachel Heimowitz, the author of the chapbook, What the Light Reveals (Tebot Bach Press, 2014.) Her work has appeared in Poet Lore, Spillway, Crab Orchard Review, and Prairie Schooner and she has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. She is currently the editor of arc-24, the literary journal of The Israel Association of Writers in English and she is due to receive her MFA from Pacific University in Spring 2015.

Visit Rachel’s Website

 http://www.rachelheimowitz.com/#!bio/c1ktj

Buy Rachel’s book!

Tebot Bach Press: http://www.tebotbach.org/publication.html#lightreveals

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/What-Light-Reveals-Rachel-Heimowitz/dp/1939678072/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458560531&sr=8-1&keywords=Rachel+Heimowitz

Praise for What the Light Reveals

In poem after vivid poem, Rachel Heimowitz “gather[s] what is holy/into [her] palms,” using words and “the light between words” to describe life in contemporary Israel—fraught with danger and uncertainty as well as joy and vision. The precise music of these poems moves from somber moments of religious and historical reflection to the description of dramatic, even frightening, events in contemporary life, proving once again that political realities, faith, and personal, familial life are inescapably intertwined. These are, above all, accomplished and beautiful poems that will be read and reread for a very long time.
—Gale Wronsky

Rachel Heimowitz’s collection of poems, What the Light Reveals, is a remarkable debut. This brilliant, sobering, often harrowing – yet always lyrical – account of life in Israel is also a meditation on faith and family, both immediate family and the larger human family as well. As Rachel Heimowitz reckons her place as a woman in a time and place of war, we find ourselves, as readers, enveloped in one of the most intimate and dramatic sequences of poems in recent years. This is a book to cherish.—David St. John

“Holding”, Rachel Heimowitz says, “is a woman’s purpose”, and by “holding” she means keeping, securing, preserving, remembering, carrying deep inside as in prayer, witnessing, and testifying truthfully, earnestly and urgently. It is a woman’s purpose, this is true, and it is the poet’s purpose, too. Sometimes it is a splendid accident when a gifted poet is thrown into places and times that demand the poet’s heart and eye. In What the Light Reveals, Heimowitz shows herself to be precisely that poet, and the result is poetry of grace, exquisite wrenching, and stark honesty.—Kwame Dawes

Listen to Poems from What the Light Reveals

http://www.rachelheimowitz.com/#!blank/c6ll

Read More From Rachel Online:

http://composejournal.com/articles/rachel-heimowitz-two-poems/

http://www.crowhollowbooks.com/m1-1–rachel-heimowitz.html

http://www.soul-lit.com/poems/v5/Hemiowitz/index.html

http://atticusreview.org/bright-eyes-tight/   

Happy Reading!

xo

Mary

Spring Is Prompting All Over!

Two Prompts ‘Cause I’m Sooooo Happy Spring’s Here! 

Happy Spring Prompt 1

Dreamt last night I was playing with a little bitty baby bear We tussled and snuggled and giggled and romped. Make art about a baby’s capacity for joy. 🙂 Or about a bear. 🙂 

cute_cub

 

Happy Spring Prompt 1

Make art with the first day of spring, about rebirth.

162284-It-s-The-First-Day-Of-Spring

 

Daily Prompt Catch-Up! Survivors and Rain

Daily Prompt Catch-Up!

3/18/2016

Make art about survivors.

stronger

3/19/2016

Make art inspired by a rainy Saturday.

rainy_days_by_ridiculousdream

Friday Call for Submissions Love! Blue Mesa Review

Friday Call for Submissions Love!

Blue Mesa Review

2 weeks left!

GENERAL READING PERIOD: September 30 – March 31

Blue Mesa Review accepts previously unpublished work in Fiction (up to 6,000 words), Nonfiction (up to 6,000 words), Poetry (3-5 poems), and Visual Art. We have a rotating editorial board, so each issue is fresh and unique. In general, we are seeking strong voices and lively, compelling narrative with a fine eye for craft. We look forward to reading your best work!

“We only considered unpublished work. Please do not submit anything that has been published on your blog, through your Facebook page, in other magazines including those online, or in an anthology or chapbook.

*We only accept submissions online through Submittable. We do not accept submissions via email or postal mail. Any submissions received by means other than Submittable will be returned to the submitter unread or recycled if a stamped, self-addressed envelope was not provided.

*We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. Please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere and withdraw your submission through the Submittable system. If a poem in a group of 3-5 poems is accepted, simply add a note identifying the piece that is no longer available.  

*Individuals previously affiliated with the University of New Mexico (students, staff, and/or faculty), should not submit to Blue Mesa Review until they have been unaffiliated for five full years.

*Due to the high volume of submissions we receive, response time can be longer than our standard two-six months. Please be patient. If you have not heard from us in six months, you can email us at bmreditr@unm.edu. “Submission Query” should be the subject line. 

*Submissions should be saved in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). Prose submissions should be double-spaced. Poetry can be single-spaced. Please use a standard typeface and font size (12 pt). Pages should be numbered and a brief cover letter should be provided.  Pages should be numbered and a cover letter should be provided. 

Rights: We ask for first North American serial rights and non-exclusive electronic rights for our websiteBlue Mesa Reviewdoes not consider work that has been previously published in print or online. Rights revert to the author upon publication. Each piece is published in our online issue and considered for our Annual Print Issue.”

Blue Mesa’s Website: http://bluemesareview.org/

Sometimes We Have to Lean Into the Prompt

Daily Prompt

Make art about the difference between hearing and listening. 

hear-or-listen1-300x295-300x295

 

Sometimes the Day is the Poem

“So long now I been out in the rain and snow, but Winter’s come and gone, a little bird told me so….” 🙂 ❤ New beginnings, y’all. Letting go of what doesn’t work, moving forward to where Love is ❤

Sometimes You Have To Let the Prompt In

Daily Prompt 

Before my mama went on to the next life, she told me “You’ve got to LET someone love you, Mary, really Love you.” One of the lessons I’m still learning, both about myself, and about other people.

You can only love someone as much as they’ll let you.

Make art inspired by this.

broken heart

 

Great insights on this can be found here.

Sometimes the Prompt Floats On the Fields

Daily Prompt

…careful the morning lest it wake from slumber the city half-encumbered by the morning mist …”~John Geddes

Make art with mist as the central metaphor.

mist_in_the_woods_by_nitrok-d6reryo

Sometimes the Prompt Shifts and Flows

Daily Prompt

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” – Albert Einstein

Make art with deliberate shifts in time. 

time

Monday Must Read! Callista Buchen: The Bloody Planet

Monday Must Read! Callista Buchen: The Bloody Planet

callista buchen

Photo Credit: Megan Kearney

This week meet Callista Buchen, author of poetry chapbooks The Bloody Planet (Black Lawrence Press, October 2015) and Double-Mouthed (dancing girl press, April 2016). Callista earned an MA in literature from the University of Oregon, an MFA in poetry from Bowling Green State University, and a PhD in English and creative writing from the University of Kansas. She is the winner of DIAGRAM‘s essay contest and the Langston Hughes award, with work appearing in Harpur PalateSalt HillCimarron ReviewFourteen HillsPuerto del SolSalamanderWhiskey Island Review, and many other journals. She is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Franklin College in Indiana.

Get Callista’s beautiful book!

The Bloody Planet: http://www.blacklawrence.com/the-bloody-planet/

Visit Callista’s website and sample her new chapbook, Double-Mouthed, forthcoming from dancing girl press: http://callistabuchen.com/double-mouthed/

Read More from Callista online!

Diagram: http://thediagram.com/13_2/buchen.html

Thrush: http://www.thrushpoetryjournal.com/march-2012-callista-buchen.html

Kill Author: http://killauthor.com/issueten/callista-buchen/

Atticus Review: http://atticusreview.org/lost/

Blue Mesa Review: http://bluemesareview.org/issues/issue-26/bluebird-by-callista-buchen/

Alice Blue Review: http://www.alicebluereview.org/twentyfour/poetry/buchen.html

Arsenic Lobster: http://arseniclobster.magere.com/archive/issuethirtyone/310101.html

and in one of my favorite journals 🙂

A-Minor Magazine: http://aminormagazine.com/2012/05/21/on-mars/

Hear Callista read (With Amy Ash)

https://vimeo.com/99163516

Happy Reading!

xo

Mary

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Megan Kearney

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