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Thrilled to announce that my poem. “Legacy,” was published today in Dulcet! My poem is on page 44. The theme is “Moonglades: A Reflective Issue.”
It’s also a great joy to be publication twins with my talented friend, Terri McCord; check out her amazing poem, “the world turns pointillist,” on page 21!
Dulcet is open for submissions. Check out their theme calls and submission guidelines at: clickety-click.
Photo courtesy of Camille Brodard at Unsplash.com.
Photos by yours truly. 🤗
Splendid news to share: two of my poems, “Yellow,” and “Listening to a Grandfather-Clock ASMR Recording after Reading a Short Poem by Lorine Niedecker” were just published in the latest issue of October Hill Magazine!
Check out the opening lines of “Yellow” below, and clickey-click on this link to read the two full poems at the issue, as well as the work of many talented fellow authors as well. Also, consider submitting your own work—they were wonderful to work with.
“Yellow”
today it feels exceptionally good
to use this yellow
marker, to draw it across
the lightly lined page,
just to run as heavy as possible a line
with the fine nib
pressed into the thinner gray line
to mark it off that I’ve already
answered early work emails, had
lunch, cleaned up after, organized
my desk, sorted through a stack of books
for donation, and it feels good, too,
to hover in the air above the page
to think about drawing a sun with wavy rays,
the petals of a sprightly daisy, a compact car
negotiating a curvy road, but then…
[continued at October Hill Magazine: clicky]
Happy weekend, everyone!
Two quick updates: one, I’m delighted that more of my very fun conversation with talented poet and artist @gilliancourtneypoetry about my poetry and writing experiences was featured this week at @theporchswingpoetry on Instagram. Stop by to peruse and like the posts.
Subscribe to read more amazing content by talented authors (and some fresh poems from yours truly) in the near future! 🍂
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Check out my latest poetry book, Does It Look Like Her? Available now at Amazon or for signed copies, check out my Write Path Productions Etsy page.
I also wrote an amazing craft book called Poetry Power with tons of exercises and inspiration to keep your poetry pens moving; available through my awesome publisher, Vine Leaves Press.
#writeeveryday #ThePorchSwing #WomenPoets #PoetryCommunity #WomensVoices #CreativeExpression #SupportWomenWriters #PoetryJournal #Inspiration #WomenInArt #PoetryLove #WriteHer #FemaleVoices #CateAlicePoetry #IndiePoetry #poetryislife #poetryislove❤️❤️❤️ #poetryislove
Super excited that my article about exploring theme in poetry was published today at Women on Writing. Check it out! I’m also taking sign-ups for my fun class that begins on Friday, October 18th—more details below about that and my latest poetry book as well. Read on! 😊
3 Significant Ways to Explore Theme in Poetry
By Melanie Faith
First whirly-twirly leaf of the season. Photographed by yours truly. 😁💗
Poetry is an evocative, word-rich art. It’s compressed language that so often tells a much, much wider, deeper, bigger story about the human journey. Read on for three tips that will make discovering and deepening themes within this art form a motivating voyage for you as a writer and a meaningful experience for your readers as well.
Write a poem where an object expresses so much more than the sum of its parts. Think for a moment of the top two or three objects that have made a difference in your life. Maybe you still own them, or maybe you’ve lost them in a move or sold them years ago, like a first car. Maybe it’s a Christmas or birthday gift you still have that someone you love gave to you, or maybe it’s something you bought with your first or last paycheck from a job, Or perhaps it’s a commonplace item, like a pencil or pen, that has nonetheless figured prominently in your life in recent years. Describe the particulars of this object.
Poetry thrives on attention to imagery, with attention to detail. Our lives are terribly rushed, even on the “slow” days, and poetry encourages us both to slow down and to notice our world. Poetry also makes us feel gratitude for what we have and where we are in our lives at this very moment. Describing objects can be as short as a three-line haiku or a five-line tanka or as long as a sonnet or even an epic poem of many pages. Word count or style of poem is not nearly as important as being as vivid, visceral, and specific about the object and its meaning to you as possible. Write about the object as if either someone who has seen this fill-in-the-blank commonplace object a million times and even owns one can appreciate it at a whole new level, or as if someone who has never seen your unique object can intuit its worth and see it in their mind’s eye clearly. The object you choose—whether a pair of roller skates, say, or a key to your first car—will remind readers of their own experiences with roller skates or their first car. That magic connection between poet and reader shines through in object poems.
Write a persona poem. Just like fiction, poetry can be a container for speaking in another character’s voice. Just because a poem is written in first-person POV doesn’t mean it has to be from the lens of your own life experience. Wonderful poems have been written in first-person from the point of view of fictional characters, historical leaders, artists real or imagined, you name it. You can also write a persona poem from the perspective of a non-famous, everyday person. They can be set in ancient history, modern history, present-day, or even a future we’ve not reached yet. Science-fiction or fantasy poetry? Why not?! Persona poems allow the writer to explore character creation, historical or present or future time periods, the timeless struggles and joys of being human, setting, and so much more within a compact poem.
Many of the poems in my current collection, Does It Look Like Her? are persona poems from the POV of a painter and her young son; I’m neither a painter nor do I have a son. I found, though, while exploring my protagonist’s and her son’s lives, that through these characters I could say resonant things about being an artist, caregiver, and member of a family than I likely would have explored if writing from my own limited timeline. It’s often easier to tap into universal human experience through a character than relying solely on my own lens and experiences. Readers, too, often connect quite deeply with characters—it’s ingrained in us to put ourselves into the place of characters from the first reading we experience as small children who are being read to until we can read on our own.
Write a poem to celebrate a special occasion or to commemorate a milestone, whether yours or someone else’s. Great poems have been written to honor work anniversaries, engagements, marriage anniversaries, wedding receptions, births, retirement, graduations from kindergarten, high school, college and university, grad school, and first and last days of work. The poem can be in honor of a national holiday, an international event, a religious celebration, a place-centered poem such as celebrating the opening or anniversary of the founding of a school or organization or charity. You name it. Options abound! Any person, place, group, or stage of life is well worth exploring poetically, whether you write it for your own satisfaction, share it with a friend or partner, share at an in-person or online venue, or publish with a literary journal with thousands of readers.
Enjoy the exercise below, and please join me for my October poetry-writing course where we’ll explore even more themes within this thought-provoking genre.
Try this exercise: Start with choosing the type of thematic poem from the three above that most interests you. Make a quick list of three or four topic ideas. Have a friend give you an idea or two as well, to lengthen your list of options. Then pick one of your ideas and write a poem draft in fifteen minutes. I recommend setting a timer—there’s something about writing a first draft with a time limit that tends to get words flowing. You can always set the timer for fifteen more minutes to expand the time for drafting if you want. Use this list to write more poems on other days. Go!
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Photo by Autumn Mott Rodeheaver on Unsplash
Threading the Needle—Writing Thematic Poetry
Instructor: Melanie Faith
Start Date: Friday, October 18, 2024
Duration: 4 Weeks
Class Type: Asynchronous; it can be studied from anywhere in the world, in different time zones.
Location: Private Facebook group and email student provides when registering for the class.
Feedback: Weekly instructor feedback of exercises.
Description: Themes are important in vivid writing. Strong poetry often explores specific themes, from poems to celebrate special occasions and the natural world to poems that celebrate art and other beloved objects. In this class, students will read about 9 forms of poetry in our class texts (one craft book, How to Write Poetry: A Guided Journal of Prompts, and poetry books: Owls and Other Fantasies, The Optimist Shelters in Place, and Does It Look Like Her?, and one optional book: Letters to Joan), and then pick from the weekly themes to pen a poem for personalized instructor feedback on what is working well in their poem and what they might revisit/revise.
Weekly topics include: Nature Poetry, Occasional Poetry, Ekphrastic [Arts] Poetry, Found Poetry, Persona Poems, Narrative Poems, and more! There will also be an optional private class group for classmates to share shop talk and the instructor will provide posts of poetry-writing and literary links to inspire the writing process. Join us for this inspiring poetry course!
View the full listing for the curriculum and testimonials.
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Check out my latest poetry book, Does It Look Like Her? Available now at Amazon or for signed copies, check out my Write Path Productions Etsy page.
I also wrote an amazing craft book called Poetry Power with tons of exercises and inspiration to keep your poetry pens moving; available through my awesome publisher, Vine Leaves Press. Signed copies also available at my Etsy, Write Path Productions.
So pleased to announce that I was recently interviewed by super talented @gilliancourtneypoetry about my poetry and writing experiences and will be featured this week, along with poetry, at @theporchswingpoetry on Instagram!
Check out the first part of our interview today and return later this week for poems by yours truly. 😊
Read more work at this amazing new poetry venue and return often for inspiring poems, interviews, and posts by many talented poets. 🍁
Super excited that my article about narrative poetry was published at Women on Writing today in the Craft Corner. 🪻🥳
I had a blast talking about this meaningful type of poetry as well as my own writing practice, and I packed it with tips for writers exploring this exciting form of verse!
Signed copies of Does It Look Like Her? available at my Etsy store: clickety-click. Also, available (unsigned) through Amazon: clickety-click.
Also, If you, your friends, or your students or writing group are interested in learning more about writing poetry, I have a lot more writing advice and fun prompts for poets in my Vine Leaves Press book, Poetry Power (scroll to the second book on the page for links to Poetry Power ) ! Check it out: Poetry Power: clickety click and at Amazon:clickety-click.
Great news: my copies for signing have arrived. If you’d like a signed copy, here’s the link to my Etsy shop:
Does It Look Like Her: Signed Poetry Book— Clickety Click!
Copies [unsigned] are also still available through Amazon: Book Clickety Click!
I also had a ridiculous amount of fun creating this self-portrait with my book. 😁
Thanks for all of your support, and here’s to books and poetry! 📔
It’s book-birthday time! 😊So excited to release my little-book-that-could out into the world of readers. It’s available now at Amazon: clickety-click. 🥹📚
Photo: Free Stock at Unsplash.com, courtesy of Laura Adai
For anyone who’d like a signed copy, I have some books en route: I’ll post that link to my Etsy when I have copies in hand, likely later this week or early next, so sayeth the postal estimate. 😉
If you’re on Goodreads, please consider adding my book as a want-to-read and/or leaving some stars and a short review at Goodreads or Amazon—reviews make a huge difference in championing a book and are much appreciated. 💗
A poem from the collection to celebrate book-launch day🎊 :
Alix Encourages a Discouraged Student Who Stays After Class at the Art League
it’s okay
to be tired
of it all and
yet to keep
showing up
in fact, what
they don’t
tell you is
we all do,
it’s how we get
to a breakthrough
Photo: Free Stock at Unsplash.com, courtesy of Ashe Walker
Care for a glimpse at my poetry collection’s plot? Ta-da! 🎊📚
Alix briefly meets an accomplished artist at a coworker’s dinner party and subsequently sits for a painting that becomes well-known. But Alix is neither a one-trick pony nor an ingénue; she’s 47 and embarking on her own painting and teaching journeys while starting her life over with her young son.
This collection of narrative poetry spans years and POVs—including Alix; her son, Sam; her ex; and her colleague, Meghan—and explores what it means to pursue artistic passion, the personal meanings we overlay onto art and artists in a society not conducive to art-making, ambition at midlife, the indirect route to so-called overnight success, and more.
Includes Questions for Discussion, Reflection, or Journaling as well as Additional Reading Suggestions.
Surprise! Time for a cover reveal of my new poetry collection, Does It Look Like Her? Also known as: my first self-published book project and a grand adventure.
Next week, my book will officially have a book birthday and be available for purchase (stay tuned for more details!), but I couldn’t wait any longer to share this first glimpse at my little first-born, self-published book baby.
For a few years now, I’ve loved teaching a university course about submitting work and publishing, getting to share my own knowledge as an indie and small-press-published writer and editor, but the one aspect of publishing I didn’t know a lot about was self-publishing. I previously had no firsthand experience with self-publishing a book through KDP, which was a shame because I’ve long been meaning to learn. #goodintentions
When I started writing these narrative poems early last year, in the back of my mind, I thought, “Hmm, maybe this is the perfect time to learn a thing or two about self-publishing with one of my own manuscripts, so I can share with my students and friends.”
Fast forward a few months #lifeflies and a rollercoaster learning curve, and I finally nudged myself into gear and am so grateful I did. #stepbystep #perfecttiming
If there’s anything you’ve been dreaming of doing or thinking about starting for a few years, begin here and now. This is your gentle nudge; you’ve got this first step.
My collection may not be perfection, but I gave it my all, and I can’t wait to share these poems about a painter, her son, and the artistic process!
