Scatchetpoet: One Writer's Life

2012-02-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

REMINDER: February 10 Submission Deadline

A big THANK YOU to all the poets who have sent their heartfelt, glorious poems in for the new book "Surrounded." I am overwhelmed and so gratified to see all this lively, musical, gorgeous poetry alive and well, arriving from all parts of the country.

The book promises to be excellent, based on the quality of poems being received. If you have entertained even a tiny thought of submitting, now is the time ... the submission period will close February 10, 2012. I will read your poems with the respect they deserve.

SEE blogpost December 15 for submission guidelines. Questions? Email me: <Scatchetpoet@gmail.com>

A Poem in Every Moment?

2012-01-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

My friend the poet and artist Chris Luna sometimes reminds me that a poem can be about anything. As I was gazing out the window yesterday and thinking about that, the resident quail tribe strolled into the flower bed next to the driveway and began foraging. I'm fascinated by the way they travel everywhere together; no quail goes solo. "Quail in the Garden" sprang into my head as a poem title, but of course I did not write a poem at that moment and soon became sidetracked. Several hours later, I stood outside on the deck watching the moonrise. A couple more days until it's full, I thought, admiring the way the moon appeared framed inside the tangled branches of a huge ancient maple. "Moon in the Maple" could be a poem, I thought. (That one is not written yet, either.) A third thought, late in evening, was of my dad who died last Valentine's Day, and will not be watching quail or moonrise, at least not in the form I'm seeing them now. And that led to an overwhelming mix of grief and gratitude, which could be the basis for a poem! I'm thankful for those quail, for that luminous moon, for my friendship with Chris and all the other poets, writers and artists who give their gifts so we all may better appreciate the vast beauty around us. Don't let your poems pass you by.

Here's to a new year filled with beauty, appreciation, and the creation of art for us all.

2011-12-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

RE-POST Call for Submissions: "Surrounded: Living With Islands"

Now that Write Wing's ad is published in the current issue of Poets & Writers, a re-post of the submission guidelines is in order, so poets will not have to scroll back through older posts. Here it is again, and good luck to all entrants:

Call for Poetry Submissions

Surrounded: Living With Islands

WriteWing Publishing calls for submissions of poems about living on, by or withislands. These islands can bephysical or metaphorical. Poemsmay be prose poems, blank verse, free verse and/or traditional forms.

Whatis your experience with islands? Do you feel captive? Insulated? Serene? Cabin fever, as residents ofHawaii have reported? Surroundedseeks strong voices, both emerging and established, to explore thissubject. For inspiration, seeReuben Tam’s The Wind-Honed Islands Rise.

Pleasesubmit 1-3 original unpublished poems, limit 60 lines each; Times New Roman12-point font, single-spaced. Include SASE, cover sheet with contact info, poem titles and briefauthor bio (<50 words), and $5.00 reading fee. (Poems should not show writer’s name.) Mail to: Write Wing Publishing, 3795 Hubble Court, Clinton WA 98236. Deadline: February 10, 2012.

Aprize of $50.00 will be awarded for best overall submission. Poets selected for publication willreceive one free copy of the book. All rights revert to authors after publication.

ABOUTTHE EDITOR: Sheryl Clough holds aMaster of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She taught literature and compositionat UAF and Seattle’s Highline College, and taught three summer terms in theUpward Bound and Della Keats programs in Alaska. Sheryl is widely published in journals and magazines, withcredits in poetry, creative nonfiction, essays, interviews and travel writing. She is a Founders Circle member of SoundingsReview and 2010 winner of the William Stafford award from WashingtonPoets Association. Follow Sheryl's blogat http://scatchetpoet.blogspot.com/

2011-12-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Poetry Reading in Fremont!

Washington Poets Association is sponsoring a reading in honor of the release of its new anthology "Cedar" with a reading on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 2 PM in the Fremont Public Library, Seattle. Grab a couple poetry-loving pals and join us for an afternoon of music for the ear.

I will read my prize-winning poem "The Weight Ice Bears" and a couple others. The organizers have wisely limited all us attention-loving poets to three poems each! Hope to see you on the 21st.

Hear Sheryl's Radio Interview with Don Haynes

2011-11-22T20:19:00.001-08:00

In August 2011, I was privileged to be an interviewed guest on Don Haynes' radio program "Writers and Their Stories" broadcast over KWPA from beautiful Coupeville, Whidbey Island. Writers previously interviewed by Don include Tom Trimbath and Susan Jensen, my neighbors across the bay.

As many of you are aware, KWPA does not enjoy the strongest signal in the radio universe. For those of you interested listeners who live outside a ten-mile radius from Coupeville, and that is almost everybody, the interview is now available as a podcast:

hope you enjoyed it.

Haiku On High

2011-10-31T21:27:00.000-07:00

Checkerboard below beckons:
white houses, green fields,
freeways. Another descent.
------------
Flying many thousand feet toward heaven, after a couple glasses of wine in my pressurized tin space capsule, what better time and place to write haiku? The best thing about air travel might be the opportunity it affords us to feel really, really small. Flying from Seattle to Arizona in June:

Sandstone redder than sundown
Zion lies below
airplane-space diminished
-----------
From an airplane, the tiny houses, cars and bridges speckle the landscape like so many ants crawling up a sugar slope. The mountains, rivers and deserts assume rightful proportions:

Snowfields stretch oblong, rest low
between gray-brown humps --
desert resisting springtime.
--------

DATE EXTENDED: Call for Submissions

2011-10-16T20:18:00.001-07:00

Write Wing Publishing's first book project, "Surrounded: Living With Islands," is calling for submissions -- see guidelines below. The original deadline is now extended to February 10, 2012, in order to receive and review work from the greatest possible number of poets. Keep those poems coming!

Poetry as Gift

2011-10-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Have you ever considered giving poems as gifts? If you are not a poet, and have no desire to begin as one, a book of poems is a lovely tribute not only to the recipient, but to the poet! If you are a poet yourself, you perhaps need no convincing ...

When I left Alaska in 1995, driving more slowly the further south I got, and starting to cry when approaching the Yukon border (I once thought I'd live in Alaska forever), I left behind a poem to my dear friend, titled "Goodbye Shelly." She later told me she always hoped someone would write a poem for her. When the poem was published in Seattle's "Bellowing Ark," I sent her a copy.

When my dad celebrated his 90th birthday, I wrote a poem for him. This was a particularly interesting challenge, as Dad came from the old school that taught heavy end-rhymes as essential to poetry. I wrote for him a poem in couplets with line ends rhyming so hard you would think 100-pound barbells were hitting the floor. He loved it, and said "I knew you could do it!" Dad died last Valentine's Day at age 91; he had told me on his 90th, when receiving my poem, "I will treasure this forever."

Now it is my mother's turn. She will be 90 on October 11, and I have written a poem for her that is very different from Dad's -- no heavy end rhymes, only internal and half-rhymes.

What is your experience with poetry as gifts? I'd love to hear ...

Nook vs. Book

2011-09-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

A recent acquisition: a NOOK, that sleek, beautiful cousin of the Kindle that allows one to read from the electronic page, unencumbered by bookmarks, page turning or marking one's place. I was a skeptical holdout for a long time, withstanding the raptured reviews from Kindle/Nook friends. However, being something of a 'careful spender' (my daughter says tightwad), it was only when I WON a free Nook in a library competition that I really paid attention to how it all works. My Nook was given as a prize for writing the best book review (see review of "The Financial Lives of the Poets," below) in a contest sponsored by the Sno-Isle Library Foundation.

Getting up and running was difficult; in fact, I had to enlist my computer-expert husband to wade through the labyrinth of downloading, passwording, registering, authorizing etc. etc. etc. I downloaded the third part of Stieg Larsson's trilogy, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," as my first experience in Nook-ness. As you know, that is a thick book! I have to admit it was easy and enjoyable to lounge in my chair with the lightweight Nook in my lap, turning pages by pressing an arrow. BUT at the end of it all, I found I missed the paper experience -- physically turning pages, using a beautiful bookmark to hold my place, feeling and smelling the paper. The Nook screen does not display a full page at a time, so it takes 2-3 clicks to read one page; not a biggie, but something to keep in mind if you are considering buying one of these.

The Nook certainly wins in terms of green-ness: no paper consumed to make another book; no gas consumed or exhaust fumes created to drive back and forth to the library; nothing generated that will end up in a landfill. One also saves driving time, and keeps a car off the roads at least for as long as a library trip would take.

For me, it comes down to lifestyle. If I had a job where I traveled a lot, the Nook would win hands-down. Lightweight, consumes very little space, versatile -- you could get any newspaper or magazine in any city in the world, I imagine. But for home use, I find I still prefer the anachronistic printed paper book. What do y'all think out there? Let me hear from you!

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

2011-09-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Call for Poetry Submissions

Surrounded: Living With Islands

Write Wing Publishing calls for submissions of poems about living on, by or with islands. These islands can be physical or metaphorical. Poems may be prose poems, blank verse, free verse and/or traditional forms.

What is your experience with islands? Do you feel captive? Insulated? Serene? Cabin fever, as residents of Hawaii have reported? Surrounded seeks strong voices, both emerging and established, to explore this subject. For inspiration, see Reuben Tam’s The Wind-Honed Islands Rise.

Please submit 1-3 original unpublished poems, limit 60 lines each; Times New Roman 12-point font, single-spaced. Include SASE, cover sheet with contact info, poem titles and brief author bio (<50 words), and $5.00 reading fee. (Poems should not show writer’s name.) Mail to: Write Wing Publishing, 3795 Hubble Court, Clinton WA 98236. Deadline: December 31, 2011.

A prize of $50.00 will be awarded for best overall submission. Poets selected for publication will receive one free copy of the book. All rights revert to authors after publication.

ABOUT THE EDITOR: Sheryl Clough ("Scatchetpoet") holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She taught literature and composition at UAF and Seattle’s Highline College, as well as teaching three summer terms as Language Arts instructor for the Upward Bound and Della Keats programs in Alaska. Sheryl is widely published in journals and magazines, with credits in poetry, creative nonfiction, essays, interviews and travel writing. She is a Founders Circle member of Soundings Review and recent winner of the William Stafford award from Washington Poets Association.

New Book Available: GHOST TOWN POETRY

2011-09-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

Chris Luna and Toni Partington, shining lights on the Vancouver poetry skyline, have published a beautiful new volume titled "Ghost Town Poetry." I have the honor of three published poems in this book; here is one, an acrostic written while contemplating the gorgeous hibiscus blossoms on Kauai:

How does it happen, this

Insane riot of color, this orange

Blaze flung face forward

Into a world pale as washed sand?

So little time; such a strong story

Can only be conveyed by this:

Understanding Orange, the rebel

Statement shouted toward the sun.

By Sheryl Clough

You can find out more about Chris and Toni on their site http://printedmattervanc.wordpress.com/ --

take a look and consider ordering the book!

And so it begins ...

2011-09-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

... a sun-splashed day in the Puget Sound neighborhood. I'm in the restroom stall at the Mukilteo ferry dock. From another stall comes the piping high pitch of a small child. "Why you no sit on seat?" Mom's response: "We don't want to get any germs." Setting aside the mental image of a grown woman straddling a toilet seat in order to pee from a crouch, my greater concern is the imprinting of fear on the little girl's psyche: GERMS. The scene is repeated at the restroom sink: "Wash your hands real good so you don't get any germs." I can only guess at how this all translates to the challenges ahead. Math, science, competitive sports, mountain climbing, the office of CEO: girls have historically been held back by fear. The scene has changed, admittedly, in the past generation or two, but we still have a long way to go. I'm 100% in favor of hand-washing -- but let's do it without instilling germ phobia in our tiniest citizens.

Book Review: The Financial Lives of the Poets

2011-08-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

I could have gone on at greater length about this wonderful book, but the online entry form through the Sno-Isle Library Foundation had space limitations. Highly recommended!

Review: The Financial Lives of the Poets

by Jess Walter

Rating: 4 stars

Book Description: A poetically-inclined journalist quits his job in order to start a website that renders financial advice in free verse. When this groundbreaking startup fails, he tries to return to his newspaper job, only to find that the paper is laying off his friends and cutting corners to survive the economic downturn. Meanwhile, his marriage is staggering under credit card debt, a negative-equity house, and suspected infidelity. When our hero decides to deal marijuana to raise enough money to avoid foreclosure, the reader knows disaster lurks just around the bend.

Book Review: I found it amazing that I could laugh so much while my heart was breaking for these well-drawn characters. The people in this novel seem like people I know or have met: complicated, funny, sad and with real problems weighing them down. The novel worked for me because I cared what happened to the people. Sprinkled throughout with phrases from well-known poems, Walter also begins each chapter with a poem created by the protagonist. I enjoyed the variety of forms he uses to introduce chapters: haiku, villanelle, free verse. The homage to poetry, the true-to-life problems, the beautifully-rendered characters, the humor, the commentary on the economic mess with which we are all struggling: this book has it all.

Recommend Book to: Poets and poetry lovers; readers who follow economics, politics, social change, social justice issues, and issues in journalism; AND anyone who enjoys great writing!

Radio Show Re-broadcasts

2011-08-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

MANY THANKS to Don Haynes for Monday's interview on 96.9, Whidbey Public Radio. The questions were insightful and based on obviously-close reading. For those of you who missed it, the interview will air again on Friday (8/26) at 10 AM, Saturday at noon, and Sunday at 10 AM.

KWPA does not enjoy the world's strongest transmission signal. If you do not live within ~5 miles of Coupeville, Washington, try streaming 96.9 through your laptop. OR, go to iTunes, click 'Radio' and then 'news/talk'; KWPA's programs will be listed alpha and you can look for "Writers and their Stories." Thanks to all you listeners who have sent comments my way!

STAY TUNED for details of Write Wing Publishing's call for submissions for a new book of poems, to be titled "Surrounded: Living With Islands." There will be a $50 prize for best submission, plus publication of course.

Scatchetpoet on the Radio

2011-08-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

TUNE IN Monday August 22, 2011 at 10 AM to Whidbey Public Radio, KWPA 96.9 -- Sheryl Clough, the Scatchetpoet, will be the reader and interview guest on Don Haynes' radio show featuring Whidbey Island writers. Sheryl will read from "Icebergs in My Dreams," an nonfiction sea kayaking adventure essay from the collection Solo: On Her Own Adventure, edited by Susan Fox Rogers. Sheryl will also read some of her recent poems.