NEW ANTHOLOGY: Call for Submissions

Through a Distant Lens:  Travel Poems

Call for Submissions

            Following the successful 2012 publication of the anthology “Surrounded:  Living With Islands,” the editor/publisher of Write Wing Publishing invites submissions of poems about travel.

            In a long-ago tavern, Sheryl was told she could tell someone to go to hell in a handbasket in such a way they would enjoy the trip.  She would like to hear from all you poets out there who can weave a tale of travel.  Maybe you had an out-of-body experience walking from your porch to the mailbox; maybe you lived in Morocco after college; maybe you do all your traveling while reading in your recliner.

            Submit 1-3 original unpublished poems in Times New Roman 12-point font, single-spaced.  Please include SASE, cover sheet with contact info, poem titles and brief author bio (~50 words), and $5.00 reading fee to help cover printing costs.  (Poems should not show writer’s name.)  Mail to:  Write Wing Publishing, 3795 Hubble Court, Clinton WA  98236.  Postmark deadline:  October 18, 2013.

            A prize of $50.00 will be awarded, at the editor’s sole discretion, for best overall poem.  Each poet selected for publication will receive one free copy of the book.  All rights revert to the authors after publication.

            About the editor:  Sheryl Clough earned her MFA at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Sheryl is a Founders Circle member of Soundings Review and 2010 winner of the William Stafford award from Washington Poets Association.  Sheryl’s book Ring of Fire, Sea of Stone won the 2013 San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival chapbook prize.  She is annoyed that "reading fees" over the past few years have risen to great heights -- as much as $30!  The $5.00 reading fee for this new anthology is a form of protest (also, however, an attempt to recoup the costs of publishing a book).

Blue Lyra Review New Issue

Greetings on a gorgeous July day!  Now that the fireworks frenzy is dying down, maybe we can all turn our attention back (it may never have wandered) to some good reading and writing.  I have a new nonfiction essay just published in Blue Lyra Review, titled "Under Sand and Shadow."  See: www.bluelyrareview.com

The essay deals with the wanderings of a fallen-away Catholic, formerly "good" girl -- that was me! -- as she attempts to make sense of some of the world's spiritual beliefs by hiking in the Arizona desert.  Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Copies of my award-winning chapbook, "Ring of Fire, Sea of Stone" are still available, signed by the author and mailed postage included anywhere in the U.S., for $10.  If you would like one, please send me a note at <Scatchetpoet@gmail.com>.

The older I get, the faster summertime flies by.  My husband once tried to explain the whole faster-passage-of-time thing to me.  Alas, I never took high school physics and it was too much to wrap my brain around.  Wherever you are, get out into that sunshine, take a hike, dig some clams, play with your dog, pick berries -- the charms of summer are numberless and fade fast.  Happy July, everyone.

Re-establishing Connections

On May 23, 2013, the Skagit River bridge collapsed, plunging several vehicles and their occupants into the glacially-fed river.  Thankfully, no one was injured.  This event has caused commercial disruption to an amazing degree.  Although I've lived in Western Washington most of my life, until this catastrophe, I did not appreciate or comprehend the amount of traffic using that bridge to get back and forth.

Pondering the speed with which our lives can change, I decided to organize a gathering with my daughter (a busy adult and I don't see her enough), my best friend from ages ago (lives in Monroe, an expensive ferry ride away), and an old pal who lives even farther away and who I haven't seen since last summer.  Plus two dogs:  Snickers and Lucy.  We planned a hike to Wallace Falls, a high waterfall lying within a State Park.  There are several viewpoints along the route, and one does not have to gain the highest point in order to have lovely views of the forest, mosses, the falls, and the singing Wallace River.

The weather was perfect, the company exquisite, and in addition to reconnecting with my hiking family, I felt a reconnection to the landscape in which I grew up:  the Skykomish River Valley.  I hadn't been back that way in many years, and was startled to see a roundabout (!) in the middle of Highway 2, plus a new McDonald's and Subway.

Four miles was as much as my arthritic joints could manage, and we retreated to a shaded picnic table to feast on smoked oysters, blueberries, four kinds of cheese, fresh veggies, and a cooler full of exotic beverages.

My bridge back to my hiking family was in fine shape, although the Skagit River at Mount Vernon still has no functional bridge.  The governor promises quick action; we shall see.  In the meantime, let us heed the exhortation of Wordsworth, posted on the old railroad grade trail:

Earth Day 2013

After several days of heavy downpour, frightening those of us who have watched large hunks of Whidbey Island slough itself into the sea, Earth Day burned glorious with sun.  I celebrated by taking my recyclables to the Bayview Recycle Park, and then taking Snickers for a walk in the woods.

As Snickers took off like a rocket through the underbrush, I strolled the still-muddy wooded path, observing the dappled spots of sun taking their shapes from the leaves and branches above.  Tree trunks lying on the ground, thrown down by winter storms, nursed communities of mosses and ferns.  Overhead, birds swooped and clouds scooted in the wind.  Earth Day, I thought;  how can there be only one day per year to celebrate all this?

We need an ongoing Earth Year, continuous, never-ending, to remind us every minute of every day to honor and respect the overwhelming beauty and complexity of our planet, our home, our Earth.  Maybe it should be called "Earth Age," the era when all humans band together to take back our planetary health.  I hope your Earth Day was as beautiful as mine.  Peace ...

Rainy Day Workshop

On Thursday, April 4, 2013, I facilitated a poetry workshop sponsored by Friends of the Clinton Library.  My friend and fellow poet Pat Kelley Brunjes (Poems from the Desert Floor) presented a short course on how to give an effective reading.  Although our attendance was smaller than anticipated, the participants were enthusiastic and creative.  Here is a photo of two workshoppers in the process of creating ekphrastic poems based on sculpture:

We also created imagination-based poems, recalling looking out windows from our childhoods and what we saw out there.  Finally, we created poems by freewriting using a list of 15 randomly-generated words.  All the poems were interesting and vivid, and some were read in the evening at our 7 PM reading.

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!  Host your own event to celebrate poems.  This can be as simple as a group of friends sharing a bottle of wine in your kitchen and taking turns reading poems important to them.  Our workshop was fueled by homemade chocolate chip cookies -- always a good idea for stimulating imaginations.  Read some poems, write some poems, talk about poems, give books of poems as gifts.  My best chum from childhood has requested my new book (Ring of Fire, Sea of Stone and yes this is a shameless plug -- buy it on Amazon!) as her birthday present.

Poetry will set you free!

APRIL 4, 2013: Discover Your Inner Poet

Cookies!  Creativity!  Community!

Come one, come all to a free poetry workshop (afternoon) and reading (evening) at the Clinton Community Hall.  I'll be co-leading a workshop with my friend Pat Brunjes, author of the just-released "Poems from the Desert Floor."  I will work with poets to generate new work, and Pat will present ideas on how to give an effective reading.  We'll meet at the Hall at 3 PM, work until 5, and take a break for revision, dinner, hanging out, etc.  In the evening, all participants will read a poem of their choosing to an enthralled audience of friends, family and fellow poets.

Sponsored by the Clinton Library.  For further information, call Debbie Colfer, Branch Manager at the Clinton Library, 360-341-4280.

Hope to see you there!  Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 3 PM.

Back from SAN GABRIEL VALLEY LITFEST ***

Hi Everyone -- those folks in the San Gabriel Valley and at San Antonio College are a bunch of poetry-loving machines!  My sister and I attended the 3- day litfest, held at West Covina, California's civic center over the long weekend, February 15/16/17.  82 degrees, a gentle Santa Ana breeze, flowers in bloom and palm trees overhead:  what's not to love?  There were four stages going, from noon until 9 PM each day.  When a poet or fiction writer was not reading, s/he was giving a knockout introduction to a fellow reader.  There was music, jewelry, painting, and feng shui advice; there was a special area on the grass for children's literature presentations.  Audiences were unfailingly receptive and generous.

And of course there was fabulous FOOD, from trucks that drove up every afternoon with everything from wild Alaskan cod tacos to churros and waffles.

My reading was at 1 PM on Saturday.  A special surprise was attendance by my 91-year-old mom and her sister, my Aunt Frances, who drove 9 hours from Green Valley, Arizona to attend the reading.

I felt fortunate that my book won the chapbook competition, even more so after hearing work of the other chapbook finalists, especially Terry Lucas -- check out Terry's vivid poems in "Diesel," the anthology of the San Gabriel Valley litfest; here is a link to the bookstore, where my book is also available:  http://sgvlitfest.com/?page_id=630

Here is Terry reading:

A million thanks to John and Ann Brantingham for organizing the festival, and to Michaelsun Knapp for judging the chapbook competition.  (That's Michaelsun and me in the photo below.)  This festival may become an annual event for Sandra and me.

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged and supported my poetry over the years.