I thought I was being clever creating a unique email address for this blog. But then the pandemic hit, my sister died, and I just gave up on some things.
Like the blog.
Like poetry.
So it was a hassle recovering my blog.
And I think I am ready to return to poetry, not that poetry has missed me.
My brother died recently, and I am grieving in a weird way. ANGRY, sad, angry, sad. So angry.
Writing might help.
I am pursuing helping others with literacy growth in a big way, tutoring ESL, GED, and teaching literacy classes–in my retirement. This lets me know how much I value literacy.
My trusty OLD laptop died, and I replaced it right away. This lets me know how much I value literacy.
As I try to recover old documents, I am trying to find more than 1/3 of a MILLION documents created. This lets me know how much I value literacy. As I read some of my poetry and fiction/ nonfiction, I find pieces I want to edit and revise.
I need to get the twitter bashers out of my mind’s eye, for they almost took away my desire to write poetry. Use the wrong word or use the wrong voice and you can be canceled, vilified.
So here’s to grief (again? still?) and a continuing pandemic I’d like to write away. That won’t happen, but perhaps I can find the joy of creation once again if I stop listening to the voices of the poet and poetry bashers who seem to pounce if a wrong word or tone or voice is used, even unwittingly, even when trying to create art. (Persona poems are one of my favorite types.)
And here’s to writing down passwords and email logins somewhere else!
Happy new year, all. And thanks for reading.
Today I met a woman about my age. She told me how many times her children thanked her for moving to America to give them opportunities they would not have had in their small town, which she characterized as small, unsafe, lots of guns, lots of drug dealers. She raised five children here in America, all in college or college graduates. And now it is her turn, she said, to go to school.
Many educators become pensive at the end of the summer; as we get ready to return to the classroom, we cannot help but think about how we won’t have much time to actually *think* for months at a time as we enter a whirlwind of teaching activity. Think now! Think!
I love teaching. Educators, are you too getting ready for back to school, whether it is back to teaching pre-K or at the university?
Some of my poems, short stories, and nonfiction articles are included in books and magazines published in the UK, Greece, New Zealand, and the United States.
Something the poet Chen Chen wrote on his Twitter feed (
“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” ~ Lau Tzu
For decades, August has been my strongest “urge to poetry” month. Something about the light, the sounds, the smells–all is so REVVED UP. Poets, agree?
Since late spring, I’ve made 35 plus submissions just using Submittable.com. I love using this vehicle since it helps me keep track of my submissions in one convenient location. I’ve also made email and US mail submissions.
Laura Lee 