Garden Bird Antics #poetry

The EU Referendum has been causing me great anxiety and so I've been spending time in the garden trying to focus on the local and centre myself.  This has been a good thing to do and has led to a few poems about what was going on around me.

Bird Feeder Gossip

It's 5pm

On a summers day

Time to meet

Hear gossip of the day

We all hang out

At the feed station

Share latest news

Over our daily ration

Tweets about bats 

Latest news on cats

Down low on dogs 

Squirrel warning facts

Here together

It's one for all

But care is needed

So we don't fall ....

Into the patch

Of the local moggie 

He waits till late

Even if it's soggy

Listening in

Getting the goss

We let him keep

Thinking he's the boss 

But he's not. Oh no

He's in our power

We're up high

In our wooden towers

Whilst he can try

To bring us down

Most of the time

He leaves with a frown

So here we meet

Gossip, plan and eat

He can sit on his seat

Safely there at our feet 

RSPB Bird Feeder

Blackbird Blessings

Blackbird up there in a tree

Thank you for singing to me

Blessing me with songs so sweet

Floating down beneath your feet

I do not know

What they say

But please never

Take them away

Your tones connect me with the world

Imagery round my mind swirls

Of woods I used to walk within

Thank you for such a blessing

www.bto.org

How should we respond to the #EURefResults today?

How do I respond
As a minister in the church
On a day like today
When my heart is full of hurt

I pray that calm will come
I know that God is here
But right now in this place
All I feel is fear

When pain is what I know
And concern is in my mind
None of us are alone
But what peace can we find?

I look to the church leaders
And read the prayers they share
But somehow it's not enough
It doesn't take away my cares

I read their public statements
"Political process in place"
But it doesn't stop this hurting
It doesn't help me face to face

Here in this community
Division has occurred
It may not be a war as such
But many are disturbed

And we have to hold that
To comfort and bring hope
I guess that's all that we can do
But how when I am hurt?

And then I finally remember
That this is who God needs
Me just as I am right now
Searching for the peace

Click here for the official statement from the Archbishops

Who's running the asylum now? #EURefResults

It is true

It seems like a nightmare

But you're awake

Yes really

The lunatics have taken over

Our country is in the hands of the mad men

And I am terrified

Anxiety souring

Peace has flown the nest

Because that was our safety net

Europe is a community

And even when we don't agree

It's a place for sharing

And debate

Where we can relate

Through difference

As much as similarity

Less about control

Than being free

together!

Offering

Borrowing

Not resource hoarding

But now that is gone

We are gone

And soon will be forgotten

All those of us 

Who are seen as less

The poor and lame

The disabled and in pain

At the bottom of the pile

They don't care

To share

They don't wish

To give

What they hold

So tight

So the future's

Not bright

This is my fear

I shed a tear

For those far and near

Who now for years

Might suffer.

You may not agree

But don't shout at me

This is my blog

And my opinions can be free

It is my fear

It is my life

And that of my child

Who, with eyes wide

Left for school

Not knowing who'll

Be running the country

Now an Island alone

Not knowing what

The future outside the zone

Will bring

For me

For her

For the future

Who's running the asylum now?

And how?

Good Morning Everybody! What’s The BIG DEAL?

Hi Gang,

Yep, I’m back with some great news! 

First of all a quick update. LaDawn and I have been traveling down the long European rivers and high seas for the last two months. We started with a wonderful, tulip-filled week in Amsterdam. Then we traveled from Amsterdam to Budapest on a wonderful 2-week  river cruise, spent a few days in Budapest, then flew over to the Cotswold’s in England for 10 more days of spring flowers, amazing rolling scenic hillsides and quaint rustic villages.

We then drove  to Southampton and boarded the beautiful Celebrity Eclipse for a two week ocean cruise through the Baltic including, Estonia, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm up to St. Petersburg, Russia. It was quite the trip and I’d love to share some stories and images with you in these upcoming weeks.

But first I have to tell what’s happening right now!  While on our cruise I received an email from my good friends Mia McCormick and R.C. Conception about a hugh opportunity they were putting together for photographers everywhere.  It’s called The Big Deal 2016 [link].  I was involved in last year’s project and it rocked the socks off everyone who participated and raised as I recall about $80,000 for charity. I told Mia and RC to count me in again this year.

Well, I have to tell you, this year’s Big Deal really blows past last year’s deal – only $99 for $3000 worth of videos, presets, eBooks, Software, and much more! Mia tells me they have 25 of the top photographers and trainers – Joe McNally, Peter Hurley, Rick Sammon, Matt Kloskowski, Tamara Lackey, yours truly and many more - involved in this year’s offereing.

This bundle is evenly balanced with a wide range of training on Photography, Post Processing, Design and Video and the training comes from some of the icons in this industry.  These are people who’ve made this their life’s work and they are passionate about teaching it.   Plus there’s enough training included to keep you busy until next year.

The software included this year is just outstanding. Think of it this way….  While Lightroom and Photoshop are invaluable tools - photographers out there working in the space swear by the sheer speed of Photo Mechanic. That’s a $150 dollar tool you’ll immediately add to your arsenal in the Big Deal.  Add in Clarity and ParticleShop - and great images will come easy.

I read through the contents of the entire pachage and was blown away by everything included!  There are hours upon hours of video training videos, 100’s of presets and special brushes for Lightroom and Photoshop, software offerings from some of the top vendors, plus so much more! 

Once again this year’s BIG DEAL raises money for three very special charities and I think that’s great!  Not only do you pick up a fabulous $3000 collection of educational resources, post-production shortcuts, and FREE software and discounts for only $99, you also get to help those in need. You really have to check it out [link]!

__________________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that’s it for me today. I know a lot of folks are sad to see me fall off the grid a bit but I have to say that life could not be better.  LaDawn and I continue to travel extensively around the world, photograph a few special events and we miss you all.  I promise I’ll try to get a post or two up about our recent travels.

All the best everybody,

David

Can You Teach Someone to Be a Writer?

I’m excited to be giving a talk at the Catamaran Writing Conference in Pebble Beach, California, from July 31 to August 4, 2016. It’s an honor to be teaching alongside a stellar group of faculty colleagues.

Check out the website to see the fabulous lineup of instructors, including Molly Gloss, Elizabeth Rosner, and Joseph Millar. Novelist Jonathan Franzen and poet Dorianne Laux will give evening talks, and the conference will feature guided trips to some of the scenic literary landmarks along the Central California Coast, including John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row in Monterey, Robinson Jeffer’s Tor House in Carmel, and nearby Robert Louis Stevenson sites.

Trip to Tor House at last year's conference

The conference takes place at the Stevenson School, named for Robert Louis Stevenson, whose Treasure Island was set nearby. The Stevenson School is a lovely venue located on the famous 17-Mile Drive. 

Along the 17-Mile Drive

The food is the best I’ve ever had at a cafeteria—California cuisine with many fresh, local ingredients. And there’s an Olympic pool and fitness center.

But can creative writing actually be taught?

I’ve heard so many people say, “You can’t teach someone to be a writer.” What do those words mean, exactly? Do they mean you’re born with talent and drive and it’s determined by larger forces that you will either be a writer or not? Or do they mean that your upbringing and ingrained personality are conducive to writing well, or they are not?

Either way, there is a hint of predestination about this idea that bothers me. Haven’t we all had teachers who inspired and influenced us? Would any writer succeed without a mentor or mentors, and a community of peers?

True, you cannot implant literary talent in a person who does not have it, as if giving someone a donated kidney. But, as the writer Ishmael Reed has said, “Talent is widespread.” The difference between someone who wants to be a writer, and someone who becomes a writer, is often encouragement, mentoring, and a supportive community.

What sort of mentoring helps a person develop into a strong writer? One thing I try to do as a teacher of creative writing is to help students recognize when they have tapped a rich vein. Often newer writers will hit on a lively idea without even realizing that it could be the basis of an entire book. Pointing out those opportunities so students can recognize them for themselves is one important thing a mentor can give newer writers. Along with that, students can learn how to spot cliché language or situations in their writing, and how to dig deeper to transcend those. 

Validation is also extremely valuable. I remember so well the very first meeting I had with June Jordan, who was the advisor for both my undergraduate and graduate creative writing theses—coincidentally, at two different universities. I first met with June in her office in the Department of African American Studies at Yale University. Her office was in a fussy, imitation Gothic building, an odd match for June, with her revolutionary, iconoclastic views. 

June asked me to read out loud the poem I had written that week. She listened with that skeptical twitch she sometimes had in her right eye. It was a poem about an imaginary lamppost. It’s not a poem I’m proud of today, but June heard something she liked in it, and she was smiling broadly by the end of the poem. She said you to me, “You’ve got something. Don’t let anyone ever talk you out of it.” Well, I’m not sure that poem really had anything—I’d never publish it now, and I don’t believe I still have a copy of it. And I’m sure June said that to many, many students over her long and illustrious teaching career. But June’s validation of my desire to be a writer has stayed with me since that day, even though June is no longer with us.

Other recent posts about writing topics: 
How to Get Published
Getting the Most from Your Writing Workshop
How Not to Become a Literary Dropout
Putting Together a Book Manuscript
Working with a Writing Mentor
How to Deliver Your Message
Does the Muse Have a Cell Phone?
Why Write Poetry? 
Poetic Forms: Introduction; The Sonnet, The Sestina, The Ghazal, The Tanka

Praise and Lament
How to Be an American Writer

Moonrise Press Books at Book Expo America in Chicago, May 2016

BookExpo America (BEA), the largest book show in the U.S., wa in Chicago this year, and Poland was the featured country! Aquila Polonica shared booth space with the official exhibit by the Polish Book Institute, booth 1504/1505. Since Poland was featured, Aquila Polonica conceived and organized a "Books in English" display as part of the official Polish Book Institute booth, curating a selection of more than 100 books in English about Poland—including works of fiction, history, cookery, music, and much more—by a variety of publishers and authors.

Moonrise Press and its founder Dr. Maja Trochimczyk greatly appreciated this opportunity to present their books in English on Polish and Polish American topics.  Below you will find pages from the catalog with links to where the books can be found.

Right on the first page of the book list, heading the section on Biography, Autobiography and Memoir, is the biography of Joseph and Ben Adamowicz, Polish pilots who crossed the Altantic in 1934, as the first Poles to do so (in Northern Atlantic, from New York to Warsaw). The study Across The Atlantic: The Adamowicz Brothers, Polish Aviation Pioneers, by Zofia Reklewska-Braun and Kazimierz Braun was published in 2015. It can be ordered here:

 ISBN 978-0-9963981-2-1, paperback, ISBN 978-0-9963981-3-8, e-Book (ePub format).   

The sixth page of the catalogue features the 2010 acclaimed poetry anthology edited by Maja Trochimczyk, Chopin with Cherries: A Tribute in Verse. The anthology includes 123 poems by 92 poets, including an English translation of the classic by Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Chopin's Piano, in a masterful rendition by Leonard Kress. The book can be found here:  Paperback Edition ($23.00) or PDF Download ($10.00). ISBN 978-0-9819693-0-5. 256 pages.Read more about this anthology. 

The next page in the section on Fiction, Literature and Poetry includes Slicing the Bread: Children's Survival Manual in 25 Poems by Maja Trochimczyk, published in 2014 by the Finishing Line Press.

More information can be found here, and the book can be ordered from the publisher

or from Amazon.com.

A section on History on page 8 features East Central Europe in Exile, a two volume set edited by Anna Mazurkiewicz and issued by the Cambridge Publishers in 2013, with an article on Polish emigre composers in America by Maja Trochimczyk found in Volume 1, Transatlantic Migrations). 

This book can be ordered on Amazon.

The first title in the series on Music, is After Chopin: Essays on Polish Music, edited by Maja Trochimczyk, and published by the Polish Music Center at the University of Southern California, in 2001. The book consists of translations of essays by Polish composers about Chopin, and winning papers in the Wilk Research Prize in Polish Music. This book can be ordered from the Polish Music Center's website, it is not available on Amazon.

The next page 12 of the Catalogue includes two titles with major contributions by Maja Trochimczyk, and the third that she edited and prepared for publication without putting her name on it.  The most recent book,published in June 2015 is the second revised and expanded edition of Frederic Chopin: A Research and Information Guide, co-edited with William Smialek and issued by Routledge.  It can be ordered here.

The biography of Maria Szymanowska by Slawomir Dobrzanski, published by Polish Music Center in 2004, includes a chapter by Maja Trochimczyk on Szymanowska's songs. More information about this book is found on Polish Music Center's website. Finally, the biography of Poland's first 12-tone composer, Jozef Koffler by Maciej Golab was prepared under the supervision of Dr. Trochimczyk in 2003.  More information is on PMC Website.

Moonrise Press is proud of having two titles included in the display, along with four other titles written by Dr. Maja Trochimczyk or with important contributions that she penned. The catalog featured many other worthy books, thanks to the efforts of Aquila Polonica in publicizing books in English about Polish subjects.