They tell me I’m in a high-risk group to die.
I’m not so brave.
I admit I’m very afraid.
The world as I knew it has come to an end.
And why?
A virus so small
With the naked eye
it can’t be seen
And people so selfish …
They’d rather do what they want.
Their actions could cause me to die.
Mankind’s choices have to make God cry.
And I Trust in the Lord with all my heart,
I do not lean on my own understanding.
In all my ways I try to acknowledge God,
And I know the Lord God will make straight my paths.
Shipping and Handling Podcast with Jennifer Udden and Bridget Smith,
Episode 69 (February 27, 2020), Nice :), Two literary agents talk books, fandom, writing, and beyond. Hosts: Bridget Smith of Dunham Literary Inc. & Jennifer Udden of Barry Goldblatt Literary. In this episode, Bridget and Jen do an all-questions-all-the-time deep dive into their Tumblr inbox. Among other things they discuss are sex in Young Adult fiction, the relative value of an MFA, and disclosure of advances. http://shippingandhandling.libsyn.com/episode-69-nice
Writers, Ink with J.D. Barker and J. Thorn. It is a podcast about the business of writing.
Episode 14, Becoming a Successful Author as a Stay-at-Home Mom with Mercedes Yardley. Mercedes Yardley knows how to become a successful author as a stay-at-home mom. With a husband working and a child requiring special needs, Yardley took up writing as an emotional outlet, and her thrilling style soon became recognized. She won the Bram Stoker Award in 2015 for her psychological horror novella, Little Dead Red, and wrote the Stabby Award-winning Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love. She is also a member of the Horror Writers Association and co-chair of the Las Vegas HWA Chapter. Mercedes currently lives in Las Vegas with her family and rescue animals. https://writersinkpodcast.com/becoming-a-successful-author-as-a-stay-at-home-mom-with-mercedes-yardley/
Audio Books I’m Listening To:
I came currently listening to “It” by Stephen King. I listened to the opening credits, dedication, Part 1: The Shadow Before, Chapter 1: After the Flood (1957), Chapter 2: After the Festival (1984) and am currently in Chapter 3: Six Phone Calls. Chapter 3 is 2 hours thirty-six minutes, and 27 seconds long.
Editing a collection of my poems to be published later this year by Poetry and Prayer Press. It will be my second published book of poetry.
I have a science fiction book that I’m still working on writing the first draft.
I have two books that were published last fall for which I am working on a marketing plan. They came out at the same time I had cataract surgery and tested positive for A&B flu. There has been no marketing of the books or book launches as of yet.
With Glimpsing Glory: Poems of Living & Dying, Praying & Playing, Belonging & Longing, Catherine Lawton delivers luminous, Christian spiritual walk poetry that blends the daily journey with God and the beauty and glory of God’s created world. Broken in topical areas of relating, relating, communing, trusting, living, dying, praying and word-playing, we walk through experiencing “Water Under a Bridge,” seeing the sky above and the forest in “Nature,” and experience Maine “Together on an Island.”
We commune with God as nature, which He created sings back to God day and night in “The Stars Sing.” We hunger for the first taste of fresh strawberries in “Spring Time.” I particularly enjoyed how a backyard bird sees Christmas in “What Is Coming to Our World?”
You’ll find yourself drawn much closer to God and His mercy through poems like “In The Morning,” which remind you that his mercy comes. “High School Class Reunion” will have you climbing into the memories of your mind thinking back to your similar experiences. I love how many of the poems unapologetically point to and honor God, of which “Glory” is an example.
You’ll find your heartstring pulled in “Bedside Vigils,” where I was reminded of the birth of my three children, being with my parents, and later my wife at their passing into eternity and their entry into heaven. Memories reminded me of my experience of “stroking the pale cheek.”
So many of the poems provided moments of prayer for me. “Love Song of The King” spoke to me. The line “The Singer because he is Song” had me remember the late Calvin Miller’s Singer Trilogy. The section on prayer demonstrated a long, intimate walk with the Father by our author Catherine Lawton.
I also loved “Coulda, Woulda, and Shoulda,” as it reminds us that “God loves you all the time.” I loved the poem so much I read it at a recent open-mic night at my local bookstore.”
Catherine Lawton has written a stunning poetry collection that will have you returning time and time to dip into her mastery and the majesty of her word magic. You’ll again share time with God and His creation as you recall and navigate through life’s journey with the author as your guide.
Photograph, “Jackie Robinson in his Brooklyn Dodgers uniform” Record Group 306. Still Pictures Identifier: 306-PS-50-7551. Rediscovery Identifier: 11261
Small Ball
Get ’em on
Get ’em over
Get ’em in
Jimmie Aaron Kepler
2012
Photo Source: United States Information Agency [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
White clouds
Fill the Columbia blue sky,
Like hundreds of cotton balls.
The brilliance
Of the summer sun,
Reflected even brighter
Off of the clouds.
The clouds remain
Suspended in the sky
With little movement.
A flock of pigeons,
Land on an adjacent building.
They stand on the edge
Of the ten-story structure,
Peering downward
Looking
For some crumb or morsel of food.
They also eye the sky
And the roof,
Of a neighboring building.
The birds are watchful
As a red hawk
Is perched waiting,
Waiting,
Waiting
For one of the pigeons
To let its guard down
And become his next meal.
The sounds of cars,
Trucks
And an occasional motorcycle
Fill the air
As they travel
From their point of origin
To their destination
Using the freeway
That passes
Through the building’s shadow.
A panhandler
On a nearby corner
Looks up at the sky
Shielding her eyes
From the bright sun.
She looks to see
What the airborne commotion is about.
The sun temporarily blinds her
With its brilliance
And then she sees
Dozens of feathers
Slowly descending to the ground.
If ever you find yourself being broken apart,
Because the one you trusted has broken your heart,
And all the time you find yourself crying,
While on the inside you feel like you’re dying,
Call me if you feel lonely,
Come to me when your life needs to mend,
From time to time you need only,
Someone with love unconditional – your best friend.
One time life gave you a fright,
Existence was as black as a moonless midnight,
You were feeling so out-of-place,
With no one to hug or embrace,
Then you saw the light,
You came to me in the middle of the night,
And you ran to me to give your heart,
And that’s when your new life did start
Call me if you feel lonely,
Come to me when your life needs to mend,
From time to time you need only,
Someone with love unconditional – Jesus, your best friend.
Golden hair frames the picture
Of a countenance with a gilded gleam,
Her eyes are the clear windows
Through which the hurt is seldom seen.
Sweet melodies fluidly flow
Methodically from her fingers and bow,
A zest for life is apparent and yet
The quest for personal fulfillment isn’t always met.
Ethical philosophies as a millstone weigh
Attempting defeat in battles won yesterday,
Old things now past and yet, old weaknesses now a new
Regretting judgment lapses when remembered that make us blue.
Simple and complex contradictions describe
The roles she confronts each succeeding day,
With a symmetrical smile hiding the pains
Encountered along life’s highways.
Written in 1991
Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Ed.D.
“Lady Violinist” was selected for inclusion in the “Torrid Literature Journal,” Volume VI (electronically and print editions). April 2013.
Photo Credits: Title: Market Violinist. This photo was taken at the Kansas City Market, otherwise known as City Market. This young lady was playing the violin for tips. We talked for a few moments, and she reminded me a lot of Jewel Staite (Kaylee from Firefly). Honestly, she was a real trooper because it was scorching in the sunlight and she was sitting on the bare asphalt. This photographer: Russ Matthews The photograph is available to use under the Creative Commons License. It is available for non-commercial use as long as proper attribution is given. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eatingmywords/1000640352/. The photographer is Russ Matthews.
Poet Sylvia Plath’s grave at St.Thomas’ Churchyard, Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England, UK
Sylvia Plath
1982 Pulitzer Prize Poetry
“Mad Girl’s Love Song”
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
God topples from the sky, hell’s fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan’s men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
I fancied you’d return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)
I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)”
Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist and short-story writer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and they lived together first in the United States and then England, having two children together: Frieda and Nicholas. Following a long struggle with depression and a marital separation, Plath committed suicide in 1963. Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death, as well as her writing and legacy.
The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel
Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her two published collections: The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel.
Won Pulitzer Prize Posthumously
In 1982, she became the first poet to win a Pulitzer Prize posthumously, for The Collected Poems. She also wrote The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death.
