In Real Life (a guest post from Sarah Dunning Park)

April 25, 2013 By 14 Comments
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I love that Sarah Dunning Park is here today. Believe it or not, though Sarah is all over the blogging world, I didn't first meet her online. She went to high school with my husband and we met at their ten year reunion. So, you understand, it has been a thrill to rediscover Sarah here in the interwebs and realize we have a shared love for poetry. Today her book of poems is released on Amazon and we are celebrating with a reflection, poem and giveaway. Give her a great big welcome, … [Read more...]

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Hill Tribers Giveaway Winner, Thankful Tuesday, and a little update from Micha

April 23, 2013 By 13 Comments
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  I loved having Jessica Goudeau's guest post here last week and was thrilled to introduce you to Hill Country Hill Tribers. I'm excited to say that our winner of that beautiful scarf pictured above is Jennifer Raines. Congratulations Jennifer!   I've been missing you guys! And I figured what better day than Thankful Tuesday to fill you on life in my world. My little asthmatic boy has been at it again. I'm thankful for his medication and that we're starting to learn his … [Read more...]

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Some words in other spaces…

March 21, 2013 By 1 Comment
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I've been writing in some other places this week and I'd love to scoot you on over their way. Do you mind clicking? On Tuesday I had the opportunity to share one of my poems at John Blase's lovely blog The Beautiful Due. He's been featuring the poems of several writers and bloggers he knows and I'm honored he asked for my contribution. I gave him a poem called "Rooting" that I started the week after August was born and only just finished recently. (Okay, let's be honest. It's probably not … [Read more...]

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Introducing My Chalkboard

January 11, 2013 By
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I'm trying something new for the next couple of months. Every Friday I'll keep it simple around here. I'll show you what's written on my chalkboard. (In my sixteen-year-old-boy handwriting. So sorry.) It might be a poem or a quote, just something I'm reading and thinking about. And I'm hoping, something you may be interested in thinking about too. Welcome to my chalkboard...       … [Read more...]

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Okay, so I did make a couple of resolutions.

January 7, 2013 By 15 Comments
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I’ve never been much of a resolution kind of girl. I’m not so good with “goals.” They require too much planning and I’d rather not make plans just in case there’s something more fun that comes along. I know. I’m a terrible person. Also, I’m not particularly fond of “improving” myself. (It hurts.) But, I’ve been learning that if I challenge myself in ways that mean something important to me, it actually is possible to find a lot of joy in those changes. So last year as I … [Read more...]

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Advent Poetry Series “Star”

November 30, 2012 By 21 Comments

Though I've shared my own poems on the blog before, I always find it intimidating and I fear it's presumptuous. (Nobody comes to this blog to read my poems, right?) But during Advent (I know, Advent doesn't start till Sunday, but let's just pretend), every Friday, I'll share with you a series of poems I wrote two years ago, while I was pregnant with Brooksie. The poems were commissioned by John Knox Presbyterian Church in Seattle.     Star   “A great and wondrous sign … [Read more...]

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Poem-a-Day Friday: Linda Hogan

October 26, 2012 By 12 Comments

Last night I had a phone conversation with a friend from Austin: a sophomore in college, a girl I adore, a dear soul who has been battling cancer for the past few years. She texted me while I fed the boys their dinner. She asked if we could talk that night. Oh, I dreaded that phone call. All through the bedtime ritual, I thought: Dear God, what is she going to tell me? I feared the worst. I prepared my heart. I thought about that need to hold both the sorrow and the joy, the beautiful and the … [Read more...]

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Poem-a-Day Friday: Mark Strand

September 14, 2012 By 6 Comments

This is how it happens: You grieve the news that you will leave your home. You grieve it from afar and then you speak it. You speak it to the people in your world. You speak it with care and with sincerity. You say it over and over and you start to believe: This is true. This is really going to be true. And you organize your kids' clothes. You organize the baby clothes your little boy was wearing 6 months ago. (Six months ago and he was that little? And now that brain of his taking it all in, … [Read more...]

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Poem-a-Day Friday: Tony Hoagland

July 13, 2012 By 7 Comments

I know I keep giving you poems from poets I don't know enough about to really discuss. But I'm at my parents' house, watching my kids fill up hours and hours playing with their cousins until it's way too late. And I can't help it: I'm full of nostalgia. I love Amarillo summer nights, how dry it is, how it cools down into the low 80s and everything glows the same shade as the setting sun. I love how late the sun stays up here (9:30 these days) and how it feels like an eternity from dinnertime to … [Read more...]

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Poem-a-Day Friday: WS Merwin (again) and Death

July 6, 2012 By 2 Comments

I'm now in Amarillo, my hometown. We got here on the 4th and it will be homebase for the boys and me over the next couple of weeks. My 90-year-old grandfather, whom I've written about here and here, had a stroke on Tuesday, the day before we got here. It's been a gift that I had already planned to be here in town and that I've been able to see him. Yesterday he was able make words again and especially able to receive kisses, which I gave readily. Pawpaw and I had a short conversation about … [Read more...]

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