Friday, July 06, 2012

He will live forever....Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury, one of my favorite authors, passed away exactly one month ago at age 91 after a long illness. I was fortunate enough to meet him once, during a Miami Book Fair International 1990 "Evening with...." event. He held an entire auditorium spellbound for an hour as he spoke; it was one of those magical evenings where the whole audience was as one. After, we were able to talk to him as he signed my 40th anniversary edition of The Martian Chronicles. He mentioned that he very pleased with that edition.
This picture is from the 1990 Miami appearance, courtesy of wikipedia.

"Jury Duty" accepted by Verse Wisconsin

Verse Wisconsin just accepted my poem "Jury Duty" for publication in their online fall issue "It's Political." I'm very excited to be published in Verse Wisconsin again! Andrea Hollander, my mentor and teacher since March 2011, had urged me to re-submit it and was sure the revised version would be accepted and it was!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Menopausal Mermaid Took 36th Place--2011

My poem "The Menopausal Mermaid Takes Medical Advice" came in 36th place in the 6th Annual Writer's Digest Poetry contest--the top 50 poems were published in The 6th Annual Writer's Digest Competition Collection. This was the first year I was eligible to compete again since I won the 2nd annual contest. I am entering this year again, having won only honorable mention (but also $50 worth of WD books, and the 2011 Poet's Market, which were all very welcome) and a free year's subscription!


2012 Update--"Persona" Poems

For some reason, I've been writing many "persona" poems lately. The one I'm working on now was inspired by Mary Doria Russell's novel Doc about Doc Holliday. I'm writing the poem from the perspective of his cousin Mattie Ann Holliday. In keeping with the American Old West feeling, we recently went to see a great exhibit of Western art, sculpture and artifacts at the Four Arts Society Museum in Palm Beach. Their gardens were spectacular as well.