Cat Russell's Blog, page 3
March 20, 2024
POEM: “flight”
If I print out all my fears and tear them to pieces, shred them
like confetti, and burn them to cinders, can I exorcize them
or will they merely become airborne--given the ability to fly
like darkened angels before the fall?
*If you’d like to read about my progress and plans this year, as well as craft tips, you can subscribe to my Patreon and support my work for just $1 a month! Until next time, stay safe and well, and read often!
February 15, 2024
POEM: “Orchard”
“Orchard”
News six thousand miles
away banishes sleep from
my dry aching eyes
Turbulent times rule
my waking mind: women weep
amid the rubble
Why do men destroy
what others planted?--Orange trees
thriving in desert
*If you’d like to read about my progress and plans this year, as well as craft tips, you can subscribe to my Patreon and support my work for just $1 a month! Until next time, stay safe and well, and read often!
January 18, 2024
CURRENT EVENTS: BOOKS READ IN 2023
Happy New Year!
Once a year, my local library hosts a raffle; each patron gets one entry per fifty books read. All you need to do is fill out a form listing the books you’ve read for the past year. I’ve aspired to two entries for many years now, but this year I still only have one entry. However, I’m grateful for the impetus to keep track, as I enjoy looking back at the books I’ve read and how they’ve influenced me throughout the year. This year is no exception.
Most of the books I read are either library holds (usually eBooks), free downloads from the public domain ( manybooks.net or ProjectGutenberg.org ), or purchases from local authors and small presses. I feel it’s important to support my local writing community through either my purchases or reviews. Every review, no matter how brief or what the content, helps push a book up the search algorithm.
If you are interested in reading any of the following books, I’ve included links so you can find them easily. In a country filled with so many wonderful libraries–digital or otherwise, there is no reason anyone should not be able to read whatever they want. I hope the following list may help you find your next great read!
*
2023 BOOKS READ
January
1 Heartscape: Poems by Monica Weber Babcock (poetry collection)
2 Kan Zaman: a Memoir in Poetry and Prose by Judith Mansour
3 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare (ebook via manybooks.net)
4 The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov (ebook via Libby app)
5 Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K Dick (audiobook via Libby app)
6 Zombie, Ohio by Scott Kenmore (ebook via Libby app)
7 Love Poems by Pablo Neruda (audiobook poetry collection via Libby app)
8 Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud (ebook poetry collection via Hoopla app)
9 A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway (audiobook via Libby app)
10 A Little History of Poetry by John Carey (audiobook via Libby app)
11 Just Kids by Patti Smith (ebook via Libby app)
February
12 The New Testament by Jericho Brown (audiobook poetry collection via Libby app)
13 The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov (ebook via Libby app)
14 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (audiobook via Libby app)
15 Deadpool: World’s Greatest Vol 7: Deadpool Does Shakespeare (graphic novel via Libby app)
16 Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (audiobook via Libby app)
–A wonderful look at America through the eyes of Steinbeck traveling with his dog, Charley, long before the “tiny home” movement made it fashionable. I adored this book!
17 Robots and Empire (Robots #4) by Isaac Asimov (free ebook via internet archive)
18 Chips & Meat: Short Poems of Violence and Chickens by Juliet Cook and Darryl Schupe (poetry chapbook)
March
19 Small Favor (Dresden Files #10) by Jim Butcher (ebook via Libby app)
20 The Colossus and other poems by Sylvia Plath (ebook poetry collection via Libby app)
21 Turn Coat (Dresden Files #11) by Jim Butcher (ebook via Libby app)
22 The Poets & Writers Complete Guide to Being a Writer by Kevin Larimer (audiobook via Libby app)
23 Changes (Dresden Files #12) by Jim Butcher (ebook via Libby app)
April
24 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (audiobook via Libby app)
–This is the most beautiful book I’ve read this year. The novel is set during World War II and follows a little girl navigating her small town life in Nazi Germany. The story is stunning, the language and imagery draws you in, and the story stays with you long after it ends.
25 Ghost Story (Dresden Files #13) by Jim Butcher (ebook via Libby app)
26 A Book of Days by Patti Smith (ebook via Libby app)
27 Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser (ebook poetry collection via Libby app)
28 EVERYTHING IS F*CKED: A BOOK ABOUT HOPE by Mark Manson (audiobook via Libby app)
29 Cold Days: (Dresden Files #14) by Jim Butcher (ebook via Libby app)
30 Skin Game (Dresden Files #15) by Jim Butcher (ebook via Libby app)
31 In the Ravine and other stories by Anton Chekhov (audiobook via Libby app)
32 The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (ebook via Libby app)
MAY
33 Peace Talks (Dresden Files #16) by Jim Butcher (ebook via Libby app)
34 Battle Ground (Dresden Files #17) by Jim Butcher (ebook via Libby app)
35 The Little Mermaid: (or, How to Find Love Underwater) by J. M. Farkas (from material by Hans Christian Anderson)
36 The Law: A Dresden Files novella by Jim Butcher (audiobook via Audible)
37 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adam’s (ebook via Libby)
38 The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K LeQuin (ebook via Libby)
39 Goldenrod: poems by Maggie Smith
40 CONTORTED DOOM CONVEYOR (poetry collection) by Juliet Cook (PDF ARC)
JUNE
41 Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams (ebook via Libby)
42 Playing with Books by Jason Thompson (ebook via Libby app)
43 Dragon Outcast: Age of Fire Book #3 by E.E. Knight (audiobook via Libby app)
44 Art Made From Books by Laura Heyenga (ebook via Libby app)
45 The Repurposed Library: 35 Craft Projects That Give Old Books New Life by Lisa Occhipinti (ebook via Libby app)
46 Organizing for the Rest of Us: 100 Realistic Strategies to Keep Any House Under Control by Dana K White (ebook via Libby app)
47 WINTER RECIPES FROM THE COLLECTIVE: POEMS by Louise Gluck (ebook via Libby app)
48 DIY UPCYCLING PROJECTS: How to Craft, Renew and Repurpose Everyday Items by Vanessa Riley (ebook via Libby app)
49 How to Fly In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons by Barbara Kingsolver (ebook via Libby app)
50 STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST: 10 THINGS NOBODY TOLD YOU ABOUT BEING CREATIVE by Austin Kleon
51 EMBROIDERED EFFECTS: Projects and Patterns to Inspire Your Stitching by Jenny Hart (ebook via Libby app)
JULY
52 Atomic Habits by James Clear (ebook via Libby app)
53 Dragon Strike: Age of Fire Book #4 by E.E. Knight (audiobook via Libby app)
54 Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (epub via Project Gutenberg)
–I often reread this English translation of the French play. The lines are pure poetry, and the plot is a tragic lovestory that puts Titanic and Romeo and Juliet to shame.
55 On the Decay of the Art of Lying by Mark Twain (KINDLE ebook)
56 Dragon Rule: Age of Fire Book #5 by E.E. Knight (audiobook via Libby app)
57 Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (KINDLE ebook via Libby app)
–I just wanted something fun to read I hadn’t read before, and this fit the bill nicely! I’m not a fan of Godzilla or any other traditional kaiju stories, but the idea of an animal preservation society for gigantic monsters was incredibly entertaining!
AUGUST
58 Goblin Quest by Jim C Hines (KINDLE ebook via Libby app)
59 Dragon Fate: Age of Fire Book #6 by E.E. Knight (audiobook via Libby app)
60 Deathworld by Harry Harrison (audiobook via Libby app)
61 Goblin Hero by Jim C Hines (KINDLE ebook via Libby app)
62 The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag by Robert A. Heinlein (audiobook via Lipp app)
63 Goblin War by Jim C Hines (KINDLE ebook)
64 a walk with me— by Gwen Frostic
65 Give Me Your Hands: A Friendship Between Two Writers by Constance Plumley (KINDLE ebook)
SEPTEMBER
66 I, Claudius by Robert Graves (audiobook via Libby app)
67 Sketches of Me: An Unfinished Poem by Dwight Parrish (KINDLE ebook)
68 Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (KINDLE ebook via Libby app)
OCTOBER
69 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (audiobook via LIBBY app)
70 The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines (KINDLE ebook)
NOVEMBER
71 Starter Villain by John Scalzi (KINDLE ebook via Libby)
72 The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C. Hines (KINDLE ebook)
73 Kissing the Stone: poems by Monica Weber Babcock (trade paperback)
74 Another Set of Ripped-Out Bloody Pigtails by Juliet Cook (chapbook)
75 Your Cat & Other Space Aliens by Mary Turzillo (poetry, Trade paperback)
76 Fragile by Brandon Johnson (poetry, Trade paperback)
DECEMBER
77 PEDIOPHOBIA by Daniel G. Snethen (poetry, chapbook)
78 Naked Toes: Goddess Edition by Sara Minges M.S. (paperback, poetry)
79 birch trees and sycamore leaves by Melissa Taylor (poetry, chapbook)
–This small treasure was a gift, but unfortunately I can’t find a link online.
80 Monty Python and Philosophy: nudge nudge think think edited by Gary L. Hardcastle and George A. Reisch (ebook via HOOPLA Digital)
81 A Fortune for Your Disaster by Hanif Abdurraqib (KINDLE ebook via Libby)
#
CURRENTLY READING :
Since I consume so much digital content, last year I bought a KINDLE so I wouldn’t have to do all my reading on my phone. The only flaw was I couldn’t add ebooks obtained outside the KINDLE store. However, on New Year’s Day I discovered that Amazon added a “Send to KINDLE” feature–so now I can read almost all my ebooks via the device! It’s so much nicer, so I wanted to share the good news (and link ) with you too.
So can you imagine how I spent my January 1st?
The first two books I’m reading via this new KINDLE feature are The Buddhist Catechism by Henry Steel Olcott and Mountain Interval by Robert Frost (both via Project Gutenberg ). And thanks to the happy hours I spent stuffing my KINDLE, I’ve already preloaded a dozen poetry books, as well as The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.
New Year’s Day was also Public Domain Day : the day each year when older works come into the public domain. So many books, movies, and other art are lost each year due to inaccessiblity–even orphan works that no one actually claims. These works of art are part of our cultural heritage, and it’s important that we are able to share them freely. This year, Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie came into the public domain, so expect to see lots of different takes on Steamboat Mickey from now on. Also, the following novels are a small sampling of the books entering the public domain in 2024: D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover ; Agatha Christie’s The Mystery of the Blue Train; Virginia Woolf’s Orlando; W.E.B. DuBois’s Dark Princess, and Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. I’m sure at least a couple of these classics will make their way to my KINDLE over the coming year.
*
Next Friday, I’ll also post a companion piece on my Patreon , listing books I downloaded from Project Gutenberg for the following year. If you’re interested, you can subscribe to my Patreon and support my work for just $1 a month! Until next time, stay safe and well, and read often!
December 14, 2023
CURRENT EVENTS: New Year’s Resolutions Past and Present (2023-2024)
It’s time for my annual accountability post, along with my reflections on the past year.
MY 2023 RESOLUTIONS:
I’ve been dreading this, since this year has been so abysmal.
BE OPEN TO NEW OPPORTUNITIES (even if they are outside my comfort zone).–SUCCESS: Honestly, I’m pleasantly surprised I accomplished this! It was a fairly vague goal, but I met it in a straightforward concrete way: I ran my first solo poetry workshop this year, as well as my first paid workshop! I was also interviewed for a library podcast, and participated in a few readings. Although I did not promote my work as much, I created most of my opportunities myself and definitely stepped out of my comfort zone!
KEEP MAKING PROGRESS WITH MY WRITING.–SUCCESS (PARTIAL): I began working on several new projects and made progress, though not as much as I’d hoped. I began assembling poems for a chapbook, so I’d have a less expensive option to sell at author events. My biggest project was creating an audiobook version of one of my books. I researched and experimented, even going so far as to record a long narrative poem I’d written as a test of sound quality, but ultimately I had to put it aside due to time constraints and family issues. I will pick it up again in January. Incidentally, if you know of a place (or a hack for recording without a sound booth), I’m all ears!
TAKE CARE OF MYSELF MENTALLY.–SUCCESS: It’s been a difficult year, personally. I’ve tried to visit my mother in Florida several times, but circumstances prevented me. I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster this year, unable to visit my mom, worried about our home situation, unable to see most of my friends or even talk to them on a regular basis. At times, poetry and other writing has been a solace. At other times, I’ve been unable to concentrate and simply binged The Walking Dead or taken breaks. I’ve talked to my counselor when things felt like too much. Whatever I’ve needed to do to keep my head on straight, I’ve done. I may not be the happiest I’ve ever been, but I’m content and circumstances have improved.
I’ve been open to opportunities while also knowing when to say no. In the past, I’ve been overeager to volunteer to help others, only to find that I’ve overextended myself. This year, I remembered that sometimes it’s okay to say no.
I did volunteer for the Massillon Cemetery Crawl though–which was really fun! That counts as a mental health thing in my book.
YEAR ROUND:
*PROMOTE MY WORK
–SUCCESS: I continued to promote my work online and at in-person events.
*KEEP UP MY MONTHLY POSTING SCHEDULES FOR MY WRITING BLOG AND MY PATREON
–SUCCESS: I’ve posted quality content on both my writing blog and Patreon every month for the past year.
#
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Honestly, I don’t know. Should I keep making them? Last year’s were broad and generic, so I kept them in mind all year and (mostly) accomplished them. I’d like to be more specific in 2024.
1. RECORD AND PUBLISH AN AUDIOBOOK OF MY WORK by year’s end.
–Most of the prep work has already been done for this. All that is left is to complete some text materials to accompany the audio, as well as complete the actual recordings. I’d like to complete an audiobook for both my narrative poem, “Gawayne and the Green Knight, Part II,” and for my poetry collection, Kaleidoscope.
2. COMPLETE AND PUBLISH A CHAPBOOK by year’s end.
–I’ve collected several poems for a chapbook already, but I need more. I have a lot of drafts in reserve, but they are still pretty rough. Also, if I decide I want to use those poems in a larger collection later on, I’m unsure how prior publication in the chapbook would affect that. So I need to do more research.
#
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This year, I read James Clear’s Atomic Habits, and the number one thing I took from that book was the idea that the direction your steps take you is more important than the size of the steps. This year has been a series of tiny steps, but I’m glad to say they’ve taken me in the direction I’ve wanted to go. I may not have traveled as far as I planned, but I know I’ll get there eventually.
I wish that all your efforts take you in the direction you want to go, both personally and professionally.
#
Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you’ll return in January! I’ll start 2024 with a post about the books I’ve read in 2023, so maybe you’ll find your next great read. I hope your holidays are happy. Have a great new year. Stay safe, stay well, and read often. See you next year!
November 17, 2023
POEM: “Jew in the Garden”
skeletal men in striped uniforms
visit the house, do odd jobs.
i give them food,
although i’ve been told not to.
we stay in barracks at my husband’s work,
watch chimney smoke blacken sky.
i tell my husband, they’re burning the Jews.
he says, no, they wouldn’t do that.
i wonder why he says they
when he wears the uniform, goosesteps
with pen and ink instead of lifted knee.
he laments bookwork for a business
that kills its workers, yet pays for their coffins.
couldn’t he smell the burnt flesh
like I could?
our children will survive,
live long enough to tend their own gardens,
feel shame for what we did to save them.
he always loved to garden,
to dirty his hands,
to feel dark rich soil between his fingers,
to sow the seeds our children will harvest.
what seeds do we plant this day?
he looks handsome in his uniform.
what slight shift would it take
for us to wear their stripes?
yet he keeps us safe,
loves their bright innocent faces,
provides us a home and gardens
when no one else comes
to do the work i pay for
with scraps i’m not allowed to give.
*Although this poem was drafted months ago, its relevance is especially apparent today.
*Inspired by the BBC article, Holocaust Memorial Day: Nazi in the Family, by Andrew Bomford.
October 7, 2023
POEM: “Bertha Lived: 1871-1924”
“Bertha lived: 1871-1924” --by Cat Russelldark eyes pull me close across the years between us,downturned lips speak wordlessly:you have a story to tell.your pristine black-and-white captures how pretty you werewith brown-bunned hair pulled up above your shirt’s high collar,within the pale oval of your faceyour eyes light up this humble stone.you were Mother, that is plain as the word set above your own somber photo--although where did they go? where did those tiny feet grow large enough to find their final home? they left the lamb behind to watch youas you sleep beneath your blanket of dark earth.they left behind enough for us to knowyou must have been loved, must have been mourned.your marker declares Christ your better half, or were you his? you share your cenotaph with him, sans setting face to name its back’s memorial to his remains:mere economy or more than that? when your face feels warm sun, it casts him into shadow.at his feet, broken concrete hints in words he does not speak. you were Morningstar. he was Christ.cold stone shows your photograph,your married name alone, the word mother, and datesas though all your many days amounted merely to the years you lived,but you did live and you survived.you were born the same year Wilhelm was crowned, died a few short years after women won the vote.did you march for your suffrage? for your daughters’?you traveled far from the only home you’d ever known to a strange new land,learned a foreign tongue, left an empire behind to settle your growing brood in nation not your own, your sister’s place a refuge in this brave new world.did you wonder what it meant when Einstein first bent space and time? when Wright brothers unraveled sky? you lived long enough to see darkness dispelled, banished from each cobblestone street, nights electrified by Edison’s new incandescence, long enoughto witness lines from pole to pole connect voices ‘traveling round the worldnear the speed of light. neither your sons nor daughters succumbed to World War or Spanish flu or a hundred other killers of children for they livedlong enough to outlive you:three sons, four daughters,a husband who must have watered your grave through all his remaining daysfor he made his final rest by your side.you lived through it all--long enough for women to have a voice in the country you made home, long enough to makedeep impressions in this world, to know the joys and despairs of generations spanning one century’s end and another’s birth. you more than survived. You lived. *inspired by the gravestone of Bertha Loch at Massillon Cemetery (Massillon, Ohio).
September 14, 2023
POEM: “Hamlet’s bones”
*If you’d like to read about my progress and plans this year, as well as craft tips, you can subscribe to my Patreon and support my work for just $1 a month! Until next time, stay safe and well, and read often!
August 17, 2023
POEM: “there’s no such thing as ordinary”
July 20, 2023
POEM: “moth tears”
June 16, 2023
FOUND POEM: “The Art”
“The Art” every morning/ the day brokeI/ boldly/ spokeI/ open/ the doorNever beforethat night/ my own power/ I could scarcely/ containI/ open/ the door dream of/ secret deedsblack as pitch/I/ could not see kept pushing/ on#*The above found poem was created using material printed from Edgar Allan Poe’s THE TELL-TALE HEART via Project Gutenberg. This poem was created as an example for an upcoming Found Poetry Workshop at the Canal Fulton Public Library on August 1st. Click here if you’d like to register for this free workshop.
Author’s note: Although the above found poem’s title, “The Art,” is very similar to the previous month’s title, “ Our Art ,”, I felt the different subject matter made a nice contrast and the upcoming workshop justified the timing.
*If you’d like to read about my progress and plans this year, as well as craft tips, you can subscribe to my Patreon and support my work for just $1 a month! Until next time, stay safe and well, and read often!
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