Linda K. Sienkiewicz's Blog, page 13

What, Why, How: Tracy Lawson

What:

I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but for the bulk of my adult life, I told stories through dance. Creating recital pieces and choreographing musicals required most of my creative bandwidth, and left me not totally burned out but always a little singed.

The same year our daughter graduated high school, my husband changed jobs and we moved from Ohio to Texas. Now officially an empty nester, I decided not to seek another job teaching at a studio. It was finally time to write, a...

Totally Shredded

The Routine:

In the morning, I prepare our older dog Clementine’s food– a special low protein kibble with a pump of fish oil and a sprinkling of tartar-removal flakes. Then I use a small syringe to shoot her liquid bacon-flavored medication, .5 ML, into a Pill Pocket, a big chewy doggy gummy with a hole in it. I tuck two and a half pills inside, too. I give her the Pill Pocket outside. Her favorite is the peanut butter pocket. She chomps it down, along with a fingertip if I’m not careful....

What, Why, How: Charlie Brice

What:

Years ago, when I first started writing for publication, I thought I wanted to be a novelist, a fictioneer, as one of my teachers, Chuck Kinder, used to say. My wife and I had a place on Walloon Lake near Petoskey, MI and I noticed, one day, while browsing in a bookstore, that a writers’ retreat was going to be held on our lake. I talked Judy into going. When Judy and I first got together, 50 some years ago, she showed me three poems she’d written in medical school. They were so g...

Where did the phrase Lunatic Fringe originate?

Why do we say that?

Researching the origins of words and phrases fascinates me. Do you know where the phrase Lunatic Fringe came from?

I’ll give you a hint: It has nothing to do with fringed bang hairstyle, as this silly essay attempts to explain.

Luna

Gone are the days of locking people up in lunatic asylums (although proper mental health services are sadly lacking in the US), but the mind and the way it works, and why things go wrong, are still being studied. There’s a lot...

What, Why, How: Terry Blackhawk

What:

I am one of the lucky children whose parents brought poetry into her life at an early age. The Silver Pennies poetry anthology was a constant companion, and by the time I was ten I was writing poems of my own, sealing them with wax, and hiding them in secret places in the woods behind our house. I edited Manuscript, my high school’s literary magazine, and in 1968 submitted for my final project as a Literature grad at Antioch College a portfolio of experimental writings titled “ex/p...

The book I never wanted to write

Sleepwalker:

Even though I’m proud to announce the upcoming publication of my fifth poetry chapbook, Sleepwalker, I admit to mixed feelings. This collection contains the poems I never wanted to write, the ones I fought against writing for years.

These poems speak to the painful healing after my eldest son’s suicide. They unearth the heartbreak of motherhood and deep loss. They embrace who my son was and what he will never be.  

It took me nearly ten years to start writing some of t...

Gen Z “Chaos Theory” Fashion

Portia from “White Lotus”Misfires or High Fashion?

Call it mashups, misfires, or anti-fashion, Gen Z viewers claim that Portia’s crazy combo outfits from the TV show “White Lotus” work. And apparently older viewers are having a hissy fit. (from WaPo)

I’m not sure why. I’m only in season 1 of ”White Lotus,” but I do love fashion. From what I’ve seen in photos, though, the mish-mash trend excites this baby boomer. I especially admire wearing exclusively second-hand clothes.

The Gen Z...

Jim Daniels: The Human Engine at Dawn

The Human Engine at Dawn is Michigan native Jim Daniels’ newest chapbook of poems, published by Wolfson Press. That’s his grandfather on the cover, on the left, working on an engine at the Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit. Jim’s other books include Gun/Shy (poetry), The Perp Walk (fiction), and the anthology RESPECT: The Poetry of Detroit Music (coedited with M. L. Liebler). Born and raised in Detroit, he lives in Pittsburgh and teaches in the Alma College low-residency MFA program.

...

The best words ever

Banished words

At the end of the day, we can circle back for a deep dive into the new normal. Oops, those words are from last year’s banished list! No worries because the supply chain of banished words grows meatier each year. Here are the words for 2023

You can view the entire list and the explanations at Lake Superior’s website

That being said, here is a list of excellent words I’d like to see made more popular!

Best Wordsaudacitybalderdashbaloneybamboozle...

Winter, Go Ahead:

A Poem by Joy Gaines-Friedler:

Winter: Go Ahead

Winter begins it all —

not spring that rips through frost,
but winter, where last night’s snow 
                            leaves a lawn of stars.          

No stops & starts of bees. 
No naïve leaves untouched by grief
No fear of fire or counterfeit friends. Snow,

white bodied bird, painter of silence,
dancer who loves the air,
                        reveal the details:

let the branches be layers and layers of tree. 

Tonight I...