Linda K. Sienkiewicz's Blog, page 17

Necessity is the mother of invention

I first read Meckel’s poem in Rattle years ago and hung on to it. I even created an altered book using these words. Here it is for you, paired with art from one of my favorite digital artists:

Under the Sea by Catrin Welz-SteinA poem by Lisa Meckel

All night I’ve remained awake
thinking how to reinvent myself;
struggled with the wild possibilities
and the desperate impossibilities,
considered how to create this happening.

Perhaps:
a reinvention center for overripe women,
a spa designe...

Writers empower, inspire, heal, expose

Illustration by Joey Guidone

In times of turmoil, writers can affect change with their words, stories and poems. They are a window into the greater truths of the world at large, beyond the minuscule limits of ourselves. Ten years ago Michael Kimball gave this inspiring commencement address as faculty at the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing, where I earned my degree. Michael kindly gave me permission to share his words here:

We are the nightmare wranglers

We are writers in thi...

Dog Kibble: A Villanelle

TashaThe Villanelle…

is a poem with strict rules! They are notoriously tricky to write because of their strict form and double refrain. This highly structured poem has nineteen lines that consist of five tercets (three-line stanzas) followed by one quatrain (four-line stanza). Villanelles also have a specific rhyme scheme of ABA for their tercets, and ABAA for the quatrain.

Two well known examples of the villanelle are Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night” and Elizabe...

Are You Sure You Want a Corgi?

“I want one.”

Nearly every time I walk Clementine and Cowboy in town, someone says to me “I want a corgi.”

Do you really? I know they are so stinking cute–those big ears, little legs, and constant smile. They appear in TV commercials from State Farm to Mercedes and Discover. There are corgi sweatshirts, corgi Christmas lawn decor, corgi coffee mugs, corgi slippers…. they are truly everywhere.

If you think you want a corgi, here are a few facts you should know first:

Co...

What, Why, How: Anthony J. Powers, Illustrator

What:

I have published one book, focused on art philosophy for children, titled “Thinking About Art – 7 Tutorials for Children: Based on the Surrealist Philosophy of Automatic Drawing” with a free PDF version here. I have also created many pet portraits, comics, films, animations, poetry, prose, and academic writings that have not been compiled yet.

Why:

My hope is to help communicate the stories of our time. My preferred method for this at the moment is sequential art.
I subscribe t...

Stash

Hershey’s

In the refrigerator meat drawer, way in the back under the cheese and lunch meat, I found my mother’s stash of Hershey chocolate bars. Three of them. I was probably ten years old, innocently looking for a snack. I gasped. Chocolate—a rare treat in our house. Sometimes we had cookies – chocolate chip or Oreos, and my mother liked to bake cakes– but never solid chocolate in a bar. I couldn’t remember ever getting a chocolate bar except for on Halloween.

Our secret foods...

A Poem for February

from IN FEBRUARY by Ralph J. Mills, Jr.

Sudden icy wind slaps at the ash
tree’s thin frame; a shred of moon
hangs above clouds rushing east
over the lake.

Inside, I spread a hand
on the table, my palm
opening into slopes and ravines
of a weathered topography.

Going nowhere, I turn
in the night to reach among memories
that come apart, fade,
not caring

if they’re no more than clouds
and belong to someone else’s life.

Information on Ralph J. Mills, Jr. can be found at Poetr...

What, Why, How: Ian Tadashi Moore

What:

I’ve written, illustrated and recorded three books for young readers: Zosan, Tamaishi, and Where All the Little Things Live.

My first, Zōsan, was funded on Kickstarter in 2015. It included a softcover edition printed offset, a hand printed letterpress edition and an audiobook performance. Tamaishi is my second book for young readers. It follows the story of a little Pebble named Tama as he discovers that things aren’t always what they seem. Where all the Little Things Live is a ...

To our favorite UPS guy

It’s in the giving

We give a Christmas gift card to our regular mailman, and this year decided to give one to our regular UPS delivery guy.

He delivered boxes of my first book in 2015. When I told him what the boxes held, he seemed so genuinely excited that I gave him a copy. He smiled as if I’d handed him a hundred bucks and asked if I was going to be famous writer (I told him “We can always hope” ). He passed it on to his daughter, a college student. She wrote a 5 star Goodreads rev...

Our Annual Christmas Letter

Happy Christmas, all!

We got a handful of Christmas letters with our cards this year. I feel a pang of guilt that I didn’t write a Christmas letter. I usually do. So here’s mine, in which I try to balance the humor with the boastful (we get one of those from a special friend every year, and it makes me giggle as much as the funny letters):

Bring it on!

We are still here, thanks to masks and triple vaccinations, as well as grit and lots of fiber supplements. Here’s the updates from ...