Kelli Russell Agodon's Blog, page 35

List of Poet Bloggers Participating in the BIG POETRY GIVEAWAY. Follow the links to enter to win FREE books! #giveaway

It's too late to giveaway a book of poems, but not too late to enter to WIN one!  Follow these links below to enter.  

Each poet-blogger is giving away at least TWO free books of poems if not more.  

GOOD LUCK!  




Big Poetry Giveaway Participants for 2013:Big Poetry Giveaway Blog List


Kelli Russell Agodon, Book of Kells
Amber Decker, Rough Verse
Erin Hollowell, Being Poetry
Susan Rich, Alchemist's Kitchen
Donna Vorreyer, Put Words Together, Make Meaning
Marjorie Manwaring, Oven Birds and Grecian Urns
Patrick Dixon, Gillnet Dreams
Deborah Hammond, Woman of a Certain Age
Anne Higgins, Scattered Showers in a Clear Sky
Moira Richards, Moira Richards @ Red Room
Margo Roby, Word Gathering
Jessie Carty, Jesse Carty
Joseph Harker, Naming Constellations
Leslie Wheeler, The Cave, The Hive
Marie Gauthier, A View from the Potholes
Amy Dryansky
Tawnysha Greene
Poetry Chook
Deb Wain, Written in Ochre
Sweetly Disturbed
Joannie Stangeland, Poequery
Jennifer LaVoie, Roomthily
Dani Harris, My Heart's Love Songs
Katrina Roberts, Cat Pajamas
Wendy Call, Many Words for Welcome
Martha Silano, Blue Positive
Shawnte Orion, Battered Hive
Nancy Canyon, How to Mend
Jeannine Hall Gailey, Webbish 6
Katharine Whitcomb, Poetry is Cool
Kelly Davio






~ Kells



 

~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Interview with Sylvia Plath for National Poetry Month (calling English Poetry "in a bit of a straightjacket") #NPM

I had no idea this existed. It's masterful. Beautiful.

Sylvia Plath in her own voice discussing poetry. Absolutely wonderful.







~ Kells

 

~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Poem of the Day: The Moon is a Comma, A Pause in the Sky @kelliagodon #instapoem #npm

Truly thrilled to be part of the Virginia Quarterly Review #Instapoem Series.

"The Moon Is a Comma, a Pause in the Sky" by @kelliagodon, our latest #instapoem: ow.ly/k08io

— Virginia Quarterly (@VQR) April 12, 2013

You can see all their poems on Tumblr here:  http://vqreview.tumblr.com/









~ Kells



 

~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Poem of the Day "The Queen" by Pablo Neruda in Spanish

La Reina

Yo
te he nombrando reina.

Hay
más altas que tú, más altas.

Hay
más puras que tú, más puras.

Hay
más bellas que tú, hay más

bellas.

Ero
tú eres la reina

Cuando
vas por las calles

nadie
te reconoce.

Nadie
ve tú corona de cristal,

nadie
mira

la
alfombra de oro rojo

que
pisas cuando pasas,

la
alfrombra que no existe.

Y
cuando asomas

suenan
todos los ríos

en
mi cuerpo, sacuden

el
cielo las campanas,

y
un himno llena el mundo

Sóló
tú y yo,

sóló
tú y yo, amor mío,

lo
escuchamos.





Pablo Neruda





~ Kells



 

~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Confession Tuesday - Living Outside My Comfort Zone Edition

In front of Shakespeare & Co., Paris







Dear Readers,



It's been two weeks and three countries since I've last written.  Yes, I was traveling.  It's been a long time since I've traveled like this.  It would not be strange I've been planning this trip for the last twelve years--yes, this is how long it takes me do something new.



This is not to say I've never travelled.  I have.  Six weeks on trains with a backpack & my best friend throughout Europe after graduating from the University of Washington.  In 1996, before I quit my corporate job, I took off to London with my husband because I was losing my mind (I came home a vegetarian then quit my job, sold our house, and moved to a community of less than 3000 people).



But I've forgotten what it means to live.  I've forgotten that younger self who said "We're off!"



Two days before I left for London as I went to pick up my mail in my comfortable neighborhood and comfortable small town, I thought to myself: Why on earth did I plan this vacation to London?  Why did I think this would be a good idea?



Yes, my name is Kelli & I love my comfort zone.



We need to talk about this and how it's changing...little by little.



Hanging with Charlie Chaplin on Portobello Road, London


To the confessional--



I confess this year I told myself I want to stretch outside my comfort zone.  I knew there was going to be a forced stretching because last year I booked a flight for my family to London, knowing I would need a year to get used to this idea.



I think when I booked it, I never really assumed it would come up.  Like having a great idea, but knowing it will never happen, and that's okay because it's easier that way anyway.



So I booked us a flight to London last May.  Then my family decided that since Paris was close, we'd take the Eurostar there for a couple days (of course, we will, everyone loves underwater travel, yes?!)  When I heard this idea the only think I could think of was "The Eurostar goes under the English Channel- I am going to feel claustrophobic, the walls will leak, there will be a bomb and we'll all die a cold watery death."  Of course, what I said was, "Sounds great!  Of course, we can do that!"


Yes, normal people might think-- how cool!  But me, every time we decided to do something on our trip, I'd imagine the worst possibilities, the worst feelings, the worst outcome - Lord help me and my overactive imagination.


But here's the thing--all my anxiety happened *before* the trip. When in the moment, I'm rarely nervous.  In fact, I don't remember being nervous once in the entire two weeks.



I wasn't nervous on the plane (honestly, on the way over I was mostly asleep).  I wasn't nervous in the Chunnel-- it just felt like a regular tunnel & my ears didn't even pop.  I wasn't nervous on the London Eye or at any time during our trip.



Sometimes I think there is a part of me that enjoys the comfort of feeling anxious, I understand anxiety, it's been my friend for a long, long time.  I know how to fret about something and then when everything is okay, I can believe my magical thoughts made it so (i.e.  because I worried about the trip, nothing happened).


But on this trip, I was having so much fun and was so freaking tired from the jetlag, I forgot to worry.  And things were *still* okay.  Imagine.



I am reminding myself how much I enjoy traveling so I will do it again.



I know my default is to stay home.  Since I was a child, my sister has referred to me as "an old lady" and not because of sensible shoes, but because I'm the one who always chooses to stay home, to skip whatever-interesting-event is happening, to choose comfort over anything else.



But I'm learning.  Slowly.



To realize life is to be lived.  Not watched.  Or feared.  Or formulated.



It's a hard task for an Emily Dickinson type person.  I'm no longer happy sending bread down in a basket from my bedroom window to the neighborhood children below.  I want to the be the one running through the field (and maybe with scissors)...well, safety scissors.  I still err on the side of caution, but when I do, at least I'm standing at a crosswalk in sensible shoes in a different country deciding what to do next.



Amen.





~ Kells



 
~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Poem of the Day "The Queen" by Pablo Neruda #Potd #poetry

Pablo Neruda's The
Queen ~ In English...


One Valentine's day many years ago my husband roamed through my books of
poems and typed out the last two stanzas of this poem for me. It has been my
favorite since then.





The Queen



I have named you queen



There are taller ones than you, taller.

There are purer ones than you, purer.

There are lovelier ones than you,

lovelier.



But you are the queen.



When you go through the streets

no one recognizes you.

No one sees your crystal crown, no

one looks

at the carpet of red gold

that you tread as you pass,

the nonexistent carpet



And when you appear

all the river sound

in my body, bells

shake the sky,

and a hymn fills the world.



Only you and I,

only you and I, my love,

listen to it.



Pablo Neruda

translated by Donald D. Walsh 



~ Kells



    ~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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What Color Are You Missing? . . .

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~ Kells



 
~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Control is just an illusion...

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~ Kells



 
~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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The Secret to Writing Poems...

The secret to writing poems is white
chocolate, specifically Ghirardelli. . .



but also milk chocolate including Hershey's chocolate, but not Nestle's. For
dark chocolate lovers, try non-pariels, they are also the secret as is Godiva
for sonnets.



The secret can be found is some boxes of chocolate, but not in any where the
filling tastes like fruit (i.e. cherry, orange, raspberry), but in the mix of
caramel with milk chocolate, coconut and dark chocolate, and anything hazelnut.
See's Candies: yes. Brach's: no. Swiss chocolate: yes. (even the rolls of chocolate
you can buy at Ikea - Marabou chocolates, no nuts)



The secret to writing poems is not in Whoppers, Kit-Kats, or Reese's Peanut
butter cups, but there's magic in Junior Mints.



The secret to writing poems can also be found in herbal tea (peppermint for a bit
more spark) and Oregon Chai Tea.



On cold nights try cinnamon toast (sugar & cinnamon sprinkled over buttered
toast) with hot chocolate (real not chocolate not Swiss Miss) with whipped
cream (not Cool Whip).



In the summer, the secret is in a laptop, iced tea with lemon, and a bowl of
fresh strawberries. 




~ Kells



 
~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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Find the Good...

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by Brian Andreas







~ Kells



 

~ Don't Miss a Post ~ Subscribe to Book of Kells by EmailKelli Russell Agodon
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