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The Dirt Still Looks the Same: A Poetry Collective
This poetry collective moves through the first half of a lifetime. Collectively, the author's verses move through everyday life with eyes wide open, but sometimes perhaps with a slight squinting rather than in full focus. The poems wrapped in this cover were selected by the author as her first 50, expanding the first half of her writing years.
It is the hope that you will come away covered with layers of love, bitterness, hope, cynicism, cautiousness, lust, respect, positivity, doubt, loneliness, sadness, happiness, ecstasy, pride, resilience, tranquility and perhaps even utopia after traveling through its pages.
"There is a Time" is from Meske's earliest years as an author, written in her late junior high years. Some of the Haiku and works such as "Travelling Words" and "In Absence of Love" are among her latest pennings, and prose commemorating momentous people and momentous times in life is waiting inside for your consideration as well.
"A Most Special Day, But Without You" reflects upon a most memorable occasion where the author also shares the joy that comes when a one-time poet writes his first lines-something the 60-something farm-raised Army vet turned welder never thought he would do, for his stepdaughter or for anyone. Facing his last days, he still managed to take on the challenge.
As we move from birth to death, we face the challenges brought on with each day we are given. We love. We play. We hurt. We make mistakes. We learn. We succeed. We fail. We pick ourselves up and try again.
The dust and dirt that gathers on the soles of our shoes, in our eyes, on our skin, and hidden deep within our closets and our minds ends up looking the same when we view it from the mountaintop at the high points of life or with an upward gaze as it accumulates over us while we're laying six feet underground.
It is the hope that you will come away covered with layers of love, bitterness, hope, cynicism, cautiousness, lust, respect, positivity, doubt, loneliness, sadness, happiness, ecstasy, pride, resilience, tranquility and perhaps even utopia after traveling through its pages.
"There is a Time" is from Meske's earliest years as an author, written in her late junior high years. Some of the Haiku and works such as "Travelling Words" and "In Absence of Love" are among her latest pennings, and prose commemorating momentous people and momentous times in life is waiting inside for your consideration as well.
"A Most Special Day, But Without You" reflects upon a most memorable occasion where the author also shares the joy that comes when a one-time poet writes his first lines-something the 60-something farm-raised Army vet turned welder never thought he would do, for his stepdaughter or for anyone. Facing his last days, he still managed to take on the challenge.
As we move from birth to death, we face the challenges brought on with each day we are given. We love. We play. We hurt. We make mistakes. We learn. We succeed. We fail. We pick ourselves up and try again.
The dust and dirt that gathers on the soles of our shoes, in our eyes, on our skin, and hidden deep within our closets and our minds ends up looking the same when we view it from the mountaintop at the high points of life or with an upward gaze as it accumulates over us while we're laying six feet underground.
60 pages, Paperback
Published April 17, 2016
About the author
Melissa Crockett Meske
7 books6 followersMelissa Crockett Meske spent the first half of her life living and loving in the St. Louis Metro-East region. Born in Alton, Illinois, Melissa calls nearby Jerseyville her hometown. She is the youngest of nine and mom of two grown children.
After a series of failed yet fruitful attempts, Melissa met her true life partner Kevin Meske in the fall of 2012, and married him almost two years later on Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t long after that when they moved over 800 miles away from home and settled in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, where they lived for two years before returning to Melissa's hometown of Jerseyville, Illinois in June 2016.
The couple purchased a home in nearby Bunker Hill, Illinois late in 2018. As a marriage bonus, Melissa also became the stepmom to a U.S. Marine whose wife is the other Melissa Meske; together they have four beautiful little girls.
You can follow Melissa's journey of words and works at macmeske.com. And of course, she's on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest too.
Melissa is developing her first fictional piece and also has a nonfiction book in the works, as well as some initial drafts of short stories.
Poetry is another genre Melissa favors. She published her first published poetry chapbook, and her first published book in Spring 2016. It was a joint project with her oldest son, Jeremy Shipley (MFA 2015 Washington University St. Louis), who design its cover.
Her first recorded and published lyrics, “At the End of the Wind and the Rain,” can be found and purchased through ReverbNation and through Amazon. This recorded piece features Brittny Holt of Alton, Illinois on vocals with music composed and arranged by Shaun Copeland of Wood River, Illinois. It was recorded at McBeat’s Music Lab and produced by 4-Fo-Rela Inc., both located in Wood River as well.
She has also edited books for other authors, for fellow Amazon author George I. Kidwiler Jr. of West Virginia and for a young emerging author from Missouri who writes under the pen name of P. Crockett.
The videos appearing on her Amazon author page are an extension of her creative journey. In the first, the author reads one of her original poetry pieces titled "The Emergence of Voice." In the second, entitled "Luna Sounds Under Homemade Stars," she picks around on her own Luna guitar while watching the imagery surrounding her from a star projector she bought for her younger offspring. These videos and more can also be viewed on Melissa's YouTube Channel.
In the author's own words:
“As a writer, my words come into reality once they hit the paper. Before that moment, they are constantly whirling inside my mind like snow inside a water globe—real and existent, but floating and falling until I stir them up with my pen in my hand.
I’ve been told many times that I have an easy-to-follow, conversational style to my writing. I can agree with that analysis, since I see what I am doing with words more as a one-on-one dialogue between me and a friend, for a moment or for a lifetime.
There are some critics who have been displeased with my writing style, declaring it too informal and seemingly untrained. I just interpret that to mean it’s not all fluffy, formal, frou-frou, and pretentious. And that’s good…because neither am I.
I’ve been writing ever since I could. And reading. I’ve had an ongoing love affair with the public library since perhaps before I knew I could…that place has saved my life on more than one occasion.
Through books, music, poetry, movies, newspapers, magazines, photography and typography, I have come to terms with just how incredibly powerful words can be. Much more than sticks and stones…
I am a writer. I write poetry, lyrics, short stories, essays…along with other fictional works. I have also write for others on occasion, to help support my creative writing habits, my need for good coffee and tea, and to help pay the bills.
After a series of failed yet fruitful attempts, Melissa met her true life partner Kevin Meske in the fall of 2012, and married him almost two years later on Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t long after that when they moved over 800 miles away from home and settled in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, where they lived for two years before returning to Melissa's hometown of Jerseyville, Illinois in June 2016.
The couple purchased a home in nearby Bunker Hill, Illinois late in 2018. As a marriage bonus, Melissa also became the stepmom to a U.S. Marine whose wife is the other Melissa Meske; together they have four beautiful little girls.
You can follow Melissa's journey of words and works at macmeske.com. And of course, she's on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest too.
Melissa is developing her first fictional piece and also has a nonfiction book in the works, as well as some initial drafts of short stories.
Poetry is another genre Melissa favors. She published her first published poetry chapbook, and her first published book in Spring 2016. It was a joint project with her oldest son, Jeremy Shipley (MFA 2015 Washington University St. Louis), who design its cover.
Her first recorded and published lyrics, “At the End of the Wind and the Rain,” can be found and purchased through ReverbNation and through Amazon. This recorded piece features Brittny Holt of Alton, Illinois on vocals with music composed and arranged by Shaun Copeland of Wood River, Illinois. It was recorded at McBeat’s Music Lab and produced by 4-Fo-Rela Inc., both located in Wood River as well.
She has also edited books for other authors, for fellow Amazon author George I. Kidwiler Jr. of West Virginia and for a young emerging author from Missouri who writes under the pen name of P. Crockett.
The videos appearing on her Amazon author page are an extension of her creative journey. In the first, the author reads one of her original poetry pieces titled "The Emergence of Voice." In the second, entitled "Luna Sounds Under Homemade Stars," she picks around on her own Luna guitar while watching the imagery surrounding her from a star projector she bought for her younger offspring. These videos and more can also be viewed on Melissa's YouTube Channel.
In the author's own words:
“As a writer, my words come into reality once they hit the paper. Before that moment, they are constantly whirling inside my mind like snow inside a water globe—real and existent, but floating and falling until I stir them up with my pen in my hand.
I’ve been told many times that I have an easy-to-follow, conversational style to my writing. I can agree with that analysis, since I see what I am doing with words more as a one-on-one dialogue between me and a friend, for a moment or for a lifetime.
There are some critics who have been displeased with my writing style, declaring it too informal and seemingly untrained. I just interpret that to mean it’s not all fluffy, formal, frou-frou, and pretentious. And that’s good…because neither am I.
I’ve been writing ever since I could. And reading. I’ve had an ongoing love affair with the public library since perhaps before I knew I could…that place has saved my life on more than one occasion.
Through books, music, poetry, movies, newspapers, magazines, photography and typography, I have come to terms with just how incredibly powerful words can be. Much more than sticks and stones…
I am a writer. I write poetry, lyrics, short stories, essays…along with other fictional works. I have also write for others on occasion, to help support my creative writing habits, my need for good coffee and tea, and to help pay the bills.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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August 19, 2016I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for this review.
When you read this book, and I highly suggest you do, take your time and think about every line. Let the words paint pictures in your mind. Even if you are not a big poetry fan, this book is worth a read. It is thought provoking. The poems reflect the author's life and reactions to it, and everyone can relate to the emotions evoked by each line. My favorite poem in the book is "A Glimmer, A Curse" which reminded me to live in the present and appreciate all that life has to offer at any given moment. This book offers something for everyone.
When you read this book, and I highly suggest you do, take your time and think about every line. Let the words paint pictures in your mind. Even if you are not a big poetry fan, this book is worth a read. It is thought provoking. The poems reflect the author's life and reactions to it, and everyone can relate to the emotions evoked by each line. My favorite poem in the book is "A Glimmer, A Curse" which reminded me to live in the present and appreciate all that life has to offer at any given moment. This book offers something for everyone.
September 5, 2016
I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for this review.
Now, I am NOT a big poetry reader. I actually have been known to make fun of poetry to the math classes I teach. Regardless, poetry done well does stay with me. Meske's books has poems that will do just that. This is the author's first book, but I hope it is the first of many. Her accessible, down-to-earth style allowed me to vanquish my own silly bias against poetry, and just experience the beauty of the language and emotions in each piece.
Now, I am NOT a big poetry reader. I actually have been known to make fun of poetry to the math classes I teach. Regardless, poetry done well does stay with me. Meske's books has poems that will do just that. This is the author's first book, but I hope it is the first of many. Her accessible, down-to-earth style allowed me to vanquish my own silly bias against poetry, and just experience the beauty of the language and emotions in each piece.
September 14, 2016
Like another reviewer here, poetry doesn't comprise a majority of my reading, but I really have enjoyed this book. Nature, relationships, change, pain, reflection, strength, disappointment and love may be typical themes for a poet, but I found Meske's work deeply engaging. The imagery is rich and sensual. Contemplative and passionate. Entertaining and endearing. I am so glad I was given a copy of this book to review, especially considering this is her first!
June 10, 2016
There is a dichotomy to Melissa’s work that is rare. It has the quality of being both intimate, and at the same time, accessible. You will often feel like a fly on the wall, but never as if you are intruding. It is also simultaneously challenging and comfortable, appealing to both the serious and the casual reader.
BG, educator/photographer/U.S. Army veteran
BG, educator/photographer/U.S. Army veteran
August 24, 2016
" I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for this review " , you could tell the poems were from the heart and from life experiences, very inspirational.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews