Edie Roones

Free-wheeling behavior.  What I want, when I want, how I want.  Places to see, people to do, things to go**. [Yes, I know ;)]  Is this independence? Not quite. Let’s try “Self Reliance”, an early idea on what the USofA should be.  A pride in viewing everyone the same because we are the same.  A willingness to stand up and be counted when it matters.  Is this independence? Closer. Independence Day On the 4 th  of July America celebrates its beginnings and all the best that this country comes together to be.  Yes, we have problems;  who doesn’t?  We’re working on them.  (Are you working on yours?  Good.  Haven’t got any? Self-analysis is wisdom.) For Independence Day, I’ve gathered four poems that meet the requirements of the occasion:  a wide-range of poetry, and the last one not even considered a poem by the majority.  In looking at these four poems, we can see directions for our own attempts to cele...

The day we honor fathers rapidly approaches.  And poems for fathers seem easy until we sit down to write. Unlike for Father's Day, poems for Mother’s Day flood the world.  We write line after line of overblown sentiments better suited for greeting cards.  We design them to tug at the heart or evoke loud guffaws. Avoiding those two pitfalls are the reason that Mother’s Day poems are difficult to write.  We want them to be real, to be personal, and to be touching. We have the same trouble with Father's Day poems. And we stumble against another barrier:  We don’t think “sentiment” when we consider writing for fathers.  We should. Yet tossing in emotion after emotion doesn’t work for either.  Both genders deserve  truth instead of watery pathos. Reminder We have three chief reasons to practice our poetic craft with occasional poems for all**: 1] keep to audience requirements.  Who are we writing for?  Ourselves?...

Old Geeky Greeks:   Write Stories Using Ancient Techniques Here's A List For You Blood tragedies. John Singer Sargent's sketch for his 1902 sculpture of Perseus Atonement. I, Robot . Harry Potter. Ironman. Hubris. The 13 th   Warrior . The scariest woman in all literature. The Hobbit . Dudley Dooright. 5 Stages of the Hero . . . and the Monster. Jurassic Park , in all its iterations. What Do The Items In This Oddly-Matched List Have In Common? These stories all have origins with the ancient Greeks and Romans. Sitting around fires after a day of hunting and gathering, the first writers developed techniques to influence their audiences.  Those techniques have thousands of years of use and still hold true for capturing audiences. The ancient Greeks (and Romans) of classical antiquity viewed the stories and dramas that were enduring.  And just like writers today, they searched and defined and classified the best techniques to cr...