Edie Roones

Memorial Day and Flag Day are commemorative occasions just ripe for a poet.   While many are addicted to Open Mic nights, these public ceremonies will stretch any writer’s abilities. The 5/5 blog presents the 2 Chief Reasons to write and perform occasional poetry: 1] adhere to audience requirements. 2] keep to the 4 Requirements of Song. Now let me add a 3 rd : 3] manipulate structure to stand out.  Poets who do so can provide copies of their poems to participants.  It’s like free publicity.  “All politics is local”, 1930s newspapermen said, and word-of-mouth is the best marketing. Also in the 5/5 blog, is a brief contrast of the inaugural poems of Maya Angelou and Robert Frost.  She gives us a poem as sprawling as American cities while Frost’s “The Gift Outright” is tightly focused and structured.  For the audience, this is the difference between a 30-minute speech and a 5-minute one. It’s the Gettysburg Address that we know and love, not the...

M. A. Lee has published the sixth book in her loosely connected series Hearts in Hazard. While some characters are introduced in previous books (for this novel, A Game of Secrets), it is not necessary to have read those books.  This novel, as are all the novels in the Hearts in Hazard series, are complete and do not contain cliffhangers. The Dangers to Hearts Do broken hearts destroy all dreams?   Years ago, Agatha Helmes’ lover abandoned her.  When her baby died at birth, she thought all her hopes for the future had ended. She poured herself into her family’s farm, but in the last year, mismanagement by three different stewards has the farm losing more money than she can pour into it. Jess Carter occasionally crewed for a known smuggler to bring a little extra into his home.  He fell for a maid working at the Hawthorn Inn.  Then the smuggling ring was arrested.  The woman he thought he loved married another man.  With a bruised ...

May and June and July are jammed with occasions. o    Mother’s and Father’s Days. o    Memorial and Flag and Independence Days. o    Graduation and Wedding and many other types of days. For poets seeking an audience, these occasions offer multiple opportunities to practice craft. Poetic Occasions: 2 Chief Reminders 1] For a poet writing an occasional poem, the most important remembrance is that the audience controls the writing.  Occasions require poets to stretch their abilities without causing deliberate offense to the audience. 2] The poet also needs to remember the 4 Requirements of Song. The writing must be heartfelt without being smarmy.  Powerful lines and strong imagery must keep the audience engaged:  a listening-only audience will break attention faster than a reading one.  Rhetorical devices that emphasize points are especially necessary as they help the audience “hear” the ideas through repetition and cli...

For poetry lovers, we have a series of blogs,  Poetry Lesson s, guest-hosted by Emily R. Dunn of Writers Ink Books.  Visit our page on every 5 th   (5th, 15th, and 25th) to see which poem has inspired a lesson in thinking and writing.  We'll also intersperse news about books. ~~ M. Lee Madder 4 Requirements of Song:  “Both Sides Now” Poetry like “Both Sides Now” came out of the 1960’s social change movement.  Joni Mitchell’s voice seemed simple while it carried a powerful message. One of her strongest messages came through “Big Yellow Taxi”, hiding a riptide undertow with its obvious ecology and love of trees (Yes, I’m a tree hugger.  The bark’s a little rough, though.) “Both Sides Now” speaks more universally.  This version by Judy Collins provides us our lyrics: Remember the 4 Requirements of Song?  Powerful Lines.  Strong Imagery.  Heart-felt Message.  Clear Communication.  “Both Sides Now” ...

For poetry lovers, we have a series of blogs,  Poetry Lesson s, guest-hosted by Emily R. Dunn of Writers Ink Books.  Visit our page on every 5 th   (5th, 15th, and 25th) to see which poem has inspired a lesson in thinking and writing.   We'll also intersperse news about books. ~~ M. Lee Madder Riddling Allegories in Music:  Carole King’s “Tapestry” When songs and poems haunt us, enticing us to return over and again, they have served the writer’s purpose:  to have us read and re-read their words. Sometimes the enticement is the beauty of the words or the music or both.   Sometimes the enticement is the emotion and memories that the song or poem evokes.   And sometimes the enticement is the riddling mystery that surrounds the work.   We long to decipher the maze of words. The best writers tell us everything and nothing.  They reveal even as they veil.   And thus we have “Tapestry”, the 1971 song and album by Carole ...

Released by Writers Ink Books, March 10, 2017, another in the Hearts in Hazard series by M. A Le. The Dangers for Spies can come long after they considered themselves retired. Old missions come  back to haunt them as dangers from the past track them down. The Dangers for Spies Past actions cause present dangers. The French Double Agent Eugenie DesChamps thinks she is safe, hidden in the English village of Little Houghton.  She paints landscapes to supplement her income.  She embarks on a flirtation with Charles Audley.  To her the world seems radiant, so very different from eight years ago. No one knows that she once was a toast of Paris, a pretense she used to acquire information to pass on to English spies.  Eugenie hated the corrupt French government that had caused the deaths of her family.  Then a French agent discovered her double game.  She barely escaped with her life. The English Undercover Spy Eight years ...

Different Types of Love The Greeks have four different words for love, each representing a different type. Eros :: the love that includes sexual passion.  This is the love that we usually mean, the miraculous and mysterious love that joins two hearts in a relationship Storge :: the love between parents and children, familial love.  It has expanded to include the love we feel toward a protective patron (such as patriotic love for our nation) or fan-based love (“That’s my sports team”). Agape :: the love of God for people and of people for God;  the charity of Corinthians 13. Philia :: “brotherly love” which is loyalty, comradeship, affectionate friendship;  community compassion. Philia is our focus on Love in this blog.  Many of us have experienced that desirous connection to family and community that drives us to reach out to those in need. This brotherly love forms the basis of Rufus Wainwright’s “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother,” t...