Trust these:
light
trees
wind’s
songs
Wordy 30 poem: 30 letters in 6 five letter words
poem- For self-care September 8, 2022
poem-Good advice September 7, 2022
Right steps:
laugh fifty times
daily
.
A Wordy 30 poem: six 5 letter words.
poem- lying to yourself September 1, 2018
You make it
so
inside your head.
Convince yourself
you’re right
and true.
Ask for advice,
but
debate each position
deny each observation
sputter
rant
and grumble about lack of support.
If you don’t want
to hear,
don’t ask.
If you won’t consider
perspectives,
don’t request them.
If you only want approval,
just say,
“Aren’t I great!”
and don’t be surprised
by silence.
Writing conferences: The Magical Realm June 6, 2018
Here’s a guest blog I wrote for Gail Anderson-Dargatz about the value of attending writing conferences:
.
https://www.gailanderson-dargatz.ca/cms/index.php/resources/35-guest-blogs/326-shawn-l-bird
.
Do you have a writing conference that has changed your life? Tell me about it in the comments below!
.
I’m always happy to present at conferences, too, so if you are an organizer, drop me a line.
poem- The Bird by Patrick Lane April 28, 2017
From The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane (Harbour Publishing, 2011)
The Bird
The bird you captured is dead.
I told you it would die
but you would not learn
from my telling. You wanted
to cage a bird in your hands
and learn to fly.
.
Listen again.
You must not handle birds.
They cannot fly through your fingers.
You are not a nest
and a feather is
not made of blood and bone.
.
Only words
can fly for you like birds
on the wall of the sun.
A bird is a poem
that talks of the end of cages.
.
I’m attending a poetry retreat with Patrick Lane this summer, so I’ve been reading his work. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to study with him!
poem-going July 19, 2015
He’s going.
I feel him stretching out
like old elastic on the tops of pantyhose.
How old are your pantyhose?
That’s not the point.
You need to refresh your pantyhose, seriously
that elastic is good for a decade at least.
Oh forget I said it. He’s going. I can feel him slipping away.
Like pantyhose falling off your hips if they’re so old the elastic is brittle?
Well, yes.
I have some elastic lace. We can sew it onto the pantyhose. They’ll be like new.
It’s not about the pantyhose.
No. It’s about the elastic.
No. It’s about the leaving.
You know, if you put a pair of panties over the pantyhose, it will keep them up.
Like a hug.
Exactly like a hug. Sometimes the pantyhose work down a bit and are uncomfortable, but they stay up.
How do you know these things?
Oh. We all have our emergency strategies.
Emergency.
Definitely.
Hmm. Right. Thanks.
poem-turn back time January 7, 2015
In Outlander,
Jamie, the good husband, is always giving his wife, Claire, good advice.
He gives advice to keep her safe.
Stay here in this clearing, away from the soldiers.
Sage advice.
Stay here in the hold, away from the pirates.
Good counsel.
Claire, a modern woman with a mind of her own, makes her own decisions.
Her decisions often run counter to Jamie’s.
Invariably, Jamie has to bail her out of the trouble she’s landed in,
because she didn’t listen to him.
Today,
my good husband came home for lunch and said,
“Don’t go out there. It’s treacherous! I had to put down salt,
to melt the ice on the driveway!”
When he returned to work,
I saw the mail lady come.
I’m expecting a parcel.
There’s salt down.
What’s the worst that could happen?
I stepped on islands made by salt pellets
down our steep drive,
crossed the slippery road, and was within a meter of the mailbox
when I was splayed out on the edge of the road like a frog.
Ah! So that’s the worse that could happen.
Stay here in the house, away from the ice, he’d said
And after, my good husband didn’t even say,
“I told you so.”
Oh, if I could turn back time!
.
5 hours in Emergency because I have a spiral fracture in my ankle, and apparently orthopaedic surgeon will screw in a plate tomorrow, but at least I don’t have to pay anything for this adventure thanks to Canadian MediCare!
🙂
Outlander is written by Diana Gabaldon. It’s an amazing historical, time-travel, adventure, romance, amazing novel that you should read. My husband adores it, and tried to get everyone he knows to read it, as do I.
poem- how to find writing ideas September 26, 2014
Just
pay
attention.
.
.
I should probably give credit to Diana Gabaldon, who responded to a question about how she knows so much about human interaction. This was her response.
poem-ten thousand June 12, 2014
“No one
in the publishing industry
takes a blog seriously,”
said the presenter
“until it has at least
ten thousand followers.”
I thought about my three hundred
loyal followers and sighed.
I would never manage that.
For six months I thought
about her words, knowing what
WordPress said to do,
and how I wasn’t doing it.
So one April, two weeks
before I gave a social media workshop,
I tested their theories.
In two weeks, 444 followers
became a thousand.
Hmm. I thought.
If I keep doing this,
I could have ten thousand
in a year or so.
So I visited other blogs,
commented, and liked their work.
Introducing myself, and noticing others.
It’s the old mantra
‘the only way to have a friend
is to be a friend.’
and here we are!
14 months later,
ten thousand people
see my posts, leave their comments,
share my words, welcome me into their world
laugh with me
offer suggestions,
and make every day
interesting.
I send ten thousand
thank yous to each of you.
I’m grateful you’ve joined my journey
that you share your lives and your time.
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you.
poem- junction June 2, 2014
There is an explosion of me
that while not cause for misery
does lend itself to some worry
(as health dictates less mass, you see).
While pondering this desperate state
in search of cover, you apparate
into my view and tell me straight
the simple way you’d lost your weight.
The fact that you think that I was there
to inspire you is laughable, I swear.
You wish to write and I’m aware
that you will do so, we’re a pair
The universe conspires to bring
Strangers together to the thing
that makes the possibilities ring
Opens universal everything.
Shawn L. Bird 