Be who you are
Be what you are
Be when you are
Be where you are
Be why you are
Be how you are
Yourself
a valuable, unique person
existing in the now
celebrating your place in the world
just because you are
you
latest press September 21, 2011
I was recently interviewed for the local paper. I ended up being interviewed by phone, and the interviewer did not have opportunity prep by visiting the blog and reading up on what the book was about. I tried to explain succinctly, but her questions led to complicated places. Had I been writing the responses for her, I could have been quite clear on the facts. As it was, paraphrases were just off enough to twist the meaning. The resulting interview was basically accurate, but had a section that was significantly off what I thought I’d told her.
I learned something from this experience. The journalist will miss something critical in your longish story! Typing and listening simultaneously is difficult. I must remember the Keep It Simple principle!
Aside from actually getting my website address incorrect, the biggest problem was that she missed that I was actually quoting from the poem for a bit there, and she wrote a quote as if I was speaking.
Specifically, the article says,
Based on a poem she wrote the year she turned 12, Bird says the book started as a story about the power of her first crush on a musician
That part is fine but then this
“I think in another life we were lovers and belonged together,” she says.
is a paraphrase of the quote from the poem that I recited for her which included, “I think we were loves once. In another life you and and I belonged.” Since it is not in the context of the poem, it gets a completely different slant.
“When you have one of these strong stories, you have to imagine it has been around in the universe before.”
must be a paraphrase of “I think a lot of people have the feeling when they fall in love that it’s so profound that it must have been in the universe forever.”
Regular readers of the blog who’ve read about the development of the story, the poetry, etc, will spot these issues right away. Other people will just raise their eyebrows. I was rather alarmed.
Yeah. Like I said. A learning experience. Keep it Simple. Simple. Simple. Phone interviews are apparently dangerous!
Live and learn.
PS. If you’re curious, the interview is here.
Autumn haiku September 17, 2011
Breathe in the scent of / falling leaves and smoke twisting / in Crisp autumn air
Yesterday I wrote a love song September 15, 2011
While Grace Awakening Power (Book two in the series) is out for final edits, I’m working on Grace Awakening Myth, the third book. Grace Awakening Myth is Awakening Dreams told from Ben’s perspective. Poor Ben (aka Orpheus!) is suffering at the moment with his shattered nose. He’s in pursuit of his beloved Grace, and she is not being cooperative. He’s suffering so much that it was time for a cathartic poem…
.
Yesterday I wrote a love song
Spun in circles
Weaving memory
Reaching past today
Touching yesterday
Touching you
The only way
That’s left.
Yesterday was wrapped in kisses
Spun on cycles
Weaving history
Reaching past today
Touching yesterday
Touching you
The only way
That’s left.
Today you’re gone and how I long
For circles cycles
Memory and history
Reaching past today
Touching yesterday
Touching you
The only way
That’s left
Tomorrow needs to be prolonged
Spin our cycle
To eternity
Reaching through today
Beyond yesterday
Touching you
Every day
That’s best.
.
.
Not sure whether or not that will end up being in the book. I think it would make an awesome song. I need a musician to take on that challenge…
Submitted as part of the Gooseberry Garden poetry picnic. If you are here for the picnic, please include a link to your own submission if you leave a comment. Thanks!
The Thing September 7, 2011
With a bump and a grunt I started to jump
What was that by the cat? That thing with the lump?
Something scary
and hairy.
Something wiggling!
(I’m jiggly!)
It is black on its back
It is red on its head.
That bit on the paw,
Was that yellow I saw?I
Those colours so bright are making me weep
from the fright.
I fear it will come near
Will bump into me here?
It will leap while I sleep!
Will it beat me? Or eat me?
I stared and I shivered
It glared and I quivered.
It wiggled closer to me
A tingle ran through me.
A step closer it came
And then closer again!
I just couldn’t help it: I shrieked.
Then the thing, well, it leaked
A small yellow puddle
Of a fellow in a muddle.
Its head tilted down
On its face a sad frown,
From its eyes dripped a trickle.
Oh my! That’s a pickle.
Is it looked up at me, I thought, “Could it be
That the thing over there, That thing covered in hair,
that thing coming near Is not something to fear?
If it leaked when I shrieked,
Did it think I was scary?
Did it think I was hairy?
With black on my head
My back covered in red?
So I took one step nearer and the creature came clearer.
It was cute. It was fuzzy. It was really quite lovely!
I dropped to my knees as the thing gently sneezed.
“Hello Thing,” I said. “My name is Fred.”
“Can I be your friend?”
(True story)
The End.
Okanagan Mountain Fire evacuation, August 2003 August 9, 2011
This was my second entry on the theme of fire for the Burnaby Writers Society poetry contest. One more month until winners are announced. I played around with stanza parallelism here, sometimes using strict rhyme, sometimes consonance. I had never seen this done before, so I was impressed with how well it worked.
.
Okanagan Mountain Fire evacuation, August 2003
.
Fears.
A crimson hill glows above.
High from here, grey clouded skies
shower us in ghosts of pine needles
that dissolve at my touch
into powdered ashes,
while I load the van with memories.
.
Tears
Glisten, fill, flow out of,
My father’s grave, clouded eyes.
Cowering and aghast in pain, he huddles
and revolves as he’s nudged,
disempowered, ashen.
While I lead the man, his tremors ease.
.
.
This poem was linked to the Poetry Potluck on the theme of history and events. If you are visiting from the potluck, please include a direct link to your poem in a comment below. Thanks! It makes it easier for all participants that way.
.
Poem-Fire of you July 10, 2011
This poem was written as a submission to the Burnaby Writers Society Poetry contest. The theme was fire, and poets were encouraged to interpret the theme. Still 2 months before winners will be announced.
September 2011: This one was a contest finalist! Yay!
.
You reached
into the flames
and plucked an ember
that glowed with
happiness and hope
upon your palm.
.
In the
wavering sphere
of gold and crimson
light, I glimpsed our
future in flickering
depths.
.
But when I reached to take it in my grasp
you clasped
your fist closed,
so the glow
of my hope
spilled
from
your
fingers.
.
“No,” you said.
“It will burn you.”
.
Truth scorched through
the kindness in your eyes, but could not
extinguish my anguish,
even as you wrapped me in your arms
and murmured worthless words of consolation.
.
I didn’t want your wisdom.
I wanted fire.
rain storm tanka June 26, 2011
Heavenly percussion
is punctuating
piano melodies
rising up stairs to
the rhythm of rain.
Shawn L. Bird 
Spooky poem October 31, 2011
Tags: halloween, poem, postaday2011
An oldie- but a goodie!
A Hallowe’en poem for you! To be read in a very spooky voice….
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