April 9, 2017
March 2, 2017
The Enemy, Detroit 1954 Book Launch at Shanghai American School Pudong
Today I gave my first book talk about The Enemy. Exciting, but so weird. I am used to doing book talks sprinkled with poetry. How I came to write this one, what annoyed me enough to write that one. The explanations follow the poem. Everyone in the audience is familiar with the text because
March 2, 2017
I Can’t Answer These Texas Standardized Test Questions About My Own Poems
This article was first published on Huffington Post, January 4, 2017.
When I realized I couldn’t answer the questions posed about two of my own poems on the Texas state assessment tests (STAAR Test), I had a flash of panic – oh, no! Not smart enough. Such a dunce. My eyes glazed over. I checked
April 13, 2016
Letter to the IRS
Seems like the right week for a reprise of this little ditty (as I once again file an extension).
Letter to the IRS
Every year I promise myself and the government that I
will not file an extension.
That I will be a good citizen and get
October 4, 2015
From the Park Bench Book Release
“Tony?”
“Sara, how you doing?”
A complex question. I was sitting in a nice
house with no job, two kids, and I’d just received the bad news that my former
husband was also unemployed so there would be no more health insurance or child
support coming.
August 28, 2015
Bridging into Fall
I just sent a finished (I think) manuscript off to my editor, I accomplished my first 30 mile bike ride, and had our first school visit of the year at Chardon Middle School, right in our back yard. The leaves are feeling crackly, the temperature is dropping and evening is crowding the
February 12, 2015
A Valentine’s Day Story
Okay, his name was not Jim, but other than that, the following poem is a true story. Hard to imagine any boy wouldn’t have gone for those bangs and too young for braces buck teeth. I wore extra petticoats because I wanted hips like Annette Funicello,
January 29, 2015
Backwards Day All Year Long
Dan Ferri
Some poems visit you at sunset. Some haunt you in the wee hours with Jabberwocky logic because, let’s face it, anything seems logical at 3AM. There are poems you reach for when a friend dies, when a
January 2, 2015
Taking it to the Next Level
A wise philosopher (Cher?) once said that “everyday’s a new audition.” That’s a lot of pressure!
And no time is that more evident than January 1, when we resolve something or other starting with the new year.
In the writing and the reading, poetry gives me pause. To
December 5, 2014
From the Park Bench (it’s coming!)
“When
we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about
any place, we regain a kind of paradise.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
OMG, it’s coming.
The publisher (Red Giant Press) said the hard copy proof is in the