The Perfect Mother's Day Gift - And the download is free!

As you may know, I supplied the photographs for a poetry book authored by two fine poets, Carolyn Howard-Johnson of California and Magdalena Ball from New Zealand.

Because it's the perfect, non-commercial gift for anyone in your life who happens to be a mother,
we have offered a special for you.

Here's what Carolyn has to say:

Mother's Day is nearly upon us. It's time to begin thinking about how you will celebrate your wonderful mother this year. Much of what's in the shops is expensive, and full of meaningless soundbites and clichés. This year you can give something different.

Magdalena Ball, May Lattanzio and I teamed up to create a beautiful, full color gift book of poetry specifically on the topic of motherhood. There's nothing overly sugary here! You can download it f ree and print it on lineny paper or buy it in all its colorful, full-book glory at only $12.50. Either way, it's a gift that’s both frugal and unique—maybe something different than you’ve ever given before. Team it with a small box of chocolates or home made cookies, or a bunch of flowers (fresh picked from your garden?) for the perfect present. No additional (overpriced) card needed. The complimenary electronic copy is available for you at:

http://issuu.com/compulsivereader/docs/she_wore_emerald_promo

Read the full book online, or download it. If you’d like to support a couple of poets and an artist (and all of us mothers!), order it on Amazon at.

http://tinyurl.com/ctasgm

Do it now, and I can send you a signed label for it. Just e-mail me your address with POETRY BOOK in the subject line at HoJoNews@aol.com.

The complimentary electronic book is only available until the 10th of May. In any case, please don't forget to tell your mother how important she is to you. My mother passed away in November. The proof of this book was waiting for me when I got home. Therefore the book and title (based on a memory of her) is especially important to me.

And if you're a mother, Happy Mother's Day!

Writers and Poets - Meet the Compulsive Reader

http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/

Magdalena Ball is an author and poet from New Zealand. She is one of the co-authors of "She wore emerald then..." (the other is Carolyn Howard-Johnson) and you will find the link to the chapbook on both their sites, as well as this blog. As you know, I did the photography for this project.

Poetry Chapbook - She Wore Emerald Then...

Is a collaboration between Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Magdalena Ball (both award winning poets) and I - through my photography.

It's definitely not a book on motherhood that you will find in the cutesy Mother's Day aisle in a Hallmark store. It's very thought provoking and powerful. I think you'll like it. It's deep. Motherhood distilled.

I am so humbled to be in such wonderful company as these two talented women. It was my great pleasure to add to their (they will tell me "our") book.

It is available in softcover and also as an e-book.

Here's the link to the description, with reviews and where to order: http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/images/she_wore_emerald_then.htm

To Purchase She Wore Emerald Then

To buy a copy, just click the purchasing link https://www.createspace.com/3347966. then click on the Add to Cart button, fill in check out information and that's it. Watch for it soon on Amazon, as well.

Sample Poems from She Wore Emerald Then

Mother’s Bed, by Magdalena Ball

In the restless night

when mortality lurks in every shadow

the blanket won’t cover your fear

and morning is a half-forgotten dream

vague and uncertain,

slink into my bed

the pillow holds a mother’s secret

whispered charm

you can sink your head into.

There are no demons here;

no whirlwind of memory and anticipation clouding

sleep

only eternal warmth

a shared space

free from the ticking illusion

of time, motion, and change.

Here, where you are always welcome

nothing matters

except this peace

this place

containing every possible now.

Could It Have Been Otherwise? By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

At eighty-eight, she (tired

of the twenty first century

before it has become school

age) pleads, weary

before dinner, eyes

too weak to read.

I turn on the TV,

grab a VCR to cheer

her. I'm too slow, way

too slow. Instead of You're lookin’

swell, Dolly, she is treated

to Aulnay-sous-Bois'

streets aflame, backlash,

ghetto or banlieues

nothing new

in new millennium.

Poets, BEWARE

Here is a warning from my friend's blog (she is Carolyn Howard-Johnson, poet, author, blogger,educator) to all those poets who are tantalized by the prospect of winning prizes. Just submit, we are told...it's free. You will win a gazillion dollars (plus or minus) and a free copy of our collection in which your poem will be published.

Someone just sent me an email that they had entered a poem in one of these contests.

Look. Poetry is a difficult genre to write because you're dealing with the moment and emotion. Your words are precious to you and you hope they will become precious to your reader. It is perhaps, the most honest form of literature. You can fudge emotion when you write prose, but I believe poetry comes from the gut. So don't be fooled.

Here's the link: http://sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com/2008/09/norma-sundbert-tells-poets-to-beware.html

Fooled you, didn't I? You were expecting a snootful of political ranting? JUST WAIT till the next entry to see what happened in Minneapolis to an AP reporter. Journalists, beward. The men dressed in black, with the helmets, bulletproof vests and automatic weapons, tasers and REALLY big clubs are coming for you and your cameras.