Tag Archives: poetry

A Review of “Dalliance; A Collection Of Poetry And Prose”

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Many thanks to JC for taking the time to review my book, “Dalliance; A Collection of Poetry and Prose”. You can find JC’s blog here, (https://nimbus432.wordpress.com/). To download “Dalliance” please visit http://www.amazon.com/Dalliance-collection-poetry-prose-Morris-ebook/dp/B00QQVJC7E (for the US) or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dalliance-collection-poetry-prose-Morris-ebook/dp/B00QQVJC7E (for the UK).

Disclosure: JC received a free copy of “Dalliance” in exchange for an honest review.

 

A Book Review of…

 

Dalliance; A Collection of Poetry and Prose

 

By K. Morris

 

The dictionary defines the word dalliance as ‘a brief or casual involvement with something’. Such is the title of a new book of poetry and prose by author K. Morris. True to the title, the reader’s presented with page after page of short verse and story, a dalliance of each you might say.

 

But a casual relationship is far from the truth as one begins reading. Though each title can stand on its own in meaning and structure, they immediately pull the reader in and before long, you feel as though this collections written for you and you alone as your own thoughts and interpretation bleed from each page. To me, this is a sign of great writing when an author can invoke in the reader a personal relationship with his work where the reader cannot ignore where a writer’s words are taking them.

 

Each poem and each prose in this collection symbolizes a different layer of consciousness. Love’s celebrated in I Heard the Birds Sing, the poignant Listening To the Rain, the lovely simpleness of Beauty in Bleakness and Let us Go; the humorous Bird Song on an Autumn Evening, the melancholy of Sun and Rain. Further along, we see hints of depression in Be Still and the metaphysical in I Am and outright darkness in Dark Owl, Enigma, Night Terrors and the title poem Dalliance.

 

This collection has glimpses of Edgar Allan Poe, Silvia Plath and Emily Dickinson along with a nod to John Keats and William Blake.

 

For me the best way to read this book so as to get the most out of it is to first, read the book in its entirety, let the overall structure and balance of the work embrace you. Then come back for a second reading with an emphasis on each title, like a meditation if you will. From my first reading to my third, I found a subtle beauty and haunting sensation in this collection that will stay with me for some time.

 

This book would do honor to any bookshelf. I highly recommend it.

 

-JC

 

Writing “Home Squeak Home” A Guest Post By Author Victoria Zigler

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Many thanks to Victoria (Tori) Zigler for the below guest post. Tori’s latest book, Home Squeak Home comes out tomorrow (Wednesday 29 April 2015).

 

 

My book “Home Squeak Home” was inspired by two things: our gerbils, and some of my own books.

 

The “Kero’s World” series is a series of seven books that are semi-fictionalized accounts of the events in the life of my beloved Westie, who we lost in August 2014. They show his take on the events of his life: his walks, a vet trip, a couple of the big holidays, etc. I have a shorter series – this one with just two books – where events are shown from the point of view of my pet degus; in this case it’s just cage cleaning and Christmas.

 

I’m a big fan of animal stories myself, and I loved writing the stories; even the final “Kero’s World” book, which is a sort of sad story, and my way of saying goodbye to the real Kero. So, I wanted to include more of my pets in future stories. I mean, they say to write what you love, don’t they? Plus, I’ve had a lot of pets in the past, so I have plenty of characters to choose from; and some of them were real characters, let me tell you!

 

I decided to start with the gerbils, because, at the time I came up with this idea, they were the only pets I had who didn’t have their own book, since we either no longer had the others for various reasons, or – as in the case of my rats – hadn’t gotten them yet.

 

But the big question was: what kind of book should I make it? Another semi-fictionalized account? Or, perhaps, something entirely fictional this time, but just using the gerbils as characters? I also had to consider something else: regardless of whether it was semi-fictionalized, or complete fiction, I needed to figure out a topic.

 

After some thought, I decided I wanted to do a semi-fictionalized story. Even now I’m not sure why; it just felt like the right way to go.

 

So, what could I have the gerbils involved in? Cage cleaning? Nope! I did that with the degus, and the stories would be too similar. Celebrating Christmas? Maybe, if I found a different angle, but better not to just yet, since I have Christmas books for both Kero and the degus. A trip to the vet? Again, maybe, but since I’d already done that for Kero, I’d need a new angle, and besides… Our gerbils have never been to the vet, though I could imagine how it would go as I’ve taken hamsters to the vet before, and I know what our gerbils are like. Anyway, you get the idea, I’m sure.

 

Then, at last, I thought of something I hadn’t covered with any of the others, but which was a big event in the lives of our little gerbils; and would be a big event in the lives of other pets, as well as the children who would potentially be getting a pet. I’m talking, as you may have guessed by that last sentence, about bringing them home from the pet shop.

 

I’ve seen several books where a child gets a new pet, and you see that child learning to care for it. But what I was interested in was the pet itself. How does the pet feel when it leaves its family, and finds itself in a strange place, surrounded by strangers? I think this has been explored with puppies, and possibly also with kittens, but what about gerbils?

 

I took a look around, and nothing immediately jumped out at me to say it had already been done; the gerbil books I could find seemed to be either factual care guides, or fictional stories about adventures gerbils have had while on the loose. So, I started writing; taking in to consideration what I’ve learned about our gerbils’ personalities in the time we’ve had them.

 

In the first draft I used their real names, but I decided not to do this for the final draft, so changed them during the second draft. My reason for doing this is to avoid potential complications with copyright issues. You see, the gerbils’ real names are Bilbo and Baggins; names any fan of JRR Tolkien would immediately recognize. If they’d had names that weren’t so obviously taken from a specific author’s work, then I wouldn’t have worried about it, but since their names are instantly recognizable as being those of the main character in “The Hobbit” – and aren’t really the kind of names that might appear elsewhere just by accident; not with the popularity of JRR Tolkien’s books – I decided a name change was my safest bet, and they became Sooty and Scamp.

 

Will there be any more books about the gerbils? I don’t think so; I have no plans to do more, anyway. But there will be plenty more animal stories where my other past and present pets will make an appearance. Some of these may be semi-fictionalized, but I expect most of them will be stories that are complete fiction; with the exception of the fact the main characters will be based on my pets, named after them, and carry their personalities.

 

***

 

Author bio & social media/website, etc:

Victoria Zigler is a blind author of children’s fiction and poetry. She has a very vivid imagination, and spends a lot of time in fictional worlds; some created by her, others created by other authors. When she remembers to spend some time in the real world, it’s mostly to spend time with her hubby and pets, though sometimes to indulge in other interests such as doing crafts, listening to music, watching movies, playing the odd figure game or roleplaying game, and doing a little cooking and baking. Tori was born in the shadow of the Black Mountains in Wales, UK, has been writing since she knew how, and became a self-published author in 2012. To date she has published 6 poetry books, 33 children’s books, and a fantasy story in a sci-fi and fantasy anthology, with plenty more planned for the near future.

 

Her books can be found on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and a few other eBook retailers that Smashwords distributes to.

 

Website: http://www.zigler.co.uk

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/toriz

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/toriz

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-Zigler/424999294215717

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/victoriazigler

Blog: http://ziglernews.blogspot.com

 

“Dalliance; A Collection Of Poetry And Prose” Will Soon Be Available In Print

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On 23 April I wrote about the release of an expanded edition of my book, “Dalliance; A Collection Of Poetry And Prose”, (http://newauthoronline.com/2015/04/23/an-expanded-edition-of-dalliance-a-collection-of-poetry-and-prose-is-available-for-download/). In that post I mentioned that a print edition of “Dalliance” is in preparation, (I hope this will be available in May 2015).

Given the growth in ebook sales why, you may ask have I decided to produce a print edition of “Dalliance”?

There are several reasons:

  1. A number of family and friends prefer print books over their electronic counterparts. Indeed I know of at least one family member who would struggle with an ebook. I could, of course print off copies and distribute them to family and friends. However I would rather present my readers with a professionally produced book than a publication held together by staples or contained in a ring binder.
  2. I like traditional books. Being blind I can’t read print books (most of my reading takes place using the text to speech facility on my Kindle). I do, however love the feel and scent of paper books. A beautifully produced book is an object to be cherished not only for its value as a means of communicating stories, information etc, but also as a thing of beauty possessed of intrinsic worth.
  3. I want to have a copy of “Dalliance” on my real (not merely Kindle) shelves.
  4. I intend to donate print copies of “Dalliance” to local businesses and service providers allowing those who would not otherwise come across my writing to do so. I will, of course gain the permission of said businesses. I intend to sidle up to business owners dressed in dark glasses and a rain coat which has seen better days and ask in a low tone while glancing furtively over my shoulder,

“Would you like something a little different?”

Then, prior to the police being called I will hand over my book!

 

If you would like a print copy of “Dalliance” please email me at newauthoronline (at) gmail.com putting “Dalliance” in the subject line.

 

Poetic Enrichment – a guest post by Kay Kauffman

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Many thanks to Kay for the below guest post. If you are interested in doing a guest post please contact me at newauthoronline (at) gmail . com

Hello! My name is Kay, and I’m a poet. I don’t just love writing poetry, though – I also love reading it. My poetry habit began when I was a child and I discovered Shel Silverstein’s work (if you haven’t read A Light in the Attic or Where the Sidewalk Ends, add them to your to-be-read list pronto). When I was ten, I discovered Joan Walsh Anglund’s work; The Song of Love is one of my most treasured books.

As I grew older, so, too, did the poetry I read. Nineteenth century poets, eighteenth century poets – none were too musty or dusty for me. I finally worked my way back to Shakespeare, of whom I couldn’t get enough. I had to read his sonnets with a dictionary, but I didn’t mind. It only became a problem when I’d get caught up in reading the dictionary instead of the sonnets. 🙂

But there are worse problems to have. Reading the dictionary turned out to be a major boon to my own poetry by increasing my vocabulary. On the flip side, though, my husband now refuses to play word games with me. Learning about the history and formations of different words is fascinating, though, especially if, say, you’re trying to create your own language for the fantasy world you’ve spent a decade creating.

Not that I would know anything about that… 🙂

Poetry has enriched my life in countless ways, and I could no sooner choose a favorite poem than I could a favorite star in the sky. What about you? What are some of your favorite poems? How has poetry affected your life?

As a girl, Kay dreamed of being swept off her feet by her one true love. At the age of 24, it finally happened…and he’s never let her forget it. A mild-mannered secretary by day and a determined word-wrangler by night, she battles the twin evils of distraction and procrastination in order to write fantastical tales of wuv…twue wuv…with a few haiku thrown in for good measure.

The author of Tuesday Daydreams: A Journal in Verse and A Song for All Seasons: A Journal in Verse, Kay is currently hard at work on the first book in a fantasy trilogy. She resides in the midst of an Iowa corn field with her devoted husband and his mighty red pen; four crazy, cute kids; and an assortment of adorably small, furry animals.

Tuesday Daydreams captures the life and imagination of the author in vivid detail, touching on joy and loss, life’s everyday hassles, and the many faces of Mother Nature. A Song for All Seasons paints vivid pictures of the Iowa landscape in all its glory, in addition to intimate portraits of family life. From frost-covered windowpanes and snowy vistas to rolling green fields and bright blue skies, each poem is a peek into a fading world of untamed beauty. If you’d like to pick up your own copy of Tuesday Daydreams or A Song for All Seasons, you can find them at Amazon, Amazon UK, Createspace, Smashwords, iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.

Care to save her from the chaos? You can find Kay in the all the usual places:

At her blog, where she shares random pictures and silly poems; on Facebook, where she shares things about cats and books; on Twitter, where she shares whatever pops into her head; on Pinterest, where she shares delicious recipes and images from her fantasy world; on Instagram, where she shares pictures of pretty sunsets; and on Tumblr, where she shares all of the above.

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Pretty Girls Are Gravestones By Amber Skye Forbes

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Amber Skye Forbes has written a powerful poem entitled “Pretty Girls Are Gravestones”, (https://amberskyeforbes.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/poetry-saturday-pretty-girls-are-gravestones/). In her poem Amber attacks the objectification of “pretty girls” by men. I found Amber’s use of the ornament analogy striking, (girls are placed in cabinets for men to admire).

I was struck by the poet’s use of the word “vile” to describe men. This led me to ask the writer whether she did, in fact hold that all men are “vile”. Amber responded as follows,

“I don’t feel that way at all about men in general, although this poem was written due to my personal trauma. I hope the men who read this don’t see it as

an attack on them, but they are able to come to their own conclusions about what I could mean. I know what I mean, but it doesn’t matter what I mean. What

matters is others’ interpretations of what I mean. So it’s deliberate that I make it seem like it’s all men. Yet, the true beauty of poetry lies in its

pleasures and usefulness readers glean from it”.

I agree absolutely with Amber. What matters ultimately is not what the poet meant but how readers themselves construe their work. Once a poem or, indeed any composition is available either online and/or in print it is beyond the control of it’s creator and is subject to whatever interpretation readers choose to put upon it. (I made the same point as Amber in my guest post for The Story Reading Ape’s Blog which can be found here, (http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2015/02/01/read-about-author-kevin-morris-explaining-his-poetry/).